We booked a FlixBus coach journey from London to Paris, which was scheduled to arrive at Paris Bercy at 7.35am. Two weeks before the date of travel, the company informed us that the departure time had changed and that, as a result, the bus would now arrive in “Paris” at 9am. On inspection, the tickets showed that the arrival spot was not as originally planned, but Saint-Denis Université, which is about 15km outside central Paris. The change means we will miss our onward transfer.
FlixBus’s small print says that customers are eligible for a refund if the journey is delayed by more than two hours and the customer does not travel. Customer services has apologised for the “little adjustment” to our journey but insisted that we are only eligible for a voucher.
And because of their delayed response, they have applied a 50% cancellation fee to the refund, so we now have vouchers worth only 50% of the ticket value. It all seems very unfair. What do you think?
CJ, by email
FlixBus, which is something of a household name in mainland Europe and hoping to become one in the UK, told me that last-minute road closures because of the Olympic Games were the reason your route was changed. I guess that was always a risk when travelling into the French capital right now.
However, I also asked it about your 50% refund voucher and it has done an about-turn. It has now agreed that because the “circumstances of this occasion were unusual”, it will give you a full cash refund. To apologise, it has offered you two free coach trips in the future – a more than reasonable outcome.
Next time you may want to leave a bit more than a two-hour transfer time. Coaches are always at risk of serious road and other delays, particularly when big events are going on.
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