3.5 Hours Delay on London to Poland Coach

londoner2009

I just got back from a trip to Poland, that I booked with Eurolines Coaches. We ended up getting to the final destination 3.5 hours late.

However what really got me was that I had booked the entire thing online with Eurolines, I believe a British company, in the English language and when I got to Victoria Coach Station and showed them my ticket they redirected me to a Polish company called Sinbad Coaches.

Not once during the entire journey which was well over 24 hours were we informed what was going on in the English language. Had I been on a plane I'd have expected the staff to make announcements in both Polish & English, but on the coach only Polish was spoken.

There was several other passengers from Bulgaria, etc that didn't speak any Polish and they also were very annoyed at not knowing what was going on. Also the company confiscated my printed tickets that contained details of my return journey, leaving me with nothing printed in English to help me on my return journey.

What's more we didn't get the service we expected. We had speakers above each of our heads and they blasted out American movies until almost midnight all dubbed in Polish, so whether you liked it or not you couldn't sleep until they finally turned off the movies.

I'm about to contact Eurolines to complain and see what compensation I am able to claim.

Any advice before I do?

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=LEGISSUM:tr0050

tykesi

What financial losses are you claiming compensation for?

waamo

A Polish coach to Poland speaking in Polish. The emotional distress alone must be worth a fortune. Sue them for every Zloty they've got.

londoner2009

waamo wrote: »

A Polish coach to Poland speaking in Polish. The emotional distress alone must be worth a fortune. Sue them for every Zloty they've got.

I never booked my ticket with them - If I wanted to travel with that company I could have booked direct on their own website for less.

I also didn't ask to have my return ticket written in English with details of the departure points confiscated and left with nothing but a hand written ticket that didn't even state where to get the return coach from.

pinkshoes

So are you saying when you asked for a translation, they could not speak English?

agrinnall

Would the journey have been cheaper if you booked direct with Sinbad Coaches than the price you paid to Eurolines? If so you might have a case for a refund of the difference. And if Eurolines' T&Cs say that compensation is paid for delays then you may be able to claim for that. Whether it's worth he bother I have no idea.

lammy82

Lateness: To be expected on a long coach journey, as it is subject to traffic and other delays. No compensation due.

Subcontracting of the transport to another company: almost certainly allowed within the T&C of the ticket.

Announcements only made in Polish: I understand the frustration at now knowing what was going on. Like you say, on a plane there is an assumption that announcements will be made in English. This is primarily because there is an important safety briefing that passengers need to understand. Coaches aren't the same. You didn't suffer any actual loss. Did you ask other passengers or the driver about what was going on? Was anything going on?

Films shown were dubbed in Polish: Annoying, but I suspect that's the first language of the majority of the passengers. What service did you expect? English-language films, or no films? Was anything in particular advertised when you bought your ticket? Did you ask the driver to turn the volume down?

To me it sounds like the sort of things that you would expect on an international coach journey and not anything that you would be due compensation over. However if you write a helpful letter pointing out the shortcomings in the service then they may offer you a discount off your next journey as a goodwill gesture

cajef

londoner2009 wrote: »

I believe a British company, in the English language and when I got to Victoria Coach Station and showed them my ticket they redirected me to a Polish company called Sinbad Coaches.

From Eurolines T & C's

For busy services, at times of high demand, or when a coach in our normal fleet is not available, we hire replacement, standby, additional or duplicate coaches from third parties. These coaches may not bear our livery, but they will have a Eurolines identifier in the window to identify them.

steampowered

That actually sounds like an enjoyable journey to me. I'm sure it wasn't that fun at the time, but certainly an interesting experience to tell people about!

I'm not sure what else you expect with budget international travel?

You would be horrified to hear about some of my experiences with coaches in Asia, though they are all good experiences and part of being alive!!!!

bris

3,5 hours delay on a 24 hour trip isn't that bad, they can't help the traffic. Who cares what the announcer is saying, it's not getting you there any quicker anyway.


You really don't have any rights to compensation and as for the booking you do your home work on ticket prices before you book not after.

societys_child

Whenever I went to France, they all spoke French. In Germany they all spoke German, in Holland they . . well actually many spoke English,
but Belgium :huh: no idea what they were speaking . . .