Misleading information, failure to deliver services, and unjust treatment of customer.

To whomever it may concern, I formulate this review with a colossal amount of disappointment, as well as frustration with the aforementioned business. I am disgusted by the amount of disregard that the company has for its customers, and the lengths that employees will go to in order to defend the ideals of the company's drivers, rather than making customer service a priority. A bit of background information if you will; I am a university student who was scheduled to travel home (Ladysmith, KZN) from Durban, KZN at 8:00 AM on Friday, the 12th of April 2019. My parents purchased a Citiliner bus ticket for me from Pick 'N Pay on Thursday evening and sent me the relevant information that evening. Thinking that it would be safer for me to depart from the beachfront that from the City Station, my parents opted for me to be fetched from the beachfront. (This was indicated on the ticket which I received, as well as on the SMS that I received on my cellphone.) My parents were told that the bus would depart from the bus stop opposite hotel Tropicana on the beachfront.

Knowing that the bus would depart at 8:00 AM, I had prepared myself the previous day and had packed all of the relevant belongings prior to the trip. I was well prepared. On the day of departure, I woke up at 5:00 AM because my cousin had to transport me to the beachfront and I did not want to make her late as she had to attend a prayer meeting. We arrived at the beachfront over an hour before the time that the bus was schedules to depart.

We waited for the bus to arrive, but there was no sign of it. There was a lady who was waiting at the bus stop, so I spoke with her, and she said that she was waiting for the same bus. Due to the fact that our tickets had clearly stated, "Beachfront", any individual, not cognitively impaired, would assume that the bus would stop at the bus stop, open the doors, and that the conductor would step out of the bus to check the passengers tickets after placing their luggage on-board. At approximately 7:45 AM, the Citiliner bus which we were scheduled to leave in approached the bus stop opposite the hotel, drive past the bus stop, yielded, and made a right turn to head back to City Station. I, along with two other witnesses, one being my cousin, and the other being the other passenger, clearly saw the bus driving directly past us and leaving us behind without opening the doors or coming to a complete stop for us to approach the doors and get on-board.

We waited for the bus to return and pick us up because we thought that it did not stop due to the lack of parking space, but it did not return. We were left stranded at the bus stop (which, might I add, is a dangerous environment to be in) [It is therefore evident that the company is not concerned with customer safety.]

8:00 AM had passed, and we contacted the customer care-service [which we had to incur additional costs for], only to be put on hold for several minutes, before being told that the bus departed from City Station and that there was nothing that the company could do for us. We were clearly mislead by the information displayed on our tickets, and I feel that we were unfairly treated, the reason being that the call center assistant insisted that the bus stopped for two minutes at the beachfront before departing. Any human being in their logical mind would be able to establish that it does not take two minutes for a bus to stop, open its doors, for the conductor to get out and check the passengers' luggage and tickets.

Perhaps the company is under the impression that its customers should run behind the bus with their luggage while it is leaving, screaming and shouting for it to stop (I don't know, but that seems quite unprofessional to me from a customer service perspective).

We were further informed that the driver did not see any passengers, and that this is why he continued driving without stopping, but that would not make any sense, because how can one discern between a passenger and a pedestrian simply by glancing at them? Maybe the driver of the bus is special and can see things that the average person cannot.

But, alas, we made our way to City Station to ask if a refund would be possible since it was not our fault that we were both misled and that the bus driver did not stop. The result of this ordeal was that we were told to file a complaint and that there was once again "nothing they could do for us". So the lady who waited with me, as well as myself, filed complaints, but did not receive any feedback since then regarding a supposed 'investigation into the matter' which was promised to be carried out.

So, my cousin, my parents, and I, had to incur additional fuel expenses as well as airtime expenses simply due to the bus driver's ********* conduct. I do not think that this is fair, and since the only means by which I could come home was via bus, my parents had to purchase an additional bus ticket for me (which, might I add, was double the price of the first one).

I urge customers to boycott using this business, as they do not care about their customers' safety, nor do they care if their customers are misled. All that they are concerned with is taking customers' money. The least that the company could have done was to refund us taking into consideration the fact that it was not our fault that the driver chose not to stop for us to get onto the bus.

Intervention into this matter needs to be implemented, as I am sure that similar incidents have happened before, and customers have simply had to sweep them under the rug so to speak. If the company expected us to wait at the City Station, they should have clearly indicated for us to do so, and if they expected us to stand at the bus stop holding a sign which states, 'Citiliner/Greyhound Passenger' in fluorescent colours, they should have indicated for us to do so.

I gave the company one star, but to be honest, they don't even deserve a star.