Johnsons Coach Travel Avis 

I have just returned from my first trip with Johnson’s. The organisation was appalling. It started with no follow up from the original booking luckily I had noted the date for payment of the balance,( no acknowledgment). I rang to check if they had received it. £20 short. Which I paid. Details of the trip and pick up arrived the week before with the pick up times. A few days before the departure date a phone call told us the time would be one and a half hour earlier. We would be taken to meet the coach at a service station, when it arrived ( on time). We were taken all the way from Gloucester to Henley in Arden not the service station. We expected a luxury coach, which it defiantly was not, we have had many coach trips and it was the most uncomfortable I’ve been on, before left the depot they found the microphone was not working, but they would not swap the coach ( and there were quite a few in the yard). As we continued the coffee machine was not working, later into the journey to the Isle of Wight the air conditioning stated dripping on the front passengers.
I felt sorry for the courier, she didn’t know what was happening from one day to the next, no timings for visits not even the time of the return ferry. The whole company is a shambles. They came recommended but they have changed hands and obviously are not as good. The courier was doing her best to reassure us she had been with the company a long time and was obviously very loyal. I certainly will not be booking with them again,

Excellent experience from booking to pick up to trip hotel and the event. 2 day trip to Antique centre. Brilliant day and the Antique expert chat and talk was amazing. Driver Dean always happy always helpful. Great experience. Thank you

Always enjoyed trips with Johnsons but I’ve had a bad experience this weekend. Imagine my delight when returning from my local station, where I had just seen the flying Scotsman hurry through, I found a brochure from Johnson’s with a trip on the Scotsman on the East Lancs Railway in June. There were two dates. A quick view of my online diary showed I had no commitments for the 13th. So I booked it. Then I suddenly remembered I had a ticket to see Kenneth Branagh at the RSC. I phoned Johnson’s. They don’t open on Saturday. I wrote them an email asking them to cancel and booked for the other date the 5th. Something made me think about this and I thought why would I have booked Stratford for a Saturday. Stratford is always packed on Saturdays in summer and tickets are more expensive. I checked and I had made a mistake. My ticket was for the 15th. I was unable to cancel the booking for the 5th online. I would have to phone first thing this morning Monday. I dialled at 8.59 got through but was kept waiting for 57 minutes before I was put through to some one at Whittles who have taken over Johnson’s. She cancelled my trip and said I would loose £15 admin fee but the remaining £84 would be refunded. Great. I then checked my emails there was one to inform about the refund and another booking confirmation. Oh No! Had I been booked twice on the trip on the 13? I had to telephone yet again. Only an 11 minutes wait this time. It took the length of a bible to make the operator, who was very pleasant, understand my problem as she kept saying the woman from Whittles had made the booking with the booking reference I had made on Saturday. I informed I had made that one first and had booked for the 5th due to confusion about theatre dates. In the end all was sorted but it took 75 minutes. Why send a second confirmation?

I’ve used Johnsons before without any problems, but this time was a completely different story and honestly, I’ll never use them again.

The driver turned up an hour late for pick-up. I was given no contact details at all, so I was left standing there with no idea what was going on. I emailed the company asking for a phone call to sort things out, but nobody bothered to ring me back.

When I eventually called, instead of listening, the business owner was rude, dismissive, and constantly talked over me. He tried to belittle me and even suggested I was lying, rather than taking any responsibility. The attitude was appalling.

This company clearly has zero respect for their customers, zero accountability, and zero basic manners. They turned what should have been a straightforward service into a nightmare. I’ll never use them again and would strongly warn anyone else to stay well clear.

It’s such a shame because my past experience was fine, but after this, I’ve completely lost trust in them. Unreliable, unprofessional, and downright disrespectful.

Recent trip to Chelsea Flower Show and Windsor Castle has restored my faith in Johnsons Coaches