Camp Australia

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.

Camp australias billing system is extremely flawed and hard to understand!

I always pay my bills on time and never realy had issues in the past untill I had noticed the bills were not correct "since the new financial yr" my ccs was not applying correctly.. I contacted camp and had it sorted..

Then all of a sudden my camp app portal keeps popping up with an overdue notice, I contacted them and was told to ignore it as nothing was overdue but ex amount would be due shortly...

Now ex amount is never what the amount on the billing screen says as the amount on the app also states the upcoming charges that have not been processed with the ccs... So it may say $200 owing yet its not correct because it hasnt processed with ccs yet and there is nowhere it actually says what is owed at that time!

Its extremely confusing and tbh its entrapment to charge overdue fees!

Every bill is different and no detail provided for sudden “over due” funds

I feel like I’m being held to ransom when the account is called over due by this dodgy operator as I am currently in the process of buying a house and do not want bad credit from them.

You can not track what you owe, it changes from bill to bill which they claim is “dynamic” what a pile of crap

To whom it may concern

Yesterday my boys (William 10 ) and (Mathew 7 asd) attended camp Australia's vacation care service at rooty hill public school

It was our first time and my youngest was especially nervous

Upon arriving there was a small child outside the service that appeared upset and didn't want to enter my eldest tried to convince him but he was shooed away by the educators

I asked to speak to someone regarding my youngest and just advised them that he had asd and loud sounds can sometimes upset him but if there were any issues to just call me

They told the boys to wash their hands as they entered and I left

At 958am I received a phone call from an educator saying Mathew was quite upset and wanted to speak to me

I spoke to him and he was distressed I asked him what the problem was and he verbalised it was something to do with a game they were playing

He expressed he wanted to go home

I spoke to his brother briefly who was with him and seemed to calm him down

I then spoke again with the educator asking if she was able to give him something else to do and if she was able to handle it

She said she could

And I hung up

Last night my eldest expressed that after they washed their hands they were asked to put a mask on

William told them no he doesn't wear a mask And they insisted he needed to wear it

They then did the same to my youngest as well

My son tells me he watched them tell every child that came from then on was told to put a mask on

At one point he counted 29 children with masks on

I was never advised they needed masks

By camp Australia nor when I arrived

I did have a lady in a fb group tell me they force them to wear a mask the night before and I laughed and said no way as I didn't believe her (attached is the conversation)

I also have since seen a fb group another mum saying the same thing

When I rang the service this morning to complain I was told by the educator that if I were a good mother I would want them to wear one and there has been alot of cases so it was important

I want to file a complaint against not just the service but the entire team who worked there and have enforced this rule

Every educator that stood by watching this happen needs to be reprimanded as well

Who is to say if they saw something else they would say nothing

Hopefully this gets to the right person

I have been following up incorrect invoices for almost 2 months. I have been told FOUR TIMES via email and phone that resubmissions to Centrelink are going to be completed and I will be advised of an accurate amount owing within 1 - 3 days. This has not occurred. I have spend endless hours and time emailing to get absolutely nowhere with this. I repeatedly get told by customer service that they will get back to me and will be "keeping a close eye on the progress of my issue". No one gets back to me with an outcome! My account go put on hold as they "investigate" yet I my account has just gone up to over $800 owing yet I took my son out of Camp Australia over two weeks ago because of incompetency of Camp Australia's billing system and customer service.

I was told yesterday AGAIN when I phoned for an update "not to worry, that the account is on hold and you wont need to do anything until we sort this". Logging on to the portal and my owing amount has gone up by $200!

I can very much understand now why parents do not use this service and why I was warned against the service. I initially went with the service as it was on school grounds but I now see why even Teachers at the school have there children attending elsewhere!

My 5 year old kindy child begun with Camp Aust. I’m February. I was told she would be collected from class by a staff member and walked to the on-site centre.

Not only did this not occur but she was allowed to walk out of the school gate and off with a friend down the street and get in to this other child’s car.

I spoke with staff at Camp Aust, the following day & was told their policy was to call parents when a child didn’t attend the booked session. This did not occur.

The following week, my daughter was crying when a parent collected their child and my daughter was comforted by this parent as she apologies for kissing their child.

Once I’d collected my daughter, she told me at home that a group of big kids surrounded her and her 5 year old friend, whilst in the Camp Aust. room and forced them to kiss. This took place whilst a staff member was in the same room.

When confronted, staff said they didn’t mention it to parents as they wanted to first investigate and that the boy involved had been causing problems for everyone. When I demanded action be taken, I was told they would talk to his parents.

