National Express Reviews

1.6 Rating 325 Reviews
13 %
of reviewers recommend National Express
1.6
Based on 325 reviews
Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods
Own Driver
On-time Delivery
Greater than 23%
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
Bought my ticket well in advance. Spoke to the driver in my departure, explained my flight would now be earlier for my return. No problem he said just change your ticket when your returning. So I did that. But for that I had to pay over £21. Original return was only £25. £5 to change and over £16 for excess. That is totally unjustified especially as there is plenty of room on this coach. Misleading information and Help desk not interested.
Helpful Report
Posted 5 years ago
The lady who worked at the National express service from Luton to Paddington on 27th December 2018,at 8.25 WAS VERY RUDE AND UNFRIENDLY..YOUNG GIRL...if she don't like her job why is working there? Very UNFRIENDLY staff.
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Posted 5 years ago
All in all good service...but tricky departure times... Stansted Airport (Nov, 10): The coach was delayed from 16.30 to 17.00. At 16.54 they announced departure and left suddenly at 16.56 and not 17.00. We were in the waiting room and didn’t have enough time to get there. Had to pay extra for the next one at 18.30 Northampton: We had to wait for the coach for more than one hour in winter time. No mail from them, no sms, no coach tracking in the app. Milton Keynes: The change coach was delayed indefinitely and we missed it because the departure announcement wasn’t clear.
Helpful Report
Posted 5 years ago
On 24th July 2018 I have purchased a Senior Card online and wanted to purchase return tickets Preston (Lancashire) to St Austell, departing on 10th August 2018 and return on 12th August 2018. Booking online was easy and straightforward, unfortunately Senior Coachcard wasn't accepted during the booking. Contacted National Express on 24th July (15 minutes call duration) and have been advised to wait 24 hours for card to be activated. Fair enough the T&C includes following line "Your Coachcard is only valid for use for travel from the next calendar day after purchase". Attempted online purchase on 25th July, same issue Senior Coachcard not recognised. Contacted customers service (18 minutes call duration), have been explained there is an issue with the system and therefore card cannot be recognised, promised call back next day, 26th July 2018, to take the payment over the phone. No phone calls from National Express received on 26th July 2018 and after 7.00pm decided to call customer services. Third call took 50 minutes. I have been told that I have purchased Senior Coachcard incorrectly and have to return the card. Have explained that I only purchased Senior Coachcard online on 24th July 2018 and haven't received it yet. Have been offered to pay over the phone with charge of £2.50 for each ticket, which I kindly refused justifying that the issue with Senior Coachcard is on National Express side and I could easy purchase tickets online if the coachcard discount recognised. Have been put few times on hold, travellers details have been taken at least 3 times along with full address. Finally the tickets have been book and paid, E-Ticket has been delivered to my email address. On the following day Senior Coachcard arrived with post, card valid from and valid to dates being incorrect, valid from 05/12/1942 - valid to 05/12/1943. To summarise the experience, booking tickets online on National Express website end up with total of 1 hour 23 minutes on the phone with National Express to complete the purchase.
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Posted 5 years ago
Seats are so painful for anyone above 6 ft. Lower back pain an hour into my 3 hour journey and after another 30 mins the pain was unbearable. Would've stood up of I didn't have to fight the seat belt every inch of movement .
