Treetops Adventure The Hills — Local services in Sydney

I just want to start by saying I have never reviewed anything before nor have I ever felt the need to do so until today because of what I witnessed from another patron.

You guys are amazing, we came for a climb today and everything from the lady in the reception booth who was so kind and helpful despite us being a little late to the service we received from Ryan, Hannah and the long hair girl who seemed to be running the courses was amazing.

Your starting instructions are clear without making us wait ages and the speed at which your staff got us into our harnesses whilst simultaneously engaging myself and the kids in conversation really helped show what an amazing service you guys have. Even whilst focusing so clearly on safety there was constant smiles, jokes and care given towards me and my family.

On the courses when my kids started to struggle we immediately had staff start talking to us and she helped my daughter overcome her fear of heights just by talking to us from the ground which was amazing and something I couldn't do even standing right next to her. When finally her courage gave out again Hannah was right there to help her complete the courses and at no point did my daughter feel like she had failed she jumped straight back up onto the courses to go again and again and again until finally our time was almost up but your amazing staff offered to let her go one last time to really cement in her "best day of the holidays ever". I can not thank you our your staff enough for today and we will certainly be taking up the suggestions of the manager we spoke to after our climb to try out your West Sydney and Central Coast parks which I am absolutely confident will be amazing experiences.

But the reason why I am going out of my way to write a review I normally would not do. I went down to the reception booth around 3pm to talk to the manager because I wanted to thank him for how amazing our experience was especially as we had woken up thinking we were not going to have a good time because of the weather. I got to the reception to find a lady being horrible to the same girl who had been so kind to us and to our group. The dispute was over the rain and because the girl didn't have a rain jacket to give her and this lady was absolutely horrible to her. Demanding to talk to her manager who readily appeared to assist his staff member. I have to say this was almost final deal on me writing this review it is so rare to see a manager stand up for their staff and I can see now why his staff were so good all day they really do work as a team less as employees and employers. The manager remained calm and composed while he explained to the lady that the do not have rain jackets they can give out but offered her his umbrella instead and assured her the kids would be safe. Speaking as a parent who had just climbed not only were the kids going to be safe but they were about to have an amazing time it was barely sprinkling as well and once you are climbing speaking as an adult you don't notice either.

The lady immediately threatened the manager saying she was going to call his bosses and was going to get him into to trouble unless he refunded her on the spot. He was polite, told her the same thing that his staff had and informed her that he was unable to refund her due to their refund policy. Upon hearing this she switched her strategy to one that almost made me intervene and is the sole reason I am writing this review. She told him "I am going to leave a bad google review. You can either refund me or I will also call your manager" God-bless him he did not abandon his staff. He politely told her he would not be refunding her but was happy to help in any other way. She then told him it was pouring down with rain and that was what she was going to tell his boss and write that in the review. It was sprinkling. Highlight of the argument was when she shouted "Am I crazy" and stood staring at the sky As my family agreed at dinner. Yes.

Well done to everyone who helped us today and I hope this review cancels...

Several members of our group were stuck on the trees last evening during the storm that happened December 15, 2018 and consisted of lightning, hail, high winds and heavy rain.

First of all we had called prior to the event informing the company that there was a forecast of thunderstorms and that we would like to reschedule due to safety concerns. They told us no and that we must come and that all will be okay.

So we went and during the safety briefing there was absolutely no mention of what to do during an emergency at all. There was no briefing on what to do even if you felt stuck on the course. I had a sense that they were understaffed and didn't really care. So when stuck on the platform during heavy rains some of our group didn't know whether to move or stay on the swaying trees that were bombarded by heavy branches.

We saw some clouds coming and asked the staff if it was safe to go on the trees and if we had enough time to complete the red/black course. The crew said sure, it was fine and we had enough time and weather conditions should be good. Well that's exactly what my group did. Some went on the black and the red course and literally ten minutes later heavy rain started pouring.

During the rain which intensified to lightning and hail, the staff didn't care. I had to ask them if they were going to rescue my friends, partner and the children stuck on the trees and then after asking they told me they would once the rains calmed down. There was absolutely no communication. Some were even making jokes and smiling while we panicked over our friends and loved ones.

When the rain calmed, the staff did a good job rescuing people and after we were all safely on the ground, they all disappeared and we had to hike out in the pouring rain. No refund given, no offer of a voucher, no asking if there was anything they could do to help, no nothing. All in all they simply didn't care at all even though my partner almost died by heavy branches hitting his body, a friend stuck in the tree for an hour and children seperated by their parents in the trees the entire time.

There are other tree tops you can do in the Sydney area that emphasise safety and care for their customers.

Update Jan 16, 2019: Tree Tops never contacted me to further discuss, despite sending them an email and calling. I'm very disappointed by their lack of response. Tree Tops said to contact them to further discuss but never followed up. Please avoid...

The venue is nice and the bushwalk is nice, the trees are beautiful, the staff put on the restraints safely and we're reasonably polite. Unfortunately there was no communication about how far the venue is from the myriad of parking choices so it was quite a trek to the venue and we were very late and puffed out when we finally got to the courses. (A simple map and page on their website or link to another page saying getting here would suffice) as we later found a car park much much closer to the treetops venue. The next opportunity for improvement is the communication around how hard/high the 3-7 courses are, there was 1 that was easy enough the get through but it was super short, about 1-2 mins long. All the other courses are really hard and we witnessed multiple groups of children getting stuck, screaming/crying and having to just plain turnaround and come back because they were terrified. I would suggest anyone who is faint of heart or has children who are not comfortable with heights should be well hardened on the other treetop venues with less high courses prior to spending the money here. It's an experienced course for little ones (because it's so high up). And lastly it was disappointing that there were just nowhere near enough staff members to accommodate the amount of children, multiple times I had to seek a staff member down to come around to help us and see to the children as they were too busy chatting or somewhere else, while kids were terrified dangling or holding up lines because it was so high and they needed someone there. Yes be mindful on the site it says that parents cannot go on the course, and because it is high you cannot stand under them or next to them, so they are pretty much on their own. In summary we will not be coming back here for many years, hopefully the kids were not traumatized on this course, and they will come back when they are more tenured and looking forward to the challenge and excitement of a beautiful very...