ELDO COACHES- Bus Trip from Hell

Bus Trip Nightmare!

My husband and I made our first ever bus trip from Johannesburg to Durban. We decided to use Eldo Coaches as our coach to get to Durban. We booked our tickets and received an sms confirming our trip and confirming the pick up and drop off points, on the sms the pick up point stated Caltex Star Stop on the N1 highway. Upon speaking to my uncle who stated that the Caltex was in fact closed and the pick up point was probably at another service station, so I called Eldo Coaches to enquire the pick up point who then informed us that the pick up point was Shell Ultra City and not Caltex Star Stop. I then asked the agent to send me an sms with the change of pick up point, she said she is working on it and will send it shortly, the text never came.

On 27th June 2018, Wednesday morning, our bus was expected to pick up at 6.20am,the bus was 30min late. We then wait to get our tickets and IDs checked out and put our luggage away. The driver put our luggage away but didn't check with against any list if we were the correct people boarding the bus. Upon boarding the bus the was an awful stench on the bus, like a dirty, unclean toilet. We then noticed the toilet was out of order, with a Tiny hand written note (done by the driver) stuck on the door. Besides the awful stench the bus was in a shabby condition, with no curtains, damaged seats, television sets that don't work and whenever the bus breaks you would hear a load noise (clearly it needed to be changed) we assumed that once we got to the main pick up point (Park Station) we would be moved to another coach as it is absolutely absured that we should travel for 8hours in such conditions.

Once we reached Park Station we realised that this very nightmare coach was indeed the very bus taking us to Durban!!! The smell was so unbearable we literally was blocking our noses not to get the smell and the toilet was out of order. I then made a call to Eldo Coaches informing them of all the issues on the bus, the agent assured me that something will be done and the coach will be changed. After some time we saw more people boarding and nothing was being done, so we made a second call to Eldo Coaches and the agent said they waiting for dispatch to respond to them regarding the issue.whilst we were waiting for feedback the driver of the bus got some airfreshner and tried to cover up the stench.10min after the second call a female employee from Eldo Coaches came to the bus and said the bus was not going to be changed and that the bus was going to stop in Denver for the mechanic to drain out the toilet system.

We then proceeded to a Total garage in Denver and waited for the mechanic, we then was told by the driver that if anyone needed to use the facilities could go to the service station as its going to be a bit of a wait. Many people got off the bus, the driver then announces that there's a two hour wait for the mechanic and whoever called to complain about the bus must call the coach line back and say everything was resolved. The driver after speaking to some of the passengers in their home language decided to leave and not wait for the mechanic... they stared the bus and commenced driving, without checking if everyone was on the bus,until they were told that some people were not on the bus.

Throughout this nightmare of a bus journey the drivers switch off the air con just after the halfway stop...just to add on the hell like journey.

ELDO COACHES,NEVER AGAIN!!!!

You can't eat because of the smell, you can't sleep because there's no curtains to block the Sun,if you do manage to get a 40winks you wake up to the screeching of the brakes on the bus.

Please never use this coach line...for your own good.