CalMac Anmeldelser 

Largs to cumbrae trip on Sat 19th August 2023 0645hrs.the male on the ticket desk needs some training. His attitude is appalling, rude and unprofessional. His customer service is disgraceful.

Ferry journeys between Malaig - Lochboisdale and then Lochmaddy - Uig with an additional trip between Eriskay - Barra.
Ferries were on time and staff polite.

I had to cancel our trip today for medical reasons and received excellent customer service. Yes, I had to wait a while for the call to be answered but that's really irrelevant when I consider how kind and helpful the agent was who handled my call. I only wish I'd written down her name so I could share it on this platform.
More importantly I got a full refund-amazing and Thank You.

Appalling customer service!!
Our ferry was cancelled 2 weeks prior to travel with no communication only a refund (minus booking fee) for the ferry fares, so we turned up to catch the ferry to Campbeltown only to be told it’d been cancelled and there were no ferries until 30th June. We were unable to be refunded for our accommodation for that night as it was too late and had to book short notice on Arran. We are unable to get compensation for the accommodation fees from CalMac because we weren’t waiting for a ferry - beating in mind the next one wasn’t for another 3 weeks! Dreadful communication at all points, other than the staff at Ardrossan who were very helpful and who had also been given no information. Will be avoiding this company in the future. Absolute shambles.

A huge thank you to the staff of the Isle of Lewis ferry from Oban to Castlebay. We had mechanical issues with our van leaving us unable to leave Fort William until the van got out of garage at 11.40 for a 12.25 check in. On calling Oban they said as long as we weren't too late it would be fine. Unfortunately we were very late as in only minutes before the ramp was going up. From the amazing guy at signal box, pier guys n down to the crew on board we thank you so much for still letting us board, chatting away and even having a laugh with us. The staff on board in bar\canteen etc were as always so lovely too. So grateful to you all that we still got our holiday home to Barra ❤️

CalMac website is a joke - not a single page works flawlessly and the software seems totally unable to recall accounts. It’s quicker and easier to phone

Our ferry route was cancelled for the whole month of June with very little notice. Cutting a long story short we had to book further accommodation on Lewis for the first night when we should have been in Eriskay. Although we have been made a compensation offer we are £75 out of pocket. Terrible customer service, company don’t care about the inconvenience they cause just the same jobsworth mantra.

Denice

Just spent over an hour on the cal Mac website trying to book a ferry. The website is shocking. Failed to load pages, changed destination and arrival ports from the ones I picked, wouldn’t go back so has to exit and reload. Still no joy booking a ticket. Worst website I’ve used for years and that includes bobs website, by bobsbasementwebbusiness at draganddropwebsites

I am a blue badge holder and I recently had to change the dates for our Ferry to Coll, and add in some additional dates for other ferries.
I spoke to a chap named Grant Telford, who was honestly the most helpful person!
Instead of keeping me on hold, he called me back, and when my phone battery died, he was extremely patient and went through the entire process again to book everything I needed.
He went out of his way to ensure I didn't pay a cancellation fee, and that we had all the crossings we needed, when we needed them.
He was polite, professional and extremely personable.
Massive thanks for going over and above Grant!

Although I booked online, I had to cancel my booking due to unforeseen circumstances, but their website suggests that you just go through the contact number or on your account online but my order never showed up on my account & when I rang up to cancel and get my refund, they told me that it would go through in 2 halves - well then I got 2 emails through with one saying I have part of my refund and yet the other email is telling me that my order has been amended with another eticket attached for a journey which I asked to be cancelled and refunded, then when I ring them back to tell them about it they just say that it's still cancelled yet where is my RELEVANT email to tell me this & where is my actual refund???

Have used the Mallaig to Ardvasar ferry a lot and booked on line. Just been trying to do that for the last 1hr to no avail🤷🏻‍♂️. In keeping with CalMac the upgrade to their web booking is a disaster, unable to book and given up. Maybe they don’t need new ferries as they don’t want customers?

