The 1 and only REAL Kangaroo Cafe - Beware of the many crooks that copy us

The various scams have gotten so numerous & so hard to avoid that we decided to put them on a page of their own too !

Unfortunately, there’s a few new as well as the not so new scams around. Far from getting better the scams have gotten worse & the scammers much more aggressive. We don’t wish to sound overly critical of Viet Nam or it’s people but we’re not the kind of people who can in any way, & that especially includes by covering up for them, assist the scam artists.

Every tourist scammed hurts the people in Viet Nam who benefit from tourism the most, the farmers, working class, elderly & even the kids too. Tourism is the best & quickest form of cash to any nation.

We don’t encourage rotten behaviour from anyone ! Not our staff, our guests or any of the scam artists. To pretend this stuff isn’t happening, doesn't help & it’s actually guaranteeing it will happen more frequently & in an even more aggressive fashion.

The airport taxi ($ 15 USD including tolls) & mini bus scam is still the most frequent & the one where they'll only take you to hotels that give the drivers a "drink".

Inside the Ha Noi airport at arrival gate "A" there's a desk with taxi's to Ha Noi from $25 to $30 USD.

The airport taxi service is $ 15 USD including tolls & that’s for the car NOT per person & includes all tolls etc.

Not all of them are crooks but it really is starting to look like there’s more bad drivers than good !!!

Look out for the drivers mate who jumps in the taxi with you ! That's your cue to get out fast. There's no reason for the taxi driver to be taking anyone else with you in the taxi you're paying for, no reason at all.

Next thing to be on the look out for is the “phone call” along the way to town. Just after you get into Ha Noi city there's every chance someone alleging to be from your hotel will jump into the taxi & apologise that the hotel is full but don’t worry they’ve got plenty of room at their sister hotel.

The hotels that use this rort are so crook that the only way to get anyone in the door at all is to pay some ugly tout to drag them in there.

Wait till you see the dump you’re headed to next ! It’ll be like a Vietnamese version of the Bates hotel & the staff will appear to be friendly at first, but see what they're like if you don't do what they tell you to ! The only way you can get away is to tough it out.

If you're having trouble with one (and there's plenty of them) of the cute taxi drivers, please feel free to get them to drop you over to the REAL Kangaroo Café. Tell them that you don’t have any money & that you’re meeting your Mum, Dad, Uncle etc at the cafe & they’ve got all your money.

Max will explain the error of their crooked ways to them in no uncertain terms on your behalf.

If you're stuck at the airport you can call us & we'll call the airport taxi service from our shop & get one of the honest taxi drivers to bring you to town.

Don't forget that Viet Nam as a nation & the Vietnamese people in particular take pride in their country, culture & tourism. The Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (Ha Noi Dept) are most intolerant of people trying to harm Vietnamese tourism industry in any way.

The VNAT in on the 2nd floor at No 3 Le Lai St, Ha Noi (844) 824 7652 & it's easy to lodge a complaint & it will be acted on in no uncertain fashion.

These guys just go from bad to worse. Please don't fall for the lousy tours, ticketing & services the hotels offer. Ask yourself this. Just why are they so desperate for you to buy ? I think the reason is very obvious.

They're not licensed tour operators & they simply flog you off to any old mob that offers them a drink, regardless of what it is that the end company actually provides.

It's the same with 90% of the alleged Travel Agents & Traveller Cafés too no matter what kind of review you've read. The hotel &/or dud travel agent/cafe mob usually charge between 50 & 200% on top of what they pay for the tour voucher & it's just not fair.

If you really must take 1 of these cheapo tours (& remember there’s no such thing as a free lunch) go & buy it yourself from the actual tour operator & at least you'll not only save a lot of money but you'll be able to get some real details on just what it is you're paying for.

The old "changing money on the street" or “changing money at the hotel reception” thing is still the most common trick so please don't do it.

The most common way to rip you off is that for example you ask to change $100 USD.

Instead of getting approx 1,600,000 VND you get 1,060,000 & it’s been a long flight, or it’s late, or you’re tired etc & it’s an easy one to fall for especially when they use a variety of denominations, which they claim is for your benefit of course !

