Adventure Travel Bugs

This was the first - and only - travel agency that we used on our 5 week trip to Australia. We worked with an advisor to book a package that included scuba diving the Yongala wreck, sailing Whitsunday islands, and four-wheeling on Fraser Island. We had some tight scheduling and in order to assist in the planning, she wrote out the appointments onto a 8.5X11 calendar. Once everything was booked and paid for, she printed off vouchers for the bookings. She did not review the vouchers for missing information.

Events progressed as planned over the next few days. Using the calendar as our main guideline, we called the Yongala dive company to confirm our reservations within 24 hours as requested. They informed us that we had missed our dive! It was scheduled for that day; not tomorrow as indicated by the calendar. Since the event was booked thru a travel agent, the company required us to speak with them. So we called the person at Travel Bugs only to find out that since we didn't have travelers insurance, they would not provide any refunds or make corrections. That is regardless of the fact that the calendar had the event written onto the wrong date AND the dive voucher did not have any date on it. We had one source of information that was provided by her, which was wrong. A company that functions as a travel agency should be diligent, detail-oriented, and determined to keep customers accurately informed. Travel Bugs will NOT do that.

We even spoke with the manager at Travel Bugs who was equally useless and unhelpful. Instead of Travel Bugs writing off the cost of the Yongala dive to fix their mistake and keep their customers happy, they gave us a cold shoulder. They have no sympathy for customers once they are paid. Unless you want to lose your money, DO NOT USE TRAVEL BUGS!

TRAVELLERS BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MISLEADING TRAVEL AGENTS IN CAIRNS!!

Back in August my girlfriend and I arrived in Cairns, Australia. We were looking to book a number of trips around the area including an East Coast Package. We ended up looking around at a few places including Wicked Travel, Peter Pan's Adventure Travel Pty Ltd and Adventure Travel Bugs. The prices seemed fairly cheap; Peter Pan's Adventure Travel Pty Ltd was advertising the entire trip for $299 all taxes included. We thought it was great! The other companies were comparable but it was the best deal we had seen.

We were all excited and left Cairns for our trip down the coast. We arrived in Whitsundays only to find out that there were additional Reef taxes and a compulsory Stinger Suit Hire that we were not informed about by Peter Pan's!

We then went further south and arrived at Fraser Island and found out that there was an additional Fraser Island Tax as well!

What we were told by the travel agent was that the entire trip including all local taxes would be $299. We ended up spending approximately an additional $150 per person by the end of our trip! Shame on these companies for misleading unknowing travellers and taking advantage of us simply to make a buck.

We've since done some research and found out that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has taken action against all three of the above companies for deceiving customers with misleading advertisements. The companies have been forced to post a correction notice on their websites apologising for their actions (PLEASE SEE WEBLINKS BELOW)

http://www.whitsundaytimes.com.au/story/2009/10/01/action-against-travel-agents/#

http://www.peterpans.com/catalog/accc_notice.php

http://wickedtravel.com.au/wicked/correctivenotice.html

http://www.adventuretravelbugs.com.au/catalog/accc_notice.php

Since our trip we've returned to Cairns and have found a great reputable travel agent! Tribal Travel has been more than helpful and most of all HONEST. We've booked multiple trips with them and would recommend them to all.

HAPPY TRAVELS!

Dave & Michelle