WORST Bus Experience with Transnational, EVER!!
Once again, Transnasional has failed me. THe WORST!!
I have been waiting for quite sometime to return to KB for my secondary school besties, Shin Yee's wedding, especially after seeing and having a lunch with her in Penang and viewing her pre-wedding photos. It's just so excited that one of my buddies is getting married! Bought the bus ticket 2 weeks ago, naively decided to give Trans one more chance to remedy their past failure.
Obviously, not only they don't learn from their mistakes and improve their service, they made it even worse!
The bus was scheduled at 9pm on 31st May 2012. I was there 30 minutes earlier, along with some other passengers. When the bus was nowhere in sight at 10pm, my friend made the first inquiry about the status of the bus, where she was told the bus had broken down somewhere in Jitra or Changlun and they've been waiting for the mechanics to fix it. I had this bad feeling that what had happened on my last trip with Trans would replay all over again, and damn I was so right!
When the last bus going to KL left the station at 12pm, the friend approached the counter again about the status, where she was told, again, the same reason and problem. We were reassured that the bus was available, it's just that the bus was broken and needed to get fixed, which we were told like few hours back. I even felt that they actually do have some improvement from the previous complaint that I made, which in this case, they didn't pick us all up and gather us in Alor Star, but let us stay in Kangar instead. GREAT!!
They had offered us two solutions: one is to wait for the bus to come (which was available but it's broken!!!); two is to take the full refund of the ticket and leave. At that point (around 1am), we were still having some faith of the bus to show up, and insisted that we wanted nothing but a trip to go home (我们要的不是钱，我们只想要回家), so about 9-10 of us were still waiting.
It's my first freaking time to spend a night at the bus station in Kangar town, where my house is just a stone's throw away, and it sucked to the max!! Thanks to the mosquitoes and the uncomfortable stony chairs. I even ranted at someone who is in her comfy and cozy room, with a comfy and cozy bed besides her yet she stayed up all night to watch movie!!
Around 3am, one of the girls decided to give up waiting and asking for the refund, saying that even if the bus is fixed, all of us (including the counter girls) can't guarantee that the bus will not breakdown again halfway back.
It was until 5am that I was on my near explosion limit, forcing myself to make a decision whether to stay or to leave. I knew I shouldn't have approach the counter, not even a thought in the first place because I knew I would have exploded to the innocent people for the wrongful actions from others, yet, I went to inquired for that one last time, and was slammed back the same reason with the same statement:"We can't leave as well, we have to stay here before the bus arrive", I cracked and shouted (in a controlled way) :"So big company, you can't even handle this situation! We waited for 10 hours! I have to miss my friend's wedding!!"
Defeated, I asked for the refund, went back home, sms-ed mom and dad (for not going back :( ), Shin Yee (for not attending her wedding :( ), Pheng (for not attending Yee's wedding with her :( ), SY (for update). Long was seriously surprised when I called him to open the door lock for me and he went:"You're at downstairs!?". Shouted at the top of my lungs into the pillows for all the frustration, tiredness and anger, I eventually cried.
This time around, I'm not gonna sit down and keep quiet. I have to missed my friend's wedding for goodness sake!!!!!!!!!! So, I send another complaint form the the transnasional company itself, and another complaint on the National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) to address the problem. Not sure if it's gonna work or not, but I hope it helps in some way.
From my POV, Transnasional has literally ruin their reputation from the best enough service (always on time, nice buses, straightforward routes) to the worse one ever (late, revamp of old buses). After 10 years of support and loyalty, it doesn't deserve my third chance anymore. I had enough!
FYI, there's this column in the NCCC's complaint form that requires us to fill in the estimated loss, I asked Lim Tino if putting in RM50k is relevant, and she said yes. Yet, I put in a reasonable amount instead -_-
Here's another bad experience from Cindy (Thanks for leaving your comment):
I was travelling on 16 March 2014(can't remember the exact departure time though), from Johor Bahru to KL (TBS-Terminal Bersepadu Selatan).
Initially the bus was moving at very slow speed. After some time, I started to feel shaky in the bus. I overheard the driver said to the front passenger that the water temperature of the bus was rising and it couldn't accelerate. Not long after that, the bus stopped at the roadside on North-South Highway, behind an express bus. The driver told everyone that the bus was too heavy, it couldn't accelerate, he asked if anyone would like to volunteer to board into the express bus in front to go to KL?
I was like WTH? Isn't the bus designed to carry the amount of passengers according to the number of seats available in the bus? How could overweight contribute to water temperature rise? What's more all the passengers got their seats, the bus was not overloaded at all!
It took us 2 hours plus to reach Yong Peng which was about 90+km away from JB (So, by doing the math, average speed was 45km/h??!!!). We stopped at a R&R after the Yong Peng toll which express buses usually stop for rest (Not the R&R along North-South Highway). And FINALLY, the bus driver admitted that the bus broke down and we need to wait for another bus to come. Ok, this is still not the end of the story yet.
