The Worst Customer Service I've Ever Observed
This BoltBus driver was a disgrace.
The Worst Customer Service I've Ever Observed
Ronnie Polaneczky, Daily News Columnist
Who: A power-starved BoltBus driver.
When: Sunday, Jan 2, 2011, 9:30 pm.
Where: On the 9:30pm BoltBus, en route from New York City to Philadelphia.
The backdrop: I was waiting with my kid at 34th and Eighth Ave. in Manhattan for the 9:30pm BoltBus to take us home to Philly. Many people waiting with us said they'd been stranded there since at least 8pm, because their 8pm BoltBus to Philly had never arrived.
What happened: When our BoltBus driver, a middle-aged female with what sounded like a Jamaican accent, opened the doors to let us on, the 8pm passengers surged forward and began peppering her with questions.
Did she know what had happened to their 8pm bus? Could they board the 9:30 bus? Could she tell them when they might finally get off the cold, dark street (BoltBus has no terminals in the cities it serves), where they'd been waiting for at least an hour and a half?
Her reaction: Initally, silence. Yeah, silence. She simply ignored these people as she desceneded the bus steps, opened the lower storage area for passenger luggage and, basically, said nothing.
As their questions grew louder - but not violent; trust me, I was there - she ordered everyone to back away from the bus, then said she would start boarding those of us with 9:30 tickets.
So one man yelled, insistently, "But what about the rest of us? What can you tell us about our bus?"
She then hoisted herself up and told him that if he disrespected her any more, she'd leave him on the sidewalk, without a way home. She then lectured all of us on the serious disrespect she was seeing, which she wouldn't tolerate.
Another woman said, "Ma'am, this isn't disrespect. We are cold, tired, hungry and we have no idea when we'll get home to Philly. Do you know anything at all?"
The driver again lectured the crowd on their disrespect and reminded them of her ability to leave them stranded on the street. She said she knew nothing about their plight, had no one to call on their behalf, that it was not her responsibility.
She had all the power, she knew it, and she was flaunting it. Oh, she was contemptible.
What happened then: After boarding the 9:30 passengers, she allowed another 12 passsengers with 8pm tickets to board, to fill the remaining seats. A passenger left behind asked the driver, very politely but with urgency, "Is there some number you can give us to call? The customer serice desk shut down and we don't know what's going on."
"No," she said. "I don't know anything."
"Let me ask you this," the woman persisted, "Let me ask you this: If your bus broke down, who would you call?"
"I'd call the mechanic," the woman retorted.
"Can I please have his number?" the woman asked.
"There are no more seats on this bus," the driver answered - an exquisite non-sequitor.
And then we pulled away, leaving those poor people to wonder how the hell they were going to get back to Philly.
On the bus: The driver used her NexTel walkie-talkie to talk to someone at Bolt Bus about what had just happened. She spoke as loudly as if she were in her own living room. She trashed the stranded passengers, said they had cussed her out - there was no cussing; trust me, I was there - and then said she allowed "the humble ones" to board her bus.
She really said that - the "humble ones."
She asked the man on the other end of the line whether there was room on the 10:15 bus to take the stranded passengers to Philly. He said, "I have a full bus. They're not my problem."
"Not mine either," she said. She then went on a rant about how she won't be disrespected "even if I lose my job."
The follow-up: She might lose her job. I reported the incident to the very courteous head of customer service for Bolt Bus, who was appalled at the story and promised to interview the driver, her supervisor and the dispatcher.
(He told me the driver's name, which I'll withhold for now.)
He said the driver absolutely had a phone number she could have called, that she absolutely knew that she could share that number with the stranded passengers, that her behavior - if it was as I alleged - was unacceptable.
He added that the woman belongs to a union so, contractually, there are prescribed disciplinary measures that must be followed when an incident like this is reported.
He also said that, other than my call, he hadn't heard from other passengers about this incident. He wasn't disputing my account, but he was surprised that no one else had called, given how BoltBus passengers are a straightforward populace.
What will help: If you were one of those stranded riders, or know someone who was, contact me and I'll foward your name to BoltBus, so the very nice manager will have further vaidation of what happened that night.
