Service Terms & Conditions
All bookings of tours, transfers or charters are subject to the below terms and conditions. By booking or participating in a tour, transfer or charter, you agree to these terms and conditions.
Please note the terms “we”, “our” or “us” in the below terms and conditions refer to South Coast Journeys Pty. Ltd.
Our Contract
All bookings are made directly with South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd. A booking is only confirmed once a deposit has been made and we have sent you a written confirmation. At this point, a contract then exists between the customer and South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd and the customer is deemed to have agreed to these terms and conditions.
The services to be provided to you are those referred to in your booking confirmation. It is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that all details outlined in the confirmation are correct, such as time, date, location, price and booking names. Any and all errors should be reported to South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd immediately.
Fees and Charges
Deposit requirements
All tours, standard transfers or private charters; require a non-refundable 1 person deposit (value 1 person of the tour costs) or up to the value of $200 at the time of booking, in order to be considered confirmed. All deposits are non-refundable and changes to the booking once a deposit is made are only by the agreement, and at the discretion of, South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd.
Refund, Amendments, Postponed Events & Cancellations
Refunds: There are strictly no refunds on tour deposits under any circumstances unless directly initiated by South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd. Refunds will not be provided in circumstances such as, but not limited to, change of mind, missed transfer, change in transfer time or location, inability to attend and other related issues, cancellation by the venue, extreme weather, and other unforeseeable events. Please also see our administration fee scale below.
Amendments: We will make every effort to accommodate a change in time or location for transfer bookings, however this is not guaranteed, is subject to availability, and is solely at the discretion of South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd.
Postponed Events:
Tours, Charters & Private Transfers: We will make every effort to accommodate postponed events, however, this is not guaranteed, is subject to availability, and is solely at the discretion of South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd. Customers may be given the option to transfer their booking to another tour date or service without incurring an administration fee. They may also be given the option of a full credit towards any of our events tours or services booked in the next 12 months without any administration fee, however this is not guaranteed, is subject to availability, and is solely at the discretion of South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd.
Festival Transfers: In the event that a festival transport partner or festival event is postponed, all tickets & transfers will be transferred across to the new event dates & locations once announced by the event directors. Refunds are not payable on festival transfers where an event has been postponed.
Cancellations:
Change of mind: There are strictly no refunds for change of mind after booking confirmation.
Outside of our control: In the event a tour or transfer needs to be cancelled for reasons outside of both South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd & the customers control, the following administration fee scale will be used:
Cancellation administration fee scale
30 days or more notice = 20 % fee
7 – 30 days notice = 30 % fee
7 days or less notice = 50 % fee
24 hours or less notice: Up to 100 % fee at discretion of South Coast Journeys Pty. Ltd.
This fee scale will be used for any event cancellation for reasons such as, but not limited to, any “act of god” such as bush fire, flood, local council cancellations or restrictions or if the event directors choose to cancel their event for any reason.
Where possible tickets will be transferred to alternate events, venues or dates, please see “Postponed Events & Bookings” below.
The above terms are due to the significant expenses incurred by us in the preparation, planning and implementation of these large scale events including bus hire, staff, administration, venue cancellation fees and booking fees payable by us.
Minimum Passenger Numbers
South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd reserves the right to cancel any and all bookings in the event that a minimum of tickets has not been sold, or other reason that renders the transfer, tour or event unviable. We will make every and all efforts to rebook a tour or transfer in these circumstances, however, a full refund may be provided, less any administrative or other fees (please see Booking Fees clause below) in the event that South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd is not able to offer a viable and reasonable alternative.
Booking Fees
All bookings are subject to a 1.9% booking fee. All online bookings are also subject to a credit card fee or PayPal fee of approx. 1.9%. Neither the administration fee, credit card fee, or other fees and chargers as determined by South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd, are subject to any refunds.
