London Retro Bus Hire - www.londonretrobushire.co.uk

London Retro Bus Hire seemed to have a reliable reputation; however, on our Wedding Day, they totally failed us. Though the bus arrived early, we were informed that the battery was flat. We were told it would take an hour and a half for assistance to come—time that we simply did not have, due to our reception commitments. Not only did the delay shave off over an hour of our important celebrations, but it also meant that we had to pay additional charges to our reception venue for spoiled food due to lateness. We were left embarrassed and devastated on one of the most important days of our lives.

It was mortifying to ask our guests—including mobility-impaired elders and those with young children—to arrange their own alternative transport, at curbside on a freezing cold October night. We had specifically hired the bus to keep our guests together, warm, and comfortable. None of which happened. The driver was sympathetic, assuring us that we'd receive a full refund, as well as reimbursement of additional taxi costs. As the groom, I trusted his word during a chaotic moment.

After the event, the company never contacted us. We had to approach them to raise our disappointment, and though the refund was processed promptly, any discussion of compensation for the disruption and additional taxi fares (15 taxis at a cost of £150) was dismissed, citing their terms and conditions, which exclude compensation for mechanical issues.

The company claimed: "All our vehicles are on a strict 8-week maintenance plan and are inspected before and after each job they go on due to the nature of our business and the age of the vehicles." So was our bus just not checked? They also noted that their "driver has no authority to authorise any monetary transactions." And if so, perhaps staff should be trained to better manage these situations, as the driver’s assurances led us to expect full support from the company, which we have not received.

Adding to our frustration, it was implied that our taxi reimbursement could be deducted from our refund—which is both absurd and rude. We were owed the refund for a service we didn't get. If we had wanted our guests to take taxis, we would have arranged it ourselves to begin with.

To sum up: book with caution. If anything goes wrong, expect zero empathy. Judging by the company’s curt responses on reviews similar to ours, we wish we'd noticed the red flags!

Hi there,

A huge thanks to everyone at London Retro Bus Hire for making our wedding day so special! You got all our guests to the church without a hitch, and the kids absolutely loved it.

The buses, the staff, the music—everything was spot on and really set the mood for the day. The balloons, ribbons, and drinks were fantastic touches, and being allowed to have drinks on board was a nice touch. The drivers and staff were very welcoming and friendly. Our guests have said it’s something they’ll never forget!

Every time we spoke to someone, whether on the phone or by email, it was a great experience. We highly recommend you guys and feel free to share any posts about our wedding.

5 stars all the way! 

Cheers

Fantastic service from London Retro Bus Hire. Super, friendly staff who were happy to advise from start to finish. Professional, calm driver and assistant arrived on the day in a beautiful old bus to ensure all the wedding guests arrived in style.

We hired two buses to get from our wedding ceremony to the reception! It was the most fun journey and the staff and drivers were fantastic! It was a crazy day for travel, with road closures in central London and we were worried about how this would go, but the drivers made it such a smooth journey and knew all the best routes. All of the guests commented on how much of a fun, unique experience it was - it was a real highlight of the day. We had a fantastic staff member on each bus handing out drinks and crisps and making sure guests were taken care of. The music system worked perfectly, the buses were beautiful, and the organisation leading up to the day was brilliant. A huge thank you to everyone!!

We used retro bus hire for our wedding last Saturday, and they were brilliant! Great customer service and communication throughout booking, all our guests loved the experience too!

Really pleased with our experience with London Retro Bus Hire. We booked the red, wedding special which came with ribbons and congratulations signs - our guests loved it! Super unique. The driver and staff were lovely. We were running slightly late and they told us to take our time and waited patiently. We got stuck in protest traffic which wasn’t their fault and they let us all hop off as close to the venue as possible so we could get to the reception on time. Communication before the wedding was fantastic. Would highly recommend.

We had the most amazing experience on the retro bus! The staff were incredibly helpful throughout the booking process and on the day! I can't definitely recommend the bus hire!

I booked the cream double decker bus for my wedding, a year and a half in advance, and had very little communication with the company between the time of booking and the big day. I had to chase queries on multiple occasions and was told I had to wait for someone to come back from holiday as they were the only person who could help with my query.

After booking a site visit, we were told that a double decker wouldn’t get our guests to the venue due to overhang of trees, which we completely understood, so we were offered two single decker buses instead and told to take a look at the colours available. I requested the red and gold single deckers. A few months passed and I hadn’t had a reply, so I continued to chase with no response.

Just over a week before the big day and we are told that they can’t provide the busses. We had around 70 guests attending and had told them all that transport would be provided. To say this was stressful a week before the wedding day is an understatement. We spoke to a lady on the phone, hoping for some reassurance and understanding, but we were met with anger, sarcasm, and a general feeling that she couldn’t care less!

As a business owner myself, I completely understand that things can go wrong that are out of our control, and I understand how frustrating this can be, but to be told this information a week before your wedding and then to be met with terrible customer service was not ideal! She used phrases such as “this is stressful for me” and that she “won’t be making any money now because of this” and the icing on the cake was when I expressed my disappointment on the phone to her saying “I’m absolutely gutted that we don’t have any transport now a week before the wedding” and her response was “yep” followed by silence.

The biggest joke of all was that she said “what would you like me to do” and when I responded with “sort out some transport for us”, she told me that she has been in this industry for a long time and there isn’t a solution and that we should look into another mode of transport for our guests (if this was my business I would have lined up another mode of transport immediately for my customer), but funnily enough, during my lunch break the following day I was able to book a double decker bus with another bus company just 5 days before the big day, who were professional, reliable and went above and beyond to help us.

Strongly advise you to look elsewhere. Terrible customer service.

What an amazing addition to our Daughters wedding we hired the cream Bus to take the bridesmaids to the church and that doubled up as transport for all the guests from the Church to the reception venue. The Company were very helpful with the booking and the attention to detail with the route planning was very accurate. The staff on board were very obliging and tooted the horn for us as we were arriving at the venue. There were optional extras if you wanted them. The condition of the bus was really great. Don’t hesitate on hiring a bus from this company!!

We used this company for our wedding bus - they arrived early, the bus was clean, the staff lovely. It was so much fun to be on an old Routemaster Bus driving through London. Despite road diversions we got to our venue on time. Would use again ! thank you again London Retro Bus Hire