Review Time
I was very causious and anxious before and after booking our trip with AVG Travels, mainly after reading heaps of negative reviews. The agent Fabio, whom we were booking the trip with, was very friendly and helpful, he always replied to my queries in a timely manner. Unfortunately, he then left and another agent wasn't so timely with their replies - I had to wait for days and even sometimes weeks to get a reply from her which was annoying. I had to sometimes call the agency because the replies by e-mails were not coming. Fortunately enough, our trip to China finally happened. First of all, I wish the itenerary itself was less exhausting. Three flights in a day's time were a very tiresome experience (Brisbane-Syd-Hong Kong-Beijing). I wish there were direct flights to China offered to us from Brisbane and/or Sydney. In fact, they exist but I think the agency is always looking for cheaper options. So, we were extremely tired when we landed in Beijing abt midnight, and the Day 1 tours were starting at 9-30 am next day. In fact, the guide did give us some time to rest because otherwise the tours normally start at 8-45 am. So, we were constantly lacking sleep which wasn't good. I think, AVG Travels have to work on itineraries. Same happened when we took a bullet train from Beijing to Suzhou and arrived very late with a morning excursion next day, haveing just abt 4,5 hours to sleep. I also wish we were spending less time at factories (in fact, the silk factory was good but I wasn't impressed with the pearl factory). Again, the way back was exhausting. And we were lucky to get on the flight from Hong Kong just before the typhoon hit the coast. We liked Shanghai most of all. However, we were shown another Shanghai - which we were not shown by the guides (our nephew lives and works there). So, I think Shanghai deserves more days to spend there. Chinese guides (2 Lilies) were nice and helpful, they spoke good English which is rare in China.
China & Yangtze River cruise. The China English speaking tour guides are very pushy on the optional tours. (They are quite happy to drop you off miles from the motel and don't want to pick you up again as it is too busy in the big cities, so you end up having to pay for Taxis). The cruise is great with no push on the optional tours. Great value with flights, nice motels and nice breakfast include. 2 x early morning starts to bullet train & an internal flight mean you get a crappy packed lunch instead of a nice breakfast at motel. No bus turned up 1 morning at 4.30am and the motel had trouble finding Taxi's which was stressful, and we just made the flight. AVG gave us all a nice restaurant lunch and repaid Taxi fare to make up for this. We were the last to leave the cruise and we had to ring AVG as no one picked us up to take us to the airport until a couple of hours later. The tour guide was very helpful when she arrived and helped us arrange our seating on the plane and time in the airport lounge as we had a long wait until our flight. On the flight to China my wife was on one side of the plane, and I was on the other. China South airlines have good meals, but they DO NOT keep couples and families together. One couple was separated from each other and their 2 young children into 4 different areas until the hostess managed to get people to swap around.
We booked a 10-day China tour with AVG Travels (also known as Asia Vacation Group) for four people in early July 2024, paying in full, over a year in advance. The trip was planned for September 2025 and carefully coordinated around our work and family commitments.Then, just two months before departure, we received an abrupt email stating that the tour was cancelled due to “last-minute changes from local suppliers.” No real explanation! No accountability!The company offered us two poor alternatives:1. Reschedule to a later date, which wasn’t possible due to our personal and work commitments.2. Upgrade to a 12-day tour (which included the exact same first 10 days) for an extra $1,600 per person, totalling $6,400 extra for our group of four.This “upgrade” raised serious concerns. The revised itinerary was identical to the original for the first 10 days. Why weren’t we allowed to return home from Shanghai as originally planned? This casts doubt on whether the cancellation was genuinely due to supplier issues, or if it was a deliberate attempt to steer customers toward a more expensive product.After numerous back-and-forth emails, the company agreed to issue a full refund. Weeks passed. We followed up repeatedly, only to receive vague, non-committal replies and no clear timeline:“Please rest assured that your refund request is already on our accounting team’s list and will be processed when it reaches its turn in the queue.”We were left wondering: how many refunds are they processing, and why is there no clear timeline?It was only after we issued a final demand, giving them 48 hours to process the refund or we’d file a formal complaint with the ACCC, that the refund finally came through.The ordeal cost us time, energy, stress, and the card processing fee, which was never refunded. We feel misled, ignored, and disrespected. We paid in good faith for a service they failed to deliver, and they held our money for over a month after agreeing to refund it.To make matters worse, they continue to heavily advertise tours across social media, as if nothing’s wrong. How many others are still waiting for refunds? How many had their tours cancelled at the last minute?This company should not be allowed to operate like this in Australia.We’re sharing our experience to warn others:⚠️ Be extremely cautious before booking with this company.⚠️ Check other reviews! You’ll see we’re not alone.When a company cancels a fully paid service and then refuses to return customer funds in a timely and transparent manner, that’s not just bad business. IT’S UNETHICAL.Until this company cleans up its act, avoid them at all costs.Finally, if only I could give 0 STARS, I would!
