On 9th June 2013, I had booked a Volvo Bus from Lucknow to Delhi.
On 9th June afternoon, I got an sms from the tour operator (M/s RS Yadav Travels), that the bus has broken down and so journey is cancelled. I was utterly confused and rushed to find an alternate medium to travel to Delhi, as my journey was extremely important. I also called Redbus and informed about this development.
Redbus assured me that they will make an alternate arrangement. After an hour, I received a call from Redbus. The Redbus person informed that there were no bookings left in any other Volvo bus and asked me whether I would consider an ordinary AC bus. Even though an ordinary bus is usually quite uncomfortable, I had no choice but to give my consent.
Then real drama started. While booking, Redbus team member made an exclamation and said "Sorry, even this bus is full." We have no other option, but to refund your amount.
Now the issue that I want to put forth is why such a reputed website need to do this false act. Why can’t they vet their tour operators. The issue was that the operator must have overbooked. Since desired cancellation did not occur, he must have shrugged off his responsibility and sent an sms to me. This is expected of a common operator, but what about Redbus?? Can they simply refund the money? What about consequential damages?
Further, it is not the question of simple refund. Due to this last moment cancellation, I had very limited choices left. Everybody knows that airlines charge exorbitantly at the last moment.
Due to this misbehavior, I had to shell out Rs. 5631.00 for a Lucknow to Delhi flight. In case I was informed earlier by Operator or Redbus, this charge would have been much lesser.