Both incidences have been escalated to head office and after more then 8 business days, I have still not received a reply.

I am therefore left with no other option but to make a legal report regarding the care of children within this centre.

Assaulting of children seems to be tolerated within Camp Australia. Year 5 students putting their hands on the throats of other students while in the toilets essentially choking them. This is assault and a crime. This is a repeated offence and one assault happened while the Regional Manger was visiting that day.

Camp Australia seems to have a proactive response in protecting bullies while victims go unheard. In a setting where bullies go on and continue their lives, victims go on to lead less fulfilling lives, withdraw and commit suicide. We never hear stories of bullies committing suicide yet Camp Australia put in action plans to protect them and the victims are forgotten.

The Regional Manager of Camp Australia needs to start protecting the victims. When there is evidence of continued assaults the bullies must be expelled by Camp Australia. Camp Australia must start protecting the victims as they are neglecting their duty of care. If a child refuses to go to the toilet as they know they will be assaulted and decides it’s better a better option to poo in their pants there is a serious concern of duty of care of the victims. These victims are being unheard, silenced and neglected.

Is Camp Australia waiting for the death of a child before expelling repeated bullies? As their action plans aren’t working when assaults are occur 2 days in a row - this is excessive behaviour and clearly and issue Camp Australia cannot resolve.

Refusing to accept payment plans on multiple occasions, adding additional fees and charges whilst service not in use. Only offering a Direct Debit option for payment, even though I have made consistent payments towards the $180 debt. Previously have removed more than agreed from my accounts on more than one occasion- hence why I don't wish to be forced into direct debit for a service i no longer use.

Have requested numerous times in writing to have it looked into - they have refused every offer.

Even though I have stated numerous times we no longer use the service (Thankfully our school switched providers) - they still try and offer "non exclusion" as one of the reasons i MUST be on direct debit.

I just want my agreed payment plan noted, and payments made weekly as suggested until the final bill is done, and I can move on from Camp Australia. I work in an industry that allows this as an option where debts have occurred and so long as people make those payments, there is no issue. I'm confused as to why you would want to FORCE people in direct debit for a bill that doesn't increase except when you continue to apply fees and charges.

I have also applied to the ACCC for further advice.

Recently I received an overdue bill from camp Australia going back to January this year.
In January my son was booked to attend the service at Alexandria from 4 to 13 of Jan. He felt sick and I cancelled his enrollment. Their policy says that I have to do some 7 days in advance which is impossible as I cannot predict illness of my child. I. Cancelled on the day of sickness going forward
I was not aware of any overdue fines untill recently they emailed me saying that they had a system error and only now found out I owe them money.
-Everytime I called them to understand the bill, I would speak to different overseas customer service staff. Who required me to provide my Id name, date of birth and address and contact number to a customer service. They admitted they were from the Phillipiness and did not want to provide their name to me over the phone.

- I asked them to remove me from the direct debit and they agreed but then again attempted to take the disputed amount from it. They tried at least 3 times while I gave them no consent. When they could not debit they penalized me 20 dollars for every failed attempt. Now the penality is almost 50 dollars for failed payments only apart from an overdue bill
- the actual bill: in Jan my son did not attend the services on booked days because of no show camp Australia had removed Centrelink child care subsidy leaving me with a full and not subsidized bill. I called Centrelink and they said that they are happy to pay CCS if Camp Australia reinstalls it.
- Camp Australia refused to claim CCS on my behalf because they said it's outside now their financial year and they cannot help, so I must pay or I get penalised even further.
- Centrelink advise I should still provide sick certificate to Camp Australia. But again they refused to admit. Because January is passed.
- I am on austudy and I essentially did not get their service in January. I have to pay for the service they did not provide to my child
Could you please help, as today they charged me with another penalty for not paying overdue fees.
Thank you
Anastasia

Camp Australia randomly added over $600 of "outstanding payments" to my account. I hadn't used the service in several months so this came as a shock to me. When I phoned to clarify, they said they had discovered that payments I had made in 2020 had failed. Upon checking my bank account it clearly shows successful payment with receipt numbers. I have provided this documentation and yet Camp Australia continue to claim the payments failed. They have provided no evidence, only saying their IT department have identified the issue. I've spent several lengthy phone calls going through my payments with customer care officers who don't seem to understand English well. I've been told twice that they would seek clarification from a supervisor but still, no one has contacted me. Lift your game Camp Australia, you can't just "say" people owe money with no documentation or proof of failed payments. Your billing system is so ambiguous that it's nearly impossible for even your own customer service people to decipher. I know I'm not the only person who has been over charged or had fees added randomly to their account. I expect a resolution to this issue or I will be forced to involve the ombudsman in my dispute.

