birding-aus

Re Feedback on Rockjumpers tours - a response from Rockjumper

To: <>
Subject: Re Feedback on Rockjumpers tours - a response from Rockjumper
From: John McGowan <>
Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2012 08:24:17 +1100
Does anybody else think this public exchange has gone on too long? 
This is clearly a very important matter for those actually involved, and I am 
not for one moment minimising the issue/s. However, can I suggest that the 
discussion go off line? I also appreciate that some birders who are 
contemplating going on a tour will also be interested and perhaps they too 
could discuss their concerns off line or even ask to be cc'd into the off line 
communications.
Just saying...

John McVictor HarborSA

> From: 
> To: 
> Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2012 23:08:49 +1000
> CC: 
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Re Feedback on Rockjumpers tours - a response      
> from Rockjumper
> 
> Ädam
> 
>  
> 
> I don’t propose here to try to respond to your comments on Rob’s complaint
> but I have real problems with your interpretation about what happened with
> me in Cameroon, and I can’t help feeling that there are some half-truths at
> best here.
> 
> You say:
> 
>  
> 
> Finally I would like to respond to Greg who also took this opportunity to
> criticize Rockjumper. Cameroon is another very difficult country in which to
> travel where we issue very similar warnings as above about the possibility
> of logistics sometimes going awry. This incident unfortunately happened in
> 2006 that Greg missed his airport pick-up when hearrived the night before
> the tour began, despite the fact that two other participants on the same
> flight were collected. This is what our representative reported of the
> incident “Good day sir, I am Neville a colleague to ……….; I was at the
> airport to meet with clients for the Cameroon Trip. I was at the arrival
> gate on the 10/04/2006 with a sign "ROCKJUMPER"  ten minutes before the
> first passenger descended from the plane; I waited there until the last
> passenger descended from the plane; during which time I met ……….. and …………
> we waited till the last passenger descended before proceed past the police
> to the arrivalwhere we collected their bags. When I noticed Greg Roberts was
> not among the passengers I called David on my mobile and informed him on the
> state of affaires and he said he was going to mail in to find out!” That
> same evening I personally sent an email to Greg asking if he had missed his
> plane. When he contacted us and explained what had happened, we profusely
> apologized to Greg for this mishap and offered him a US$300 discount off a
> future Rockjumper tour. Greg responded “Thanks for this. I'm aware that
> Neville met people coming off the plane and I accept that for some reason I
> did not see him (I was one of the first off the plane, and I was not
> expecting to meet anyone there, but rather as we left customs checks).” The
> tour itself was a great success and in fact Greg wrote “And I do hope to
> travel again with you sometime because this incident aside, it was a very
> nice trip.”
> 
> Adam Riley
> 
> Managing Director
> 
> Rockjumper Birding Tours CC (Reg 2001/059480/23)
> 
>  
> 
> Adam omits to mention some salient points here. Most importantly, the two
> other participants on the flight that were met by Rockjumper (referred to
> above) have both confirmed that whatever the circumstances of me not
> connecting with the Rockjumper fellow, he made NO effort whatsoever to find
> me in the airport after Customs clearances, although I waited in the airport
> for two hours while being seriously harassed by various gangster-types. All
> this was going on while Adam’s Rockjumper fellow - and the two who were
> lucky enough to meet him - were quietly waiting for two hours 200m away for
> their vehicle pick-up. Such was the degree of antagonism that I faced from
> these dodgy characters that I was physically prevented from leaving the
> terminal; I escaped eventually solely due to the spirited intervention of a
> kindly but armed guard from a hotel nearby. Moreover, Adam failed to mention
> that BOTH the emergency after-hours contact numbers that Rockjumper had
> given me went to Voicemail; he also failed to mention that the number given
> for the hotel we were supposed to be staying at similarly did not work. In
> other  words, I was on my own. I travel extensively in the Third World,
> often by myself, and the situation I encountered in Cameroon was arguably
> the worst.
> 
> Safety was a primary reason for my opting to go with Rockjumpers. Yes, this
> incident aside, it was a very nice trip... but  the memories are forever
> scarred by a life-threatening situation that is not easily assuaged by a
> $300 discount offer.
> 
> Greg Roberts
> 
>  
> 
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