Comlink Australia Sunshine Coast

I am only giving COMLINK 1 star - NOT because of the truly wonderful drivers, but because of the incredibly poor communication, incompetence and lack of transparency of the arrogant upper echelons of the current company management. Looking at these online reviews, the very positive ones are from some years back, when COMLINK really did provide an excellent, 5-star community service. Those days are gone. I can confirm that the phone issues are still far from being fixed, bookings are often all over the place and it is the long suffering drivers who are usually left to sort out the mess. Apart from all this, fares have increased so dramatically that some clients are finding it difficult to pay for trips to their medical providers, let alone a rare outing for personal shopping. After doing the research, I have discovered that COMLINK fares are now the same as those of local taxis. In some cases, they actually exceed fares charged by local cabs. Other Aged Care providers on the coast are now providing transport services at a fraction of the cost of COMLINK. It also seems that upper management 'listens' to drivers (who deal daily on the front line with passengers) feedback, but only hears what it wants to hear. In other words, drivers concerns and suggestions are largely ignored or swept under the carpet. This is a company which has lost its way. Service continues to deteriorate alarmingly. It seems to be that the whole organization needs thoroughly investigating.
May 18th, 2023

APPALLING phone service. You can't even get through after waiting 20 minutes on the phone now. Have tried to call three times this week and every time three was a 15-20 minute wait until I finally rang off. Apart from that, bookings are either not made properly or they're completely screwed up so that the poor drivers are ringing to confirm rides that weren't even booked!! The office staff appear to be poorly trained. My mother was reliant on their services but now we have little option but to look elsewhere. This used to be an outstanding service, but now they're understaffed, overpriced and incompetent. I feel sorry for the drivers as they are outstanding and they're doing the absolute best they can.
Jul 7th, 2022

Aug 31st, 2020

I have been a volunteer bus & car driver for nearly 13 years now! Really great staff & team to work for! I've done most of the nursing homes runs, securing clients with wheelchairs into the bus, especially with the Rosa, where you can have 3 wheelchairs & it's a real nightmare to manoeuvre & secure them! I haven't lost any clients yet! Also, a lot of special events on weekends & sometimes during the week, for Christmas lights tours & special events, like the Russian ballet! I've even worked 4 days in a row as a volunteer driver! I use to say to people that I've driven on any day that ends in Y, except Saturday or Sunday! But now I've even done those days as well! Some events would involve between 8 to 10 hours of driving! Up to 3 hours of driving, to pick up the clients to get them to the show! Then as a carer to make sure they all get in & get to their seats & then watch the show with them, which would generally go for about 2 hours! Get them all out into the bus again, to drop them home, which could take another 3 hours or so, by the time I get the bus back to the compound, the keys back to the office, then home myself, it would nearly be midnight! I've also done the Gympie hospital eye clinic runs a few times when we were doing those! Luckily I had my partner Linda to help out as a host for quite a few of them! I've also driven Be/Comlink cars & my own car for medical appointments & assisted shopping runs! I'm only doing Monday Kawana Companions sometimes, with Wednesday or Thursday driving the bus for appointments & Ageless Grace at Kawana. But we have been doing Friday PM Kawana shopping run for a few years now, but at the moment that isn't happening because of Covid-19 & only having 2 clients for it! But I have filled in as driver for other drivers shopping runs when they have been away or sick! I have virtually done all the runs we have been known to do with Be! In the old days we use to have up to 13 clients on the bus! That was in the days when the buses were kept at the 2 nursing homes in Caloundra, & it was HACC, then STACK! I used to say to people that I drive buses for STACK & they would look funny at me & say what, you crash & stack buses! I would say no, I drive them, not crash them, it's a community bus for senior citizens! I have been called up at short notice to do a lot of runs too, which I've been able to help with most of the time!
Aug 14th, 2020

Hi I've been a volunteer driver for this innovative and caring family owned organisation for 17 months now and I find the support staff excellent to deal with and easy to relate to and communicate with and I absolutely love driving our seniors to and from their appointments! Without organisations such as this one, many of our seniors would be far more isolated. They have also branched out into complete care packages as well which now makes Comlink the complete real deal! This of course means now they can spread their expertise, love and care even further afield than before! So if your loved one needs some extra assistance around the home, personally or just to get out more socially, then pick up the phone and WHO DO YOU CALL!! COMLINK THATS WHO!! Lol
May 5th, 2019