A woman from Australia took to TikTok to share about her frustrating experience with bus company Billion Stars Express, which culminated in her and her boyfriend being left stranded at the Woodlands Checkpoint on the way back to Singapore.

Speaking to Mothership, Brenda said this was the first time she and her boyfriend had chosen to travel with Billion Stars Express.

Their trip from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur was done through the same Easybook website, but with KKKL, a different bus company, and there were no issues then.

In the case of Billion Stars Express, Brenda shared that both of them had booked a bus that was scheduled to depart Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur on Jun. 12 at 6:30am and arrive in Singapore at Lavender MRT station.

They had paid US$12 (S$16.20) for each ticket.

However, they began experiencing problems right from the beginning.

Bus was late by 45 minutes

According to Brenda's TikTok, the bus did not come on time at 12:30am.

When she called Billion Stars Express' "customer line" via WhatsApp about the bus' status, she was allegedly laughed at and told the bus would be 10 minutes late.

However, the bus did not arrive 10 minutes later and Brenda said she began to worry.

In addition, her subsequent phone call at about 1am was rejected by the bus company.

The bus eventually arrived at about 1:15am, to Brenda's relief, as she thought she had missed the bus.

Driver said no assigned seats despite choosing seats online

Upon boarding the bus, Brenda and her boyfriend found that another family was seated at the seats that they had chosen online.

Brenda added that when she told the family about the matter, the bus driver came over to inform them that there were no assigned seats and that passengers could sit anywhere.

Brenda said she had chosen the seats for comfort and privacy away from other passengers.

But they decided to drop the matter as they were tired.

Brenda noted, however, that the same issue also happened to another woman who boarded at the next stop, with the bus driver supposedly shouting at her that there were no assigned seats.

Told to board another bus before they reached the Causeway

Brenda also claimed that the driver kept stopping "constantly" for cigarette breaks.

Eventually, the bus stopped at a depot and the driver allegedly "shouted" at the passengers to transfer to another bus with their passports and belongings.

This new bus then brought them to the Malaysia checkpoint at the Causeway.

Brenda added that once they cleared customs, they were shocked to discover that the new driver had allow other passengers to board the bus, to the point that people had to stand in the aisle.

Left stranded at Woodlands Checkpoint

Upon reaching Woodlands Checkpoint, Brenda said she took 15 minutes with her boyfriend to clear customs.

However, they were unable to find their bus when it was time to board for their leg of the trip to Lavendar.

Brenda then called Billion Star Express' customer line, only to be told, "You took too long, my bus driver cannot wait."

Brenda added that the staff then hung up when she demanded to know why the bus could not wait for her.

Brenda added that both of them eventually took the Causeway Link bus after a stranger told them how to get to the city.

While waiting for the Causeway Link bus, Brenda wrote a WhatsApp message to Easybook, highlighting the behaviour of both the driver and the staff on the customer service line.

In response, Easybook said they had contacted Billion Stars Express about the matter but that it would take up to about 21 business days to investigate.

As of Jun. 11, Brenda said Easybook was refunding her the cost of the tickets over the incident.

She added:

"By booking through Easybook I thought all the bus companies would be reputable... We started reading reviews on the company (Billion Stars Express) and are so shocked that they are still able to operate. The comments on my TikTok (from) people who have also been through this is shocking and terrifying."

Mothership has reached out to Billion Stars Express for more information on the matter.

Top photos via Google Maps