I was so naive, I really thought that Transnasional would send another bus to Yong Peng to fetch us to KL. I waited and waited and waited, for like almost 2 hours. Still no one came to tell us the latest update on what time the bus will arrive. And eventually, the bus driver even went missing, how terrible is that! I tried to call Transnasional (KTB Infoline 1300 888 582 as stated in their website) but no one answered, probably bcos it was a Sunday.
Finally, I gave up on waiting since the driver had gone missing. I did not know what would happen next, I felt so hopeless. So, I called my dad. My dad drove all the way from Johor Bahru to Yong Peng and fetch me back to Johor Bahru. Perhaps, I should say luckily the bus stopped in Yong Peng which my dad was still able to reach in an hour, not somewhere further. I did not know what happened to other passengers, there were bus ticketing counters there, perhaps they bought another ticket to KL.
I was not the only customer who had such a bad experience with Transnasional. When I called my cousin and told her what happened, she told me that she also had similar experience with Transnasional. The bus broke down, stopped at the roadside along North-South Highway. The bus driver stopped an express bus and asked the passengers to board into the bus. My cousin stood all the way to KL bcos there were no empty seat.
I have been waiting for quite sometime to return to KB for my secondary school besties, Shin Yee's wedding, especially after seeing and having a lunch with her in Penang and viewing her pre-wedding photos. It's just so excited that one of my buddies is getting married! Bought the bus ticket 2 weeks ago, naively decided to give Trans one more chance to remedy their past failure.
Obviously, not only they don't learn from their mistakes and improve their service, they made it even worse!
The bus was scheduled at 9pm on 31st May 2012. I was there 30 minutes earlier, along with some other passengers. When the bus was nowhere in sight at 10pm, my friend made the first inquiry about the status of the bus, where she was told the bus had broken down somewhere in Jitra or Changlun and they've been waiting for the mechanics to fix it. I had this bad feeling that what had happened on my last trip with Trans would replay all over again, and damn I was so right!
When the last bus going to KL left the station at 12pm, the friend approached the counter again about the status, where she was told, again, the same reason and problem. We were reassured that the bus was available, it's just that the bus was broken and needed to get fixed, which we were told like few hours back. I even felt that they actually do have some improvement from the previous complaint that I made, which in this case, they didn't pick us all up and gather us in Alor Star, but let us stay in Kangar instead. GREAT!!
They had offered us two solutions: one is to wait for the bus to come (which was available but it's broken!!!); two is to take the full refund of the ticket and leave. At that point (around 1am), we were still having some faith of the bus to show up, and insisted that we wanted nothing but a trip to go home (我们要的不是钱，我们只想要回家), so about 9-10 of us were still waiting.
It's my first freaking time to spend a night at the bus station in Kangar town, where my house is just a stone's throw away, and it sucked to the max!! Thanks to the mosquitoes and the uncomfortable stony chairs. I even ranted at someone who is in her comfy and cozy room, with a comfy and cozy bed besides her yet she stayed up all night to watch movie!!
Around 3am, one of the girls decided to give up waiting and asking for the refund, saying that even if the bus is fixed, all of us (including the counter girls) can't guarantee that the bus will not breakdown again halfway back.
It was until 5am that I was on my near explosion limit, forcing myself to make a decision whether to stay or to leave. I knew I shouldn't have approach the counter, not even a thought in the first place because I knew I would have exploded to the innocent people for the wrongful actions from others, yet, I went to inquired for that one last time, and was slammed back the same reason with the same statement:"We can't leave as well, we have to stay here before the bus arrive", I cracked and shouted (in a controlled way) :"So big company, you can't even handle this situation! We waited for 10 hours! I have to miss my friend's wedding!!"
Defeated, I asked for the refund, went back home, sms-ed mom and dad (for not going back :( ), Shin Yee (for not attending her wedding :( ), Pheng (for not attending Yee's wedding with her :( ), SY (for update). Long was seriously surprised when I called him to open the door lock for me and he went:"You're at downstairs!?". Shouted at the top of my lungs into the pillows for all the frustration, tiredness and anger, I eventually cried.
This time around, I'm not gonna sit down and keep quiet. I have to missed my friend's wedding for goodness sake!!!!!!!!!! So, I send another complaint form the the transnasional company itself, and another complaint on the National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) to address the problem. Not sure if it's gonna work or not, but I hope it helps in some way.
From my POV, Transnasional has literally ruin their reputation from the best enough service (always on time, nice buses, straightforward routes) to the worse one ever (late, revamp of old buses). After 10 years of support and loyalty, it doesn't deserve my third chance anymore. I had enough!
FYI, there's this column in the NCCC's complaint form that requires us to fill in the estimated loss, I asked Lim Tino if putting in RM50k is relevant, and she said yes. Yet, I put in a reasonable amount instead -_-
Here's another bad experience from Cindy (Thanks for leaving your comment):
I was travelling on 16 March 2014(can't remember the exact departure time though), from Johor Bahru to KL (TBS-Terminal Bersepadu Selatan).
