Camp Australia
reviews and complaints

Dear Officer，

I am the Jia Lei, the parents of E. Camp Australia has put incorrect detail to apply my CCS payment, therefore I cannot receive CCS and paid the full fee amount for my invoice.

Since Camp Australia is not a provider of our school, Brandon Park, therefore they refuse to help me to apply CCS to the previous invoice.

I paid my full invoice of AUD 93.4, however I am eligible for CCS payment. Centerlink told me if Camp Australia doesn't send correct information to them, I will not be able to receive my CCS payment back.

I have contacted Camp Australia many times, the operators always told me that they will fix this issue, however I never had an answer back from them.

Could you please help with this issue, Thanks

Jia Lei [protected]@gmail.com

Name: Chris Verdon

Children in care: Levi Verdon, Eila Verdon

Issue: CCS was not processed correctly between 1/1/23 and 31/6/23 so full fee was inadvertently paid. A complaint was lodged with Centrelink. The complaint resolved in an agreement with the Department Of Education that backpayment must be made for this period. To process the backpayment Centrelink require the session reports, which Camp Australia won't provide.

I have been receiving someone else's mail from camp Australia for over a year now. I have sent back every letter stating this previous tenant does not live at my address, I have called twice now the last call being 17th of November and requested by email to cease and desist sending me the letters, as I am the only tenant at my address.

I have recieved maybe 13-15 letters now. This is beyond a joke, if it doesn't stop I'll be taking it to the commonwealth ombudsman.

My daughter has started attending after school child care through Camp Australia since May 2023, and I have been charged full price without CCS since then which is half a year already! I contacted centre link couple of times and was told the enrollment was not submitted by provider. I called Camp Australia more than 10 times so far and was told it was an IT issue which is reviewing and that was 1 month ago! How long you need to solve the problem? You shall stop charging me anymore!

I got a bill for what was supposed to be ACCS billed on top of my CCS…. My kids are in foster care- all relevant documents were supplied…. We have bills both previous and post this bill that both had ACCS on it but they didn’t apply for it and now want me to pay the bill 2 years later!

This is not my mistake…. This is theirs! And they expect me to pay an amount that is outstanding but it’s their side that needs to do that paperwork!

After having already claimed the Service NSW before and after school vouchers with Camp Australia in January I emailed Camp Australia customer service in early June to determine whether or not it would be possible to use the soon expiring vouchers for July vacation care if booked before the voucher expiry. We at that point had not used any of the voucher credit, we have 3 children who had $500 worth of vouchers each.

The email reply I received from Camp Australia was that the vouchers "will apply as a credit to your account" and "can be used for your future booking after June 30, 2023." So, we booked vacation care days expecting that the vouchers were being used as there was no way of seeing future invoices on the parent portal.

I have now recently received a bill for the vacation care days ($1408.50) and when I enquired via email to customer service, they stated that the vouchers expired on June 30th and could not be used for the days in question. I've tried to discuss the matter via email with customer service several times. Each time they refused to acknowledge to issue (that I was given false information) or offer any apology. They merely restated their policy that the vouchers could not be used. Though if the policy was that clear I don't why someone couldn't have told it to me when I asked originally before making the bookings. When I said that I was going to make a formal complaint they said that someone would be in touch but so far no one has. I am instead receiving emails for the 'overdue' bill. I never would have booked the majority of these days if I did not believe the vouchers could be used.

Desired outcome:

A formal written apology which acknowledges the mistake made by Camp Australia in providing me with false information.

An extension on the bill due date. Believing that the vouchers would cover the cost I only applied to Centrelink for the CCS when I received the initial bill.

Some financial consolation. In the least perhaps it would be possible to not charge us for the 2 days (20/7 & 21/7) which we had to cancel due to a family emergency. I appreciate that 4 days' notice may not be sufficient for your cancellation policy, but the price did include things like a 'take home art kit' that we certainly never received.

I understand that you have already made a payment and apologize for any inconvenience. Due to the change in your (CCS/ACCS), the amount that was initially invoiced to you was incorrect and as a result, the difference is required to be paid. Related invoiced dates back to the previous financial year 2021/22.

I wish to advise you that we will not be paying this amount you claim is owing from the previous financial year, I myself work in the corporate space and would find it extremely unprofessional and incompetent for a company to miss calculate an invoice and over 12 months later resubmit additional changes. Not to mention the other invalid invoices that your company has submitted to us that has only further damaged your credibility.

Camp Australia have invoiced me several times with invalid charges, now they are claiming additional payment for invoices they issued incorrectly over 12 months ago and at first offered no explanation, extremely unprofessional

On the 18 April Centrelink balanced [protected] and paid me the retention back minus a small adjustment.Part of delay in balancing [protected] they siad was suppliers you are the only supplier for child care for my son.

