Travel firm closure strands customers
Sheryl Yesucevitz should have been working with indigenous villagers in the Amazon last month.
Instead, she is among hundreds of travellers who fear they are thousands of dollars out of pocket after the Kiwi company they booked ethical holidays with announced its closure.
We Are Bamboo last week told customers their pre-paid trips had been cancelled, with no refunds.
Most of the affected customers are from the United States, UK, and Canada.
Yesucevitz, from the US, first travelled with the company in 2018 when she went to Costa Rica and helped with beach clean-ups and releasing baby turtles into the ocean.
“The whole basis of their travel was to give back,” she said.
After that, Yesucevitz signed up for two more, including the Peru trip she was supposed to be taking in October.
There were multiple postponements due to Covid-19, and in that time We Are Bamboo continued to sell discounted travel packages for trip post-Covid.
But last weekend, Yesucevitz received an email from the company stating they would be closing down.
We Are Bamboo cited Covid pressures as one of the reasons, but also laid part of the blame at the feet of a group of customers.
“There is a small group of individuals who were not prepared to wait [for delayed trips], and their actions and online influence have broken us, which impacts us all,” it said.
“Our intentions here are not to play the victim but simply share with you the levels to which this group has gone to ensure our downfall, and made it their sole purpose to attack us, our families, our staff, and our customers with the intent to destroy Bamboo.
“Our lawyers have advised us that several individuals have crossed the line, and there is a case and evidence for criminal proceedings.”
They said the group shared personal contact details and also “spread misinformation and lies online”.
The statement did not specify the alleged lies, but said it meant their sales levels were not high enough to ensure the company’s survival.
“Through tears, the Bamboo dream is over but will live forever, in our broken hearts.”
Yesucevitz emailed back, asking about a refund of the US$3500 ($6000) payment she had already made for the trips, but was told there would be no refunds.
“A refund will not be possible . . . Bamboo no longer operates and has been forced to close,” the email said.
They cited their terms and conditions, saying they could cancel the trip under circumstances including “force majeure” — an unforeseen event outside their control.
Yesucevitz has one friend who is losing US$12,000 due to the closure, and said the amount of money Bamboo was not refunding would in her opinion be “in the millions”.
“We signed up for these because we wanted to make a difference in the world and they took that away.”
Yesucevitz is a member of a Facebook group of about 600 people in a similar situation.
Barbara Ward and her husband had booked a trip to Thailand for more than US$4400, which was pushed out multiple times until its eventual cancellation.
“We wanted to go on this trip to help people,” said Ward, from South Carolina.
Meanwhile, Ian Babey from Canada contacted Chubb Insurance after booking a travel insurance package through Bamboo’s website, only to be told by a Chubb employee that Bamboo’s policy with them hadn’t been renewed since 2020 and the insurance package did not exist.
Chubb has been contacted for comment.
Another traveller, Michelle Morefield, said she felt sick to her stomach at the news.
“I had three amazing trips, recommended this company to many, and I even got a tattoo on my wrist of their logo,” she said.
A petition addressing company founders Colin Salisbury and Mark Foster-Murray and calling them to repay the trip fees has gained 587 signatures.
Yesucevitz said she and others had also reported the issue to the police.
A police spokeswoman said they could not provide comment on cases relating to specific businesses or organisations.
The Commerce Commission is looking into inquiries about We Are Bamboo.
General manager of fair trading Vanessa Horne said it had received 26 inquiries about Bamboo, 21 of which have been made since August.
“We are currently assessing the information to understand whether there has been any potential breach of the Fair Trading Act, the level of harm caused and whether we will need to take action [and what that could look like].”
The company has been contacted for comment.