I’d booked a return ticket from Chennai to Bangalore and back on redbus.in and the bus operator was Shama-Sardar travels in both instances.
Fom Chennai to b’lore - Ticket No: TC3755732869 (pick up at 11.15 koyambedu)
From b’lore to Chennai - Ticket No: TC3747234354 (pick up at 4.15 madiwala)
I reached the Chennai pick up point and imagine my consternation when I find someone sitting on my supposedly confirmed seat (which I actually chose on the seat choosing option) and the driver tells me to get off the bus. Thankfully there seemed to be at least 4 people in the same straits and one of the managers there was pretty decent. After we raised a ruckus, we were parcelled off on different buses (not necessarily shama-sardar though I ended up with the same operator)
So I reached the Bangalore pick up point a good 40 mins in advance and pointedly ask the local representative of Shama-sardar (yesbee travels) if my seat is confirmed. He took a look at his computer, asked me my seat number and told me that yes, my seat was confirmed. And there you have it. Again, the bus reached the pick up point and the driver refused to take me on saying the ticket was not "confirmed". I could’ve held my temper and anger if the guy had just refused but he was extremely nasty and so was the cleaner. The yesbee travels guy tried to argue with him but to no avail. I called the redbus.in people and with "Just hold for one second, sir".
I never heard from them again. One of them told me he’ll call me in 5 minutes. I very skeptically told him ok.. not like I had a choice. by that time the bus had left, there were no more buses at that time and the next bus was a good 6 hours away. I called redbus twice more and as soon as they hear my ticket number, they hung up. Now that’s the way to win repeat customers. I put the entire blame on redbus.in. Their communication with the bus operators is obviously lacking and if the drivers sell off the seats meant for the e-ticket holders, the blame still rests with redbus for not doing their due diligence on the operators and not demanding accountability.
Prologue: Finally I booked a nice solid non-e-ticket ticket from Sharma travels for the 11.00 pm bus and though I was apprehensive after my recent experience. The ride went off without a hitch.