National Express Reviews

1.6 Rating 323 Reviews
13 %
of reviewers recommend National Express
1.6
Based on 323 reviews
Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods
Own Driver
On-time Delivery
Greater than 26%
Customer Service
Communication Channels
Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In
Over A Week
Customer Service
1.7 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process
Difficult
Read National Express Reviews

About National Express:

National Express coach & bus tickets for travel to over 900 destinations throughout the UK including London airports Heathrow, Gatwick & Stansted. National Express offer Britain’s only scheduled coach network reaching around 1000 destinations in England, Scotland and Wales.

Phone:

08717 818178

Location:

National Express House, Birmingham Coach Station, Mill Lane, Digbeth
Birmingham
B5 6DD7

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National Express 1 star review on 24th April 2024
SELMAN AKSUNGER
National Express 1 star review on 23rd May 2023
Anonymous
National Express 1 star review on 23rd May 2023
Anonymous
National Express 1 star review on 9th July 2022
You Bus Smells Like Shit
Anonymous
Anonymous  // 01/01/2019
1 1/2 hour delay with no explanation. Different excuses made. Put in the wrong queue. If such a delay, give the redcoats a tannoy and let your customers know what’s happening. And apologise for the delay. Told you could only get on if you had a priority ticket?? Just about got on the coach because of the rush. We were lucky to get a seat; some didn’t!
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Posted 5 months ago
We booked a family ticket from London Victoria to Norwich on the 23/10/23 (until 27/10/23) at 1200. It was one of the most uncomfortable horrendous journeys that I have ever experienced. It took 5 hours to get to Norwich, yet the driver did not stop once for a break so that customers could stretch their legs or even buy a drink! The seats were so uncomfortable I suffered backache for days afterwards. Even though we bought return tickets we ended up booking train tickets with Greater Anglia Rail Service to return to London as we just couldn’t face the prospect of travelling back to London on a National Express coach! We had a completely different experience travelling back by train with Greater Anglia Railways the seats were much more comfortable, clean toilets on board and snacks available to purchase! I can safely say that I will never travel with National Express again!
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Posted 5 months ago
A lovely gent, Adam helped me switch a journey and my seats when I unfortunately got my journey out date wrong by a day. He was very helpful. Made the switch hassle free and assisted with a lovely attitude. Zoe
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Posted 6 months ago
My wife and i bought a ticket from heathrow T4 to Bournemouth with National Express after a very long flight. The attendent at the airport came out and declared to the crowd of 30 of us that our coach will not be arriving. He told us that we all will be getting on to the coach to portsmouth and they will be dropping us off in southampton and a further coach will be getting us to bournemouth. We ask for the guarantee of this and he said the national express will never leave anyone stranded i promise. When we got to southampton there was a coach but with not enough room for all of us. 17 of us were left in southampton andf told taxis or a coach will be with us in 5 minutes. the crowd left of 17 people included a family of 5 with a small baby who didnt speak english and anther couple with a baby and 2 young 16 year old girls who were here from switzerland. Without a care in the world for any of these people National Express left us all stranded without anyone turning up after 45 minutes.. We all scrabbled around trying to flag down taxis to arrange transport but when we left there was still a family of 5 left there at midnight. Getting home at 1am nearly 3 hours after we should of was a disgrace. I contacted customer services today and they stated taxis were sent and i advised that was untrue as we were there waiting. I asked to speak to a manager who first said he would refund my ticket and taxi but went back on his word and said later that he would not refund the ticket as he got us half way home. Outrageous.I then asked to go through to the complaints dept and was told that now i had dealt with him then he would not put me through to a complaints dept as he dealt with it. I then asked for the name of the taxi company he said he had paid to collect us . He told me they did not know the taxi company. This is the same taxi company he said they had paid to pick us up that did not arrive but he did not know who they were ???!??! . The fact this company left so many families stranded and offer no apology or damages for this is disgusting. luckily we had good people in the group that helped out the people whose first impression of our country was this disgrace of a company. Like me if you were one of this group contact trading standards and lodge a complaint so this does not happen to other families or youngsters . National Express you should be ashamed !!!!
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Posted 6 months ago
Received an Email from NE stating that on my day of travel, after 11pm at T5 different stops would be in use due to road closures. I was standing at the designated stop ten minutes before departure of the last coach only to eventually connect to their useless App to see it on its way to T3. It had not departed from the stops I was told to use. Then followed a frantic attempt to catch it at T3 by using the midnight departure of the Elizabeth Line, you've guessed it; the train was delayed the T3 travelators were switched off and I missed it at T3 by two minutes. After midnight T3 turns into a scene from the apocalypse with intensive road engineering. Eventually found my way to connect with at taxi. NE customer service have sent several contradictory replies to my complaints none of them accepting responsibility for their misinformation which caused the issue. The term 'customer service' is an oxymoron when applied to National express. The service is good when it works but they are trained to offer a customer disservice when things go wrong.
