SA Roadlink

0n 01/04/2012, I booked a bus from Kroonstad to Worcester for my brother, and the bus was supposed to leave at 13:20. But he waited, and the bus didn't arrive until he phoned the Roadlink customer center. He was told the bus would be available at 20:00, of which the 20:00 bus would arrive late to Worcester, as he was going to work at 7:00 am on 02/04/2012. So he had to book Tranxlux, so that he could make it to work on time. And when I phoned, I was told to go to Roadlink offices in Cape Town to fill the refund form, as I was the person who bought the ticket. And the nightmare started.

The next day, April 3, 2012, I went to the Cape Town bus terminal and filled in a refund form. The SA Roadlink agent at the station made sure that the call center received my form, but until today, the 21st of April 2012, I did not receive a refund, a call, or any other contact! Today, the 24th of April, I called again their call center; but I have been told that a lady named Sharon ** would call me back regarding my refund as the call center agents were not able to assist me with my query. But apparently, the so-called Sharon is always in a meeting and never ever available. That is very, very strange. I think that SA Roadlink just does not want to refund a single cent but to waste more of my time and money.

I want my money back immediately! This is really a ridiculous behavior! It's the worst company ever. No wonder, the Roadlink buses always have accidents and kill innocent people. It's because of the poor services from the management and its stuff. I think you must change the name Roadlink to horrible bus service.

I booked a trip with SA Roadlink for April 2, 2012 (George to Cape Town) at 11:05 o'clock. I was waiting for half an hour, but the bus didn't show up. Eventually, I called their call center. I called 8 times, but no answer. Nobody was available. Then I called their PE branch. They answered and told me that my bus has been cancelled and were wondering that "nobody" informed me. I was so angry as I was already waiting for an hour and had to get to CT urgently. The branch in PE told me that they cannot help and that I must call their call center. I explained that nobody at the call center picks up a call. I did not get any apology. Nothing, just an unfriendly "Please contact our call center or give me your cell phone number and someone will contact you shortly". Finally, I was able to get a standby seat on City to City.

The next day, April 3, 2012, I went to the Cape Town bus terminal and filled in a refund form. The SA Roadlink agent at the station made sure that the call center received my form but until today, the 21st of April 2012, I did not receive a refund nor a call nor any other contact! Today, the 24th of April, I called again their call center, but I have been told that a lady named Sharon **, will call me back regarding my refund as the call center agents are not able to assist me with my query. But apparently, Ms. ** is always in a meeting and never ever available. That is very, very strange. I think that SA Roadlink just does not want to refund a single cent but to waste more of my time and money. I want my money back immediately! This is really a ridiculous behavior! Worst company ever!

I didn't even step onto the Roadlink coach and I already feel like I have been "raped" by the arrogant, stupid, product knowledge-less call center agents at Roadlink. They messed up with pricing on the online booking and when I called to clarify, the manager Charmaine or Sharon (couldn't decide which when I asked for her name) put the phone down on my ear after I confronted her with about her several mistakes. Thank you God for little mercies and not putting me on one of the coaches.

I've book bus from Joburg to Durban leaving on 23/12/2011 (departure at 22:00 pm). We only departed in Joburg 02:45 am on 24/12/11, five hours delayed. There was no good explanation. This is the worst service ever. I've been using buses for the past 9 years and I've never experience this. Poor, worst and unacceptable service ever.

I took SA Roadlink on the 4th of October 2011. The bus picked us up one hour late. When we came in Bloemfontein, we found out we were driving without a co-driver so we had to sit and wait for another bus from PE so that we could have another driver and could leave.

We arrived in Queenstown 5 hours late, instead of arriving at 04:45 we only arrived at 09:40. I had to leave last night 10/10/11 at 20:15, but the bus never came. By 20:30, I started inquiring just to find out the bus broke down on the way to East London, but got no word from SA Roadlink.

I made numerous phone calls even suggesting they phone Translux and put us on Translux as I'm supposed to be at work tonight and also traveling with a scholar, but no, they couldn't even do that.

