Tropical Lifestyle

Never honoured warranty – Built a great Bali Hut & Supplied beautiful Statues But never honored warranty service when our thatching did not last the distance, he sold the business to new owner Airmaze (?) who also got ripped off I was told by staff. The 'original' owner Is now selling ‘How to Import’ packages online ... be careful he is still out there !!! Show details

Terrible – Director [Name Remvoed], Airmaze (Accouter Pty Ltd) acquired Tropical Lifestyle. Airmaze is a Scam too. We had a contract with TLL deposited $1,035.00 in October 2016 and a further $5000.00 in April 2017 to Airmaze. Have not received the Colorbond Gazebo. Uncontactable. Thieves!!

Scammers! – The thatched roof on my Bali Hut has been falling apart for some time now, but when I try to contact Tropical Lifestyle, I find that they do not exist anymore. From my homework I have found that the people behind this scam keep on going into liquidation and begin another business with another name, take the money and run. Do not do business with… Read more

these people. More information can be found under another of their companies which also has disappeared named Airmaze. They have no scruples whatsoever but love thieving hard earned money off people who mostly cannot afford to support their criminal lifestyle, not Tropical lifestyle, although I am sure that they are living it up in the tropics somewhere! They fail to realise that there is a reckoning day coming where there will be no escape when they meet the Righteous Judge!

Gazebo built and happy – We bought a gazebo last April last year and was happy. I agree the sales part was bit ordinary and when we chased it for delivery the next day was told it wasn't built. We put the pressure on them and had it 48 hours later delivered, but without more hiccups. We are extremely happy with the end product but agree need to improve on customer service/communication.

Rethatched – My Bali hut was looking a bit tired and going a bit bald I contacted tropical life style as I had purchased my hut from them ten years ago The installation team arrived on time and did an excellent job of removing and replacing the thatch quickly and efficiently They cleaned up after them very pleasant to deal with Now my hut looks brand new

Good experience buying my hut – I purchased a 6x4m bali hut from tropical lifestyle and had no major problems i had it delivered on time and they installed it for me. Had a couple of things not right or broken but they fixed all issues no question asked.

Topical life customers check out airmaze reviews – For all the tropical life customers waiting on Airmaze to deliver a bali hut. please have a look at the Airmaze review page, we have all been taken. Again.

Terrible – Do not buy from tropical lifestyle, roof is falling apart terrible service would not recommend this place to anyone, would not come to the party to fix it

Terrible!! How to get a refund – Like everyone else we got conned. Waited 2 months past delivery date and still nothing like everyone else. Sensing something wasn't right we contacted visa as we had paid via our visa debit cards. Visa offer 'payment protection' as standard on all visa transactions- credit or debit card. We paid a business via visa who didn't deliver the goods or… Read more

services which intitled us to a refund through visa. Contact your bank, let them know you have had a fradulent transaction- you paid someone who don't deliver goods. Our bank (ANZ) were brilliant to deal with. This will only work if you paid via a Visa card and not direct debit. Hope this helps

Tropical lifestyle scam – After much research and discussions with Queensland DOFT, it would appear that Airmaze is a completely separate company. We too were suspicious with some of the same names popping up from the previous company, but we have been assured the directors are completely different and the new company is doing their best to satisfy all TL customer. No we… Read more

are not a cheer squad for the new company as we too have been burnt to the tune of $6,500 by TL and had the exact same nightmare as everyone else. So we have done plenty of research and after speaking to [name removed] from QDOFT, he has put our mind to rest somewhat that it the new company is separate and appears to be above board.

I would urge everyone to make contact with him. His name [name removed] Email:[contact details removed]

I guess we just have to be patient even longer.

Waiting – They were good last year but as of January this year very poor. We ordered and paid in full for a Gazebo last May. 2016. Do to heavy non stop rain and local fooding all year put the delivery off till December. Checking through the load found the floor is missing. Have sent 2 emails and called twice to which the answer was we will be contacted… Read more

by letter and email.

Still nothing and now it seems that the phone is disconnected. How do we get in contact???.

Would love to have a floor to sit on.

Either send us the floor or just give us the money for the floor back.

