Coach Innovations Arvostelua 30

The warning signs were there when one of the drivers did not show up on time for his shift.
Points of note about my experience of this company.
Firstly the drivers did not have a clear route to take on the journey.
Breaks were completely unplanned and took ages to finish. No clear communication from staff to customer over start and finish times of journey breaks.
The stewerdess went AWOL when we were all on the coach ready to leave. Missed the ferry which we could have got if timekeeping were planned - cynically it could be reasoned they wanted the later cheaper ferry?, otherwise they were incompetent at time keeping. There were no major road delays or disasters enroute to impact us missing the earlier ferry, just poor time management.

Multiple diesel stops where made in a short space of time - presumably to get the lower cost of diesel. This made an already long journey even longer. Absolutely no consideration to the customer.
Stewerdess clearly did not have a clue what their job role was.
Drivers were taking breaks every 2 hours through part of the journey as they felt it was unsafe for them to travel any longer in one shift as they had not been given a hotel room to rest in. I presume they tried to sleep in the coach for a few hours. Not sure how legal or safe this is. There were so many other issues. Seats had no leg room for long distance travel. Back ache/leg ache and neck ache were a theme throughout my and other customers experience. Air con did not appear to always be working throughout the hot trip. There was no adequate space for luggage, it was squashed under feet in already cramped space.
The WiFi promised did not work throughout the entire trip. The company sent an email for the return journey telling us the location of the coach for our pickup. Sadly this was sent via email and I had no WiFi to pickup this piece of information.
Each seat had a small games/video touchscreen that would crash half way through using - not just my kit but other customers. It was very old kit, it even had an "AV mic in" socket and the touchscreen did not always work.
The smell of the break blocks was unpleasant but a bit worrying on the safety front.
Plus I'm not a driving instructor but the drivers were driving the coach in flipflops which was a bit of a safety concern.
The staff needed guidance by the customers in not just knowing who was not on board but how to actually find out who was missing.
Completely disorganised. The worst coach trip of my life and I've done them in third world countries (seriously it was that bad)
I'm giving it two stars because it was cheap and to a certain extent you get what you pay for but honestly even as a cheapy you expect a degree of professionalism but none was present. I feel sorry for the staff who looked completely untrained and inept in their duties.
Actually upon reading this I am giving it a one star. Truly dreadful. Would never recommend and actively advise to avoid. I'm tempted to be asking for a full refund. If the Americans are looking for an alternative to a Guantanamo Bay experience they might just have found it here. It was torturous. Joking aside do yourself a massive favour and run away from this diabolically bad service. If I could give negative stars I would. It's THAT BAD

Travelled with them to Budapest for the Champions League final. Coach was never going to be my favourite means of transport but I thought as they pitched themselves as experts in football travel it would be okay.
First up, the coach was definitely not luxury. Cramped seats, little luggage space and the seats didn't recline (probably just as well due to how little room there was). The WiFi didn't work.

The main issue was poor comms from beginning to end. The coaches were late to collect us. We missed our ferry because the 'europe leg' drivers were stuck on a motorway but we only found this out after 20mins of sitting outside of the port.

The journey from Calais to Budapest was slow and long. There were so many breaks, maybe it was for the drivers, maybe for smokers, who knows because they literally didn't tell us what was going on. One break was to stop at McDonald's 'on request'. Who's request I have no idea but we got lost making our way there. The first stop in the morning we sat in the coach for 10 mins before someone got off, when I asked the Steward whether we could go stretch our legs her response was 'how would I know, I've just woken up'. The company makes a big deal of the coach having a Steward but I've not a clue what they do.

Arrived in Budapest, when we disembarked we were told to return to the coach by 11, no, 12, no, as soon as possible. Helpful huh?

We arrived back at 1020, and we all boarded but one person was missing. The driver went into interrogation mode asking who he was and who had his number. I pointed out that the only people who would have that are them! They then rang him to ask where he was and he quite rightly said 'you said to be here by 11, that's what I plan to do'.

Just before we departed Budapest they told us we couldn't use the toilet as it was full.

