POOR SERVICE

*** & ACUJN802 I booked 2 seats for my husband and I on the Greyhound Dreamliner from Johannesburg to Cape Town departing Wednesday 16 November 2022. The bus was supposed to leave Park Station at 18h00 According to your Ts&Cs we were supposed to be at the station at least half an hour before departure. We were at the station at 17h15. At 17h45 I received an sms informing me that the bus was delayed. No reason was given for the delay. We asked the staff but nobody could tell us how long the delay would be. There was a Greyhound dreamliner bus standing in one of the loading zones!! The staff were very rude. I am 70 years old and my husband is 69. We stood in the queue at Park Station for nearly two hours. I went to the Eldos kiosk on Park Station. Nobody could tell me how long the delay would be. The lady at the kiosk told me to sit down and wait. I told her my husband and I would sit down but when a bus arrived there would be a rush for the bus and we would lose our space in the queue. The lady told me she would send someone to fetch us when the bus arrived. She even asked for my ticket and wrote our names on a piece of paper. I asked her that as Eldos coaches had taken over Greyhound could we not transfer from Greyhound to Eldos coaches. She informed me that she was not allowed to do that. A bus eventually arrived at 19h30. It was not a Greyhound dreamliner but a Citiliner. We were told by the staff to go queue. There was a queue already with people loading their luggage and rushing to board. Now we were not sure if our names would be on the list. We did not want to load our luggage in case it was the wrong bus. We have seen this with other bus liners where people were put off the bus. My husband went back to the terminal and was told it was the Greyhound Citiliner - the bus going to Cape Town. There was a bottleneck at the bus door - people scurrying for place. The guy loading the luggage asked us where we were going and I told him we were going to Cape Town. He said that it was the right bus. We were afraid to board the bus in case our names were not on the list meaning we would have to disembark. Like I said - for us senior citizens it was a scary experience going from one to the other to find out what was happening and nobody could assist. Nobody came to "fetch" us as promised by the lady at the kiosk. My husband told me to stay with our luggage. He had to force his way onto the bus to go and check if our names were on the list. He came back to me and told me the lady on the bus checking the passenger list had signed off on our ticket that our names were on the list. He loaded our luggage. Then it was a struggle to board. We could not find 2 seats together towards the front. Only single seats. We found 2 seats at the back and in front of the toilet. I am 5ft 7inches tall. My husband is taller. The space was limited. We had to sit wide legged. When the person in front of me reclined the seat it was on top of my knees. Looking out the window we saw ****roaches on the window ledge, crawling down the window and on the seats in front of us. Not just one but quite a few. There was also a crackling noise throughout the journey. Don't know whether it came from the aircon or the TV. The next morning Thursday 17 November, there was a srench coming from the toilet. Passengers used the toilet throughout the trip but there was nobody to clean or check it. And the toilet door did not close properly. As seniors we are very susceptible to picking up germs. Coming in to Beaufort West the driver stopped at the Engen garage. We were preparing to get off the bus to go to the shop and to use the toilets. He all of a sudden pulled away and drove off. He pulled up at the Quest-garage/shop where there is a KFC franchise. We were not fami**** with this stop. We had to ask where the toilets were and the KFC did not sell tea. They had coffee only. Returning from the toilets there was no bus. Nobody knew where the bus had gone. The bus returned after 15 minutes. A passenger told my husband that he had spoken to the driver. The driver had informed him that Greyhound was not yet licensed to carry passengers. This was putting the passengers' lives in danger. Thank the Lord we got to our destination safely. It was the most uncomfortable journey we have ever had. We have traveled with Greyhound before as well as other busliners. As seniors we love traveling by bus but this trip has really put us off. We are going to tell all our family and friends and senior citizens NEVER to book with Greyhound although we were raving about Greyhound being back on the road and according the website the busses were all spacious and comfortable and the cost of a ticket was reasonable! For all the discomfort we went through on the trip we are going to "Hello Peter". My husband has a lower back problem. My knee, my hips and my back could not take it. We were in discomfort the entire trip. We were going to book our trip home via Greyhound but Greyhound will never see us again. They do not give passengers what they offer on the website. It is all a ruse!