In liquidation – I had a gazebo delivered from TLL last year. Like everyone else here I also experienced abysmal service, failure to return multiple contacts, et., but I finally had it delivered and built (by a builder I found). Anyway, got home tonight to a letter from Pearce & Heers insolvency accountants Brisbane (contact details removed]). Directors of… Read more

Obihaka Pty Ltd J [name removed] and [name removed] voted 30 January 2017 to have it wound up and liquidated. I would question any offer by another company to honour contact given it is being wound up.

Another customer being conned – Another very similar story. Ordered in September 2016. Small discount if I paid full price of $5,200 up front. Gave details to Office of Fair Trading in late December when I had received nothing but false assurances or outright lies. OFT said a new company had bought the "assets" of Tropical Lifestyle and was planning to "work with" dissatisfied… Read more

customers. I received no further contact and so today sent another email to Tropical Lifestyle nominating refund in full as the reparation I was seeking from them under Australian Consumer Law. Received a phone call within two hours from one of the "girls" who said she would send me a letter and a new contract. She would not discuss any "history" and said she was not permitted to give me her second name. I suggest that anyone who has outstanding work call the new company (Airmaze) and ask for a status update and a new contract. It could be that they are just waiting to see who perseveres, rather than taking the initiative to send new contracts to all disgruntled customers. I will be happy to write a positive review if Airmaze does finally come through with the goods. The previous owner has a lot to answer for - taking money in advance while going out backwards.

February 20th 2017 Update: New Information on Airmaze

Further to my review dated February 09, I have potentially positive information on Airmaze that dissatisfied customers may find useful. It is based on the intervention of the QLD Office of Fair Trading. Please send me a private message if you would like to know about it.

February 27th 2017 Update: Advice regarding Airmaze and Tropical Lifestyle

The QLD Office of Fair Trading has information on the status of these two companies.

Senior Investigations Officer

Office of Fair Trading

Department of Justice and Attorney General

PO Box 2565 Southport, QLD, 4215

Call Centre: 13QGOV (13 74 68) - Ask for the Officer handling Tropical Lifestyle and Airmaze

In the view of the investigating officer, the new owners/directors of Airmaze are genuinely trying the resurrect a business out of the previous owner's mess. While one of the new owners was managing the Tropical Lifestyle business, according to the investigating officer, this person had little control over financial matters. There is also probably little chance of getting any recompense from the owner of TLS. Fair trading are taking legal action against him - which is a separate action to any liquidation or ASIC proceedings.

Airmaze is offering new contracts to complete/rectify any outstanding work and only ask to be paid the balance of any monies that have not been paid to the previous owner. In my case, I paid everything, and so they are willing to contract completion of my order at zero additional cost to me. Hard to believe, but that is the Contract they sent me and which I have signed and returned. If someone paid 20% to the previous owners, they should only have the balance to pay to Airmaze, once they sign a new contract.

The new contracts that Airmaze is sending TLS customers contain a schedule of the payments they require. If you read the contract, you will also see that it does say there could be delays. According to Fair Trading this is reasonable as Airmaze has to negotiate new contracts with suppliers, some of whom are probably unpaid disgruntled creditors of the previous company. Some of the timbers are imported and Airmaze has to obtain new permits from the EPA has the old approvals did not "carry over".

Keep in mind however, that despite the wording regarding "delays" in the new contract, the delays still cannot be overly prolonged as they need to be "reasonable" under Australian Consumer Protection Law. This is National Law (ie not just NSW or QLD).

It may therefore be the case that unreasonably long delays in delivery by the previous owner may invalidate the old contracts - and so the liquidator may not be able to press for outstanding payments under those contracts. The QLD Office of Fair Trading or the NSW Department of Fair Trading may be able to advise on whether this is case

After having a chat with the QLD Office of Fair Trading, I signed and returned the new contract - I really have nothing to lose in my case ... hopefully the gazebo parts will be of satisfactory quality.

Airmaze acknowledged receipt of the new contract, but I have heard nothing else since returning it two weeks ago.

very disapointed with this company – WE finally got our Bali hut 3 months after we paid in full for it, we had a terrible time with customer service, always telling lies, different staff, and no response to our e-mails or phone calls, even though I phoned them every week, my husband got sick worrying about the huge amount of money we sent them with no receipt, finally a contractor… Read more

installed our hut, after it had been sitting in our garden for some time, now 6 weeks latter the poles have all split huge gaps even though we oiled them twice ,more appearing every day, its a mess,, don't know what to do , have contacted Tropical Lifestyle again with no response , Unfortunately we did not think to read reviews ,, had we done so there is no way we would have done business with Tropical Lifestyles, worse company ever, ..

