National Express coaches new 50p booking fee

MarkBargain

I notice National Express are now charging 50p "booking fee", even for debit cards. I wanted to book two adults and one over-60 ticket but it says "Please book tickets for routesixty or disabled passengers in one booking, and other passenger type tickets in a separate booking." meaning I have to pay two 50p booking fees. I know it is not a lot of money, but the principle is wrong. Why can't they just incorporate this into the fares charged?!

dzug1

Because they need to compete on headline price with megabus who do the same sort of thing

yorks808

I dont think this fee will be here to stay lyk. I booked tickets with them last night and saw the 50p booking charge. Theyve put this incorporated fee on and off for the past few yrs.

MarkBargain

dzug1 wrote: »

Because they need to compete on headline price with megabus who do the same sort of thing

Who is this kidding though? 50p is nothing, but when added as a compulsory fee to the normal fare it is annoying and doesn't do much for the reputation of the company in my opinion. I wish companies could be more up front and honest, but that doesn't seem to be the way these days.

grandprix

MarkBargain wrote: »

Who is this kidding though? 50p is nothing, but when added as a compulsory fee to the normal fare it is annoying and doesn't do much for the reputation of the company in my opinion. I wish companies could be more up front and honest, but that doesn't seem to be the way these days.

When you're buying a £6.50 Funfare then it's 7.7% extra, hardly nothing. What is almost nothing is the fee they have to pay to have the card transaction processed. It's nonsense. I asked to buy the Funfare some other way and they said I couldn't. So it's nothing to do with payment method. There'll be a tyre fee / petrol fee / toilet cleaning fee (I wish, they are disgusting) next. That cheap Irish Airline - eat your heart out.

grandprix

MarkBargain wrote: »

I notice National Express are now charging 50p "booking fee", even for debit cards. I wanted to book two adults and one over-60 ticket but it says "Please book tickets for routesixty or disabled passengers in one booking, and other passenger type tickets in a separate booking." meaning I have to pay two 50p booking fees. I know it is not a lot of money, but the principle is wrong. Why can't they just incorporate this into the fares charged?!

Because they're greedy, that's why. And they'll loose customer loyalty.

jimjim79

its doubled to £1 now,

you can avoid booking fee by buying from the driver, i believe. But of course now you have no way of knowing if they will have a seat for you.

I need to go from brighton to eastbourne £3.10 then adding a pound booking fee adds over 1/3rd to the price

grandprix

jimjim79 wrote: »

its doubled to £1 now,

you can avoid booking fee by buying from the driver, i believe. But of course now you have no way of knowing if they will have a seat for you.

I need to go from brighton to eastbourne £3.10 then adding a pound booking fee adds over 1/3rd to the price

I don't think you'll get the "funfares" from the driver - I bet the difference will be far more than a quid, AND, no guaranteed seat . . . they've got us over a barrel. Still, think yourself lucky you don't have to use London Underground, now there's a real rip-off. If only National Express could run some of those lines we might see better value.

JJCommutor

To cut the story short, the driver on NX325 7.30am Manchester-Birmingham service on Jun15th refused to stop at their drop off point because he wanted to take a short cut onto the motor way around Birmingham City University. I wasn't familiar with the area and could only pick my way up if the coach stopped at its usual stop. And it was raining too.
I refused to get off and insisted be taken to the stop. The driver then shut the door and drove me pass the stop and straight to the final destination. When driving, he was furiously shouting at me and accused me of 'just trying to be difficult'. I didn't think this is safe and I replied twice, 'I am not arguing with you' before he finally stopped shouting. When the coach stopped at Digbeth in Birmingham and all the passengers got off, I asked the driver, 'May I have your name please?' He replied, 'Just go away, I won't give you my name, don't ever come back again!', then he walked away towards the station toilet singing and looking untouchable. When I complained to Liz - the station customer service staff member, two other passengers backed me up and said the driver was really out of control.
After the horrible incident, I will never use National Express again, and strongly recommended you think twice before travel with them. The driver's sticky attitude must come from the management to have such a hatred towards their customers.

sharpy2010

JJCommutor wrote: »

To cut the story short, the driver on NX325 7.30am Manchester-Birmingham service on Jun15th refused to stop at their drop off point because he wanted to take a short cut onto the motor way around Birmingham City University. I wasn't familiar with the area and could only pick my way up if the coach stopped at its usual stop. And it was raining too.
I refused to get off and insisted be taken to the stop. The driver then shut the door and drove me pass the stop and straight to the final destination. When driving, he was furiously shouting at me and accused me of 'just trying to be difficult'. I didn't think this is safe and I replied twice, 'I am not arguing with you' before he finally stopped shouting. When the coach stopped at Digbeth in Birmingham and all the passengers got off, I asked the driver, 'May I have your name please?' He replied, 'Just go away, I won't give you my name, don't ever come back again!', then he walked away towards the station toilet singing and looking untouchable. When I complained to Liz - the station customer service staff member, two other passengers backed me up and said the driver was really out of control.
After the horrible incident, I will never use National Express again, and strongly recommended you think twice before travel with them. The driver's sticky attitude must come from the management to have such a hatred towards their customers.

I'd suggest that if that was all completely true, then complaining to National Express themselves and not whinging to a bunch of randoms on the Internet might yeald better results.

It certainly sounds, from your side of the story, a nasty experience.

McKneff

I booked online on Fiday for 2 of us and the booking fee was £1.

Mind, I was quite happy to pay it. The fare from Leeds to Manchester came up at £15 for two us return, I was well pleased with that. I was expecting it to be double that.