SINGAPORE: A man took to social media to share his experience with a bus company from Malaysia in the hopes that others won’t have to go through what he went through.
Maybe it’s a lesson in reading online reviews before trusting any company?
In his June 26 Instagram video, a man named Ernz (@euphoricernz) said that his experience with a bus company based in George Town, Penang, named Billion Stars Express had been more like “a billion traumas express.”
Mr Ernz booked a last-minute trip to Kuala Lumpur and shared a screenshot of his booking.
He cautioned viewers not to bother buying trip insurance. Though it cost only S$1.20, it didn’t make any sense since, based on what happened to him, he felt that the company didn’t care about passengers anyway.
At 8:00 pm, he booked a seat on an 11:00 pm coach. Right away, the company called him to let him know the bus would leave an hour later without giving Mr Ernz a reason why.
This caused him to rush over in a taxi. And while he arrived before 10:00, the bus was nowhere in sight.
As they were all in the same situation, Mr Ernz and the other passengers began befriending each other, so that they could send messages to each other when the bus arrived in case someone was in the bathroom or had another reason to step away.
One of the people he met was a man who booked an 8:00 pm bus that had never arrived, which means he had been waiting for hours.
The company sent the passengers a message that had live tracking for the bus, which showed it was still at Johor Bahru past 10:00 pm, when it should have picked up passengers in Singapore.
“I rushed over for nothing,” he remarked.
Coincidentally, a friend of his was scheduled to take the same trip, which Mr Ernz had reason to be very thankful for later.
At a pit stop at around 4:15 am, the bus suddenly left without him. All his belongings, including his passport, were on the bus, which he could see zooming off into the distance.
As his friend was on the bus, the friend asked the driver to stop, but this was refused. The friend then told Mr Ernz to take a Grab so he could meet the bus at the next stop.
That’s why he found himself in cabs chasing after the coach, which he was only able to do as his friend was on board.
In addition to the bus being late and stranding him at a pit stop, he added that there was “a baby roach” on the bus, and more importantly, his calls and texts to the bus company were ignored.
“The trauma and stress are seriously not worth it. They don’t even bother replying throughout the entire process. So now you know, so you don’t have to go through what I went through,” he added.
The Independent Singapore has reached out to Mr Ernz and Billion Stars Express to comment on the incident. /TISG
Read also: Running on empty: Malaysia’s bus industry warns of collapse as 2008 fare caps clash with RM6 diesel
