A trip to Lappeenranta from the 'auto discounter'

Good afternoon,

I would like to leave a review and a short report on my trip to Lappeenranta on December 17 this year.

To begin with, one moment - why I chose NextBus Tour. A couple of weeks ago I had not even heard of such a company, but having decided to go and on December 17, I began to look at offers from various companies, compare prices and conditions. NextBus liked two points - a separate payment for travel to and from Lappeenranta and the definition of the company itself as a scheduled car discounter. Although I was going to go there and back, but I wanted to check how it works. In the future, you may have to use the Lappeenranta airport, and then it is better to pay half the price for the trip than pay the full price as in other companies. Moreover, the company seems to be going to transfer this experience to Helsinki.

The second point was even more important for me - since the company positions itself as a carrier, I expected to avoid delays associated with shopping trips of individual citizens and walk around the city as much as possible. It's no secret that most travel agencies offer their "tourist" trips precisely for the purpose of wandering around all the surrounding shops and do not leave time for a walk at all or minimize it to an hour or two. In this case, I was not interested in stores at all.

Let's move on to the trip itself. On the eve of departure at 21-09 December 16, I received an SMS from the company indicating the address and time of departure, bus number and phone numbers of the dispatcher and driver. All this put me in a positive mood - I felt a good organization. Arriving at st. m. "Chernaya Rechka" on the first train at 6-07 I was amazed at the number of people - as in the working rush hour.

And they were all going to go to Finland, crowding in front of the subway. The NextBus Tour bus was already parked. True, the bus number was not AP884, but AP886. Estimating that there were too many coincidences, I asked if it was the woman with the lists who had the NextBus Tour and turned out to be right. She said that the bus was just replaced. I want to note that the bus was so far the only one. But very soon they began to approach, pick up people and immediately leave in the direction of the exit from the city. We left one of the last, at 6-40. It would seem that ten minutes is nothing, but on this day, as it turned out, even minutes at the start were important for crossing the border in order to be the first to cross the border. Already sitting on the bus, two things surprised me - the conflict between a young couple and the driver - they wanted to sit in seats 3 and 4, claiming that they had bought them, he also claimed that these were guide seats and there was even a microphone installed there. The guide extinguished the conflict by refusing these seats and the microphone, sitting in the seat behind the driver.

Another point - before boarding, the guide checked the lists with another woman in a white cap, while they did not call latecomers and called the very couple who sat down in 3rd and 4th place. They were surprised - when landing, they had just been marked on the list.

Finally let's go. All the way to the border went without incident. The driver never stopped even to go to the toilet (by the way, there is no toilet on the bus), but he was not asked about this. The guide collected the passports, filled out the lists and returned them to the passengers.

We approached the border at 9-40 and then we realized what 10 minutes at the start meant. The queue was incredible. They began to decide how and what to do, where to stay. The guide offered to stop at DutyFree, everyone agreed. Then she began to ask about the fish store. I was surprised - this was not discussed at all. Many began to resent. Guide offered to vote.

Out of 21 people, only 6 people wanted to fish, but the guide talked everyone, especially since a couple of women took an uncompromising position and the guide went to meet them - “citizens, we can’t leave them without fish, people just drove for this.” By the way, one of the women who insisted on visiting the fish store reproached the guide - “why are you scaring off customers, my friends refused to travel with you, they were told in the call center that there would be no stops at the shops”

I won't talk about crossing the border for a long time. I can only say that everything was very long. Fortunately, the visit to the "dutyk" passed quickly, literally in half an hour - there were surprisingly few people. By 12-30 we crossed the border and arrived at the fish store. About 8 people went to the store, I went on a tour, but when I saw the raging crowds of compatriots, I turned back and began to walk around. Half an hour later the guide and driver returned with the fish.

I asked the guide if the others were coming soon. She answered in the spirit that they were walking somewhere. I was surprised that she did not organize them as is usually done, she replied "that she did not order them." Another half an hour passed, during which time the guide ran away a couple of times, looked into the store and returned all the time with the words - "they are already approaching the checkout." Finally, by 13-30 4 people returned, the guide began to count everyone and it turned out that one more woman was missing. The people began to resent, the guide ran to the store to look, and the driver, in response to the remarks “when will we go,” answered only “but we Tatars don’t care.” However, he repeatedly defiantly showed his unwillingness to participate in anything other than the management of the machine. The guide returned with the words - she is already coming, another 20 minutes have passed - there is no woman. The guide went to look again, I followed her. In the store, it turned out that the guide does not see a woman at all in any of the cash registers.

I started screaming and calling the woman from NextBusTour. No one responded, finally the guide spotted this woman and I began to pull her forward, urging people to let her go to the cashier and motivating that I was the driver and the bus was already leaving. There were no problems. She was let through and we finally drove off. It was at 14:00. We lost an hour and a half in the store instead of half an hour if everyone had gone out with a guide. I was extremely surprised by such passivity of the guide. It seemed to me that she was on a trip for the first time, but from her words she travels constantly. I had to explain to her that in the shops the guides behave quite differently - they put one person in line, the rest disperse for the goods, then they come up to the rest and let him go. Often they take a queue at several cash desks at once and then everyone passes by the “train”. No one is outraged by this, because absolutely everyone does this, and only those who come by car can afford to wander around the store unorganized.

Finally at 14-30 we are in Lappeenrante, we are offered to set off back on the road at 17-45. We agree and leave. By the way, the bus stops at Prisma, and at Galleria it only makes a stop. I won’t describe my free time, I’ll just say that we all got together on time and left on the way back as planned. First stop at Taxfree. And again, everything is not organized - the guide only indicated the direction - go to that house over there. Usually the guide organizes everything - they take the numbers and quickly take the queue in an organized manner. Walking on my own turned into another waste of time and dissatisfaction with those who were late - “what, we got our 3 euros, and we killed so much time because of you.”

