Waitomo - Kiwi Cave Rafting - Black Water Rafting

Posted by Laura Dukes from New Zealand on 27 Feb 2020

arrow_back Waitomo - Kiwi Cave Rafting - Black Water Rafting

Laura Dukes said... I am very disgusted by the owners of this company. We travelled to Waitomo arriving at 8:20am following road signs to 'Waitomo Caves'. However when we arrived we found out that this company was much further away. By the time we realised we had been driving around to different companies asking for directions. When I realised we were going to be late I rang the companies customer service but they didn't pick up. The second time I rang they picked up and I apologised. The lady on the phone was very rude, she told me that she might tell the tour guide and that he will leave without us if he wants. When we made it to the company down a long narrow gravel road what we saw shocked us. We saw two shipping containers which they operate out of with no workers present. In comparison to the companies we saw in Waitomo this was an absolute disappointment. We had to ring the customer service in order to talk to someone since noone was available to talk to in person. We tried to explain the situation, that we had gotten lost and that we had struggled to find the company without a GPS unit. We asked if there was any possibility of a partial refund or even just allowing us to reschedule the booking since it cost us over 500 NZD. My mum begged that my friend from Korea just be allowed to reschedule but the lady was adament. The lady told us that there was no possibility of a partial refund or rescheduling at all. We were all quite upset and asked her to please compromise as we woke up at 5 am travelled over 3 hours to attend this booking and my friend had travelled all the way from Korea to attend this booking. It was meant to be the highlight of our holiday. The lady on the phone became extremely rude and disrespectful. She told us things like well tough luck, everyone else found us and that planes don't let you reschedule. The way she spoke and yelled was beyond degrading and not what you would expect to receive from a proper company after trying to leave a complaint. She told us she was the owner and that her husband would drive down to the car park to talk to us but didn't guarantee he would even help. We waited in the heat of the car park for half an hour before the husband decided to show up. He stood in the car park with hands on his hips and proceeded to accuse us of confronting his wife. He yelled at all of us and made comments to belittle us. He said things like everyone else found us to try and make us feel stupid and made comments about the fact we brought a deal rather than full price. He made us feel as if because we got a cheaper deal that we weren't deserving of any kind of respect from him. He treated us as if we were an annoyance to him and publicly humiliated us in front of other customers arriving for the next booking at 10am. We left in tears and felt sick. Please please avoid this company. There are much better options for caving in Waitomo that will not support a company and owners who think they can treat other people like this.