Going to your web site and looking up my billing we find:-

$72.90 billed and paid by direct debit on 11 May .

$61.36 billed for payment by direct debit 25 May BUT on 25 May you took $141.53.

I phone get told adjudtment

1 reason maybe change in year I explain always 85 % and in fact I had stopped the 5 % retention a few months ago bdue to Centrelink taking nearly a year to balance .So only adjustment would be any thing.

2 Camp Australia only just balanced [protected] so they charged another $80.17 because they unfortunatley udercharged in [protected].

I come back with I had been pushing Centrlink to balance as several hundred dollars were in retention which I knew would come to me when balanced and we are on low income so every dollar counts.They balanced on 18 April .

So how could Camp Australia now want money off me for 2021-22 which coild not be subject to 85% subsidy.

B\Get a Manager Jasmine8235849 whos only really comments were "unfortunate" and back log.I explain unfortunate is not a legal term I wanted the legal reason and accounting back up to figures sent to me ASAP.Even better would be give me our money back.

Coordinator Tara Ross - Glenmore Park Public School
Upon arriving for my shifts at Glenmore Park, I was briefly (20 seconds or less) told the policies and procedures, I wasn’t given a number of students any of the days I have worked here, over the course of my shifts I noticed the tone of Tara’s voice was demeaning not just when speaking to myself but the children. I have completed 3 shifts for this school, and not one of those days were Tara respectful to me.

On my shift 4/5 (a shift I took because I was asked to 4 times) I had let the operator know Atleast twice that if I took the shift I would be about 15 minutes late, the operator said he would pass this on. Arriving to my shift I was greeted with an unpleasant snarky remark “you start at 3, not 3:15” she barked at me, taken off guard I tried to explain myself, she walked away from me. About 1 hour later I was told to I was going to the field (about a 3 minute walk from where the hall and majority of kids were)

Tara handed me a radio, I then asked a few moments later instructions for how to use, again I have not been shown or taught to do anything I am just using my own initiative. While having a few seconds with Tara I asked her to please not use a demeaning tone of voice as I have shown her the utmost respect, she began to dismiss myself and then walked inside the hall leaving me with 16 children to take out to a field. In the hour and 10 minutes I was out there she did not radio once for a headcount, the 3 times she radioed me was for children whose parents had arrived to pick them up.

Overall I feel the behaviour of Tara’s does not comply with any policies or procedures, the way I have been spoken to is horrendous and has left a bad taste in my mouth, yo be blunt I don’t think someone as sour as Tara should be working with children it is evident that she has no respect for her job or the children nor staff.

My son was finishing up with Camp Australia suddenly. I logged onto their website, cancelled his booking. It told me I would have to pay out the week's notice - which I accepted as fair. He stopped going the next day. I received what I thought were a couple of email reminders for that last week's fees but later discovered the system hadn't registered the cancellation on that date. Somehow it registered my cancellation for about 3 weeks later. Despite trying to explain this to staff - they referred my case to a collection agency and I am stuck paying hundreds of dollars in fees for time he wasn't enrolled at the centre.

My children have been going to camp Australia for a little over a month. The first day they went we went into the room and no one approached us. All staff members just sat there and stared. I said good morning and got nothing in return. I told them we were new and the names of my kids. They said okay signed them in and walked away. My kids knew no one. No one came up to them to introduce themselves to the kids or myself. I was running late for work so told my kids to stick together and that I'll be back in the afternoon. Pick up was the same. They didn't even acknowledge that I had come through the door. I got my kids and left. This has continued for weeks despite it all I'm still polite and say hello and goodbye even though no one says it back. Then Monday just gone I got to the school 5 minutes before 6. It takes me a few minutes to get out of my chair due to a medical condition. I make it up there dead on 6 again I say hello one of the staff members looks dead straight holding their handbag looking angry. The other staff member stomps off into another room. I say come on kids let's go. The other staff member that stomped off comes back out and looks me straight in the eyes. States that I can't be late picking up the children because if anything happens it's on her. I said it's dead on 6 I got here as quickly as I could you can see I'm puffing from pushing myself up here because I'm in a wheelchair. She said well that's not my problem if you can't be here 5 minutes before 6 then you'll have to look elsewhere for care for your children. I was/am so shocked I just said okay and left with the kids I checked my watch as we were leaving the room and it was 6:01 pm. Both staff members followed behind going back to the car park whispering. Not even 4 days prior I watched as another parent was late I had already collected my kids and was waiting for them to get their stuff. I watched how the staff members said hi to that parent and said it was fine that they were late as things happen. Then 2 days before that also not late I watched as they took a child down to the front gate and waited 10 minutes after 6 for this child's parent and helped the child into that car. I don't understand why I'm being treated differently from others. Why I'm looked down on or why because I'm dead on 6 it's not allowed and I have to find care elsewhere for my children. I don't know who to turn to regarding this matter I've emailed camp Australia and have been ignored. Who can I approach about this?