Finally the Finnish border. Here the guide theatrically jokes that 2 people decided to stay behind the cordon and now there are fewer of us. I answer her in a tone - “but there will be no problems with the competent authorities?” To my dismay, I'm right. Everyone quickly passes through passport control.

Only the guide, who went first, stands forlornly at the window. Everyone gets on the bus, the driver is on the spot. Questions begin - "where is our guide?quot;. No answer. They ask the driver, ask him to look for her or call her. He refuses - "Is she small, there is, I'm not responsible for her, I'm not responsible for you either, she is responsible for you." Finally, the passenger leaves to look for a guide, it turns out that she is explaining something to the customs officers. Finally, she comes to the bus in an extremely irritated state, she does not explain anything. I am sitting nearby, so I only hear how she tells him - “I took everything and my passport, I don’t know what to do now.” We are waiting further, the Finnish policeman and customs officer are coming up. The guide gets off the bus, long negotiations begin. From the bus you can hear that the customs officer fluently asks her about the passengers remaining in Lappeenranta, she is in broken English, with difficulty choosing words, trying to explain to him that they will leave tomorrow.

He is not happy, finally returns the documents to her and we leave. The guide tells the driver - “he said that next time he won’t let me go to Finland if I don’t bring him the lists”, everything is simple for the driver - “well, make a copy for him.” "Come on. He won't do anything to you." But the guide is afraid, asking the driver to even examine her passport - if he put a secret cross in her passport. He answers in the spirit - "if the visa is not crossed out, then it worked out."

Russian border. The guide encourages passengers to leave, now with things. I'm wondering - did they say that customs control? She makes surprised eyes - they always do. I explain to her - not always. Usually only passport control, things remain in the car. If the customs officer says that you need to go through "customs control", then only then everyone comes out with things. I draw her attention to the fact that only passengers from our bus are standing with trunks, all the others are light.

I'm already starting to worry, it looks like we can't make it to the subway. I hear how the passengers of the other bus gather, find out where someone lives and decide how they will be transported. We have silence.

After passing the border, I ask the guide about the transportation - she makes round eyes, there is no transportation. I call the dispatcher at the number indicated in the SMS. They don't answer. Suddenly a call - the dispatcher calls back. Interested in who called her. I ask - are you a dispatcher? At first she gets scared, then she understands - are you talking about NextBus? This is my personal phone, yes, I know them, what happened? I explain the situation, ask about the delivery. At first, she calmly says - “yes, of course, they will deliver if the metro is closed,” but suddenly she catches herself. He promises to call the elder to clarify everything and call me back. Half an hour later at 23-15 I receive an SMS - “There will be no delivery. Call Julia. I'm calling the phone number provided. Julia immediately introduces herself. Interested in what the problem is. I repeat.

The answer is categorical - there is no delivery, we are not responsible for the work of customs. In response to my surprise - but on your site it says about transportation, he categorically answers that there is nothing like that and never has been.

There is nothing to do - you have to look for options. I have already asked the guide before how the bus will go from the Black River and I am calculating the options. She said earlier that they rent a bus in the fleet, and it is located on Sedova. I specify - on the Alexander Farm Avenue? No. At the beginning. So in the area of ​​​​pl. Bekhterev? Yes, probably. It's too far. I need to go to Budapestskaya, to the beginning. If we were passing by the Tsimbalinsky bridge, I would be ready to walk across the bridge and a few more stops to the house. But going all over Sedov at night is too much. But I have friends on Malaya Okhta. In any case, the bus will go along the embankment to Obvodny, this will suit me. I agree with them.

I politely ask you to stop in front of Bolsheokhtinsky if he goes through it and near the church if he goes through the Al bridge. Nevsky. The driver does not answer, turns sharply onto the Bolsheokhtinsky bridge. At this point, I scream as loudly as I can - "Stop." We stop. I run out politely thanks to him. He replies that thanks a little. I thank him again. Three stops I will pass without problems. It's good to have many friends!

And now a question to the organizers of this show. Even if there is no transportation, why not announce how the bus will go further. Surely many would agree to come out in Finnish. At the station there is a place where to spend the night. Moreover, we were late for the metro due to the fault of the guide - I could not correctly draw up the documents for those who remained in Lappeenranta. Because of this, we were late for an hour (that's how much that trial took). Not to mention the rest of the organization.

I spent an hour crawling around the site and trying to find a line about the promised delivery. Indeed, I did not find it. But I understood where it was. In the news, which reported the opening of a flight to Lappeenranta. By the way, the page was unavailable, then suddenly opened. I remember exactly that the return time was there - 21-30, there was an "asterisk" and in the note it was - "In case of arrival at the closing of the metro, passengers are transported to the house." As far as memory goes, I'm not complaining. Now the time is fork 22 - 22-30 and about the delivery no gu-gu. However, I just checked - the news "Finland has become closer!" does not open again - there is no such page on the server. Are they changing again?

I hope that the answer to me will not be declaring me as allegedly non-existent in nature. In this case, I will simply announce my order number and all the phones and contacts known to me.

I also hope that the company will work and develop as a car discounter with cheap transportation.

We already have enough travel agencies, but this market is not busy. Let travel agencies carry you to the shops, I would like to count on you for fast delivery to the place I need. Well, you should think about shipping. Otherwise, a “good guide” cannot leave passengers without fish, and throwing them out at night near a closed metro is completely. For some reason, people who buy a ticket for 500 rubles, in her opinion, should have one and a half thousand to get home (if not more!)

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