Menu
Login
I work for a company based in New York City called Pioneer. Our company provides free and low-cost transportation from New York City to the New York State prisons for women and children who have loved ones who are incarcerated. On father's day we did a special that would have sent almost 400 children who have incarcerated parents upstate to see them for free without paying the high prices of public carriers like greyhound. We booked the buses through a company called the Bus Bank and they billed us for $4,000. However, they sub-contracted the booking to someone else and that company never showed up. Almost 6oo women and children were left stranded throughout New york city waiting for these buses in hopes of taking the 7 hour ride to Dannemora and Attica, NY When my boss called the company that was sub-contracted, they demanded an additional $2000 before they would send the bus out. They wanted cash and refused to send the buses without it even though they had already been paid by the Bus Bank. These women and children stood in the rain until 2 am waiting for buses that should have arrived at 9 pm and the buses never showed up. When I called the Bus Bank the next day, they refused to refund us any money and have not returned our calls. I would not recommend the Bus Bank to anyone. They attempt to build this high corporate image but we've discovered that they run their business from cell phones out of a garage in Illinois. Today, they billed us another $4,000 and have tried to get authorization from our credit card company for $6,000 more!
There is absolutely no truth to this claim. The BusBank is a 26 million company currently employing 75 people in the heart fo downtown Chicago. The individual likely called after hours and reach a 24/7 line employee who is essentially on call for the weekend. Unreal people actually make claims like this, with absolutely nothing to back it up.
Actually that is par for the course with The Busbank. I used to work for them and it is a very shady operation. You will pay more and get nothing for it. The story above is a prime example of the kind of service and experience you will get from The Busbank. Go directly to the bus operators or go to busrates.com to get the real deal.
This says it all...
BusBank files for Chapter 11
It would seem Global Charter Services Ltd (aka BusBank) thought it was a real bank and has followed some of the worlds great and the good in the financial sector. News reaches us that BusBank has filed for Chapter 11. Their website still seems to be up and running but they haven’t posted on their blog since 24th April 2009 (they used to post very regularly) – so maybe its been in place a while and its been a long time coming.
They have between 200 to 999 creditors with total liabilities between $1m and $10m. Seems like they also owe Coach USA $1m and plenty of operators between $35k and $90k each. Ouch!
In 2005, a bus carrying seniors fleeing Hurricane Rita burst into flame outside of Dallas, immolating 23 nursing home residents. Investigators later found that the bus was: driven by an undocumented migrant without a valid U.S. driver's license, lacking adequate fire extinguishers, and not registered to operate in Texas. When the bus had mechanical problems before the crash, the driver took it to an unqualified mechanic who failed to notice the critical fault--an unlubricated axle that eventually melted and caught fire.
BusBank (aka Global Charters) hired the subcontractor, Global Limo. BusBank boasted on its website that it had a "rigorous operator certification process" to ensure the safety of contracted bus drivers. BusBank used Global even though the subcontractor had a long record of federal and state safety violations, had entered bankruptcy, and was being sued.
BusBank's association with Global appears to have been more than a one-off, Global Limo's owner Jim Maples even listed Global Charters as his employer when he gave $5000 to the RNC in 2004.
*BusBank CEO Bill Maulsby blamed insufficient federal oversight, "We're not safety experts, " he said. "We clearly need to depend on the federal government."
Nice tap dancing Bill!
I was just stood up by BusBank. Over 40 people who took the day off and paid for the : hour trip had to return home disappointed. Reservation was booked three months in advance. No excuses. Plus we lost out on the monies paid for the show we were supposed to go see. August 10th, 2012. Stay away from BusBank.
BusBank is an extremely shady operation. They told us that we were guaranteed a bus with Wifi, a bus with flat screen TVs, a bus with leather seats. We got non of the above. A bus showed up from 1990s with cracked windows. We paid over $6000 for the reservation. When we tried to cancel they said that we were locked in a contract and it would be non-refundable... ok? We called back and the company was so rude. Kept on putting us on hold and even hung up on us. We were only asking for an apology at this point and some respect, not necessarily a refund. We went with the most expensive company because we wanted the best service, however it turned out they charged us the most so they could make a big margin. Please do yourself a favor and do not book with busbank or busbank.com .