The communications on the journey back were a little better but once more, random breaks meaning.

We are missing the ferry home which means we won't arrive in London til 1am (not the 11pm they told us) so we'll have to get a cab back.

All in all a really poor experience. Avoid like the plague!

Not happy at all, went to wembley from Hull, set off time moved forward by an hour because the game time got set to 4.30 kick off but then changed to 3.30 but coach innovation did not change the set off time, whoever does the timings for trips needs sacking, bearing in mind its a playoff final on a bank holiday weekend and the driver also has to make a legal stop of 45 minutes, none of this was taken into account resulting in getting there at 2.45 and game kicking off at 3.30, this resulted in lost hours before the match to soak up the atmosphere, absolutely ridiculous walked the last 5 minutes to the ground because driver took a different route and stuck in more traffic near the stadium on google maps it would of taken 21 minutes at that point to reach the stadium but was quicker to actually walk the last bit, on board was ok the staff were friendly and onboard service was good but usb sockets did not work nor did the onboard tvs on our side of the coach, all in all coach innovations ruined what should of been a fantastic day.

We really enjoyed our trip to Paris for new years eve, we had plenty of sight seeing opportunities and the team made the experience on the coach fun and explained every step to us

It would be easier to tell you what went right as it was less.
We have just returned from the 2025 NYE Paris trip this was our third and final trip WHY? I'm one of those people who likes to give second and in this case third chances.
Let's be clear Vanessa is amazing, Professional and helpful and none of this reflects on her, but this company needs to take a long good look at itself, on all three trips the coach meeting times were changed and even then the all three times the coach was late they actually drove past us on the Paris trip if it was not for the fact we had the second driver standing with us I don't think they wouldn't have come back! When they did come back where we were freezing the hostess was nowhere to be seen , it became apparent she was upstairs moving customers around seats after about 10 mins she had sorted them and we were seated. The itinerary stated that from our stop we would go straight to Dover and we did this was the only time the itinerary was right! The "short" time at the customs was way too long on a freezing morning then when it was finished the driver hurried us aboard as if it was our issue the ferry was leaving and we were very close to leaving and if it did we would have a two hr wait as the Eurostar had been out of service. The ferry trip was as expected when we got to Calais hell on earth again with the organization of getting off the ferry and customs again.
We were promised a stop off at a service station for an hr so we could all freshen up,SERVICE STATION omg it was a poky little petrol station with 1 toilet with three stalls which was overflowing this to service at least forty females not at all sanitary and from what I was told the gents were the same. We got 45 minutes which was not enough and what made it worse we passed a brand new state of the art service station that would have been more adequate. We got back on the coach to Paris at this point we were speaking with the other passengers and they felt the same we had paid the extra 22.00 for CLUB CLASS which inc entertainment system, charging points, hot and cold drinks and food for a nominal charge we had no entertainment system or charging points both broken ( as it was on Bruges trip) but this trip we had no hot drinks or foods as they had no working equipment so I sent an email to the company raising our concerns and asking for a refund of the 22.00 sometime later the response I received from THE DIRECTOR was unprofessional, rude and insulting finishing on the note that if I would like to change seats and go upstairs to the seats without extra room then he would refund me. Now this is not acceptable in any outlet from the director no less but I am disabled and need extra room also under the equality act 2010 it is actually illegal to charge for extra room for a disabled person ( I have reported this to the ombudsman) .
On our way home we were made to wait 20 minutes in the freezing cold and wet waiting for customs to find someone's passport no apology why in God's name we could not have waited inside is beyond me. This was a trip from hell as with the other trips once at our destination we had a great time it was just the coach company unorganized, unprofessional and uncaring about the customers unless of course you want to go to a football game !! One last thing on our first stop to customs at Dover while getting out I stood by the Elderly driver while he asked the young stewardess if she was a naughty girl and would like to sit on his lap, he then called her a tease and said I bet you tease all the drivers. I found this inappropriate in so many ways and raised this in the email, the directors reply "Well I call !!!! And she has no idea what you are talking about! First off he gave a wrong name for the girl and secondly that poor girl would not have admitted it she would have lost her job. So maybe you can see why I won't be using this company again and I pray you won't either

I’ve just returned from a football trip from Nottingham to Utrecht. We were collected on time, stopped when necessary, for toilet breaks etc. The team were excellent, Chris and Bal the drivers and Nichola the hostess, made sure we were as well looked after as possible. The range of foot and drink available was limited by logistics, but was decent quality and most surprising, very reasonably priced. Was it perfect? no, but not enough to make much difference, the TV didn’t work as didn’t the UBB chargers but we could use the main lead when required.
I’d happily use them again and would recommend.