Dodgy – Ordered a gazebo in October and still haven't received anything or been contacted by anyone despite paying a $3500 deposit. Managed to get onto a [name removed] from Airmaze. He said they would honour the contract and said he was 'surprised' the girls in the office hadn't contacted us yet. He said we would get an email from them asap. Two days… Read more

later and no email so we rang again. [name removed] once again said he would get 'the office girls' onto it right this minute...still no email. We have been conned. Not sure what is going on but I fear I can kiss my $3500 deposit goodbye. Will call fair trading tomorrow and ask them to look into both entities. Very disappointed.

Terrible – Paid for our gazebo in full in September. Told delivery is in 4 to 6 weeks. Finally got the timber mid December after hounding them and hearing lame excuses every time I called. Got an email from the 'owner' [name removed] in mid December to say the roof won't be delivered until the new year. I threatened them with a dispute via the bank twice… Read more

and they didn't care, so that's what I did today.

Also spoke to Stratco and they informed me a roofing purchased hasn't been done since mid November last year. Nice to know they kept taking people's money. They haven't even communicated a SINGLE thing to me. Karma will get these guys back and i hope it hits them hard. How disgusting.

I'll also be contacting Airmaze, is it? See what they say.

March 5th 2018 Update: Update

Last month I received documentation from lawyers in Qld stating Tropical Lifestyle aka Obihaka Pty Ltd have gone into liquidation, as have Airmaze.

I hope these crappy 'business owners' read all these reviews and that the guilt for being spineless thieves eats them alive. Karma guys... What goes around comes around.

no business authetics – bought a pergola in may received before xmas but no roof for it yet , amazing how these people are still in business god knows if I will get the roof.

Dodgy as – Got our deck+gazebo built $23000. It was deemed structurally unsound so getting it torn down and built again. Luckily for us it is going through insurance. What a scam!

6 months still waiting – Next week it will be 6 months and still no Bali Hut but have paid in full... drove past there Bundall Showroom today all gone, I have sent info to Fair Trading would implore everyone else to do the same also its media time will be contacting Current Affair shows next week see if they can investigate also and truly show how many people have been… Read more

ripped off.... good luck to us and everyone else lets hope something can be done ....

February 2nd 2017 Update: Update on Tropical

I have just been to see [name removed] at Yatalla trading under Air maze DIY Bali Huts, you will all remember her she was the person we were constantly calling and being told lie after lie about thatching, installs and money (also saw salesman [name removed] he slithered out when I arrived). She basically said I had 2 options wait for the completed Bali Hut from Air maze or contact Fair Trading to try to retrieve lost money from Tropical Lifestyle / Obihaka Pty Ltd. Be very very careful, I refused to sign another contract with these people (BTW thatching still is not in Australia and no date or guarantees on that even though [name removed] told me it was in Brisbane port December 2016) I was told to go get a passport and check on that myself. [name removed] terminated the meeting by dialling 000 and ordering me off the premises ... Please private message me if anyone wants to talk more ....

May 19th 2017 Update: Tropical Lifestyle/Airmaze

Hi everyone, my previous review seems to have been deleted. I ordered in July last year and nothing nearly a year later, just wondering how everyone is going with Airmaze honouring contracts??? Not hearing any positives..... Please private message me for more details ....

Scammed – I paid $7000 in October for delivery of gazebo before Christmas. Have heard nothing since then. Was contacted yesterday by [Name Removed] and told that Tropical Lifestyle Gazebos had been bought out by Airmaze who would honour the agreement if I paid the remaining $1500. I asked if I could be refunded and was told to contact Tropical Lifestyle to… Read more

take up a claim with them. After reading of everyones experiences I think I have been scammed. Wondering what legal action I can pursue to try and recoup the money and stop this fraudulent company from doing this to anyone else. Unbelievable !