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Posted 6 years ago
Quite frankly, I am utterly appalled by the service I received yesterday on board the 737 service from High Wycombe to Hatfield and on the return leg from Hatfield to High Wycombe. The fact that there is no clear location to lodge complaints on the website either, just shows how poor National Express is in dealing with complaints. As a customer who has been using the service for the fifth consecutive year, I have totally lost all confidence in this company. Let's start with the outbound journey (High Wycombe Town centre to Hatfield- 07:30-09:40). We got to Luton Airport and were told that the coach had a flat tyre so wouldn't be able to continue the journey to Hatfield with the coach. We were told that alternative arrangements were being made, but that was the only update we received. Instead of being allowed to stay on the bus, we were asked to disembark and wait in the cold for over 30 mins, only to be told that I would be sharing a taxi with two other people. Whilst most other passengers got on the 787 service to continue the journey to Stanstead, I was the only one on my coach who was told that I would have to get a taxi; although would need to drop off two other passengers to two completely different locations, none of which were close by. So whilst waiting for the taxi, we were thrown about from person to person at Luton, as not even the rude staff knew what taxi was taking us to our destinations and when it would be coming....even animals are treated better than we were. Even though I got to my destination, albeit late for an important meeting, I thought this was a one off and allowed myself to excuse the matter as I understand breakdowns can happen. However, I was utterly disgusted as to how I was treated on the return leg of my journey (as if my journey with NE couldn't have got any worse!). On the return leg, (737 Hatfield to High Wycombe Town centre- 12:50-14:45), my journey was nothing short of a nightmare. I arrived at the coach stop outside the Galleria at 12:25, so well in time of the suggested 10 minutes before scheduled time of departure (which is both clearly stated on the ticket and on the company's website). By company policy, the coach is not allowed to leave before the scheduled time of departure, if all passengers booked onto that service are not there....(otherwise someone please explain to me what the point of booking a ticket is?!). So I continued to wait for the coach to arrive at 12:50. Now obviously because I was aware of what happened earlier that day, I was expecting some delays with the coach service. Bear in mind, I had not moved from the coach stop, and neither had the two other passengers waiting for the service. It got to half 1, still standing outside on one of the coldest days of the year so far, and still no sign of the coach. I then decided to ring the National Express customer service line and spoke to a middle aged woman, asking if the service had been cancelled or whether a replacement service was in use. She advised me that (in her own words) 'No we will never cancel a service and instead put out a replacement minibus. The driver is running slightly late but will definitely stop at all the stops published for this route. He will also get out of the minibus and shout for any passengers for the National Express service, so please keep an eye out for that.' So then I waited for this replacement coach service to arrive. An hour and half passed, and still no sign of this replacement service. So i re-rung the helpline, where I spoke to a lady called Sarah. Sarah informed me that after checking the system, the taxi, not minibus, had definitely passed from there and had picked up all passengers. So I was transferred onto the next service. Clearly, what I had been told was a blatant lie, as neither a replacement coach service had turned up and the coach service for 12:50 had been cancelled. If I had been standing there since 12:30, clearly I wouldnt have missed the taxi. Either that or the company did not follow its own policies about leaving only at scheduled times. Why can I say this? Because I was not on my way home until the next coach service at 14:50 ( exactly two hours later). In these two hours, I was told to wait outside, with no information screens about when the replacement minibus/next coach was expected, no sign of a replacement service and clearly the people on the other end of the phone were just covering the companies back. I am utterly disgusted by the service, and will not be using the service again in the future. I have completely lost my trust in the business and will be using other companies who will profit from years of service in the future. I expect a full refund for the disruption that was caused to my journey; I can understand if its just the one journey, as this has happened several times before where we have been stuck in traffic for hours, but when two journeys are severely disrupted in the way they were, this is completely unacceptable. The way I was treated with on the phone was completely undermining and Sarah who put me on the next service sounded like she was doing me a favour; no you were not doing me a favour, instead this is my statutory right as a passenger who has been disrupted for reasons that are not my problem. I have never felt so undermined as a commuter in my life and demand this to be looked into immediately. If this is not resolved, I am most certainly ready to take this up to a higher level.
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
The value for riding the bus is fine the drivers are the issue I had. I had food that I hadn't finished and the driver told me to throw it away before coming onto the bus. I think that's a dumb rule but I get it so I got rid of it and came back. The entire rest of my trip he gave me a hardtime. I needed my charger from my bag and he would not let me touch it because he was suspicious of me. He started insulting me to the other driver that took over for him and started to tamper with my bag cause he thought I still had food in it. Completely unprofessional and undeserved. I don't think I would use this service again unless I truly had to.