I am not one to complain or leave reviews, but this was one of the worst experiences i have every endured. We travelled to Belgium for the day with coach innovations. The seats were dirty with food. The toilet was overflowing with vomit for the entire trip there and back and we were denied an additional stops to use a toilet elsewhere. I was in severe pain by the time we boarded the ferry. The USB chargers did not work. The hostess had to go onto a different coach on the way there so there was no hostess service either. We were held up at the port for several hours, still unable to use a toilet! I did put in a complaint and was told that we were given extra stops one the journey which is an outright lie. I was offered a complementary trip next year but i have declined as i will never use this company again.

The "Club Class" grade was not as described on the website. The entertainment screens and the USB connection were not working. There hostess and food were not available. This was my first experience of Coach Innovations travel facilities and probably my last. Disappointed.

I posted a review about Coach Innovations with these negatiave comments. Since then I have had no commnication from Coach Innovations except for areply saying that "Chris will get back to you reegarding the Trustpilot comments in due course".

This lack of communicaiton added to all the problems give me no alternative but to ensure I inform others not to use this service so I shall be posting on the various groups I belong to about the awful service.

Lack of pre-planning leading to no itinerary
Poor quality coach - not at all like the one shown on website
Poor communication on coach
No wifi
Lack of onbaord entertainment for one whole day - and poor quality on other days
No stop for food on first day of coach
Information given to me by driver was false
Lack of response to complaint emails
Toilet unavailable for one whole day

Poor experience - poorly planned trip, 24 hour journey each way - stop offs were poorly planned and very poor options for refreshments. Advertised attendant - unfortunately the person meant to be serving food and drink - got absolutely hammered in Bilbao and slept whole journey home - very poor experience wouldn’t use again

Went with them today for the playoff final with Sheffield United. Arrived late at pick up but once on board was excellent. Comfy seats with loads of leg room. No hostess service due to illness but wasn’t really an issue. Chris the driver was very friendly too. Only criticism was I texted twice to ask them to consider I’m a carer for a disabled guest who needed leg room but never got a response but they must have picked it up as we were put near the doors on the lower floor. A simple acknowledgment by return would have turned this from a 4 star to 5 star but still highly recommended

Great trip to Paris watching the Villa, all
went well, good value

Our trip to Wembley from Newcastle worked a dream. Host and driver were both brilliant and thanks to Vanessa for keeping us informed. 👍👍

They changed the collection time and did not inform us. Myself and my disabled daughter waited for an hour and no one showed up. We managed to speak with Vanessa who explained that they changed the collection time. We got a refund through Groupon however paid £20 parking and Vanessa offered to reimburse us as we paid for a trip we weren't being picked up for. However, for the last 2 months she has claimed to be asking someone else in the company to refund me and still haven't. I have given up hope that they are going to do the right thing and advise that they stick it! I was hoping to use in the future but wont bother. Wish I had seen these reviews before I booked!

I booked a New Year’s Eve trip to Paris with Coach Innovations, advertised as including a 90 minute coach tour and river cruise on the Seine. Regretfully we were left disappointed by the experience.

We were given our itinerary ahead of time, which included a one hour comfort break between Calais and France, something that was necessary given the early start and long journey. Unfortunately, despite us leaving on an earlier than scheduled ferry, the comfort break was inexplicably cut short, making it difficult to get breakfast. It turned out to be the first of many irritations on this trip.

