Seal Kayak Kaikoura - Sunset Tour

Posted by Sam from New Zealand on4 Apr 2019

arrow_back Seal Kayak Kaikoura - Sunset Tour

Sam said... My partner and I booked the sunset tour and thought it was overall a good tour. We enjoyed the pedal kayaks as neither of us have done something like this before and thought our guide was friendly and informative. However, we do have to put out there for future customers that we felt rather pressured to join the tour despite us feeling apprehensive about the weather as we experienced heavy rainy upon us driving into the Kaikoura area. Upon expressing our concerns to Levi through text in the morning, he was adamant about weather conditions being “perfect” for kayaking. Although we are no kayaking experts, kayaking in the evening when it was overcast and rather dreary did not seem like “perfect” conditions to us. We specifically booked the sunset tour because we thought it’d be great to see the sunset while being out on the water and it was the only activity we were doing in Kaikoura so we wanted it for be a pleasurable experience and we did not see ourselves enjoying it as much with the overcast and no possible chance of seeing a sunset that evening. We thought that upon booking it, we could obtain a refund if the weather wasn’t up to par with what the activity advertised—a sunset tour, and we thought this seemed faired. Despite our concerns however, Levi expressed that refunds would only be given upon the discretion of the operator and in the event that conditions were unsafe. Although we are not doubting his expertise with it being good conditions for kayaking, we did feel that the “100% weatherproof guarantee” seems like nothing rather than a marketing gimmick if Levi was not going to at least address his customers concerns about providing an enjoyable experience as the activity advertised. He noted that we could cancel but no refund would be given and so we, not wanting to lost the money we spent on the tour, went ahead with it. Although we do think that it is an overall enjoyable tour and we don’t doubt that it has been/will be great for people with good weather conditions, I do believe that Levi should clarify and perhaps even put a discretion with the “100% weatherproof guarantee” that this is NOT guaranteed to customers whatsoever and that refunds will only be given when it is unsafe to carry out the tour (which seems like standard ethical business practices in any country) and that stating so is rather misleading to potential customers.