Ripped-off in Queensland
 

To whom this may concern,

My husband and I took at 2 day trip from Cairns to Cape Tribulation last year with the company Foaming Fury. Included in our trip were the accommodations, a short boat trip on the Daintree River, a nature walk through the rain forest, Mossman Gorge and a visit to Hartley?s Crocodile Adventure. The majority of the trip went smoothly and we enjoyed it tremendously, however, our visit at the end of our two days, to the crocodile farm, turned out to be a major rip-off. The farm closes at 5pm and we arrived at the parking lot at 4:45pm. All of the demonstrations, the boat rides, and interactive things were finished for the day and we had about 20 minutes to race through the farm and get back out. We did not get to see all of the animals and those we did see were in a whirlwind blur as we raced by. We had to pay the $22 each for this ?wonderful adventure? to the crocodile farm. When I requested that Foaming Fury should refund to us the cost of the crocodile farm, they flatly refused. A letter to the Fair Trading Commission of Queensland, who contacted Foaming Fury on our behalf, further produced nothing from the tour company. For us to have to spend $44 for 15 minutes of racing through an animal park I think is preposterous and exceedingly poor customer service. With all of the tour companies to choose from in Cairns and Queensland we will never again be utilizing Foaming Fury?s services.

Sincerely,

Kelly Stubson

So sorry to hear that things did not go well for you and understandably it is infuriating when things like this happen.
I would be inclined to send a copy of the letter you wrote to the Office of Fair Trading to the Cairns Post ( do a search for the name of the Cairns local newspaper - I think its the Post but it may not be ) Hopefully they will print it and if nothing else the tour operator will have egg on his face at best and a bloody bad name at best. Not the same as getting your money back though.

Hi Kellys,
If you had said you were visiting the UK I would not have been surprised but OZ !!!
This is so unfortunate and another good reason for not taking pre arranged trips.

Next time I am sure you will go it alone.

Muck

The main telephone number of the Cairns Post is (07)4052 6666. If dialing from the US, dial 011-61-7-4052-6666. Their address is 22 Abbott Street, Cairns, QLD, 4870, Australia.

Hi,

I have been associated with World Destination Travel promotions. I live in the US but I have a brother living in Australia and I feel bad about this.

Do contact the Australian Consulate General in Washington, DC, USA if you are a US resident OR the Australian Consulate in your own country. They take these things very seriously and will respond.

Your aim now should be to prevent others from getting ripped off.

If you have paid the agency with a credit card charge and have still not paid that bill to the credit card company, go in dispute with your credit card company. You should get your money back because you never received the contracted service.

Godrejk