Helpful Report
Posted 6 years ago
Booked a ticket from Portsmouth to Bournemouth at 7`15am on 3rd Nov. The driver is clearly not a morning person! He was rude in his manner and when I disembarked at Bournemouth he quite literally threw my case onto the ground when he was unloading it, no please thankyou hello or have a nice day from him either. The coach arrived on time and was clean and comfortable, normally I cant fault national express but this driver needs to attend some customer service training.
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Posted 6 years ago
awful customer service at Heathrow national express tickets counter. Why should I have to pay extra for an earlier coach? when you made me earlier in the first place
Helpful Report
Posted 10 years ago
Don't book online with a senior coachcard ..pay the booking fee instead at branch office .I was overcharged twice £35 and got abuse on phone
Helpful Report
Posted 1 week ago
Me, my wife and out 10-month old boy were going from London Victoria courch station to Luton Airport and the journey was disrupted by traffic congestion on 19/04/2024 evening. This caused me and my family an overall delay of95 minutes to Luton Airport. According to NationalExpress clock, it was 88 minutes only. Anyhow, it was the last plane to Amsterdam that day and I had to rebook a flight for the 3 of us and a hotel. It cost me around 400€ and NationalExpress says that I should have put 3 hours between the arrival time into the airport and the flight departure time instead of 2,5 hours. Who goes to the airport for an EasyJet flight without check-in luggage before 3 hours? If I had done so, we would have missed the flight anyways, but NationalExpress do not listen to you. They found a reason not to reimburse and they hide behind it. This is not the worst thing yet. They also say that I should have contacted to the Control Centre which would have then advised me on the most appropriate action to take or arrange for alternative means of transportation to your ticketed destination. However, I did called them around the 60th minutes of the delay and they advised me to call EasyJet maybe they can keep the gate open for us. Even we called them, they assume we did not called them all. I WOULD NEVER EVER USE IT AGAIN, I WISH I HAVE NOT USED THEM BEFORE
National Express 1 star review on 24th April 2024
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Posted 3 weeks ago
{national express is a scam taken peoples money} i have all evidence if they come for me. my advice if you have a flight schedule or important schedule please don't use national express. a word is enough for the wise. i was fired from my job because of national express i lost many contracts in my 7years of using national express, they have never come in time, always coming 40 mins,1hour sometime nearly 2 hours late. on some occasions the bus never came at all. I WAS ALWAYS ON TIME NEVER LATE when you approach them they will tell you to call their complaint phone, it will take an hour to get to them on the phone. they then tell you to email your compliant and when you email them they will tell you cant get a refund because THE ONE TIME I CAME LATE Recently i booked for 9 35am i missed the bus due to me coming 25 mins late because my local bus was delayed. fortunate for me the 10.00am bus was there and wasn't full i explain my situation them, they insisted i bought new ticket i pleaded i don't have any money but they didn't listen, i became angry and asked why is it that when your bus come nearly 2 hours late, you don't give refund they didn't give any answer.
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Posted 1 month ago
Terrible , first the coach was changed and announced for journey from london to liverpool within 4hrs no stop....then wasted time on breaks and dropping in between passengers.Worst ...not recommend.
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Posted 1 month ago
Every Time National Express Bus from Manchester to Birmingham is late at 4:10 am, Moreover same as on return. If passenger is late only 1 minute they did not wait but if they late they did not compansate. I think we should avoid this bus service.
