“Sent wrong sized bus, so had to drive as well.
2 weeks to respond to complaint.
Think the bus was probably the first one ever made it was that old (driver was a nice bloke I would add).
All round rubbish service given what we paid.”
“This company has given me probably the worst experience I have ever known in more than 20 years of coach hire. I booked through them to take a Pilgrimage Group to Gatwick airport. They supplied a coach which turned up late, was filthy dirty, and a driver who didn't know how to get to the airport when there was a motorway closure. I had to navigate him using Google maps on my phone. We only just made it to the airport in time to check in for the flight. SMC also imposed two additional charges - because I gave my home postcode instead of the pickup point when I first enquired, they charged £60 extra despite the fact that it was less than 4 miles different; then £80 extra for the return because our flights were delayed due to a ground staff strike in Italy. When I complained on return about the poor service, I found their customer service was just as poor as any other aspect of their service and they were just not interested. What they don't make clear on their website is that they are not actually a coach company but simply a booking agency, so for my trip at least they simply booked a local coach company for the job, with no control over the quality. I would not use this company again under any circumstances and would not recommend anyone else to do so.”
“Read the other negative reviews and STAY AWAY from this company .There are plenty of good reliable companies out there.
I booked 2 33 seaters in Feb for a charity event in June.3 days before the event after I had paid them in full weeks before.They send me an email to say they can no longer supply the 33 seaters. 3 days before the event. When i said I will accept a bigger coach that they offered they said they could no longer do this. Read the bad reviews on here. I'm sure the 60 participants they were due to pick up will be leaving bad feedback too.
If you want a reliable company use A Class Corporate Travel they have worked so hard today to make our event happen.booking reference 296700”
“Read the other negative reviews and STAY AWAY from this company .There are plenty of good reliable companies out there.
I booked 2 33 seaters in Feb for a charity event in June.3 days before the event after I had paid them in full weeks before.They send me an email to say they can no longer supply the 33 seaters. 3 days before the event. When i said I will accept a bigger coach that they offered they said they could no longer do this. Read the bad reviews on here. I'm sure the 60 participants they were due to pick up will be leaving bad feedback too.
If you want a reliable company use A Class Corporate Travel they have worked so hard today to make our event happen.booking reference 296700”
“STAY AWAY . THEY WILL LET YOU DOWN!!!
Read the other negative reviews and STAY AWAY from this company .There are plenty of good reliable companies out there.
I booked 2 33 seaters in Feb for a charity event in June.3 days before the event after I had paid them in full weeks before.They send me an email to say they can no longer supply the 33 seaters. 3 days before the event. When i said I will accept a bigger coach that they offered they said they could no longer do this. Read the bad reviews on here. I'm sure the 60 participants they were due to pick up will be leaving bad feedback too.
If you want a reliable company use A Class Corporate Travel they have worked so hard today to make our event happen.”
“Absolutely terrible. Turned up 40 minutes late and we missed the start of our activities. Complained to customer services as we and refused to take responsibility or give any compensation. The company didn't care at all as they are just an agent for lots of other companies. Avoid!”
“If I could give them 0 stars then I would. Awful customer service. Booked a minibus for sisters hen party and on the day of departure did not turn up. Phoned the number we were given by text and the driver told us that he would not be picking us up and he was just the operator and that we needed to speak to the company direct. When we phoned the company the lady on the phone said that she was aware that nobody was going to pick us up and made a poor excuse why. By this point I had one upset sister who’s hen party was ruined before it had even began. They refunded the money back straight away and I was left to organise other means of transport for 9 of us to Reading from Neath. I would not recommend this company to my worst enemy. I would also not believe the 5 star reviews that are on their website.”
“Disgusting state of affairs. September 2nd 2018 Party of eight left high and dry with no transport to get us from Peterborough to Birmingham. It was a Sunday no way to contact company and the 'driver' who rang me an hour beforehand just wouldn't answer the phone until way past the pick up time to tell me that there would be no journey, he wasn't going to pick us up. No explanation or apology. On the Monday I contacted the company for a full refund as is my legal right only to be told a cock and bull story about the driver being killed on his way to pick us up! (Yeah the guy I spoke to after the pick up time). I had to keep asking for a full refund for 10 days! Finally got it and it was sent from two different banks one in Manchester and one in London in two payments. Dodgy if you ask me. I have reported this company to Trading Standards who I understand will be investigating them. Do not use!”