I've phoned them again this morning, but I'm still waiting for a call. I wanted my money reimbursed so I can take another bus, but now I have to fill in claim forms and wait.

I'm losing money for making phone calls, hiring people to take me up and down to the stop, and my night's overtime money with all this inconvenience.

Roadlink, as a transportation service, is the worst service I have ever come across. I had booked 2 tickets going to Durban from Midrand on Thursday, departing at 8.30 PM, and 1 departing Durban Station at 1:00 PM to Midrand.

At the Midrand pickup point, I had to wait an hour and a half for the bus to arrive. The bus only arrived after 10:00 PM that night.

We got stuck with the bus at Van Reenen at 02:00 AM. We then left Van Reenen at around 5:00 AM and then the driver managed to get the bus to Tugela Plaza, where we could not move at all. I had to complete my journey by getting someone from Johannesburg to come through and fetch me.

I then went to the SA Roadlink Offices in Durban at the station, where I needed them to refund my ticket and to cancel the ticket for my Sunday journey. They refused to refund or cancel my ticket. This is without a doubt the worst service ever.

I have always, on a yearly basis, religiously taken a trip to Port Elizabeth (from Durban) to spend some time with my sisters. Last year, I was unable to do so due to the fact that I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to go for treatment. I just recently completed my treatment and decided to go to PE. I have used the SA Roadlink bus service previously and was very satisfied with their service. I heard some stories about the bad service but I decided that it can't be that bad and my kids did enjoy the previous trip with SA Roadlink. I booked the ticket with SA Roadlink via their telephone service on the 12th of April 2011.

I am still very emotional about my resent trip starting on the 21st of April at 6:30 leaving on SA Roadlink. There was a delay at the Durban Depot and we left Durban at 8:00 instead of scheduled time at 6:30. I was unaware of any problems at this time! Our first stop was in Umkobaba, just outside Durban, and we were asked to take our luggage and move to a different bus. We did so and was informed by the hostess that the bus had problems and we will change buses in Umtata again. This never happened as planned as there was a delay with the bus that we were supposed to swap with. We ended up swapping buses in Butterworth.

The bus we used was sent back to Durban with new passengers. We bordered the new bus and when everyone was settled down, the hostess Informed us that there was a problem with the new bus and they have asked for a mechanic to come to fix it. This bus did not want to start. When the Butterworth mechanic came, he did mention that he has never fixed a bus but he will try his best. With the help of a passenger, they managed to fix the fan belt and recharged the bus' batteries.

Two hours later, we were on our way to East London. When we arrived in East London at midnight, we were informed by Mrs. ** from SA Roadlink that they need to change the pulley system of the fan belt because the old one is causing the belt to break all the time. We were told that this repair will take approximately one and a half hours. Most of the passengers got back on the bus when the mechanic arrived and went to sleep.

I also fell asleep, but woke up three hours later. When I woke up, I heard no movement of mechanic working on the bus so I got off the bust to investigate on the progress. When I walked around the bus, there was no mechanic. I was also very surprised to find that all the drivers and SA Roadlink staff were missing. At this stage, I got very worried but could not do anything about it so I got back on the bus to sit with my kids aged 12 and 7.

The time was now 3 AM and I got very worried as I did not prepare for any delay and only had half a pack of chips and a bit of water for my kids. All the shops around was closed and there was no SA Roadlink staff in sight. When I got back to my seat, I looked out the window across the road and saw Mrs. ** sitting in her vehicle. So, I got off the bus and approached the vehicle to ask her what the hell was going on. She then told me that she did get us all alternative transport and we will all soon be boarding Sprinters. She did kindly offer to go by something to eat for my kids and I told her that my kids are luckily still sleeping. I did not take this offer because as I told her, it will not be fair to other passengers if I only get my kids' food.

Just after 6 AM, the Sprinters came to pick us up and we proceeded to Port Elizabeth. This was also quite the experience for me and my children to take a taxi as we have never done so before! We arrived in Port Elizabeth at 9:30, very emotional and upset as this trip was a nightmare.