Camp Australia claimed I was overdue but they charged me the full rate and didnt apply the government rebate. It was agreed on the phone that the charges would be reprocessed on 1 September to gove time for the government to process the corrected Camp Australia child care rebate paperwork.
Camp Australia DID NOT EMAIL ME on September 1, this is a breach of the verbal agreement they made with me over the phone.

I got a text today saying I was overdue and looked at my email and still NO EMAIL from Camp abput the reprocessed charges.

I call to rectify this and the call centre person said she'd remove the overdue and didnt. Then she said ahe had to talk tk head office to get approval and that she cpuldnt remove the exempt from camp australia services. She was incapable of followimg this ul or understadnimg how to resolve this beyone 'waot for a call back'. I explained NUMEROUS time I cannot have a call back because Iwas at work. Utterly hopeless!
I asked for the list of sessions I was being charged for and again this person was hopeless and sent me an overdue charge (right after she said the charge was remeved) and then I repeated the request for the tax invoice of the sessions being charged and again hoppers she sent me only a fortnight.
I have never received an accurate detail of the session times and charges for the after school care since July 13 2021.
I was never issued a correct invoice of the charges and cannot pay until a correct invoice is provided to me by email.
After the correct invoice is emailed to me THEN paymemt can be expected within a normal timeframe. In no way am I overdue as it is the Camp Australia's incompetency that has not provided me with the correct, I cannot be expected to pay when I have yet to recieve an actual detail of charges, let alone be late and it is utterly DISGUSTINGvthat Camp Australia's incompetency has made my child exempt from. outsideschool hours care, disgusting way to trash and single mother working full. time, bloody disgusting.

I am beyond livid with camp Australia after receiving an email saying I missed a $30 payment 1 year ago.
I took my kids out of after school care as the fees were huge and it wasn't worth me working after school hours as it cost me more per hour to have them there then what I earnt at work.
I had a payment plan going but then fixed it up in a lump sum payment. Why was this not seen then?
I do not trust camp Australia and have had nothing but trouble with the billing side of things.
I would never recommend or use this service again!

You absolutely have got to be kidding me.

In the middle of a damn pandemic and you are telling me I have a week basically to come up with $257 or my daughter will be restricted.

I am a single mum and you lot have absolute NO bloody compassion given the circumstances of the country right now.

Disgusting. Down right DISGUSTING behavior for a company who pretends they're all for family and making kids smile.

Kids don't smile if their parents are stressed and crying over money or left out in the cold because their parent is at work trying to earn money to pay for said bill.

How dare you even consider yourself as caring for anyone it's a fkn joke.

I have attempted to contact Camp Australia on several occasions to get an explanation on the additional charges I had to pay to which they said as a result of Centrelink recalculation. I have contacted to Centrelink to get more information and came back to Camp Australia to raise a concern about the discrepancies in the invoice/statement provided for the dispute period of 28/10/19 however Camp Australia could not provide an explanation but referred me back to Centrelink. Please the email trail below for more information.

On Tuesday, May 18, 2021, 11:51 am, Camp Australia wrote:
Hi Tran,

Thank you for your call today, 18-May 2021.

As requested, please see details below of recalculation made last 27-April 2021 on your account.

Kindly confirm with Centrelink about recent adjustments with your CCS approval. Specifically, if there had been any changes with your session report for 28-Oct 2019. Adjustments are usually done by Centrelink to overcome any overpayments with your Child Care Subsidy approvals.

Please ask them for a copy of your session report for 28-Oct 2019 (Week ending 3-Nov 2019), so that you can send it to us for reference and validation.

Hope this helps. For future inquiries, please call or email our friendly Customer Care Team. Our hours of operation are 5:00am - 9:00pm AEST, 7 days a week - Closed on National Public Holidays.

Kind regards,

Toby
Customer Care Associate
Phone: [protected]
www.campaustralia.com.au

From: Triss Duong
Sent: Wednesday, 19 May 2021 3:12 PM
To: OSHC
Subject: Requires your attention

Hi there,

I have contacted Centrelink (receipt no. 705964) and was advised they could not provide me with a copy of a session report for 28/10/19 as per your request.

