Cool experience if your lucky but horrible owner.
You’re divided into 2 groups. One group gets to have a great time and swim with the plankton (this was the group I was in). The other group barely saw a thing and when they came back to shore the owner lied to them and kept trying to tell them that no one swam and no one saw any plankton which was just a straight up lie. Then when I said he was lying he then tried saying I couldn’t board the boat home because I didn’t pay even though I was literally holding up the receipt for paying. I was lucky for my experience in the water but I would definitely do this with literally any other company. This is a scamming horrible lying company and be aware you might get screwed over. Also to top it off when he was arguing and lying to the other group he was starting to smile and looked like he was enjoying ripping them off which just rubbed me wrong personally.
事業者からの返答
Dear Colton,
I appreciate you joining our activity and am happy you had a "Cool Experience" and a "Great Time”. However, it seems there are some serious misunderstandings on the portion of the review you wrote based on another guest's experience, “Nat”, who was on a separate tour from you. I would like to clarify those details for you and for anyone who may read your review.
Firstly, I am the owner of Freebird along with my partner, neither of us were on site on the night of your tour, therefore we have never met you. The interaction you witnessed/experienced is with one of our lead guides Lam, he has been with the company over 7 years and a quick search on TripAdvisor will give a clear and fair character check for those interested, as he is one of our most loved guides.
He was leader of “Nat’s” group, the one you have based your review on.
Secondly, we don't always divide our night tour groups it depends on the number of customers. And certainly, never with the intention to give one group a "great time" and "scam, screw, rip-off" the other group. This is done for the enjoyment of all customers to have a smaller group and more personalized attention and a less crowded plankton experience.
Swimming is never included in any description of our tour as it is something that we can never guarantee on the tour. Natural conditions such as waves, wind, jellyfish/sea lice swarms, low tides will all be accounted for in a guides decision of whether or not it is safe to swim this can vary from area to area. Our experienced guides have not only given this tour thousands of times, they were born and raised here and know well the safety conditions on Railay.
As Lam tested the water arriving in the plankton area on his group’s route he detected a swarm of sea lice (jellyfish larvae that sting horribly and can cause allergic reactions, especially in children, I’m sure you noted “Nat” was participating with her 8 year old child) he rightly told the group it was not safe to swim due to jellyfish. The group enjoyed the plankton viewing all the same. Even when the water is cleared in the area as safe for swimming, many customers choose not to for their own reasons, as they are in clear kayaks/paddleboards they can enjoy the experience equally.
Thirdly, this customer “Nat”, experienced the same near perfect conditions as your group that night. We have photos and videos of her and her family on tour enjoying themselves. To say her group “barely saw anything” is a false assumption.
The issue began with this customer when she returned to shore after the tour and found out people in the other group (your group) got to swim. By the time she returned to our shop she was furious. She confronted Lam in the shop shouting she was “very angry” and “very sad” and “it wasn’t fair people got to swim and she didn’t” she continued shouting at Lam for over 10 minutes. Lam could not understand what she meant because no one in his group swam, and he was shocked that she would want to swim with stinging jellyfish in the water. Then she said she wanted to go with the other group (mind you, this is after the tour was completed). Then she said everyone saw a lot of plankton and she didn’t. She said she only got 4-5 minutes in the plankton area which is simply not true, their group was in the plankton viewing area for 15-20 minutes as is our standard procedure, conditions allowing.
At any rate when she had finished yelling at Lam she turned toward other customers in our shop asking if they swam or not to which most customers gave a short reply and then turned their backs on her. At this time she went out of the shop and began talking to you on the outer corner of our shop. Inside the shop other customers were coming up to Lam asking what she was so mad about.
In Thailand, the epitome of poor manners and disrespect is coming into someone’s home, or place of business (or country for that matter) and shouting/yelling/screaming and insulting the host. It seems some cultures find it acceptable, but in Thailand it surely is not. However, it happens often with so many foreign tourists. And when it does, the only socially acceptable response for Thai people is to continue smiling, NOT out of enjoyment, but out of a deeply cultural response to completely culturally insensitive and taboo behavior.
Explanations of this are often included in travel guides for Thailand “The Land of Smiles” and “Thai Smile” are often misinterpreted. As far as your boat/car transfer issue, I think calling someone a liar and then expecting to board their boat sounds strange in any context, however, the team honored your transfer, nonetheless.
Immediately following the tour on this night I spoke in length with our team about the tours and what transpired with this particular customer, “Nat”. I reviewed the CTV footage in full twice, and the following morning contacted other customers in the same group as "Nat" to get any supporting details and find out if we had in fact done something wrong. All of those I contacted said they enjoyed their time, and one of which reached out to me first to say thank you for the experience and included photos and videos in one of which you see “Nat” and her family in the background smiling and laughing on the tour. As this transpired the following morning, “Nat” left several 1-star reviews in her name and her husband’s name on other review platforms to assure our company ratings are pulled down, I’m sure she will be pleased you did the same on her behalf.
With all of this drama from a couple of customers, I’d like to state here that 99% of our customers are amazing. Unfortunately, like all those who work in tourism and service industries know, the 1% is the customer we have to spend most of our time and energy dealing with and that’s a real shame especially when they impact the experience/opinions of our other awesome guests. In high season this type of thing can happen as often as once a week. 1-star reviews are not just damaging to our business they are personally heartbreaking. Our team deals with such behavior from customers on a weekly basis with grace when they can, and as well as they can manage in the moment at other times, often caught off guard by someone who is upset for reasons, and at levels, we do not understand, especially after delivering a fun and beautiful tour.
We have built our business from the ground up over the last 10 years as the first providers of this type of experience in Thailand and the only authorized provider still to date. We have no interest to "scam, screw, rip-off" anyone as our business is one that we all take immense pride in. If, as you say, we are “horrible owners” and that we are a “scamming horrible lying company” that enjoys ripping people off, I guarantee you would not have had the “cool experience” and “great time” that you did.
Our team coordinated and delivered two fun tours for 26 guests ages 6-65 from over 6 different countries and languages on the night of your tour, and coordinated return transport to Ao Nang hotels for 17 people. I wish I could include the photos from our drivers of all the smiling faces in the back of the transport trucks including “Nat’s” family and yourself giving big smiles and peace signs.
Day after day we do our best as a company and as a team to provide the best experience for the customers we have, regardless of the weather, sea conditions, tides, language barriers, and attitudes of the customers, as we always say “every tour is different”. We created this experience as a way to show travelers our home and the magic it possesses. And we will wake up tomorrow and do our best all over again, and again, and again.
We hope you have a wonderful holiday in the Land of Smiles despite your 1-star experience with us.
-Team Freebird