?? Why was this company still asking for progress payments whilst going belly up?? – Similar story to everyone else unfortunately. We ordered bali hut in October and never received confirmation of initial deposit and contract despite numerous phone calls as never returned. When we did eventually receive a reply was told staff in office extremely busy but will get around to it. Never received any communication from office staff or… Read more

Chris their salesman after that. We needed to know if hut had gone into production as we were waiting on having hut posts installed first for pool decking to start and salesman assured us it would have. We were constantly ringing them to know when posts would be delivered but no response back. Started to become a little suspicious over lack of communication and couldn't understand why they weren't communicating with their customer. Eventually on Jan 3-2017 my email was replied to by Tania who stated if we sent a progress payment of $2800 through the hut would go into warehouse to be cut and when staff return on 9th Jan they could provide a timeline of completion.So I sent through this money and received a call from them on Jan 9th saying company had been taken over by Airmaze who would be honouring existing contracts and monies paid and would only require the balance of payments. Also a new contract would be sent out to existing customers to sign and return by the end of the week. She commented that, they the employees, had no idea this had happened over xmas and were unsure of keeping their jobs. No contract was ever received and upon ringing message went to voicemail which was full! My concern is how they were able to continue to request progress payments when they were being supposedly taken over. I feel this must be illegal practice and are going to take this further. I would be interested to know how many other customers received this bull....We are extremely disappointed in this company taking money and not supplying a product and wonder how they can sleep at night! Thankfully I believe in karma.

Absolutely disguisting company – We are in a same boat like all the others.Paid them a whole price for a bali hut and since then it has been no response from this fraudulent company.The directors need to be in jail.Lets get together and let it happen.

Same as everyone else - Disappointed – Hi, our story is very similar to those below, if not the same. Just a quick note to say we were contacted today by a "Tania" on behalf of Tropical Lifestyle Living and she advised that the company had been bought out by another company called "Accouter Pty Ltd". Accouter Pty Ltd apparently is going to honour all orders made to previous company. … Read more

Tania pointed out that we still owed a further $1,500. She advised that upon receipt of that amount Accouter would honour the purchase and send us our gazebo. Has anyone else received a communication like this? Tania advised that we would receive an email tomorrow - 17 January 2016 - that will explain the new process. Watch this space.

Where is Fair Trading, why are they not stopping this Rort? – I have spent much time reviewing this company and the so called new company. Compare both companies, same names, same people. I ask why are they not being stopped. ???? They are still demanding full payment with hut delivery guaranteed 2 weeks later. I intended buying from them but thanks to you decent people sharing your experiences i was able… Read more

to avoid what you are dealing with.

I have communication from the name [name removed] in the last 2 weeks stating how great Tropical Lifestyle is and stating 7 reasons not to go elsewhere. I have had many phone calls from "[name removed]" and many letters and quotes in the last 2 weeks. They are still operating, same persons, same business.

Are there no laws in Australia to protect the public?

Can you not put them under and an official assignee be put in place to return at least a portion of your money.

I know so much more but due to legal reasons now is not the time to tell all.

Beware, maybe its time you formed a joint action group.

They ask you to pay before delivery. You have to trust them. No way, they have broken the trust, let them be the ones trusting you.

TROPICAL NIGHTMARES! – As everyone else has stated this company is very happy to take your money. We ordered our Gazebo 3 months before Xmas paying our deposit first and signing a contract. I rang as soon as I paid my deposit to confirm delivery date of 2 weeks before Xmas. I was told they were extremely busy and if I wanted my Gazebo before Xmas I must pay up front the… Read more

whole balance of $6500. We did this as they promised it would be ready and I didn't want to disappoint my wife and children. After paying our money, that's when all communication STOPPED. I rang them daily for 2 weeks. Every time I called and did get to speak with a real person I was told the same story that someone would call us back with when it would be delivered. I never received one single call back from this company. After another 2 weeks of calling them everyday sometimes twice a day we managed to get them to deliver our Gazebo. We were all so excited that finally we would receive our Gazebo just 4 days before Xmas. Unfortunately when it did arrive most of the materials were seconds and the roof structure inc the long beams were bent. But the worst part of all, they didn't supply the Cedar Roof and capping. I tried calling them many times and sending them emails to let them know. I had no response at all ,no calls were ever answered or my emails ever returned. I finally got in contact with them on Monday 9th January and all I got from them was they are very sorry but they have gone broke and another company has taken over and will send us our roof. This other company doesn't even exist as we did a complete search on all data bases on Google. We were promised we would receive a call on Friday 13th on a possible delivery date and supply of our roof. Of course that call never came and now im trying to explain to my children how a company in Australia is allowed to rip of so many people and get away with it. I'm sorry that so many others have had this problem. PLEASE BE WARNED THIS COMPANY IS JUST GOING TO DO ONE THING,TAKE YOUR MONEY!!!

