Hi Idelia
Thankyou for taking the time to post and share your experiences of your tour with Stephen on March 29th – Good Friday.
However, I am somewhat surprised to read that Stephen was suffering with a cold on this date – as he was fine in the morning before his tour – he must have developed this throughout the day.
I am also surprised to read he 'did his best to explain most of it' - as he is an excellent tour guide with a huge amount of local knowledge to share, (more than most) so couldn't imagine him struggling to explain most of it.
I am even more surprised to read that the vehicle you were travelling in was dirty & smelly – this does not sound like our vehicles at all. You were travelling in a Mercedes Sprinter with carpet on the floor and leather seats – and extremely well maintained. All our vehicles are cleaned every day after use both inside & out. After every clean, before we lock them up for the night, they are all sprayed with Eucalyptus antibacterial spray. Maybe it was the spray you could smell and did not like it ? I cant even think what would have been dirty and smelly.
We offer tasting of fresh kiwifruit on our tours, along with kiwifruit juice and Manuka honey but it is entirely voluntary whether you choose to partake of this tasting – our processes which all our tour guides should follow is to ensure we provide the most optimum hygiene as is possible.
Our process we follow – includes sanitizer for guide, and we have disposable gloves for use also.
We have sanitizer which we require all customers to use before accepting anything to taste.
The kiwifruit is prepared with skin on and toothpicks in place, so you don’t touch the fruit with your hands, and you don’t eat the skin - we have a container for food waste, so nobody touches anything of somebody else’s.
Regarding plastic disposable cups – these are supposed to be handed out, by being held from the bottom of the cup and each client takes their own plastic tasting cup from top of pile so nobody touches anybody else’s cup where it can come into contact with your mouth.
As I was not present on the day, I cannot say whether Stephen followed due process or not – but it is not his general behaviour to deviate from this process.
However, I have no reason to doubt you and will speak to him and ask about this along with sharing your comments with all our tour guides as a reminder of the process and why it is so important.
I will apologize on behalf of Stephen for his failure to follow due process and upset you.
I do see a very positive comment about Stephen just three reviews below yours – and this is from somebody who was on the same tour you were on, who seemed to really enjoy their day, so I am really sorry that you obviously did not enjoy it. It was only a small group of 11 passengers so it should have been a really nice day tour.
I trust the cafe we took you too and supplied you with a freshly baked muffin & coffee did not break any protocols.
I will speak to Stephen and share your concerns about his processes around this.