Centrelink has confirmed the recalculation was done based on the information sent by Camp Australia. They were unable to explain the calculation and referred me back to Camp Australia. What they could confirm was that $41.85 has been paid to Camp Australia for 28/10/19 and my entitlement for the day was $42.99.

Once again, this is a frustrating process for me to clarify the charges I have to paid, I spent almost 4 hours back and forth to Centrelink and Camp Australia.

I am not satisfied with the explanation/information provided to me by Camp Australia as you were not able to explain how the charges of $79.52 was calculated on 28/10/19.

Please be advised Centrelink advised if Camp Australia is not able to provide a clear explanation to this issue, I could contact the Department of Education to get more information.

I will also be contacting the ACCC if you are unable to provide a clear explanation on how these charges occurred in writing.

Regards,
Tran Duong

On Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 4:51 pm, Camp Australia wrote:
Hi Tran,

Thank you for your recent email.

As previously advised, the $79.52 was from a recent recalculation made by Centrelink for Yvonne's before and after school care booking on 28 October 2019. Please see image below reflecting where the difference came from.

Date Description Fee CCS Fee CCS
28-Oct-2019 Yvonne Le (After Care - After Care) 28.50 60.97 28.50 21.77
28-Oct-2019 Yvonne Le (Before Care - Before Care) 27.25 58.32 27.25 18.00
Totals 55.75 119.29 55.75 39.77

Based on the table above, Centrelink paid $119.29 instead of $39.77 for Yvonne's bookings on 28 Oct 2019 and that where the $79.52 came from that was charged back to your Camp Australia account.

For future inquiries, please call or email our friendly Customer Care Team. Our hours of operation are 5:00 am - 9:00 pm AEST, 7 days a week - Closed on National Public Holidays.

Kind regards,

Berna
Customer Care Representative
Phone: [protected]
Email: [protected]@campaustralia.com.au
www.campaustralia.com.au

On Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 6:29 pm, Triss Duong wrote:

Hi there,

I have gone back to the previous statement issued by Camp Australia for the period of 28/10/19 which showed the total ccs paid by Centrelink for this day was $39.77 not $119.29 as advised in your response.

Once again, I am not satisfied with your explanation because of the discrepancies. I would like further explanation. Please see the screenshot below of the statement Camp Australia issued for the period in dispute.

Regards,
Tran

On Thursday, May 20, 2021, 6:24 am, Camp Australia wrote:

Hi Tran,

We hope this email finds you well.
The adjustment will not reflect on your past statement as we just received the recalculation from Centrelink last 27 April 2021. Please contact Centrelink to get more information and clarification regarding your child care subsidy because we just apply the information provided to us from Centrelink.

For future enquiries, please call or email our friendly Customer Care Team. Our hours of operation are 5:00am - 9:00pm AEST, 7 days a week - Closed on National Public Holidays.

On Thursday, May 20, 2021, 8:22 am, Triss Duong wrote:

Hi there,

I am not sure if you have read my previous emails. I have already contacted Centrelink. I need an explanation from Camp Australia for the discrepancies I enquired.

Your explanation of the Centrelink ccs amount paid for 28/10/19 does not make sense to me. If $119.29 was paid by Centrelink, which meant $79.59 credits should have been used to offset charges for other period, however this credits have not been seen on any of the issued statements. So how am I supposed to pay for something I didn't receive, then the recalculation was done to recover the payment Camp Australia not entitle to.

I would also like an explanation to enquiry about the discrepancies that I sent on 19/5/21. Your response did not resolve my enquiries.

Once again, if this matter is not being resolved I will take further action to contact the ACCC.

My name is Mary Powlay I just had an interview over the phone with a lady named kimberley she was very rude she kept saying she couldn't hear me even though I could clearly hear her. During the interview she hung up on me then she proceeded to put me down for the fact that I have a child and decided to take care of her while finishing my degree in childcare I feel as a mother in this society we should not be discriminated for taking time off work to care of our children especially in the childcare industry. I have sent an email to discuss my concerns and hopefully this won't happen to anyone else.