Scheduled Departures & Wait Times
South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd departure times must be strictly adhered to and all buses will depart no later than 15 minutes after the scheduled departure. All passengers are required to be at the departure point 15 minutes before departure to allow time for loading and boarding the bus. All passengers that arrive 15 minutes or more after their departure time forfeit their booking and are not subject to any refund or rebooking. South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd will make any and all efforts to accommodate passengers on later scheduled services if and when possible, however this is subject to availability and solely at the discretion of South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd.
Passengers who cause, directly or indirectly, buses to depart later than scheduled or cause buses, directly or indirectly, to make unscheduled stops, may be liable to pay compensation to South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd, its customers and/or partners as determined by South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd.
Private Charters
All private charters including winery, brewery, distillery tours and event transfers where a third party venue are awaiting our arrival at a specific time, are required to depart within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure.
All delayed private charter departures caused by customers will be subject to a $50 fee per 15 minutes wait time.
South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd reserves the right to cancel any private charters that do not depart within 30 minutes of the scheduled departure time. This is solely at the discretion of South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd and any cancellations under these circumstances are not subject to any refunds, rebooking or rescheduling.
South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd will make every effort to ensure that all departures occur within 15 minutes of scheduled departures, however this is not guaranteed and events outside of our control such as, but not limited to, weather, traffic, mechanical failure and delayed bookings may occur. In the event that a bus departs more than 15 minutes after its scheduled departure, South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd is not subject to compensation for the customer and no refunds will be provided. South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd will make any and all efforts to make alternate arrangements should this be necessary; however, this is subject to availability and strictly at the discretion of South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd.
Damages
Damage to property
South Coast Journeys may choose to charge a $500 refundable bond upon booking. This $500 excess applies per vehicle on all accidental or malicious or recklessly caused damage to the interior or exterior of the bus.
Customers are liable for any and all damage to property including, but not limited to, South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd property and vehicles, as well as any and all third-party property and vehicles. Any damage to vehicles or other property will be assessed by a mechanic or insurer chosen by us or our partners, and customers will be liable for costs as determined by us, our partners, or insurance providers. Customers may also be liable for lost income, bookings or other associated factors in such events.
In the event a suitable quote for damage can be obtained by the driver during a tour or transfer the damage bill must be paid before the tour can continue & before the bus departs that location.
Broken windows:
Broken or cracked bus windows from guests banging, kicking or leaning on them to be charged at $2000 per window, which is payable on the spot before the tour can continue.
Lost Property
All lost property will be returned to South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd depots’ and registered in our Lost & Found Register. All lost property can be collected from the responsible depot between the hours of 6:00pm – 8pm Monday to Friday.
Drug & Alcohol Policy
There is strictly no alcohol to be consumed in any South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd vehicles or partner vehicles under any circumstances, unless special arrangements are made under special circumstances with South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd prior to the event or transfer, which have also been confirmed in writing.
South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd reserves the right to refuse entry or access to any customers who appear to be intoxicated (whether by drugs or alcohol) to such a level that they may pose a threat to themselves, to others or to our property or the property of other Passengers, or are otherwise abusive, disorderly or disobeying instructions by South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd staff or partners.
Passengers may be removed from the Services or refused entry to a Vehicle if in our opinion they demonstrate violent, disorderly or aggressive behaviour. Smoking is not permitted by law on the Services and we will disembark any Passenger found smoking on the Services.
No refunds or compensation of any form is available to customers who have been refused access, or have had to forfeit alcohol or other property as a result of disorderly behaviour. Any customer that causes, directly or indirectly, damage to property, delay of tours and bookings, or other incidences as determined by South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd to have caused delay, damage or other, may be subject to compensation to South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd, its customers, and partners.
Any signs of illegal drug use, on the bus or at venues will result in immediate termination of the tour.
Customer Behaviour Expectations
On Board Vehicles: All customers must wear seatbelts in the vehicles that have them fitted. We will disembark customers and we reserve the right to refuse to transport customers that refuse to wear seatbelts where they are provided. Passengers must remain seated when the vehicles are moving.