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Posted 6 months ago
My journey went without a problem,ticket office guy,Southampton even operated ticket machine for me and escorted me to the departure point,what's not to like and cheap ticket back to Brum
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Posted 6 months ago
customer service on telephone is unable to give verified information, friendly staff on the telephone who don't know about the details of their job it took 2 weeks to have my problem solved, poor e-mail service, unable to forward and send messages
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Posted 7 months ago
We (family of 5) traveled on Saturday 12th of August at 4:00 am Coach, Unique reference code ED 62 from Bristol to Cardiff. Our driver Graham was absolutely brilliant, he was kind, warm, welcoming and extremely helpful. Thank you so much for all your help Graham! We will be looking forward to travel with you again. Laila Date of experience: 12 August 2023
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Posted 8 months ago
Bear with me for a fully detailed review. I missed my journey to Leicester from Golders Green due to issues on the underground. I attempted to book my journey, but the system indicated that all seats were booked. After waiting for 2 hours to express my situation and inquire if any passengers had missed or canceled their journeys, the next bus arrived. I explained my predicament, but unfortunately, there was no availability for the next journey. The driver attentively listened to my situation, checked my previous tickets and travel history (approximately 12-15 journeys I've made over the last 2 months), and then a kind gesture occurred. An angelic moment emerged through the driver, who allowed me to board the bus. While today's experience left me frustrated and words could hardly capture my feelings, my journey with EMR trains was profoundly exasperating. Despite having email tickets (rather than physical ones), I was denied the opportunity to sit on the train. I was compelled to purchase new tickets, which eventually cost me three times the original fare. This experience reaffirms why I consistently recommend choosing National Express over EMR trains. The EMR staff's behavior was significantly lacking, and I urge fellow passengers to direct their business towards National Express, not EMR trains. I'd also like to mention that I encountered a commendable bus driver during this ordeal. Although I don't have his name, he was a disabled driver with limited arm mobility, yet he displayed exceptional skill and kindness. I applaud the exceptional customer service provided by National Express and all their drivers.
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Posted 8 months ago
I hope this is of use, particularly for solo travellers. I arrived at Chorlton St bus station at 7.20pm for the 7.40pm to Blackpool. I am disabled and walk with a stick and I'm not good at standing for long periods so I was greatly relieved when upon arrival I saw the station illuminated sign displaying, ' 7.40pm for Blackpool now boarding. Go to Gate C.' I was stuck in a queue for a little while as other coaches were boarding from the same Gate. I finally made it to the coach door and the 2 drivers were engrossed on their phones. They looked most put out that I had come to board. "WE are the drivers and WE tell you when you can board!" said one aggressively. I explained that the display board was stating to go to Gate C as the Blackpool coach is now boarding. "You'll have to go back!" he bawled. Disappointed and somewhat crest fallen I headed back to Gate C. "Not that Gate!" he ordered loudly and indicated a Gate further away. I went through that Gate and got stuck in a long queue as the Birmingham coach was boarding there. My legs were now throbbing and I was in some pain. I got to the Blackpool coach and I was turned away AGAIN even though it was now less than 10 mins to departure. The ill manners were now becoming threatening as he insisted I had to queue yet again. Another queue had been forming outside the station [dangerous?] and I had to join that one. I eventually boarded with less than 5 mins to go. I had been using the train previously but decided to try National Express after all the disruption. I'll go back to the train because at least all the staff are polite and helpful, not threatening, unnerving and bullying.
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Posted 8 months ago
Great service from Dan on the 0535 from Golders Green last Saturday 22nd July to Stansted. Friendly, nice driving and a clean and comfort coach.
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Posted 9 months ago
DO NOT under any circumstances book with NE! Wow, how many things can one company get wrong, dirty stinking buses, no working toilets, late pick ups, downright dangerous driving (apparently they bonuses) for each target! NE Driving standards should be seriously questioned by POLICE. myself and my family booked for London, 2 buses there, 2 buses back. all 4 journeys were of the same grubby buses, dangerous driving, questionable driving skills, their drivers people skills were shocking, especially considering their website claiming to out people first????????? Who ever created their website clearly never met drivers or actually used the service, or just took lots of money to tell lots of lies. I'm still waiting for a reply from any member of NE, I used their complaints form, on their complaints page???? clearly this is as usefull as their timetables
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Posted 9 months ago
