Experience with redBus.in

Srinivasu Chakravarthula

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I have been using redBus.in (external link) for sometime now and never had an opportunity to experience to interact with their customer service before. Recently I had a trip to Hyderabad and tickets were booked through redBus.in. Here is my experience.

I traveled from Chennai to Hyderabad and return. Onward journey was smooth except that the head phones given in the bus did not work well. But that’s OK to compromise. Return trip was not pleasant.

Return trip was booked on SVR Travels (External website). The bus was delayed by about 40 minutes and when we called up the coach attendant, he was rude in answering. Just before the mid-night, it seems driver dashed vehicle with some other vehicle and glass window of one of the windows got damaged. Fault is from our driver himself. And suddenly AC in the bus stopped functioning and when we reported, driver was not willing to looked into and respnded with a rude tone. Whole night, AC did not work in the bus. as soon as it was 6:30 in the morning, I tried reaching out to SVR Travels via the phone numbers on their website’s contact page. None of the numbers wnet through. Tried reaching out redBus.in Customer service and found they operate only between 7:30 am to 11 pm. Called them again at 7:30 am, someone asked me to send in an email to their support email address. Hmm, they cannot create a complaint ticket. When I sent an email, I got an automatic response that I would get a reply within 24 hours. After a few hours, I have received a response stating

We apologize for the inconvenience caused and we will ensure to serve you better next time

as this response appears to me that the reply was sent without any investigation. I called up their customer service and I was told they will escalate the issue and I should get a call within next 24 hours. Same thing happened for next 72 hours. There wasn’t much of the action from redBus.in in spite of me calling them. But thanks to the power of social media, when I pinged @redbus_in on Twitter, I got a very quick response. Initially on twitter too I got the same response that they will make sure to serve better next time but unwilling to talk about what has happn=ened. When I stressed, they worked with the operator and I was initially told that the operator declined to my complaint. I have suggested them to bring up contacts of all the other passengers and do the investigation. Magically after 5 minutes, I got another call stating that operator agreed the fault and was ready to refund the sum of amount INR 300 which I am yet to receive. But when I questioned redBus team for the compansation towards inconvenience caused by their own team with the whole issue, they told me that they will discuss with their management and revert to me at the earliest possible which is not happened yet. It’s almost a week now!

Well, all I want to urge all service providers is either provide professional service or be accountable for the services you offer. Money is hard earned for everyone. Surprisingly during this process I have heard from redBus.in customer service that he is not someone who is working on the case and at the same time, he cannot transfer the call to concerned person. Each time you call them, get a static answer that “we are sorry for the inconvenience caused, we will escalate the issue and you will hear back within next 24 hours”. Dear redBus.in, train up your teams please. As you do not expect any trouble from customers, you guys do not have any right to trouble customers. If you can’t serve in a professional way, may be it’s time to shut down the business.

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4 responses to “Experience with redBus.in”

  1. Abdul Wahid Avatar
    Abdul Wahid

    Dear Sir,
    I had travelled from Hyderabad to Bangalore on 17/8/13(Sat. night) by SVR tours and Travels, Volvo A/C Multi Axle semi sleeper, SVR 2201. My ticket no.: TF8T38752326 & PNR No.: SVR1550125-SVR2201.
    Firstly when asked I was told by SVR person that the bus goes till silk board junction, whereas they dropped me at HSR layout.I was told by the assistant boy that the person who misinformed was an auto driver! Surprising, Why should a auto driver be allowed

    inside a bus upto the rear and misguide people upon asking. Had proper information been given to me by the SVR workers I would have got down in Corporation and saved much time and distance.

    Secondly the assistant boy by name Kareem had an arrogant and inhuman behavior. Mistakes and lapses do happen but the way he behaved with me was uncalled for. He had repeatedly asked me get down off the bus. Well it is not his personal vehicle to give

    me orders like that. I don’t want to stretch this matter too far. But as a customer for the first time my experience had been bitter.

    I only request you to see to it that passengers are properly informed about the dropping points so that inconvenience is averted. Also some kind of action is taken against such employees who spoil the name of the Travels by their harsh and indecent conduct.