In all cases we have the discretion to stop the Vehicle and disembark those passengers engaging in unacceptable or unruly behaviour. South Coast Journeys reserves the right to terminate a Service if any actions are deemed threatening or dangerous to us or other passengers.
Customer behaviour at wineries & breweries: Customers are reminded that venues like wineries and breweries are usually small family run businesses, and, whilst we want our customers to have fun, we pride ourselves on offering a very professional, high standard tour. We must ensure our customers respect our venue partners, staff and other patrons at all times and behave in an acceptable manner at all times.
Respect for venue staff: Customers are reminded that winery and brewery staff are bound by the Responsible Serving of Alcohol Guidelines of which they take very seriously. Guests are asked to show respect for venue staff as they guide all participants through the wine/beer making process and explain their venues, wines or beers to the groups. If customers are seen to be acting in a loud, disrespectful, disruptive, violent or aggressive manner and/or disturbing other patrons the tour may be cancelled at any time by the driver or venue staff in order to protect others and the business relationship with venues we have worked hard to develop.
Expectation to Buy Wine: An intention to buy wine is necessary whenever wine tastings have been organised for our winery tour options, in all wine regions including but not limited to the South Coast and Southern Highlands.
For a winery to keep its cellar door open and encourage customers to come and taste their wines, wine purchases are of paramount importance. At South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd most of our picked wineries are small, family run businesses, and so without the purchase of wine during a tasting they will not be able to accommodate our tours into the future.
This is especially important during the current economic climate, post bushfires and post COVID-19, whereby these rural communities have suffered, and are suffering, serious financial hardship.
Dress Code: Suitable clothes should always be worn at licensed venues and over-the-top dress ups will not be tolerated on wine tours or brewery tours. This also applies for bucks parties & hens parties where wineries or breweries are involved.
We encourage our guests to dress nicely & appropriately at all times while on winery or brewery tours.
Cleaning Fees
Any excessive amounts of cleaning required to any vehicle will result in a cleaning fee payable of at least $140 up to $500 , and is decided at the sole discretion of South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd.
External Operators
South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd reserves the right to utilise third party equipment, vehicles and drivers at its discretion.
External Providers & Venues
All customers must adhere to the rules and regulations of all external partners, providers and venues, including but not limited to third party bus companies, wineries, breweries, festival providers, restaurants and bars.
Customers are liable for any damage to external provider or venue property that is deemed payable by that provider or venue.
South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd prides itself on its relationships with its external stakeholders and this is essential to our core business. Therefore, customers may be liable for damage to South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd brand or reputation caused by customer behaviour, damage or other incidences caused by the customer, solely at the discretion of South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd.
Liability
South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd has no liability for any act, omission or default, whether negligent or otherwise of any Destination or third party. We have no liability for any loss or damage occasioned by the negligence, act or omission of any Destination or other third party. In circumstances where liability cannot be excluded, such liability is limited to the value of the purchased travel arrangements.
South Coast Journeys Pty Ltd has no liability for any indirect or consequential expense, loss or damage, loss or damage to reputation or opportunity, wasted expenditure, lost production or similar losses suffered by you or your invitees in connection with the Destination, Services or the Booking.
South Coast Journeys will not be liable for loss or damages arising out of the delay in departure or delay of Services.
South Coast Journeys will not be liable for any costs incurred by you because of a breach of the Passenger Behaviours.
All implied terms or warranties, whether statutory or otherwise are excluded in relation to the Services provided by us under these Terms and Conditions. The Australian Consumer Law provides Consumers with a number of protections and Consumer Guarantees that cannot be excluded or limited. These Terms and in particular the limitations of Liability set out in these terms are therefore subject to, and will not apply to the extent that they limit the remedies available to a consumer for breach of a consumer guarantee, we hereby limit the remedies available to you at our option to supplying the Services again.
These conditions do not exclude customer’s rights under the Competition and Consumer Act 2012 (Cth).
