Megabus Ruined our Weekend

Roogle

Hi,

First post so apologies if it's in the wrong place.

I should be on holiday in Glasgow right about now. I'm not, I'm sat in my lounge in Cardiff.

To keep my story short; we booked on the Megabus Gold sleeper service return from Cardiff to Glasgow. Each passenger has a bed and the service leaves Cardiff at 23:45 and arrives in Glasgow at 07:25 the following morning - the idea being that you can have a nights sleep while travelling and arrive in Glasgow the following morning ready to face the day.

We figured we'd give it a go, booking to go on Friday night and return on Sunday night - with a hotel booked in Glasgow for Saturday night.

We arrived at Cardiff coach station ready to try this new sleeper service only to find a regular coach waiting for us (no beds, just seats). When I queried it with the driver he said the sleeper coach had broken-down and this was the replacement (and from talking to a passenger the same had happened the night before too).

The prospect of spending the next 7.5 hours - a whole night of my life - sat upright in a coach seat travelling to Scotland was not good, and certainly not what I paid for. I told the driver we would not be travelling and he gave us the email address for complaints - which I sent as soon as I got home at 1am.

I'd be surprised if they did not refund the tickets as it's not the service I purchased, but I've also asked them to refund for the hotel - which was too close to cancel; cinema tickets we'd booked for Glasgow for tonight; guidebooks we'd bough for the trip; and our taxi fare to and from the coach station - I basically don't want to have paid for any of this trip as I haven't got to go on it.

I'm still waiting on a reply from Megabus at present - it's early days - but I'm just looking for advise here if I need to push the matter - do I have any legal grounds to claim the other costs back?

Any advise would be great thanks.

Oh, and it's my birthday weekend too.

Thanks,
Andy

agrinnall

I think you'll struggle to get anything other than the cost of the Megabus tickets back (and perhaps the taxi fares), I would expect their T&Cs would exclude any claim for consequential loss. You chose not to travel, the bus still went and had you got on it you would have been able to use the things you had paid for in Glasgow. A seated overnight bus journey might not have been as restful as one with beds, but at least you wouldn't have Thai pop videos blasting out all night long like you would if travelling that way (often the only option) in SE Asia!

keyser666

Not read the post but I am going to take a stab in the dark that MegaBus didnt ruin the weekend

*off to read the post*

keyser666

Seems I was right

bris

Over dramatic, you will be lucky to get anything.

jacques_chirac

Their terms and conditions restrict liability to alternative transport or a refund. As you declined the alternative, you will be entitled to a refund. You are not entitled to consequential loss.

StrongWork

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. Enjoy your birthday weekend in Cardiff.

Never flown long haul in economy? No beds there and people seem to cope.

Expect Megabus to refund your ticket but as for the other stuff - no chance imvho.

Roogle

Does the replacement transport not have to be suitable? I would not say swapping a bed for a chair was a suitable replacement - were my bed to break at home my first thought would not be to grab a dining room chair.

My main gripe was that we were unaware of the change - even though it appears to have been the case for 24+ hours. Were we told in advance we could have planned accordingly and made an informed choice, rearranged hotels etc.

meer53

I once spent 29 hours upright in a seat going to Australia. Less legroom than a Mega Bus. It didn't spoil my holiday.

arcon5

You'll definitely get a refund. As for consequential losses, you should be looking to mitigate these - which you don't seem to have done.

You should have just gone on the trip and complained after to get a partial refund.

System

Its a long way to travel to go to the cinema. Do they not have an Odeon in Cardiff?