Australian Border Force

Today (Friday 14th Dec) I received some of the best customer service I have ever received. The two staff members who assisted me at the front desk, Karen Baker and Steve Catlin could not have done enough for me and I am unbelievably grateful to them. They made my Christmas and without knowing it a lot of other people's as well.

MH135, Brisbane International, 8 May 2019.
Full luggage check at Gate 4 at 8.45pm.
The officer who checked our bags was clearly a skilled communicator, put us at our ease after a tiring flight.
Thank you.

Excellent service, Humble people, supportive and try whatever they can do to help u. They did all my paperwork within last minutes of closing time on Friday.

Adiós to Team.

I had a very pleasant experience. Friendly staff and professional officers!

Great people dedicate to protecting Australia and it's people's.

Warm rubber gloves, slender fingers...

Went there to import a boat. Very friendly staff, however it can be difficult to find the right person who is knowledgeable enough to complete the task at hand.
The shelves are stuffed with all kind of illegal things (lion heads, crock parts .. etc) which customs confiscated in the past.

I've been scammed by 2 of the workers who said they work for customs. One by the name of Franklin Lucars- he uses gmail to ask me for fees and money to get the goods delivered, then he asked me to pay him via trust wallet... every week there's always payment and fees arising. He uses skype to message me. He then make excuses saying that the goods got misplaced so they make me pay $2000usd , the goods got stolen $500usd so the make me pay, clearance fee $400usd, then special delivery for $350usd, the goods never arrived. He told me that his account manager will transfer the money via coinbase (the goods have a load of sum in it). They want me to use telegram to message, so i downloaded it, then downloaded coinbase wallet so that the account manager, Alwxander James, can send the first installment $500k USDt. Alexander James also asked me to talk with Coinbase official on telegram- they wanted an activation fee of 0.5ethereum, and then to withdraw they want me to deposit 2.2ethereum. I couldnt afford it and asked my friend for help, my friend had a look and told me all this is a scam! My friend used my phone to text them for their IDs contact etc... I then spoke to the agent from the coinbase wallet app support and they told me that they dont require fees or deposits, they dont message their clients via telegram and that I should report them for scamming. The agent also said that the $500k USDT that the account manager sent was fake- it has no value! Story of my life!! Every week, my money has gone down the drain because of all this!

Up arrive into Australia from NZ on the 18th Feb 2024 we did the right thing and declared every thing,as we travel overseas a lot and don’t want to bring back anything that would harm Australia, so we were sent down the inspection line as we had whitebait, the official person who was extremely arrogant and rude considering we did the right thing said we can’t bring it in, of course I tried to argue the case as we have carried it in many times before, I asked for a supervisor, got one and the arrogant officer calmed down(power tripper with little brain) not a good look for Australia , we were still told no to the whitebait as it supposedly had to be headed and gutted ( they are the size of a match for those who don’t know) I called BICON on the Monday and were told it’s ok to bring it in as long as it’s recognised it’s from NZ with a MAF letter, which we had. Perhaps more training should be exercised as this mishap cost me $500

This issue needs immediate and serious attention with reprecussive action and retraining for several staff.. Brisbane Border Control is by far the worlds most unprofessional government agency I've ever witnessed. Completely discusting horrendous treatment of visitors and residents alike by an entire floor of 30 or so powertripping Karens and one poor bloke (was the only reasonable, respectful one) that treat people with utter narcissistic contempt. They are the face of the country to many and their behaviour to visitors and myself even as a resident is completely unacceptable, appauling, unprofessional, and discriminatory. See for yourself, send a few undercover with 'car parts' or boxes on a 7am flight and see for yourself how they treat incoming tourism.

in nov 2023, i got bad experience with border officer, she is old lady and rude. she has a bad attitude, rude and very rude.

Me and my wife have purchased multiple items when we travelling Melbourne. We had a wonderful experience until the ABF officer told us there is no GST refund for us because we have our items in our check-in luggage.
Both of us have read the instructions on TRS website and didn’t know we have to have the goods to be sighted.
If ABF and Custom can make things clearer and easier to understand, our journey would be 100% happiness.

Stop wasting tax payer money!!
I will rate as 0 star!! Seriously bad service, I have purchased over $600 goods and took to oversea as gifts, checking at the custom counter (near the car park) A custom officer threw
my passport out of conuter! and raise her voice said ”I don't want to see your passport "!!

2 minutes later asked me to show my passport to her. Seriously?! What the great service they provided!!
I have done nothing wrong, all the goods and receipts are
eligible for the claim according toTRS website.

It's unfair why people have to facing their unprofessional manner and inappropriate behaviour. (Not everyone, for some of staffs)

QLD custom department should review their staff, if they are not happy with their current position, should let them go. Why we suffered! All pay by tax payer money!!!

Incompetent and incapable of providing an efficient service. Perhaps this is their strategy so you give up trying to claim gst refund….

I would like further investigation.
We arrived On Flight JQ58 14/10/2022 from Bali.
An experience on arrival back to Australia has left me with no faith in the customs process. Whilst in Bali I purchased a slumped glass vase on a wooden base.- declared this item at customs and had it taken from me due to small insect found. The officer said it could be a threat to Aust and I could not take it home without fumigation and the cost could be $250 or more. I questioned him about this. He said the insect could be a threat and the insect would have to be sent to a lab for confirmation and the process of fumigation had to be done to keep the item or send it back to place of purchase for treatment. The officer then picked up the wooden base from his counter and took it to another’s area of customs for his supervisor to check. At no time did he inspect he luggage I had used to carry the item home. I don’t believe the officer thought much about carrying the base from his counter to another especially when his inspection uncovered insects nor was he concerned about any insects that may have been in the luggage. He insisted on fumigation treatment for the wooden base for me to keep. Perhaps the customs area needs fumigation just in case insects were dislodged on his walk around the customs area.
Please look into this as I feel the officer was very unprofessional.
the slumped glass vase is useless without the wooden base and I would like it retuned to me.

Disgusting custom services without proper profession, I would not recommend travelling to AU, obviously AU Govt is not welcoming international tourists after the border reopen.

Arrived Brisbane on 27th of Aug 2022 and brought in some oriental herbal tea with labels on it wanting to share the good taste to local families and friends and not allowed to pass the custom same as the Konjac powder to make jelly-liked food.

It cost around 300AUD thrown away without acceptable reasons( I have checked the list of prohibited items not allowed to bring into AU and those things ARE NOT on the list)

Intimidating officers, often playing games and exerting their power over everyday people. Shameful SS GESTAPO style of a public agency. Every time I travel back to Australia I am flabbergasted by Border Force's attitude. Disgusting personnel.

I landed on an Emirates flight last night at 2230.The whole process at Brisbane airport was a debarcle!!
No signage,extremely confusing.Hopefully they will improve before the Olympics.I felt embarrassed being an Australian as my travels through 6 European airports were so much better!!