Down Under Answers

If you value accountability, attention to detail, timely follow-up and deep knowledge of your destination in a Travel Agent than I highly recommend you avoid Down Under Answers as they exhibited none of these characteristics on our trip to New Zealand in November 2023. Our primary travel agent, who is excellent, engaged them based on a recommendation from his peers to help plan our 2 week self guided tour of New Zealand as part of an overall 5 week South Pacific trip. The first signals we were dealing with a sub standard agency came in the first, and all subsequent, proposals from them prior to our final booking. Each proposal was fraught with errors but we were assured that they apply real due diligence once they start booking and have a thorough quality control process. It turns out their quality control process is a mirage. While most of what Down Under arranged for us was well done there were several errors/omissions they made that as of today, January 3rd, over a month since our trip ended, they have taken zero accountability for. The failures started with them only purchasing one ferry ticket for us to get from Auckland to Waiheke Island for a food and wine tour. We had to go to three different gate agents, nearly missing our journey, to finally having to purchase the missing ticket ourselves or miss the tour. My wife is Gluten Free to which we informed Down Under Answers when they were first engaged and continually through the process including asking them to recommunicate to all tour operators, especially those involving food, that she was Gluten Free once everything was booked. They reassured us that they had done that. Well, we get to the first tour, the aforementioned Food and Wine Tour on Waiheke Island, an excellent tour by the way, and the tour operator had never been informed of my wife's food allergy. Imagine going on a Food and Wine tour and not being able to eat most of the food provided? I should mention that Down Under Answers' "quality control" process took over 2 weeks to complete which meant we did not receive our confirmed itinerary from them until the day we left leaving no time for review. We had a wonderful time on the North Island from this point ending in Wellington where we took the ferry across the Cook Strait to Picton. As this trip was celebrating our 40th Wedding Anniversary we had asked to book premium class of service wherever possible. Per the invoice and itinerary from Down Under Answers we had booked the premium level on the ferry yet when we checked in at the Ferry Terminal we were unceremoniously told we were booked in economy which was disappointing and embarrassing all at the same time. The final straw with Down Under Answers came with the hotel they booked for us at the Auckland Airport, the Naumi, where we had a layover after an evening flight from Queenstown prior to flying on to Fiji the next morning. We had asked for a nice, or at least decent, hotel convenient to the Airport. The Naumi Hotel was neither decent, forget nice, nor convenient to the Airport. The Naumi was a 35 minute shuttle bus ride from the airport and it's room decor was something out of the 1970's with dozens of dead bugs in the bath tub for kickers. Obviously no one from Down Under had ever stayed or knew anything about this hotel property. We communicated all of these errors to Down Under Answers as they were happening. To date they have made no attempt to reach out to us to explain or preferably apologize for their failures nor have they reimbursed us for the services we contracted for but were never booked for which we paid them. A true measure of quality and integrity in the services industry is how a company reacts when things don't go as planned and Down Under Answers has failed that at every turn. They did a lot of things right/well for us but that is overshadowed not by their failures but their lack of accountability for them. I would avoid using Down Under Answers at all costs.
Dec 21st, 2023

Use any other travel agent but never this company. Unresponsive, received our itinerary 2 days before departure tho promised 2 Weeks prior to departure ( trip planned a year in advance), no early arrival hotel arrangement though the hotel offered it (so waited 8 hrs to get into our room), day tour cancelled due to weather but never notified, dirty low rate hotel after previous Hilton luxury stay. Customer service is horrible, Emma. Was our first and last time using them or any agency - WILL BOOK DIRECTLY WITH NO AGENT EVER AGAIN!
Mar 23rd, 2023

Feb 28th, 2023

We had an amazing honeymoon experience thanks to Down Under Answers. The travel agency was incredibly helpful in planning our trip to French Polynesia. We specifically want to thank our travel agent, Emma Leon, for her expertise and seamless experience. She made our trip unforgettable by helping us to organize stays on the islands of Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora. We highly recommend Down Under Answers for all your travel needs in French Polynesia
May 12th, 2022

Nora is the rep that I am currently working with. She has done a great job curating a trip to Bora Bora for my Time Travelers (clients).
Dec 21st, 2021