“An awful service.
My experience really wasn't '"a great level of service for the price you pay" as stated on your website.
We made a booking from Southampton Travelodge to Goodwood Racecourse and back.At 11:00 (the time we were due to leave) our coach had not yet arrived. I rang the number of our supposed driver (sent to me via text the day before). When speaking to the driver, he said there had been a mistake and that he was with a different booking, which was already at Goodwood. He gave me the number of someone he thought might be. When speaking to our new driver he didn't even know where we needed to be picked up from. By the time he got to the hotel it was 12:00 (1 hour late).This was a great inconvenience as I was in charge of a group of 40 people.”
“NEVER EVER EVER USE THIS COACH COMPANY.
Horrendous service. Hired 4 coaches for 200 people from London to Norwich. One coach never turned up, another came one hour late. Managers were disrespectful.
On our return with 200 kids in heatwave sun, 3 coaches turned up. 4th never came and they tried to pull off one of the three drivers to do another job.
Disgusting service!!!”
“I recently have used SMC Coach hire services, and unfortunately it did not go well for me.
I came across SMC Coach hire through a friend that have used them before. The first warning my friend gave is that the coach arrived quite late (around 40 min) to take the group. Even though, I heard the advice I decided to go with them as well, thinking that maybe it was just a one off situation.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
My trip was from Bromley to Swindon and I calculated around 2:30 to 3:00 trip. We were supposed to leave at 8:00am and we would have time to arrive in the event in Swindon.
My group was 15min before the departure time in front of a parking space, however when was 8:00am no sign of the coach. I waited another 10min to call the number provided by SMC Coach hire, which when I called, by my surprise I had been informed (politely) that the coach was going to be late 1:00 (AN HOUR) same problem as my friend. The reason, was because the air conditioning was not working, and they needed to provide another coach.
After an hour and so, the coach arrived, parked over the road, which I needed to cross the road with 50 people excited to go to the event.
The coach was terribly hot, and we noticed only one air conditioner working.
We arrived quite late, as our event usually lasts two hours we missed more than half.
When we arrived the driver was not happy because the group left some food on the floor (peanuts and bottle of water) and we didn’t pick up (I didn’t know we were supposed to clear the bus for them), however we were quite late for the event we didn’t have time to do it. So, he decided that we could not take any bottle of water or any food on the way back, and if we were thirsty we could ask him he would stop in a petrol station. The coach was boiling hot, and we stopped on the first station, which I spoke to the driver and CONVINCED him that we would pick the bottles of water later if we were allowed to carry them on the bus.
When we got the destination back in Bromley the driver was inspecting one by one at the bus door, checking if we had picked the bottles of water.
I have spoken to SMC Coach hire advising them about the bad review, and they gave me a reply apologetic, but nothing more than that, which in my opinion, they should have gone an extra mile and give a refund (as I requested), as the whole point of hiring them was to get in my event in time, and this wasn’t achieved.
The points that did frustrated me was the deficiency of reliability, first the bus being late and also if I didn’t call I would not be informed (that’s how I felt), also the lack of customer service by the bus driver.
I hope they really step up and improve the service, because for the moment I would spend more and go somewhere else.”
“Was part of a booking from Bournemouth to Gatwick and back from Stansted to Bournemouth. Transfer out was fine, but the driver didn't show for the return journey and at 1am 10 of us were left stranded 2 1/2 from home with no options other than a £550 taxi fee. Ok mistakes happen I guess, but the company then have the cheek to essentially only refund the one leg they didn't turn up to, leaving us all out of pocket! What message does that send?! At least admit it's a mistake and you'll cover the cost to show that you care about customers and reputation but from reading other reviews it seems this is all too common. Seriously, if you're considering getting a transfer, pay the extra few quid and use a company who are reliable, and more importantly care about their customers”
“Appalling service. Contacted to enquire of how local roadworks which would restrict access to pick up point would be handled and was told. "You'll get the driver's mobile number on the day and you can liaise with him then." Clearly not a coach company but an interface - like booking.com- but useless apart from SEO. Cancelled and booked local”
