I live in the Netherlands and I got in contact with the people in Chirnside Park in March 2008, because I was about to travel to Australia and wanted to book extra trips while I was there. The first contacts were good, they responded correctly and promptly to my messages. All seemed to be going well.

On November 19, I received an e-mail which said that my flight time from Melbourne to Cairns had changed. The return flight had not changed. I still have that e-mail. I appreciated this bit of service.

So why the low rating? While in Cairns, apparently they booked me in for a tour on the Barrier Reef on the wrong day, but worse than that, it turned out that the return flight back into Melbourne had indeed changed. We arrived earlier than planned on Cairns Airport and I was amazed that the return flight would leave almost an hour earlier! We would have missed that flight if we would have taken the connecting transfer from the hotel to the airport (we took one transfer earlier instead).

As soon as we got back, I wrote Flight Centre an e-mail about the time change and why they had not informed me about it. I came to their office the next day and they showed me my file, with the e-mail sent on Nov 19. In there it said that the return flight had changed... I thought I misread and I apologized, but once back home I found the e-mail I had received on November 19 and in that version, it said that the return flight had not changed.

I confronted the people in Chirnside Park with this by e-mail, but they are consistent in their point of view, saying that they did inform me about the time changes And looking at the file, it seems that they did. But obviously, someone changed the text of the e-mail after it was sent! I couldn't believe it. I was not looking for any kind of compensation, I just wanted to know why they did it. Now they are accusing me of deliberately changing the text of the e-mail...

Hence the low rating. I would never, ever do any business with these people again. It's a shame because the contact was very good prior to this incident, they made the right travel arrangements but they made a big mistake. And now they are running away from it.

It didn't cost me any money, because we were on time for the return flight. But they are trying to blame it on me that we almost missed our flight - and that is what I am mad about. They have changed the file to make them look good. And ofcourse, they are denying it.

Approximate cost: $0