On December 22 I wrote about my megabus experience (Pop Up Communities). That evening I decided to contact megabus from a different angle to see what happened. Their website has press releases so I was able to find out the name of the President and COO (Dale Moser). They do not list on their website any email addresses of staff. To contact them you have to fill in a contact form.
Because I had been pleased with the outbound journey (good driving in the snow) I had completed the contact form sending in a note of praise to the drive: in doing so I noted that the drop down does not have a label for 'feedback' so my comments went into 'general enquiries'.
Here's what I said:
Date: 12/17/2010 11:56 AM
Subject: General Enquiries
How do I thank one of your drivers? I was on the 11:45 a.m. from Washington DC to Christiansburg yesterday – December 16. It was snowing, roads were treacherous, yet the bus left on time and despite the very poor conditions got us all their safely and cheerfully. Great driver and driving. Naomi
And here's the reply from 'Inquiries' (Sent on December 21)
From: inquiries@megabus.com
To: naomi@stanford.cc
Cc: Jessica.Francois@coachusa.com
Thank you for choosing megabus.com. I will forward your email to the appropiate personnel for proper handling. We do appreciate receiving good comments and really am pleased when one of our company employees is being thanked for their good service. Again, thank you for being a megabus customer, and we look forward to servicing you in the future.
Thank you
Annie
I tried, in various combinations, to email Dale Moser at Megabus.com. No success. Finally I took a look at the general enquiries response again – notice that the reply was cc.ed to Jessica with a coachusa address. So I tried the .coach usa address. Bingo!
Below the exchange. An impressively swift response from Dale Moser. I wonder what the next stage will be?
—–naomi@stanford.cc wrote: —–
To Dale Moser, President & COO, Coach USA
12/22/2010 06:54 p.m
Reservation number 17-4359-121910-M38-1335-BLA-WAS
Please tell me why the megabus scheduled to depart at 1:35 on Sunday December 19 did not arrive at Christiansburg? Please tell me why your customer service department did not answer, your managers in the ticketing department were not available to speak with, there was no SMS alert to my cell phone, and there has been no subsequent apology or explanation for the lack of service (in every aspect). I am sending you by mail a request for reimbursement of my one way car rental.
Many thanks
Naomi
—–Original Message—–
From: Dale.Moser@coachusa.com
12/22/2010 08:37 p.m.
To: naomi@stanford.cc
Cc: Jessica.Francois@coachusa.com
Subject: Re: Customer Service Issues
Ms Stanford,
Let us look into this issue and I will have our Director contact you with a response.
Dale Moser
President & COO
Coach USA
=====================
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 9:17 PM
Dale
Many thanks. Just as an fyi – we waited 2 hours and the bus did not show.
There were about 10 people waiting for it in the parking lot. None of us could get through to customer service number 908 282 7420 that the ticketing people gave us. Some of the passengers waiting asked to speak to the ticketing supervisor/manager and were told that he/she was too busy. (One person found out that the name of the manager was Tray). I have posted a report on the experience on my blog if you would like to take a look at it http://www.naomistanford.com
Best regards
===============
Wed 12/22/2010 9:43 PM
Naomi
It appears from a quick review of the GPS from that date, the bus did stop in Christians burg, but is this 50 minutes ahead of the schedule.
This is unacceptable and we will deal with the driver and you will be contacted by our office to resolve your situation.
Please accept our apologize and know this is no the standard of service megabus as been known for. Obviously we had a difficult first couple of days during this new Hub start-up and for that we are truly sorry.
Please give us another chance to earn back your confidence, as we have to over 8 million customers to date.
Sincerely,
Dale
Dale Moser
President & COO
Coach USA
=================
(Today I am repeating the megabus journey. I hope that it will be a good experience and not the start of My Memoirs on Megabus)
UPDATE: January 30 2011. Last week I got a check reimbursing me for the full amount of my one way car rental. Thank you Megabus.
Naomi Stanford 