Orange Tours And Travels — Lady traveller left stranded on highway at 1 am for 2 hours & wait there's more

Address: Bangalore, Karnataka

Website: www.redbus.in

I had booked a sleeper bus, thursday 16 th june from the last pickup point from bangalore to hyderabad at 11.40 pm. Like a good customer that i am, i showed up at 11 pm to "report half an hour early". The bus drove past me at 11.45 pm and did not stop. I frantically began calling the number redbus provided along with the ticket. It was a landline number and there was no response. I called up two other friends and asked them to call redbus or orange travels and find out what’s going on. Not only was i alone on a not so friendly road. There were several lecherous men walking around eyeing me. I kept calling redbus telling them of my situation and they carelessly ignored me, “sorry, we give you refund”. I needed to get to hyderabad, i didn’t need a refund. It was 1.30 am now. My phone battery was dying. I was in a fix. Orange said the driver is not answering/ we cant do anything etc. Luckily, with much effort, one of my friends got through to an orange driver who picked me up at around 2 am.
At this point, i have been standing on a highway for 2 hours! I stop another orange travels semi-sleeper bus. Not only was i extremely tired, annoyed and angry, as if to add insult to injury the driver offered me the only available seat – a broken and dysfunctional last rows seat with piles of blankets and water bottle cartons on the seat next to it. Here i was, after 3 full hours trying to sit on a bench seat. The driver explains that the sleeper’s bus driver was not informed about my pick up and that he was travelling from mysore at 5 in the evening and had the seat chart with only whatever orange provided. With eyes drooping and hunched shoulders i struggled in this seat for 2 full hours, until the bus finally caught up with the bus i had booked a seat on. The driver of this bus rolls his eyes at me and says “who are you?”
He writes down my name and phone number next to the seat number on his chart and dismisses me like nothing happened. At 4 am, 4 full hours of struggling later, i get to “sleep” on the sleeper seat i actually paid 1400 rs. I paid an overpriced ticket’s money for harassment, discomfort, trouble and a terrible, terrible experience after a full day at work. I got to sleep for 2 hours.
After chasing orange’s helpline all through the weekend, they offered me a sorry. Wow. Furious, i demanded my money back, which i haven’t received. They told me they will not refund the money because i have “traveled to hyd in the end”. Wow. Thanks. I would have gotten a general ticket for a lot cheaper, no trouble and better service instead of paying them to trouble and harass and inconvenience me. On my persistence they offered a half refund on tuesday 22nd june.

Orange failed to update their driver and their seating chart. The driver didn’t even know he was supposed to pick me up. Why was the seat available for booking if you weren’t going to pick me up? Is it common practice at orange to fleece customers? To leave them stranded on the highway late at night and say sorry, we won’t be picking you up, try travelling tomorrow instead of today.
Not only did you harass and inconvenience me, you’ve troubled me on the first day of my period. A time when i have no energy or patience to deal with the crap you dealt me. My only hope is that no other traveler is made to go through the situation you threw at me.