National Express Reviews

1.6 Rating 322 Reviews
13 %
of reviewers recommend National Express
1.6
Based on 322 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 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
The worst and rudest experience I have encountered on any travels, we were there before the departing time to go to gate 19 for our bus at 7:30 to Middlesbrough. We waited there and went to ask a number of staff at the coach station who told us to go to stand 17 and to board. One of the staff members then proceed to slam the door in our face, shouted and made gestures. He then proceeded to come back 2 minutes later to shout at us, condescending and utterly rude. I have never experienced this type of customer interaction before and as a result would refrain from ever using this service again. Such was the level of shouting by the staff member, a customer on a different coach stepped in to say he was out of line in the manner he was speaking to us. To put the cherry on the top all we told they can do for us was for us to purchase a new tickets as there’s nothing they can do. Everything was out of their hands.
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Posted 11 months ago
My 2 19 year old sons along with three of their friends booked a return to Leeds from Milton Keynes on 18th returning on 19th March. Unfortunately they had car issues on the way to Milton Keynes and arrived 1 min before the bus departed. One of my sons ran to the bus and asked the driver if he could wait just a couple of mins for them to park their car. He said ‘no’ and said you’ll have to get the next bus. The office would not allow them to use the ticket they had paid for the next bus, so they all had to fork out £30 each (£150 in total). When they got on the next bus, the driver said he would have accepted their tickets from the earlier bus. There were plenty of seats available. My son tried to get a refund, but he was told it was company policy. These boys don’t have a lot of money to spare. I think your company are extremely mean at making them pay again when there was plenty of space on the later bus. Very unkind and money grabbing company. My sons will not be travelling with you again! The 1st driver was very arrogant and could have easily waited 2 mins, but worse than that they were charged the extra £150 on top of what they had already paid.
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Posted 1 year ago
I got a ticket on national express bristol London. After that I had booked a bus from london/paris with more than 3hrs difference. When I was in the national express bus in bristol it was decided to join the people from 2 buses in one. So my bus that was direct was going now to be diverted to Swindon and Heathrow. The bus driver told me that was better to get the train instead. That was not guaranteed what time we will be arriving to London. Like me there was about 8 people in the train to London that I saw. I requested a refund for uber /train/subway. The bus drivers told us that in this circumstances national express pay for the expenses. Now national express is replying that they just can do a refund from the national express ticket from Bristol/London that don't cover by far the expenses I had with this new national express strategy. I know now that this is gappen very often, cancel buses to join the clients from different buses to reduce costs and leaving clients to their own chance.
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Posted 1 year ago
Travelled to Canterbury from Exeter and back excellent service ,really helpful drivers ,comfy seats
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Posted 1 year ago
On 13 March 2023 I traveled from London Victoria to Nottingham at 20.30 -23.30 In coach NX450 all my journey was worried because I can’t charged my phone none of the switch was not working and my battery was dead and was thinking how I can book taxi to pick me Not good at all 🥵🥵🥵🥵 I didn’t enjoy my journey even I try to call national rail office it goes on voice mail
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Posted 1 year ago
Should be zero rate !!! but without 1 star will not let me add my review! Please be careful and never use National Express coach service from Stansted airport. The driver of the National Express came about two hours late,was very rude and disrespect to us passengers,he shouted and was very aggressive,his language was vulgar and very inappropriate acting like he is on top of the world, he started an argument as a result of which he refused us to travel with him. National Express employee there were very unpleasant, unhelpful and didn't consider us as passengers at all, they created their own fake story with this rude driver so they wouldn't have to refund our tickets. They never refunded us for our tickets. We had to return to London by train at our own extra cost. BE AWARE DO NOT USE NATIONAL EXPRESS SERVICES! Better is to take the train from Stansted without delays and extra stress. Using National Express was a big mistake and no one from my family will ever use National Express again. I just want to warn people that it is not worth choosing this service to travel with National Express. Never never again
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Posted 1 year ago
Can't get intoutouch gave up waiting on phone The Answer I wanted Awas NOT on useless websight find another coach company..
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Posted 1 year ago
Highly recommend this service. Easy booking. Lovely coaches and staff. Real value for money.