We reached Paris, only to discover that the tour described on their website as a 'COACH TOUR OF PARIS (with plenty of photo stops): a 90 minute tour of the major attractions (with photo stops)' was in fact just driving past a stadium on the other side of a duel carriage way, driving past the Arc De Triomphe, and finishing with driving past (as the driver described it) ‘a famous lady from yesteryear who most of you won't know’. The only photo stop was at Jardins du Trocadéro, where we were told 'quick take a picture and hurry back as we shouldn't be stopping here'.

The urgency made me wonder if we had run out of time, however we were then informed by the driver that we were ahead of schedule, so he would purchase the tickets for the Seine boat trip early. It was not the tour we were expecting at all. I certainly did not expect from the description the promised champagne after the Seine cruise to be served in plastic cups in a coach park.

After free time in Paris to see in the new year, the coach was due to pick us up at 1am to return to the UK. We waited at the pick up location for 2 hours. The coach finally arrived at 3am, apparently ‘due to traffic’. It seems preposterous that Coach Innovations, who have previously run this trip, did not foresee that there would be heavy traffic in Paris on NYE and plan their pick up time and location better.

Unfortunately there was a further delay as two passengers were late returning to the pick up location, due to one of the passengers suffering an asthma attack. The drivers refused to drive to collect them, despite the traffic by that point easing significantly. Instead, they asked for some passengers to go and help them, offering no further assistance and thus causing even more delay (and no doubt distress to the unwell passenger).

During this further delay, whilst waiting for the return of the passengers to the coach, several passengers on board asked why the coach had arrived at the pick up location so late - not an unreasonable question given the length of the delay. However, instead of an apology we were given an aggressive response, with one passenger even being told 'you are boring me now’!

When we eventually departed I was hopeful that it would be a smooth journey home after a very long day. But regretfully, the driver was either too tired or had enjoyed the French wine too much, because the coach couldn't keep a straight line on the road. We were constantly swaying from side to side and driving on the rumble strip. Not a relaxing return journey.

Upon our return I raised my concerns and disappointment to Coach. Innovations, and based on their misleading description, the late return and the poor driving, requested a refund. Coach Innovations had an opportunity to put things right and offer a gesture of goodwill at least, but instead they responded with 'you won't get a penny from us, so good luck'. This has further compounded my opinion that Coach Innovations are disorganised, disrespectful to their customers, and unsafe to travel with, with no regard for their passengers’ safety, time or money spent. I would definitely not recommend.

We joined the trip going to Paris for the 2024 New Year celebrations. WHAT AN AWFUL EXPERIENCE. Our group was split between two coaches at the last minute, so not travelling together.
There was no sights commentary, sworn at by the drivers, left in the freezing cold for over 2 hours in the early hours of the morning.
They have total contempt for their customers, and I can only hope you read these reviews before going anywhere near them.

We tried to cancel our booking within 24 hours of booking and kindly asked for a refund. We did not receive very nice customer service, however, as Vanessa only replied once saying it wasn’t possible and then just ended up ignoring my emails. Disappointing that a company would not give a refund this close to Christmas, the time that is meant to be about acts of kindness.

What a company!!! I booked two vouchers through Wowcher to Isle of Wight for my husband and I, I was delighted. We tried to redeem the vouchers but was unable to do so after 8 attempts. We looked for the company number online and contacted them, no response, we tried several times during the day but still no response. We emailed, no response!!!!! How is an organisation such as this is allowed to get away with no customer service, the very people they are there to serve???? It is beyond me, it is frustrating and time consuming. Please get your act together and try to address the issues raised by your customers.

Patricia

Awful non existent customer service.

Don't answer the phone or the emails.

Booked through wowcher and had to argue for a refund after being unable to book or confirm a date.

We have a similar experience to others
We have paid for a living social Xmas market trip to Bruges
Once redeeming the voucher we have no confirmation of a booking or a date
This was a week ago
Like others have said we have called and called and called over 100 times between me and my wife and zero response, we have emailed 7 times and zero response
Wowcher/Living social are also saying they are unable to contact them but still promoting this trip
Please under no circumstances should anyone book this Xmas market trip .
DO NOT USE or trust them.