Initially the bus was moving at very slow speed. After some time, I started to feel shaky in the bus. I overheard the driver said to the front passenger that the water temperature of the bus was rising and it couldn't accelerate. Not long after that, the bus stopped at the roadside on North-South Highway, behind an express bus. The driver told everyone that the bus was too heavy, it couldn't accelerate, he asked if anyone would like to volunteer to board into the express bus in front to go to KL?
I was like WTH? Isn't the bus designed to carry the amount of passengers according to the number of seats available in the bus? How could overweight contribute to water temperature rise? What's more all the passengers got their seats, the bus was not overloaded at all!
It took us 2 hours plus to reach Yong Peng which was about 90+km away from JB (So, by doing the math, average speed was 45km/h??!!!). We stopped at a R&R after the Yong Peng toll which express buses usually stop for rest (Not the R&R along North-South Highway). And FINALLY, the bus driver admitted that the bus broke down and we need to wait for another bus to come. Ok, this is still not the end of the story yet.
I was so naive, I really thought that Transnasional would send another bus to Yong Peng to fetch us to KL. I waited and waited and waited, for like almost 2 hours. Still no one came to tell us the latest update on what time the bus will arrive. And eventually, the bus driver even went missing, how terrible is that! I tried to call Transnasional (KTB Infoline 1300 888 582 as stated in their website) but no one answered, probably bcos it was a Sunday.
Finally, I gave up on waiting since the driver had gone missing. I did not know what would happen next, I felt so hopeless. So, I called my dad. My dad drove all the way from Johor Bahru to Yong Peng and fetch me back to Johor Bahru. Perhaps, I should say luckily the bus stopped in Yong Peng which my dad was still able to reach in an hour, not somewhere further. I did not know what happened to other passengers, there were bus ticketing counters there, perhaps they bought another ticket to KL.
I was not the only customer who had such a bad experience with Transnasional. When I called my cousin and told her what happened, she told me that she also had similar experience with Transnasional. The bus broke down, stopped at the roadside along North-South Highway. The bus driver stopped an express bus and asked the passengers to board into the bus. My cousin stood all the way to KL bcos there were no empty seat.
Comments
I also had very bad experience with Transnasional express bus and would like to share with you. I hope you could share it at your blog to tell your friends and family and other people to be aware of this bus company. Seriously terrible!!
I was travelling on 16 March 2014(can't remember the exact departure time though), from Johor Bahru to KL (TBS-Terminal Bersepadu Selatan).
Initially the bus was moving at very slow speed. After some time, I started to feel shaky in the bus. I overheard the driver said to the front passenger that the water temperature of the bus was rising and it couldn't accelerate. Not long after that, the bus stopped at the roadside on North-South Highway, behind an express bus. The driver told everyone that the bus was too heavy, it couldn't accelerate, he asked if anyone would like to volunteer to board into the express bus in front to go to KL?
I was like WTH? Isn't the bus designed to carry the amount of passengers according to the number of seats available in the bus? How could overweight contribute to water temperature rise? What's more all the passengers got their seats, the bus was not overloaded at all!
It took us 2 hours plus to reach Yong Peng which was about 90+km away from JB (So, by doing the math, average speed was 45km/h??!!!). We stopped at a R&R after the Yong Peng toll which express buses usually stop for rest (Not the R&R along North-South Highway). And FINALLY, the bus driver admitted that the bus broke down and we need to wait for another bus to come. Ok, this is still not the end of the story yet.
I was so naive, I really thought that Transnasional would send another bus to Yong Peng to fetch us to KL. I waited and waited and waited, for like almost 2 hours. Still no one came to tell us the latest update on what time the bus will arrive. And eventually, the bus driver even went missing, how terrible is that! I tried to call Transnasional (KTB Infoline 1300 888 582 as stated in their website) but no one answered, probably bcos it was a Sunday.
Finally, I gave up on waiting since the driver had gone missing. I did not know what would happen next, I felt so hopeless. So, I called my dad. My dad drove all the way from Johor Bahru to Yong Peng and fetch me back to Johor Bahru. Perhaps, I should say luckily the bus stopped in Yong Peng which my dad was still able to reach in an hour, not somewhere further. I did not know what happened to other passengers, there were bus ticketing counters there, perhaps they bought another ticket to KL.
I was not the only customer who had such a bad experience with Transnasional. When I called my cousin and told her what happened, she told me that she also had similar experience with Transnasional. The bus broke down, stopped at the roadside along North-South Highway. The bus driver stopped an express bus and asked the passengers to board into the bus. My cousin stood all the way to KL bcos there were no empty seat.
I also once stuck at Segamat on my way to Batu Pahat from Kelantan. The bus broke down at 3.30am and remained broken until 9am, no ganti bus nothing coz they said someone is fixing the bus so they won't send bus ganti. I had to fork up money to take local bus from Segamat to Yong Peng so that my friend could fetch me.
There's only 3-4 bus companies take the Perlis-Kelantan route, I had since abandoned Transnasional after this bus-no-show incident and so far satisfy with Mutiara's service, although sometimes they take further route and arrive late.