Dear customer service representative,
My name is Andrew Lenihan. I travelled on the 704X from Dublin Airport to Cork city yesterday Sunday 26th January at 17:30. My booking reference number was IXPW-UYIO-ISIO.
The reason for my journey was to return home to Cork after undergoing bilateral inguinal hernia surgery in Germany. I was perfectly capable of travelling by my self (walking, pulling my case behind me, etc). The one thing I needed help with was lifting my case, as after the surgery I couldn't pick it up without risking injury.
At luggage check in Frankfurt airport and baggage claim in Dublin airport I had no problem getting someone to assist me. Then I came to board the 17:30 (704x) Aircoach to Cork and explained my situation to the coach driver, asking him to stow my case on the bus for me. By the way, my case weighed 15kg. The driver duly loaded it for me.
I sat at the front of the Aircoach as it was forecast to be rainy in cork, and I was hoping to get one of the few taxis that would likely be waiting near the bus stop, so I could complete my journey as quickly as possible. Sure enough, as the coach rounded the final corner, I could see there were 3 taxis waiting.
When I got off the coach I asked the driver if he could unload my case as I'd had hernia surgery. In response he stepped toward me and asked in quick succession several versions of the following question: "why I was travelling alone with no companion to assist me?" I was taken aback by the enquiry, but explained that I was perfectly capable of travelling alone. I just needed someone to lift my case out of the bus storage area.
This did not appease him. He continued to ask me questions, "how did I get my case on the plane in Germany if I can't lift it? How did I get my case from my hotel to Frankfurt airport? How did I get it off the conveyor belt at baggage claim in Dublin Airport?" His tone was irritated, his brow furrowed.
This went on for minutes, all the while the rain was pouring down and other passengers were collecting their luggage and leaving. Eventually, all the taxis had been taken while I was still standing in the rain, trying to get a word in, imploring this guy to please pull out my case. When all the other passengers and their luggage was gone I shook my head in disbelief and hobbled toward the coach to somehow wrangle it out of there myself, surgery be damned. That's when he lunged in past me and pulled it out. By then, I was soaked to the skin.
I'm a pretty strong man and have never needed physical assistance before. Many times in the past I'd helped other, less fortunate people, in their moment of need. I found my experience at the hands of this driver to be demeaning, as if I was a disruptive school kid.
I have travelled several times with Citylink. Their drivers automatically load and unload all customers bags in the luggage compartment. This was my first experience travelling with Aircoach and based on it I am unlikely to ever want to travel with you again.
I feel a duty to get the word out that there is a driver employed by Aircoach who is aggressive, threatening, belligerent and unprofessional. Basically, he shouldn't be working in a service industry.
P.S. he also ran 2 red lights that I was aware of during the journey: one along the quays in Dublin and one near the Colosseum in Cork.
The above is the basic contents of an email I sent to your parent company's customer service department. Honestly, the only reason I'm not giving a 1 star rating is that in their response they appeared genuinely disappointed and concerned that I'd had such a negative experience travelling with Aircoach. It gives me hope that appropriate disciplinary action may be deployed where this driver is concerned.
first bus's email response to me also included a link to this survey form.
Thank you for taking the time to read this,
Kindest regards,
Andrew