Melbourne Australia Tours — Local services in Melbourne

I had a very terrible experience with this tour company. One week before the trip, I emailed to check on the pickup timing and venue but the company kept asking me how long will I be in Melbourne and there was no direct response to my question.

I was only informed that there will be no tour going one day before the scheduled trip, leaving me no time to plan for alternative day tours and severely disrupted my travel plans. If not for my constant chase for answer, I would have been very lost.

The company did provide refund upon my request but had given no apology at all. After leaving my feedback, I received a nasty email from the company boss that writes:

"hi how are you this is Colin may Melb Aust tours managing director

I have read your email and disagree with you...

you made the booking through book me cause you wanted a discount. we send a request to bookme to get you your money back as I don't want your money .... please speak to bookme we reserve the right to cancel which you failure to do is read the terms and conditions also the bus was just pick up from the work shop yesterday unless you think it's ok for us to drive a bus with a starter motor problem or not safe to drive if this is the case I will be happy to hand your details over to the local government authorities..."

I was merely stating my experience as a customer and it is indeed factual that (a) I received no direct response to my question on pick up timing and venue when I emailed to enquire 1 week before the trip (b) I was only informed that the tour was cancelled one day before the trip (c) there is no apology from MelbourneAustralianTours regarding the last minute cancellation even though the company have direct contact with me via email (even till now).

The bus starter motor problem was not made known to me. In fact, no reason/explanation was given when I was told the tour was cancelled. And I do not think it is right to threaten customers by mentioning about passing our details to local authorities. While the company reserve the right to cancel the trip anytime, I as the customer, also has the right to share my honest opinion of the experience with this company.

The problem I had was not with bookme nor the refund procedure, but with the company's poor attitude and lack of professionalism. And that email further reflects badly on how the company treat negative feedbacks. I sincerely hope that these feedbacks will help the company improve, hopefully get to provide better service to future customers and continue to do well in this competitive tour...

(In response to the owner's response, I will highlight even more that you should NOT BOOK WITH THEM. "Mr. Legal Team", please tell your CEO to go right ahead and take this to court. Not a single thing I said in this review is false and this is just so typical of this touring group's horrendous actions. Throughout this entire situation, as you can see in the two reviews bellow, all they have done in response to their own awful actions is attempt to maintain their image by bribing customers to remove bad reviews and, when that doesn't work, by threatening to "take this to court". You have an awful business model, "Mr. Legal Team". You don't care one bit about your clients. All you care about is making yourself look good and vicitimizing yourself when, in reality, it was my friend who was attacked, removed from the bus and left alone in a strange city. Do not try to spin it any other way. I'm looking forward to seeing you at court.)

My review:

DO NOT BOOK WITH THEM. They are absolutely the worst touring company I have ever even heard of. Not only did they physically remove my friend from the bus because they canceled his trip without his knowledge (I assure you, he had done nothing and had merely been on the bus for a second). But they also then attempted to bribe him to remove his review by withholding our group's...

Writing this review and recommending Colin and his team at 'Melbourne Australia Tours' is truly a pleasure! We arranged a 13 pax custom tour of Melb and surrounding region for our overseas family guests. It included custom city day trips (Brighton beach + Shopping days) + a 2 day Great Ocean Road tour as well as airport transfers.

We were in the midst of our own wedding planning and Colin and his team UNDERSTOOD how time poor we were and continued to keep us up to date. They were also very accommodating to our questions and requests - Colin has become more like a trusted advisor by the end.

The driver Jacob was bilingual (English/Mandarin) and made a great impression on our family. He made great recommendations (scallop pie, Apollo bay beer) and looked out for the elderly members of the family group. Highly commendable!

Many thanks Colin and your team. You truly care about the service you provide and do right by your clients. For anyone considering a custom tour of Melbourne please don't hesitate to reach out to Colin and support local small businesses who actually care about...