Bolt Bus
Complaint 231827 Details

On 4/19 when the city of Boston was paralyzed due to suspension of all MBTA services during the police operations related to the Boston Marathon bombings I tried rescheduling my afternoon trip. Based on all available sources there was no sign of Boston public transportation resuming any time soon, the police had advised that businesses stay closed, Bolt's own web site was running a message of canceled services and no-one could guarantee that things would be back to normal a few hours from then.

It was shocking how much ignorance I had to encounter in order to reschedule my trip for another day or get it canceled. Even though this particular trip was not canceled yet it was very likely that it would be (the way all the preceding trips were) - the MBTA was shut down until further notice and no positive news were coming from the Law Enforcement Authorities. I tried speaking with a someone who could help me change my ticket 4 times. Finally connected customer service and had an unbelievably ignorant and robotic response from a woman in the corporate office who just didn't want to register the fact that if the authorities have stopped public transportation chances are commuters won't be able to get to South Station even if Bolt managed to get a few buses on the road that day. According to her they would refund or reschedule on the same day for no cost only if they had canceled the trip. She literally reacted as if I was speaking a different language when I explained that informing people an hour or 2 in advance is not sufficient to revise plans or find alternative ways to get where they need to in the current state of things in the city. I just wanted a refund on my trip or the ability to reschedule and find alternative methods to get to my destination tonight(instead of waiting until the last moment for notification from Bolt) - a perfectly reasonable request since none of the developments in the city were in their passengers' control.
I must have tried to explain this 4 or 5 times in a very polite manner just to get the same one robotic insensitive one line response. Oh yes, she did follow the protocol of asking me whether she could help with anything else before she hang up, without answering at least who I could talk to in order to resolve this. Help me with anything else?????

The entire experience was absolutely absurd, and very frustrating that this woman was completely ignorant of the impact of the situation in Boston on their customers and that we are not there to serve BOLT. It should be the other way around if they want the business.