I don't mean. There are some srilankan or indian international students working on after school care. Our kids are struggling to understanding them. we need well educate Australians. Our kids need to learn more English language we paying money please consider about this. Thanks

The activities are very boring. I am not sure if the carers do not get enough tools or support or preparation time but even when the day theme sound very fun when I hear my children talk about their day it seems like the day theme only last 10 min and the rest of the day they have to entertain themselves. For example today was theme 'France' and the only french thing they did was eating chocolate mousse. It seems like during the holidays Camp Australia always does the same thing: set up their play areas and watch the children playing or entertaining themselves. When I was in youth camps/scouting I remember all the fun activities. The carers presented their activity on stage with a show or a song and the children could choose which carer they would join. Would it not be more fun if there was some singing activities with a CA song(for the little ones) too so they could be really proud to be a camp australia member? I guess for all these things Camp Australia will have to spend a bit more time on preparing their, especially vacation care, activities. I also did courses 'youth animator' when I was 17 where you learn to encourage children, step up, be interactive with them. Jess, a carer who unfortunately left Camp Australia last year, was one of these carers who a lot of children looked up too. I wish there was more training or bonuses so the carers would step up a little bit more.

The school my child is going to has after school care for his age but I can't make a booking due to a glitch in the website. I have called the customer service many times but they are of no help as they said that they have to go by the rules and contact the general manager to authorise and confirm that children of a younger age can go to the after school care (which many children in my child's class are already attending the after school care) and that the booking team is still looking into it and I have to constantly check it online. As a result I found it hard to commit to a job as my child needs to be picked up earlier.
Many parents in the same dilemma in the same school said that they can book by calling in but now that the system has changed and is a glitch, I can't!
My husband even had the phone put down by the customer service staff when he was asked to call back to check!
It is really appalling that this is happening as it is jeopardising my job and causing undue stress. There is nobody to escalate the matter to and we are only asked to wait.

I am astonished at the incompetence of this organisation. This is a tale of absolute failure on the part of Camp Australia to manage their systems, communications and response to customers.

I cancelled my child's booking over 12 months ago.

26/2/19 rang customer service number because I continued to receive invoices. Confirmed the cancellation of all bookings (again); cancelled account; was assured all charges would be removed; all direct debit details removed but information would remain on system for 5 years.

One month later I received another invoice and an email threatening VCAT action. 12/3 Rang customer service. Told it was a system fault. Called back by a (supposedly) senior customer service person: reiterated system fault; should not be happening.

25/3/19 I continue to receive overdue notices with late fees attached.in utter frustration I paid the outstanding amount of $12.23 but refused to pay the late fees - despite being assured on 26/2 that 'all charges have been removed'.
8/4 Received yet another invoice.

17/4 I spoke with a senior staff person & received confirmation that the VCAT threat (over $12.23) was ridiculous and should never have occurred. The money was refunded to me. I was assured that I would not receive any further correspondence from Camp Australia.

May 2019 and onward continued to receive statements. Ignored them.

Unbelievably on 7 February 2020 I received not one, but two, invoices for $73.77 and an 'excluded account' notification. At my wits end I placed a message on Camp Australia's Facebook message portal. The fairly quick response was that someone would call me.

10/2/2020 The same woman I spoke to almost 12 months ago contacted me via email with: 'The account went to an excluded status due to XX's booking on 17th Dec 2019 that was not removed from the account, even though it has been previously discussed that you will no longer be receiving bills. Rest assured, charges were now removed and we've ensured both XX and XX details were marked as inactive. Though your experience with us is less than satisfactory, We hope we would be able to rebuild your trust in us.'

11/2/2020 I rang customer service and spoke to the email author - after some time on hold. No explanation has been forthcoming as to the failure of Camp Australia to manage their systems. Assurances that I will no longer receive material from CA.

wait for it... 13/2/2020 another invoice. This time for $20. 'Less than satisfactory' doesn't even scratch the surface Camp Australia.

To the Head office complaint department,

I'd like to place a complaint for your poor service and lack of communication. The system is down and no one knows! I've been trying to make a booking but the site seems stuck (with no error message showing by the way!) since last night. I tried again this morning 10 times! I finally decide to call (even though that's my last resort because I am always "encouraged" to book via the website when I call!) and I am told your system is down so you cannot take any bookings and I have to make other arrangements! Did you at any one point think to communicate this info to parents? Or did you just think let's leave it for parents to find out on their own on the day?!
This is the proof of very poor customer care and very poor communication. You leave children to find out other arrangements have been done when they're not even aware. You're lucky we have no choice but use your company because they are no one else around otherwise I would never use your services again! Shame on you camp Australia! Very very disappointing you can provoke so much stress in both parents and their children!

From now on because I have no choice but use your services I will make sure I call, and tell your staff stop encouraging me to book via website! Once more It's so not reliable and there are no info communicated if the system is down.

I am absolutely dismayed that this could happen, you are shameless!

I expect you will have a response, I have also lodge a complaints via the complaints board