Helpful Report
Posted 2 months ago
It was first time I travelled with national express, and it was the worst experience and worst customer service I ever experienced so far. Two weeks ago I travelled from Heathrow Airport to Stansted Airport. I had two medium suitcases and it was no problem. In the other hand last week on Thursday I travelled back from Stansted to Heathrow. When the coach driver came to take my suitcases. He said my suitcases is not into the standard requirement and I have to pay £15, but I had one medium suitcase, and one cabin size suitcase, but he still wanted me to pay. I had to go to National Express office at Stanstead airport and stand behind a very long slow queue to pay £15 as penalty for my suitcases. When I sat in the coach, I read the small prints and I realised I have been charged wrongly because my suitcases it’s with in the requirement of their policy, when I got to Heathrow airport, I wanted to go to National Express office to have a refund, but I realised they don’t have a office at Heathrow Airport. When I got home I made a phone call to their Helpline team, and what they said they would give me 25% discount on my next travel with them, but not giving me a refund as they have been charged me wrongly. I feel I have been robbed by National Express company and I had a worst experience with them. I would never ever travel with them again and I will make sure everyone know about my bad experience I had with National express and their team.
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Posted 2 months ago
Rubbish. You have to validate open tickets missed busses. This information should have been provided at booking.
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Posted 3 months ago
THIEFS! Terrible service, with automatic replies. You buy a ticket, offered by their partner Ryanair, ticket is not received on time so you have to buy a second more expensive ticket. When you complain about it by National Express they only offer you a voucher of 25% . What give them the right to keep my payment? To me this matters. RETURN ME MY MONEY NOW! COMPENSATE ME FOR THE WASTE OF TIME!
Helpful Report
Posted 3 months ago
16-1-2024 Reference: NE84743443 Busticketnr. RRAV8069 I booked an RyanAir-flight and accepted the offer of the bustransfer to the airport. I did not received the busticket on time, so had to buy a second more expensive ticket. RyanAir did not want to help me and after a week they told me I had to contact National Express. National Express did not want to help me either because they needed the request within 24h. I wonder if I get my money back. This feels like I've been stolen and from RyanAir I can expect terrible service, but I did not expect National Express to be worse. I demand £11 and a compensation for the more expensive ticket of £7,50. Besides that this matter cost me a lot of time.
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Posted 3 months ago
Wrong and poor customer service! Poor communication from such a reputable company. I was booking tickets to travel for the first time with National Express to the airport. My coach was booked for 17:10 and left house at 15:00 to male my way to Marble Arch. The location in their email took me to wrong station on the opposite part of the road. A coach driver who I approach was so rude and probably fed up with his work place too and he said to me he doesn't own the company he is just the driver so he refused to even tell me that I was in the wrong station. The coach did not turn up. The online tracker did not work and did not help me in any way. The phone line also did not work. I started panicking as I thought I will be missing on my flight and it was in between Christmas and New Year. I ended up taking an Uber. The bottom line is...NO COMMUNICATION AT ALL...I was not informed at any point that the coach was having delays or anything. For a first time user of the service what do you do???? You loose your trust in the service and do not take a chance to miss on your flight either. When I contacted them afterwards they told me the next service was withing 38 minutes after my scheduled one. Who on Earth would wait there for almost 40 minutes just in case a National Express coach would arrive for you when there is no communication from them? A normal person would never do that. When I approached them about this issue they dealt so rudely with my complaint asking me to even prove that I travelled by uber that day in order for them to give me the money on the coach tickets!!!! Is this normal for such a big company to treat their customers this way??? They made me travel all the way to Marble Arch and pick up an Uber for the city when I could easily do the same thing from home spending less time for travel and being even cheaper than traveling from there to the airport. Unfortunately, I believe that due to the business being so waste, the customer care and consideration is getting forgotten...the money is most important!!!!
Helpful Report
Posted 3 months ago
On 09/12/2023 the driver of the the 025 coach from London Victoria to Brighton refused me entry to the coach, as my ticket was, according to him, not valid. In fact, it was perfectly valid which has since been confirmed by the coach company. But he refused to even discuss what his issue was, even though I presented him with both a printed and digital copy. I haven't encountered anyone as rude and dismissive as him in a public facing role. I am a female and it was late at night and I felt extremely vulnerable. As a result I had to spend £100 getting a taxi to my destination, which I really can't afford. It was really upsetting incident.
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Posted 4 months ago
National Express is rated 1.6 based on 325 reviews