Active Outdoor Adventures Ltd

AVOID: Rips Off Customers We want to urge fellow travelers to avoid Active Outdoor Adventures shuttle service to Tongariro Alpine Crossing in New Zealand. We have, prior to leaving this review, both studied the policy provided and given the company a chance to make things right their responses have reinforced our perception that this is not a serious company that should be avoided. For those who have the energy, we have provided a long description of events below. For the rest, a summary would be this: we had no choice but to pay double the price and were rushed off earlier than scheduled departure, after being threatened that the shuttle would not run at all (leaving us with no other option). Long Description: *We booked the shuttle service for 2 pax 5 months in advance. *The day of the hike (at 6am) the company informed us via text the shuttle was cancelled. *Upon calling them, the company rep. said they had decided not to run the shuttle given a last minute cancellation of another group that morning, making the shuttle not financially viable for them. Upon our complaint, the rep. coldly referred to their rights to do so according to their policy. *As we had no other option, we asked how many pax minimally they require to run the shuttle they answered 4. Hence, we paid for additional 2 seats at a higher price than our original booking. *When arriving at the pickup place, we are first informed there will be no shuttle. Then a driver shows up, but to our confusion there are 2 other travelers that are joining and the company rushed us to leave 30 min earlier than we booked, resulting in us having to carry the remnants of our breakfast for 8h on the hike. *The other travelers had paid only NZD50 in total, whereas we had been forced to pay NZD168.35 for the exact same service. *When studying the policy, it says the company shall give no refund at all if anyone cancels within 24h prior to departure (which the other group had done) so not only did the company keep their payments but they also ripped us off by charging NZD168.35 for something that ought to have cost NZD50. As said, we have been in contact with the company, and they have made it very clear they are not intending to right this wrong. We are very disappointed by the whole experience, and in addition to losing money, we also had a very chaotic start to a hike experience that we had been planning for a long time. This company is not serious, takes advantage of customers, and consciously defends unfair treatment. Please avoid.
Jan 25th, 2023

Perfect service, safe parking lot!
Apr 2nd, 2023

Service was great, had a little chat with the lady in the phone about the weather. With the actual shuttle we could not go with the first one and had to wait a bit. Feels like there are many companies sharing the same parking space and busses in the morning and just take whoever comes. Take care that when you're done with the tangariro walk it's still ~1.5k to the parking lot which doesn't seem like a lot, but feels different after 19.5k (just don't celebrate too early with painful feet!).
Mar 23rd, 2023

Incredible hike, great shuttle transport. Really enjoyed our day! Take plenty of water and a packed lunch with snacks for later in the day.
Mar 14th, 2023

We got a one way trip from the shuttle car park to the start of the tongario crossing. What more could you want really? Parked the campervan in the carpark and headed on our walk which ended in a car park 5ins up the road so we walked back down to our van to move on to our camping space for the night. Friendly, helpful staff who did exactly what we needed.
Oct 26th, 2022