As if there's free money to be had ???? When you see pigs flying, that'll be the time when there's lots of free money up for grabs !

A word of warning about the tailor shops in Hoi An. Our guides (& luckily for all of us that they're honest enough to say something) have complained that they come under unbelievable pressure from a number of the Tailor Shop owners.

They're being offered very substantial sums of money to recommend various tailor shops. A number of the big group tour mobs, western & local have been turning a blind eye to the practise for some time now. It came to our attention after a couple of tour guides we had to let go for various reasons, were bragging to some of our other staff about it.

"We're making a fortune", they claimed & "the stupid tourists haven't got a clue" !

The commissions are of course being added to the price of everything you buy & run between 50 & 200% !!!! With the big tour mobs running at between 10 - 50 persons well ........ you do the maths.

Unfortunately, this is an attitude that is all too prevalent in the tourism industry & not just in Viet Nam.

Please be very careful & we think it in everyone's best interest to go to the tailor shops on your own & with over 350 tailor shops in Hoi An you've plenty to choose from.

Tipping, compulsory Tipping ? & now what's the story with assisted tipping ?

In Viet Nam tipping is not expected, is not the done thing & as is the case in any other civilised country, it’s something that you may or may not wish to do. A gratuity or tip is voluntary. Look it up in the Oxford dictionary ! A tip is entirely up to us the consumer. We tip because a tip is something that we give because we want to, because we want to show our thanks to a particular person but when the tip is compulsory it's either a tax or a scam, no more no less.

Compulsory or forced tipping is when the greedy boss refuses to pay his workers a living wage & that's where our unions come in very handy indeed. Compulsory or forced tipping is simply someone charging us extra but doing it on the sly & we never did or will support this kind of backdoor approach to upping the ante.

And so here are, it’s of course the usual suspects yet again ! The big tour mobs that force their customers to pay extra for tips at the start of a tour on the basis that they're going to dole out the tips for you but, secretly, along the way !

It’s outrageous, that they think we’re too stupid to know how to hand someone some money !!!

Not just another cheap & nasty trick this one’s quite rude too ! Reminds me of the Australian Govt saying if they add a 10% VAT tax to everything the price of everything will go down ??? Please feel free to tip our staff but only if you want to ! Rest assured that they our staff all get a decent "living" wage & don't have to survive by constantly sucking up to the customer, arranging not so secret commissions or other forms of demeaning behaviour.

Most of the guide books warn against buying a tour from a hotel receptionist. Why is it so ?

The main reason they warn against it is because the hotel has no idea who they are selling you to ! They'll buy the cheapest tour voucher they can, add on between 50 & 200 % & then that's that ! They haven't the slightest idea about who you'll end up with & sadly it appears they don't very much care either.

If there’s the slightest problem what do you do, who do you speak to ? It's no use talking to the receptionist and because the hotel/café/phone box sized office don’t operate the tour, they've no idea where you are or even who you went with in the end.

They’ve got their commission & that’s the end of it as far as they’re concerned.

One of the most stupid things about the fake Kangaroo Café mobs & all the other lurk merchants, scammers & dud operators is that they accept credit cards.

If you've been caught out by any of them & paid by way of your credit card, please pop in & see us & we'll provide you with the necessary paperwork to assist you in getting a full refund from your bank & as the Real Kangaroo Café with the Real bona fides, this is something we can most certainly do.

Banks don't like their customers being cheated either & the sooner these would be pimps & con artists have their credit card authorisations cancelled the better.

Another way to square up with any of the fake mobs is to go to the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (Ha Noi Dept) on the 2nd floor at No 3 Le Lai St, Ha Noi (844) 824 7652 & lodge an official complaint. You'll find them most intolerant of people trying to harm the Vietnamese tourism industry in any way.

On our web sites you'll see that, unlike any of our competitors, we're more than happy to display our bona fides because we actually do have them to display.

We're still the only Travel Company in Viet Nam to qualify for Australian registration & our NSW Dept of Fair Trading Travel Agents Licence Number is 2TA5568.

In the last 14 years we haven't had a single complaint made against us.