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Posted 1 year ago
I can't describe my disappointment at the driver who took went the wrong direction ended up in junction 28 & drove all the way back waisted almost 1 hour what made it worst he didn't know where HD was Coach SH291 ON THE 3RD OF FEB
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Posted 1 year ago
We arrived at the coach station early, and at about 12:13, two coaches turned up. Ours was due to leave at 12:15, so it became a stressful situation of trying to determine which of the coaches was ours in about two minutes, as neither of them listed our destination. We had also seen another coach come in and then change its destination, so weren't sure how reliable this was. The monitors where we were waiting said no information on coach departures was available, so we had no information about which coaches were incoming and when, other than literally seeing them as they arrived. My Mum got into the queue for Coach A, and I went to check on Coach B. The driver from Coach B (the coach it turned out we should have been getting) asked if I was getting on, so I asked where she was going, and she said, '[end destination]'. I then said oh I think we're going in a different direction, at which point she said okay, and got back on the coach. She didn't ask to see a ticket, or ask me where I was going, or establish that there were other stops along the way, all of which gave me the impression that it must have been a direct route to that place - assumedly she was in a rush to leave at 12:15, which again, gave us barely two minutes to figure out what was happening. Also Coach B stopped at a different bay to the one we had been directed to by the signs, whereas Coach A was parked in the proper place, causing additional confusion. I went back to the queue for Coach A, where there were two members of staff, one helping people with their luggage and another checking people's tickets. I went to the man who was helping people with their luggage, said we were going to Nottingham, and asked him if this was the correct coach for that. First he stared at me in a disbelieving sort of way, and then rather than answering my question, I am not exaggerating when I say that he shouted at me to 'look at your phone', 'look at your phone'. His tone was extremely angry and disrespectful, and again, he was actually shouting at me. He kept saying to look at the service number - at the time I wasn't sure what this was, as the text on the ticket is very small and it's not highlighted as an important piece of information - so he actually helped himself to my phone screen and zoomed in to the point where the service number was, then pointed back at their coach to say that it wasn't the same one. He then continued to shout, 'You want that one, it's gone now,' and pointed to the NX 240, which was just turning the corner and leaving. He then turned away to carry on helping other people with luggage. So thanks to the poor service of the National Express staff, we were left stranded in Sheffield on a day when no trains were running due to strikes, and my partner had to drive two hours to pick us up and bring us home. I would also note that the man in question seemed perfectly ordinary with almost everyone else. He didn't direct any of his aggression towards my mum (people often don't realise we're travelling together, because she's white), seemed perfectly normal and calm with everyone else, and seemed to be having a laugh and a joke with his fellow driver - the man checking tickets - so didn't appear to even be in a bad mood. The only times that he got angry and shouted were at me asking a very simple question, and at the only other black woman there, who he shouted at to go and get her ticket checked because she was wheeling her luggage over to the open luggage bay first. Again, I really do have to stress that although the shouting in and of itself was completely awful, unprofessional, and unacceptable, there was a real nastiness and anger to it, and a real disrespect that made me feel spoken to as though I was thick, and his behaviour was the same with the other black woman who was there. Before and after speaking to both of us, he seemed perfectly normal and level, and I did not see him direct this aggression or behaviour at anyone else. I cannot express enough how uncomfortable this made me feel, and both myself and my mum were hardly able to respond for just absolute shock at the way he was "speaking" to me. Suffice it to say, we won't be getting National Express again, and I would strongly encourage anyone else considering it to steer clear of them.
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Posted 1 year ago
Very bad schedules. Friday night: bus every 90 minutes. I didn't get to catch the bus at the time booked and I have to queue like those who don't have a ticket. If you know it's a strike on trains, why the hell don't you put in buses more often? The tail is 200m. Shame on you
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Posted 1 year ago
This company is a joke!
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Posted 1 year ago
Due to train strikes, which have left me really “stuck”, I booked National express coach to and from my place of work. I am very pleased with the service and the comfort of the coach. The drivers have all been pleasant. Thankyou:)
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Posted 1 year ago
Frizing coach and bad mud drivers
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Posted 1 year ago
Had issues purchasing a Young Persons coach card for my daughter. Online system failed several times before it went though but the. I found the type of card had defaulted to ‘senior coach card’. Redid the purchase and called customer services. I explained and was advised that the incorrect one would be cancelled. Checked next day to find if been charged for both. Then both cards arrived with my daughter so obviously had not been cancelled. Rang again 2 weeks later in case the refund was taking a while, but no it had not been refunded. CS advisor was pretty curt to the point of being rude, asking for the same information over and over. Will now wait to see if the refund arrives. Not a great experience.
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Posted 1 year ago
I would give -1, no heating at all end of November , freezing in the bus for 3 hours.
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Posted 1 year ago
Terrible service! I had the tickets booked in advance, however we were left behind because there was no enough space. What's the point to buy tickets in advance? I travelled with them 3 times in the last 6 months, and every single time I had an issue. Today we had to pay for a taxi in order to get to the airport, when I had the tickets purchased on the 7th October! Unacceptable!
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Posted 1 year ago
too expensive
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Posted 1 year ago
Great service by National Express, Birmingham to London service.
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Posted 1 year ago
I purchased tickets on the day of departure and the instructions on the ticket were to meet at a particular coach station in London. My husband and I arrived 15 minutes early and were told by the staff of N.express that this coach station was closed today due to the queens funeral and we had to travel another hour to Wembly station. They said not to worry about the time of departure on our ticket, as the coach would accept our ticket regardless. When we arrived (and walked for 15 minutes in the rain on the other side) we were denied access to the bus due to the departure time on my ticket. There were many many other travelers in this same position. All other buses that night were booked out and N.Express staff just shrugged their shoulders and said to go to a hotel and try again tomorrow. We don't live in london and it was very late so had nowhere to stay, and had people expecting us on the other side of the coach that we booked and paid for. In the end we had to catch a 2 hour uber which cost us a lot of money. We have emailed National Express for a refund of the coach ticket, and reimbursement for the cost of the trains to get to 2 of the coach stations they told us to go to BUT THEY HAVE NOT REFUNDED OR REIMBURSED US A SINGLE PENNY. We have been chasing them up for over 2 months now and they are just ignoring us. My level of disappointment and frustration with N.E is extremely high, and I can't believe their lack of care for their customers who they have caused so much stress to.
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Posted 1 year ago
National Express is rated 1.6 based on 322 reviews