I was informed in early January 2023 that your billing system did not bill me for after care six months ago. Camp Australia wants me to pay this money right after Christmas when times are tough. I made an arrangement with them to pay them off fortnightly which was accepted even send me an email to confirm this payment plan. Despite my approved payment plan Camp Australia has the audacity to take the full amount at once, thus leaving me with a broken bank and not even money for gas nor to pay school fees.

For a company that makes millions a feel you are greedy and have no respect nor empathy for hardship. I hope that one day you will row in the same boat and receive the same treatment you give people when times are tough.

Thanks for nothing Camp Australia

This company has a disgusting late fee policy. Not only do they not provide notice to their consumers about any late payments but the extra fees accumulate with such a pace and such an increase they end up costing more than the service itself.

It’s a complete scam and totally ridiculous, their billing system is unfair and should be investigated they are ripping off parents and charging them for nothing,
I just received the first notice of my overdue account and apparently this is the third and final one, figure that one out!
My daughter has stayed twice which should be approx $70 and yet the bill is for $140! Is that not completely Ludacris?

The government needs to step in and audit them, a quick look online and you can see all the fines they have been slapped with already. Bad management and only out for the dollars, they don’t care about kids or hard-working families. Just want any excuse to fine you extortionate fees.

I have used Camp Australia for years with little issue until the last few months. My experience with incorrect billing, incorrect late fees and at times CCS not applied has made dealing with Camp Australia so stressful that I reduced how often my son used the service. As others have mentioned, you need to follow concerns up at least 4-5 times before anything is resolved. Who has time for that? With the invalid late payment I was told repeatedly by email and verbally that it was reversed, but still took further fee cycles for someone to look properly and see it hadn’t been done. Maddening! I have cancelled all school holiday bookings and will just have to juggle work with school pick up next year. I’m done.

I was charged the full fee even though I had confirmed in mygov for child care rebate. Called them three weeks ago, and they said they were going to refund me within two days. However, I had to chase them again as I did not get the refund. They said they had just done it. After two days I still could not see the refund so I had to ask them again. This time they told me for security reason I had to call a certain number to get the refund! Why did not they tell me in the first time? Instead they told me they were going to refund me or have refunded me. I have got a feeling that they could tell me anything Instead of giving me the money back! Should I trust their service if I have to use their holiday program? No! If the effort is so much to just get a refund, I will definitely try to avoid Camp Australia!

Company was advised there was a hardship issue and I could only pay a specific amount for my direct debits. This was approved and I was advised it would need to be re-assessed in a month's time. I then show up to take my kid to care and was advised my account was in legal action. I had made all payments I had abided by the payment plan. I was not called to be notified and was humiliated in front of school care when taking my child that day. I had to essentially bed them to take her in so I could go to work.

Camp Australia direct debited my account without applying the child care subsidy. When I called to advise, it took 3 different team members to understand what I was saying and to apply the subsidy to the account. Blame was put onto Centrelink, they took no responsibility.

As we no longer use the service I requested a refund for the overcharged $$ ... and I'm still waiting for the refund. I've spoken to 4 different team members all on different days and have been told that it has been processed, that it will take 3-5 days to be processed, that I should see it in my account in 2 days, that it will be processed in 5 -7 days, and my most recent reply was that there is a delay. She was not able to clarify the reason for the delay and was not able to give me a timeframe for the refund. These calls took place over a 2 week period

I've now made a complaint through the Office of Fair Trading

I had used Camp Australia for Out of school hours care after school and school holidays for my son at Bethany Christian school SA campus. The agreement was for direct debits fortnightly on a Thursday.

A few months ago I was direct debited $360 and realised I was overcharged, called them to fix it and found that the child care subsidy was not properly applied. Then after they stated they sorted it out I received another bill for about $360, again I called and was advised they had reset it and my child care subsidy would be applied.

On 17th August I then received a bill for $455.79 which I rang again and asked them to hold the account until they sort out the child care subsidy and removed my son from all bookings so no extra charges would occur.

I received another bill for the overdue $455.79 and rang again to ensure the account was on hold and being fixed, I was assured it was.

Today I checked my bank account to find that Camp Australia direct debited $471.25. I called to get it refunded because I hadn't agreed to any charges until the CCS was added correctly, they refused stating I never made a call after the last bill and stating I only asked for an extension and that an extension and hold is the same thing. I asked if they refused to refund the full amount if they could calculate the CCS that should have been applied and refund me that amount however they also refused to do this. I asked to speak to a supervisor and they refused stating no one was available.

Not only have they overcharged me they refuse to sort it out and they took money I needed for food and psychology appointment for my family.