Low class, dangerous and poor level of service

Firstly allow me to explain the reason for this very late submission. I arrived in Cape Town for business meetings/workshops which entailed traveling extensively, on Thursday 13th June 2024.

I booked a premium bus ticket from Greyhound coach liner. I arrived at Park station at 16.55 on Wednesday evening as my bus was due to depart at 6. At 19.30 I made my first inquiry about what time we were leaving as I had to arrange my pick-up in Cape Town realizing we won't be on time. I am fully aware buses are not always on time for various reasons. Upon enquiring, I was told the bus had not left the depot yet requesting to know why and by what time the bus can be expected I WAS TOLD THEY DONT KNOW BUT WE MAY AS WELL MAKE OURSELVES COMFORTABLE. What a nerve this is a lack of empathy as well as professionalism However, after perusing many reviews of passengers complaining about the very same thing I realized that Greyhound has a reputation for POOR PATHETIC SERVICE

I will try and make this review as short as possible, Not one of the staff members communicated with us regarding the delay. When you book your ticket either your email address or cellphone is requested, why could Greyhound not communicate with us as the passengers what do they take us for, LOW CLASS because we taking the bus as opposed to flying as I would have received a far professional level of service via the airline. Our bus finally arrived at 9.30 ( 3 hours later than the departure time) We had to load our luggage as now we were late and were being rushed by the staff, upon entering I realized this was not a premium bus as I had booked. If I had been informed earlier I would have rather made an alternate arrangement not to get on that low-class bus. The seats are narrow, seats recline 2 cm, and only 4 USB points worked on the bus to charge our phones. I was due to complete work on my laptop but it was impossible to work in such narrow seats. My battery died mid-way as I could not find a USB point working having gone from seat to seat.

If I had booked a ticket via airlines which happened before when they made a mistake and overbooked the economy class seats, they would have fixed it by migrating me to business class, they would have set me up at hotels if flights were delayed at no cost to me as the passenger. Because of their error if I missed my connecting flight they too would book another one and again it would all be at their cost.

This beckons my question why was I not allowed to decide for myself if I wanted to get on an inferior bus, not forced upon me three and a half hours later when I could do nothing about it? I suffer from chronic backache, and it was worsened having had a seat not able to recline having changed seats found one that reclines 2cm and that was the max for the seats that could recline. My idea was to take my mom with me to visit with her grandchild just imagine my 83-year-old mother in such a pathetic situation. Oh well, all Greyhound will do is apologize for the inconvenience. Again I asked the question would any one of the staff members accept such a disservice when you have paid what you advertised your ticket for? I can assure you the answer would be no. Not one of the passengers that did not abandon the ride to find an alternative solution was happy and maybe not anyone had the tenacity to challenge the coachliner for the **** service provided to us.

The public needs to know this, I enquired from the bus driver by the Name of Nimrod what was the reason for this delay and the following was reported to me the bus which was to be used to transport us as passengers were mechanically not right yet they Greyhound insisted he uses the bus knowing this could have cost us our lives, he refused and was later told there was this inferior bus in the depot he could use this one to transport us. WHAT A ****** NERVE TO DECIDE FOR ME. I commend the driver for not wanting to risk the passengers' lives as he added what if the bus breaks down somewhere in a deserted area heaven knows what could have happened to us. Greyhound did not know at 17h00 that the bus had mechanical problems why not advise the passengers thereof? What makes you think that this kind of service will be accepted by everyone?

I know I will receive a response from Greyhound but please do not inbox me, answer me publicly so that passengers consider using your coaches to transport them and their loved ones can make an informed decision. If I wanted this level of service I could have used the inferior coaches at a far reduced price then I would have no reason to complain.

I am awaiting a response on how will GREYHOUND fix this problem. You can't undo the past though.