It was terrible! Our bus 440 was scheduled to leave London Victoria for Derby at 4:30 pm on July 1st. On the day of the trip, National Express first received a message that the bus would be replaced with another one. However, when the time came for the trip, it turned out that there was no bus at all. National Express employees operating other buses told passengers that the bus was delayed and they did not provide any more information. It was impossible to get through to the company's phone number, the company's website was also unavailable. As a result, all passengers of the bus were forced to wait for long hours without any information! As a result, bus 440 was cancelled! We were terribly tired, the baby was crying and we were just lucky that there were still seats on the company's late bus, Megabus, and we finally managed to leave London by spending extra money on bus tickets. I also failed to apply for a refund for services not provided on the National Express website! Shame on you for your complete disrespect for your customers and indifference!
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Posted 9 months ago
The lady in the ticket office , Reme was so helpful and very friendly. She is a credit to National Express. 5 star service
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Posted 10 months ago
I would love to be able to give 0 stars my car was clipped 4 weeks ago by a west midlands national express bus the driver didn't even stop just carried on so I had to turn around and pursue it to get the registration from the time it happened to me phoning them took 5 mins they tried to say the bus wasn't there's so I called there bluff and said I had a photo of the back of the bus with that registration and there logo on remarkably they then found the bus on the system I was told I'd get a call from a company that deals with there accident claims 2 days later I get a letter national express admit fault and offer to give me a hire car and fix my car for FREE a deal I thought to be to good to be true. 4 weeks later and it was they know state there bus didn't do the damage despite there dash cam showing no damage to my bumper before we crossed paths. There trying to imply im the liar
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Posted 10 months ago
Having been advised to pick my coach up at Pool valley Brighton which was the wrong info I missed my flight but they are not willing to refund my holiday even though I clearly had it in writing to pick it up they are now blaming me ? Disgusting company it’s all about the money they don’t care just a greedy bunch of thieves never will I ever use their services anymore
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Posted 10 months ago
Very slow driver, shouldn’t be working at Airports transport
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Posted 10 months ago
Awful experience! Due to multiple attempts in contacting the national express complaints and customer service team I have had to resort to writing a negative review as the response to my formal complaint offered barely any resolution. While I was refunded my bus ticket of £5, I am more comparing and giving my negative review over national express’ disregard for patient safety and change of bus departure (which led me to have to pay over £80 for a last minute Uber) and lack of communication/resolution to my complaint. Update: response from national express 23-MAY-2023 “Having reviewed your case again, given that we did contact you by email to inform you of the changes despite the email going into your junk folder I am unable to add anything further to my colleagues comments. Unfortunately, I am unable to warrant any compensation on this occasion.” This email is upsetting as they did not follow their typical guidelines national express stated to me “When we need to change the time or date to the ticket we would normally automatically email new ticket to the email that was provided when ticket was purchased. I'm sorry to hear that this did not happened.“ per their response, it is their responsibility to notify customers of the time change with a new ticket. Unfortunately, I was just made aware of the time change however the email was sent from an unknown email! So of course it will then go to my junk. It would be different if the email had come from their official ticket email address as that is an email I would look out for but how should I know to be constantly be checking my junk for a potential national express update from an unknown email! Someone as critical as a time change should be sent by an official email and have an option to acknowledge the change (something airlines do!!). The last thing is the live update said the bus left after I had arrived so regardless of the time change, I should have made the bus due to the bus’s delay. This is another reason why I had missed the bus! I expect a live bus tracker to be updated accurately.
National Express 1 star review on 23rd May 2023 National Express 1 star review on 23rd May 2023
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Posted 11 months ago
This is the second weekend in a row I have been let down by National Express. Last weekend, my first bus was one hour late, causing me to miss my connection at Heathrow. I then had to wait over 2 1/2 hours for another bus which turned out to be over booked. This weekend doing the same journey - Our driver from Bournemouth decided to leave five minutes early and had to be called because back to Bournemouth to pick up passengers he’d left behind. This is resulted in a 30 minute delay getting to Heathrow and we arrived just in time to see the coach, they said they would definitely hold for us, drive away. I will just simply never trust National Express again. Your customer service is quite frankly awful, and your service is totally unreliable and not fit to serve the purpose that it is there to provide
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Posted 11 months ago
I tell you what’s a joke. It’s when you pay a 18.00 ticket to get from Luton Airport to Leicester and NE asks for an additional 32.00 to switch to a coach an hour earlier. Value for money indeed. I flew in from Cyprus on a 28 Euro ticket so work that one out
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Posted 11 months ago
National Express is rated 1.6 based on 323 reviews