Don’t even deserve 1 star!! Crossed from Uig to Tarbert (Skye to Isle of Harris). We were first time ferry crossers, when we booked the tickets they asked if we would like a pet ticket for lounge and we just said no as we thought we could just stay in car with our dog - it was not explained that the dog could remain but we couldn’t! We firstly drove onto ferry car loading area and were met by a crowd of men shouting and waving their arms about. They told us to park nose to tail with car in front and car to the side (really caving us in) we were then chapped and when I rolled down my window was handed a ticket saying “here read that” we read it and that was the moment we realised we would have to actually get out of our car and go up to the passenger lounge. We had our dog and my mother in law is registered disabled. We never purchased a ticket for dog to sit in dog lounge as we thought my mother in law could sit in car with him as she did not feel up to getting out car. We didn’t state my mother in law was disabled as we thought she could just stay in the car. We had to try to squeeze my mother in law out the car and make sure she didn’t fall over whilst making sure our car didn’t bang the others. My wife took our dog up into the lounge area and was met by a crew member asking for a ticket to say dog could come on my wife tried to explain we didn’t have one as we wanted to remain in car with dog but he didn’t want to hear it and just said “calm down, calm down”. Meanwhile I tried to get mother in law out the car safely and was told to “hurry up” by the crew members (after letting them know my mother in law was disabled all they could say was well you should have let us know… how were we to know she wouldn’t be able to just sit in the car? No one explained that to us!). My mother in law was made to feel ashamed and embarrassed and was actually terrified to go on the return ferry home encase the same thing happened. Luckily we knew what to expect second time round. We paid an extra £30 to get the bigger ferry at Stornoway to Ullapool to prevent the same thing happening. Thankfully we were better prepared but I must say I’ve not experienced poor customer service and discrimination against a disabled person like it in a long time.

our ferry got cancelled and we had to stay the night before we hot home

Friendly people, amazing fleet operating all these services to the islands. Nice way to experience Scotland, never had a problem in over 20 years of sailing, I sail regularly on Firth of Clyde, holiday in Hebrides, and Western Isles, thank you 👍

We were booked on the last ferry of the day to return to Mallaig from Skye, and due to heavy road congestion, were a little late for checking-in at Armadale. As we approached, we saw the ferry leaving the pier at 17.25, a full ten minutes before its departure time and were threrfore forced to make a 140 mile road trip to reurn to our accommodation. I wish I'd read the reviews on Trustpilot before booking. Whose decision was it to leave before the scheduled time? The ferry crew? My advice would be to use the bridge and avoid Calmac at all costs.

My sister and I went with my 89yr old Dad who is quite unsteady on his feet on the Loch Frisa ferry to Mull on 20/06/23 and I cannot fault CalMac on their vessel and staff. We had requested access to the lift which we were parked right next to both out and back. The ferry was spot on time both ways too. Excellent service all round. We will be back.

Where to start! Late on 18 May told by e-mail ferry to Mull on 19th cancelled at the last minute. Tried to call to find out what to do the next day, no help, no support. Eventually got to Mull by other route and decided to go home same way, didn't trust CalMac. Tried to get a refund for the return trip which was painful but ultimately successful after spending an age on the phone. Finally it takes 21 days for the refund to come through! I feel sorry for the people in their Customer Services team; their systems don't seem very joined up. Good example of a monopoly that doesn't seem to work. Their customers and staff deserve better.

I would give zero stars, if I could. They simply sent a text telling me the ferry from Lochboisdale was cancelled. No offer to rebook, no call from the office, nothing. The phone line is never answered and all crossings back to the mainland are full. I have travelled the length and breadth of the island to visit the other ferry offices but none of them can help me. I despair of ever getting home. I have to commend the staff on the ferries, however, they are doing a great job in such challenging circumstances which are through no fault of their own. Senior managers should be ashamed of the way they leave their employees to deal with the brunt of the CalMac cancellation fiasco. We will certainly avoid holidaying here again as a result of our experience with CalMac, such a pity as South Uist is a beautiful island.

Avoid CalMac ferries! Appalling company. Have this evening just cancelled their car ferries from Mull to Oban tomorrow, leaving hundreds of people stranded on the island. Have had to get one member of our large party across to Oban tonight and booked him into a hotel to catch the 5:17 train to Glasgow tomorrow. Due to fly to London. Another member of the party, with a two year old child, could not do this so will miss her flight tomorrow and then have to buy a train ticket. Others have had to find alternative trains as they’ll reach Oban - as foot passengers - later tomorrow. Others have to pay for another night’s accommodation on Mull. Utter chaos! CalMac telephone receptionist was unconcerned. Told us to try the Lochaline ferry - along with every other car whose crossings on CalMac have been cancelled! No apologies. No suggestion that they might arrange alternative transport for people needing to catch trains, flights etc. Absolutely no concern for people stranded with children. Totally unbelievable! They need to be shut down!

Ferry booked months in advance, cancelled 1 day before sailing and no alrernative offered. Impossible to get through on phone. We have overnight accomodation in Fort William which we have to pay for even if we don't turn up. Apparently no compensation, no acceptance of liability, no apology. Incomptent company. If Scottish companies are run like this shower, what will happen if Scotland gains independence?!