As I told the man, it would have been bad enough if the driver had been merely disinterested in what happened to those poor, marooned people. What I can't get over was her active hostility for riders in trouble.
When it comes to deplorable customer service, it was a new low.
Email me at polaner@phillynews.com or call me at 215-854-2217. Or post something here, and we'll get this figured out.
While Boltbus pioneered this whole "look at us, we're not greyhound and we're not leaving from chinatown!" movement in busing, Megabus has seemed to perfect it. I've rode with both companies in the last 2 months, and my experience was much more pleasant with Mega. Mega had numerous attendants at their street terminal with effective signage and order. People actually waited in lines(!). Boltbus picked-up along street that was not very well lit with no attendants, and the idling bus drivers were inattentive to customers questions. With no attendant available, at the sign of a bus waiting customers would move in herds with lots of pushing and yelling. Guess the moral is, Bolt bus needs on-site attendants, a la Mega. Will only ride Mega until bolt gets it act together.— Platinum- typical union worker— dreinterests
- It is even more ridicoulous that the victims have to work to do get action. They should be credited with a ticket. Obviously a log would show if she called the number or not. It would also show that the 8 bus was there or not.— mfeq
Comment removed.
Surprised she could speak any English! Quickly becoming a 3rd world nation.— dogman5- @dreinterests... you're a numnut— RichH
- What's the matter, duke santos? Jealous? Anyway, I think I've been a passenger on this driver's bus before, and while I didn't witness anything nearly as bad as what Ronnie described, having seen this women in action, it's not hard for me to believe every word or Ronnie's story.— wb2nd
- Bolt and Mega pay their drivers next to nothing. What do you expect.
How else can you get New York for 11-13 dollars. You can always take Amtrak and pay anywhere from $50-75 for a ticket.— Drew777 - Most people don't know that Bolt is jointly owned by Greyhound and Peter Pan. Megabus is owned by their competition.— Trident252
- The worst customer service I ever had was at Lenscrafters. Bought new glasses for myself and my spouse. My spouse' pair came in 4 times with problems and took months to resolve with little if any compassion on part of the arrogant people at the store. My glasses also had numerous problems over a period of a year. These people and their managers don't care yet they have the guts to ask outrageous prices for their products. I would never do business with them again...ever.— localreader
- You can expect good service, they do it in the country for low pay, they can do it in the city for low pay. You cant make any more excuses for this demographic of vile rude low intelligence workers.— Capsulef
You get what you pay for. In this case, for what Bolt Bus charges, next to nothing.- Why did the story require a description of the driver's accent ?— willll
- She was describing the person driving the bus. Had it been a white person with a Boston accent you would not have said a word.
- Don't be cheap and you won't be treated like cattle or trash.— Economics
When my phone rings here at the Daily News, nine times out of ten the caller begins the conversation with, “Yeah, so what happened was…”.
Because this is Philly, the caller doesn’t say, “My name is Bob” – or Mary – “and I wonder if I could have a moment of your time?” Philadelphians are too direct for that. They just say, “Yeah, so what happened was…”, and then tumble into a tale they think oughta be shared with a wider audience. I love getting these calls (even the ones where it becomes clear, after 30 seconds, where the caller sowed the seeds of his own misery), because they give me chance to connect with fellow citizens in a way that no other job allows. Well, okay, no other job for which I’m remotely qualified.
That’s why my blog is titled “So What Happened Was…”. To me, it’s the quintessentially Philly way of saying, “Once upon a time.” When I hear it, I know a good story is coming. And I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Ronnie Polaneczky has been an award-winning columnist for The Philadelphia Daily News since 1999, offering a front-steps perspective on every aspect of city life, from the sublime to the stupid. In her past life, she was the editor-in-chief of Atlantic City Magazine, associate editor at Philadelphia Magazine and a fulltime freelancer published in Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Reader's Digest, Men's Health, MarieClaire and others. She lives with her husband, daughter and various pets in the city's Fairmount section, where she dreams of one day singing The National Anthem at an Eagles game. In addition to her column and blog, you can enjoy Ronnie's musings in podcast form here.
Read more from Ronnie Polaneczky at Earth to Philly, the Daily News blog on anything and everything "Green
Reach Ronnie at polaner@phillynews.com.