Still waiting and waiting and waiting – Placed deposit of $300 on Bali Hut in May 2016 then paid a further payment of $2,200 2 months later as we didnt require delivery until late 2016. When we phoned to arrange delivery we were told they had no record of our order.After a long discussion they finally found our order but explained they were snowed under as "Tracey " had left the company… Read more

and they were having problems with sorting out the orders, we agreed to wait until after Christmas for delivery. Unfortunately we have been unable to contact them ,their phone goes to message bank but all their messages are full.I have lodged a complaint with Fair Trading so will see what happens.

As the previous reviewer stated I would hate for anyone else to get caught up in this mess and lets hope the company is taken over.

Tropical Lifestyle is/was in Financial Trouble...Hopefully being bought out and existing deals honor – We put a $3k deposit down on a shade structure in Oct and have the same story as everyone else on here. At first it was a shipment delay this was well after the delivery day. We started to become suspicious, then we got told the ship was landing in 2 days and did we want to pay the rest. We said no, and would pay when proof of shipment to us was… Read more

provided, and then after that just no communication. Pretty much cut us off. I sent a friend who lives in the area of their Gold Coast store down there today, and they were open. He put me on the phone to one of the staff there who was quite honest with me i think. Basically company got itself in financial trouble, and was in the process of being acquired by another company (deal not finalised) and that he believed the new company was going to honor the outstanding deals that people had put deposits on. He said he was expecting communication to go out to customers this week about the acquisition. We can only hope that this is the case. Everyone who is trying to get their money back / product delivered needs to hope this company doesn't go into liquidation and does get acquired, otherwise it isn't going to be easy getting your money back. Maybe some avenues if proven to be trading insolvent against the directors (however most protect themselves through trusts / legal structures), but it will take a while to play out. I could be mistaken, but i got the impression they were still taking orders. Lets hope they get acquired and everything plays out, but if not, I'm also prepared to invest in exploring the options against the directors.

I think this company is a scam!! – Paid $8,000 deposit (the salesman insisted on me paying 1/2 total cost upfront) & they said it could be delivered by Christmas. Got an email then saying they had supply problems and wouldn't make it by then. I tried to find out when it would be delivered, no answer, until I finally called and was told that the company was no longer trading and… Read more

the assett had been bought by another company who would send a new contract and fulfil it in thier stead. I await the new contract & they've told me if I don't go ahead I'll have to seek recovery from tropical lifestyles directly. Staff said they don't know what's happened, if they are insolvent or if they have jobs. Freaking out - fear I've done my dough with these shammers. If anyone has had luck obtaining refund so far please let me know!!

Post sales/repair non existent – Bought a Bali hut. Roof 'malting' after only a couple of months and continuously for a year and makes a huge mess. Mud bugs coming loose. Result of poor roof manufacture and/or installation. Bali hut leaks as a result of mudbugs blowing off despite advertising at the time saying their huts survived cyclone Yasi. Company does not return calls or… Read more

emails. If you do talk to a person from phone number obtained at purchase time, they direct you to send them email and then never reply. Local installer continuously complained about not being paid enough. Tried for months, including asking to speak with the manager, and had to give up.

Don't touch this company – These guys are Complete con artists and a sham!! They promise the world and deliver nothing. We are still chasing money from them as they left us with half a gazebo and consistently lied to us telling us it was on its way. Want money upfront and then you receive nothing. We ave had to get our own builders and finish it ourselves and are still… Read more

fighting to get our money back. We will take legal action and our lawyers are now dealing with them as I want to make sure these people don't do business going forward. As the CEO of a law firm I will ensure these people do not get away with this again.

It's businesses like this that keep me in business however unfortunately for them the company and the staff have chosen the wrong family to rip off.