No warnings provided about how long to allow for Australian tourist visa application

TLScontact provide no indication of visa processing times for Australia. We mistakenly assumed 3 weeks would be sufficient, and they even told us that the Australian High Commission would take into account our departure date. We had finger prints, videos and photos taken on 22 November together with submission of all documentation. We received zero feedback since then apart from two debits to my credit card on the day of the appointment (One from TLScontact, one from the Australian High Commission). When queried they told me that I should not have booked my plane tickets yet, and that they were still within service standards. On our day of departure, 13 December, I finally managed to get an answer from the embassy, stating that our visa application was still in the queue and would most likely only be assessed sometime next week. We had to cancel everything for our family of 4, including flights, non-refundable accommodation, etc. We are attempting now to re-book for 23 December, at massive additional cost, and hopefully still in time to at least spend Christmas with family. In all my years of travel I have never had a visa experience as bad as this. I can only hope we get the Visa’s next week.