After they tried to push us into another, “more expensive tour” to cater for children, we stood our ground and advised AVG that it was their mistake, we don’t have anymore money nor can we simply change our leave around. The next day, Paul emailed me to confirm that the company will honour our original agreement.About 6 weeks ago, I still did not receive the link for the final payment so I rang to ask where it was only to be pass onto Paul again. He started by asking me what my understanding of the agreement was. He then tried to say they will honour the children for a different tour but this tour will be additional $300 per person to which I said no, I have it all in writing and that I want a full refund now given that they have not honoured their words - twice. Later that day or the next day, they rang me saying they will issue a refund, to be issued up to 30 days. My husband suggested emailing our account details in case we got told they got a digit wrong or something. Exactly 30 days later there was still no refund. I rang them in the morning and said they’ll investigate. I rang them again in the evening at 4.30pm. The operator said he’ll investigate too. I then had enough and rang our financial provider to put through a dispute claim. I am not sure if it’s because we got our financial provider involved or that we paid via credit card but we finally got our refund. The experience has been horrible - simply a nightmare. The kids are disappointed that they couldnt go to China. We had to find a last minute interstate trip to ease the disappointment however getting our refund was a relief.
I travelled on 16day china/Japan tour with AVG and enjoyed all of it. The guides were very good at looking after me and knowledge of areas was excellent. Hotel stays were of the best level. Top 4 star . This is a budget tour so a lot of travellers however the guides seemed to handle strays and stragglers courteously and friendly but firmly. Tour guides May and Savid in China and Linh in Japan, i cannot praise them enough for their service. I purchased optional packages prior to leaving and was refunded for missed trips due to AVG itinerary change but an optional missed due to a cancelled flight was only refunded 1/2 (not their fault and not mine). Some optional were cheaper on the tour than I paid but too bad. I would not repurchase optionals before travelling in the future
I have a $500 credit with AVG travel from a previous failed trip and I have been trying to rebook the Vietnam trip. I was threatened today by sales12 that I have to delete a previous review I left or they won't book any trip with them also by email. She said I'm unwanted by the company because of the review which I stand by. As many other people have said AVOID THIS COMPANY & Vietjet airlines who they use. Disgusting lack of customer service if they understand what you are saying . I could barely understand sales12 today she's yelling at me & threatened me & I told her I would add another review. I will look into reporting them further because going by these reviews it is a systemic problem. As I thought a bit of a scam take peoples money and never give it back. If this company treats potential customers with aggression and threats then they have crossed the line. KEEP AWAY DON'T USE THIS COMPANY
Just my next update. I’m baffled how this company has any good reviews.Well after 5 months AVG finally sent my refund back. Not before I had consulted a solicitor, involved my bank to intervene, and finally lodging a dispute claim with VCAT at a cost of $250. 5 months of phone calls, emails and a very rude ‘consultant’ telling me to go ahead and sue them because under their Terms and Conditions, they have control of my money now.On advice from VCAT I have kept the claim open to claim fees for my dispute application.Good luck everyone. These guys will ruin your holiday and cause unnecessary stress at a time that should be exciting. Find another company or organise your tour yourself. Thank you TrustPilot for allowing me to share my experience.
I booked a trip with AVG. My partner read a lot of negative reviews and we decided to ask for our deposit back. I rang them and got to speak to someone within a minute. They gave thorough advice and explained the 7 day cooling off period. I contacted the original consultant and advised that I wish to cancel. She arranged it and within 48 hours I got my refund. I was expecting to have a hard time getting my money refunded, I didn't. My conclusion is that I was given very good service, honest and transparent. My wife advised that she is going to keep an eye on their reviews and that we may use them the following year. I am writing this because I think they deserve some positive feedback.
How do you take an otherwise good product and ruin it? By wrapping it in a soiled garbage bag. We went on an 11 day tour of Vietnam through AVG. Their local staff were brilliant. The tour design was great. But to squeeze a few extra dollars of profit out of us, they put us on possibly the worst airline known - VietJet Air. The planes were dirty. The food was offensive. The flights were consistently late or cancelled. It makes flying with JetStar feel like Singapore Airlines first class.The first and last contact with a tour is alwats the airline. And when tour operators choose the cheapest and nastiest airline to make a few extra dollars it sets the tone for the whole tour. A sour taste made all the worse by AVG constantly saying that such matters are ouf of their control. Except they chose the airline!We selected them over cheaper options based on a recommendation but we will not use them ever again and will share our views with others.To make an extra couple of dollars on the front end, they have likely lost far more at the back end.
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