    Thank You.

  2. SM Mohapatra Avatar
    SM Mohapatra

    Our daughter who had come from Bangalore (where she is working) to Salem, to be with us for Diwali.

    She had booked her tickets through RedBus to travel by SRS Bus Travels. For both the To and Fro journeys, she paid double the fare. Additionally, on the day of her return journey, ie. on 4th November 2013, the SRS waiting room at New Bus Stand, Salem was closed when we reached there at 5.15 pm to board the bus which was scheduled to leave at 5.45pm.

    On making enquiries with the KPN Bus Travel representatives, who have their office adjacent to SRS, in the same complex, they informed us about that the SRS bus generally stops at the Taxi Stand venue which is on the opposite side.

    Anxious about the uncertain communication, specially since we do not understand or speak Tamil,( we have been transferred just a few months ago to this place), we tried calling the contact no given by SRS in their ticket msg. The calls were simply not answered.

    At around 6.10 pm, someone from a non SRS no. called my daughter demanding as to where she was and if she did not reach the ‘Five Roads’ petrol pump in 10 minutes,they would proceed without her. He was speaking only in Tamil and she tried telling him to speak in English atleast because most people in Tamil Nadu are allergic to speaking in Hindi but the caller just kept repeating – ’10 minutes Anji Road, go away’.

    Having no alternative, we caught an Auto and rushed. Reaching the venue, we discovered that the Bus having the number- KA-01, AA-2097, was standing elsewhere, quite far from the Petrol pump.

    The driver and his help refused to open the luggage box and did not extend any kind of help to carry the suitcase along with other luggage which our daughter was carrying. They refused to allow us also to help, almost pushing us out at the door itself, all along mumbling something rudely, which we obviously could not follow. My daughter undertook the travel because she definitely had to report for work the next day.

    The customer orientation if this bus service leaves much to be desired. On an earlier occasion too, the same SRS bus service had asked my daughter to report at some venue other than their fixed place since no other passenger was traveling from Salem and so they did not want to enter the town. On that occasion also, all the communication had been in Tamil. The only saving grace then had been that they had informed her before one hour which gave us enough time to reach.

    Charging double the fare, when Red bus claims to be giving discounts (!), refusing to adhere to time schedules, communicating poorly about changes, not providing assistance for luggage, behaving rudely and not bothering to speak a common language which most can understand…. It can go on and on.

    Their name SRS is written in english, their emails and tickets are in english, their passenger list is also english, so what holds them back from keeping someone on board who has some ability to communicate in english ??? And politeness surely needs no language.

    I am quite aware that I may get a standard reply just like Mr Wahid above, but I appeal as an anguished parent, to all who read this to avoid using SRS Bus Service, specially if you are a non local, not belonging to TamilNadu. The Tamilians perhaps have a better experience but then Redbus, who represents an International character, should certainly not be a part of such a poor, localised service.

    Mrs. SM Mohapatra

  3. Rahul Kulkarni Avatar
    Rahul Kulkarni

    Booked a ticket with redbus in the morning from Panjim(Goa) for dept time 8:45PM BUT till the last moment we did not received any confirmation from RedBus, after confirming with the travel agency it was found that the same tickets were booked by some different names. After many repetitive attempts of calling RedBus call centre the call was received and it was asked to us that due to some technical error we did not get the confirmation BUT since this was a problem from RedBus they took a fake responsibility to find another booking for us leaving us waiting with no clue further. Finally the 8:45PM bus left us as the same tickets were confirmed with other passenger and was showing cancelled for us. AGAIN trying calling several times to RedBus we were finally left unattended and irresponsibly a message was sent by RedBus that our ticket was cancelled and we are refunding the total amount back to our account.
    Will surely put this into notice in public interest so that no other couple would be left alone in an unknown city so irresponsibly by cancelling there booked tickets and left them a nowhere option on the 11th hour.

  4. mumbai bus hire Avatar
    mumbai bus hire

    Sometimes there is no coordination between red bus and the concerned travel agency which causes provlems

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