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Bookme ReviewAuckland & Beyond Tours - The Hobbiton Movie Set Day Tour - Ex AucklandPosted by sueo from Malaysia on 23 Apr 2019

  • sueo said... We booked this trip because there were raving reviews about driver picking up directly from CBD hotels, unfortunately for my case, the pickup instructions were incredibly confusing. Received a confirmation that pickup will be at my place - the email reads "Waldorf Tetra Apartments (18 Wakefield Road)". We got up excitedly at 5.45am and waited at 6.15am, come pickup time and no driver. When we re-read the email, I thought the address appeared odd. We got a shock and panic as we later found out that my apartment Waldorf Tetra is at 85 Wakefield STREET, not 18 Wakefield ROAD - which is a 20-min drive away. While trying to clarify the exact pickup location with the tour call operator, I asked "So is it Wakefield STREET or Wakefield ROAD?", the operator curtly replied that "It doesn't matter." Oh really? It doesn't matter if we ended up 20-min away from your planned route? Good to know. I didn't flew 12 hours to NZ to miss my Hobbiton trip because of some silly miscommunication. We then tried to explain that the locations are 20-min apart - one in Auckland CBD and the other outside of CBD area. The call operator for some reason had to very nicely and kindly informed me that Auckland IS A CITY. Thanks for the info, I totally didn't know beforehand. For someone so knowledgeable about Auckland, surely they would be able to tell the difference between Wakefield STREET and ROAD? Or maybe not. Anyway, move on. The operator later confirmed that we're supposed to be picked up at 18 Wakefield STREET instead, not at my apartment but a spot which is 5-min away from my place. So we have 1) my apartment, 2) 18 Wakefield STREET and 3) 18 Wakefield ROAD - so WHERE in Auckland do you want me to be? When we were FINALLY picked up by our driver at our apartment, our driver had to announced to the whole group that the group had to detour to pick us up because we didn't turn up at 18 Wakefield Street. Thanks for the announcement. We didn't bother argue cause it was too early in the morning and we'd probably be reminded that Auckland is a city again. What happened to "pick up service available at Waldorf Tetra"? Our apartment was on the pickup listing and part of the package when we signed up. I don't mind walking 5 min for pickup but this is simply ridiculous. I see that the website has now changed this fine print, wise move. The trip from there onward was alright. When it was time to pay, however, our tour guide announced to the group "I don't have $1 change with me", so all (I believe) of our tour friends who paid in cash gave that $1 as tip. Nothing wrong with that...we tipped our driver anyhow although we've already paid online. But seriously? If you've been an experienced tour guide why are you not prepared to provide change when you know people are charged $169, $149 etc? This could have been a 5-star review, but I'm taking 1 star off for the mis-comm, 1 for "Auckland is a city" & "It doesn't matter" and another 1 off from the change.

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