A Wellington coach service has come under fire after a woman received a shocking response from customer service calling her a "dumb spear chucker".
Lealofi Fuataga posted the exchange on Facebook, apologising for the "dirty, immature language" used by New Zealand Coach Service (NZCS).
Ms Fuataga had asked NZCS - "admittedly last minute" - if she could book a bus for the rest of the week for her holiday programme but was told the operations team had left for the day.
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She apologised, saying she was away in Australia and would make other arrangements.
The reply shocked Ms Fuataga.
"Here's an idea ya dumb spear chucker, DON'T RUN A SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAM THEN F**K OFF ON YOUR OWN HOLIDAY WHILE THE SHIT'S HITTING THE FAN."
Astounded, Ms Fuataga replied, saying the message would be great to post as feedback on Google.
The customer service representative was sent scrambling, saying: "I typed that as a draft and deleted it immediately when I saw how dumb it was. I'm so sorry."
Ms Fuataga said it was "too bad", even though the representative reiterated they didn't know how the message was sent.
The customer service representative told Ms Fuataga the text was "not intended for you" but the damage was done.
In her post to Facebook, she announced she would be boycotting the company and was furious at the way she was spoken to.
"The audacity to tell me to not go on holiday," she wrote. "These people have no idea how hard I work and how much my family deserve this."
She then said she was going back on her holiday, while still trying to make other arrangements for the children in her holiday programme back in New Zealand.
NZCS's national manager Jim Petrie told Newshub the company was investigating the incident.
"It's an internal matter, and we're investigating but we will need some time to investigate it."
NZCS is currently finding out who is responsible for the racist message, and went on to say the company needed to understand what had happened before they could act.
"We need to know both sides of the story, but there may be disciplinary action."
Ms Fuataga has been approached for further comment.
Newshub.
