hokeysmoke said:
There is a thread over on another board about a guy who has paid for his trip and now it has been canceled. It's a month in advance so hurray for the Boat for doing it a month in advance RIGHT?
I don't think so.
You know we have to send a deposit of 50% in to confirm our space. Most boats have a very "stingy" cancellation policy. Something like this, "Deposits are non-refundable unless cancellation is made 120 days prior to departure with a duration of 5 days or less, 180 days with duration of 6 days or more." AND THIS TOO, A 50% deposit is required to confirm your trip with balance due 45 days prior to departure date. If one does cancel and the spot fills they "nick" you 10%. If your spot does not fill, they keep your deposit. FAIR? Not IMHO. Look at the example above, guy comes from a long way away, gets his vacation, airline tickets and then gets cancelled upon. Here is your money back no problem but you get to eat the air, renegotiate your vacation, renegotiate with your wife for the time again, etc, etc, etc. No penalty for the boat at all, except for sitting at the dock RIGHT...not so fast if the operation cancels your trip and then adds a couple day and a half trips in your scheduled trip time THAT'S JUST PLAIN WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!In other words you cannot cancel without substantial penalty but they can and substitute another more profitable trip in your time slot. That SUCKS!
My first response was going to be to tell you that crap from ?other boards? should stay on other boards and that you don?t seem to have a real clue as to what you are talking about. But I refrained from that impulse and instead went to the ?other board? to see exactly what all the fuss was about.
The guy Brian who lost out on the trip said the following:
Yeah, I'd be upset in that situation too. Susan over at the Supreme said that there were four long range boats sitting idle last week. I'm very happy with how they handled it!
Hell, I had to book this a few months in advance so my wife didn't book my time for me. Now this time is free maybe I can juggle some other things around. September starts Football for my son so that's out other than dove and quail hunting. The only trip that might work is the Taka's Tackle RP trip, but i'm sure that's full at this point.
susan did offer to discount another trip for me so I'm trying to see when I could work one in. Right now a 2 day is sounding good jsut to get out since that's the only thing I can really find during that time unless anyone knows of any other openings.
And then there was this, also from Brian, in another thread on the ?other board? that concerned the same subject:
David I totally agree with you, maybe even drop the prices to at least get to a breakeven to get the boat to run. I did notice today that they added two 1.5 trips in lieu of the 5 day, so maybe that is their solution to it? I do have to say that the CS from Susan was top notch and at least i received a months notice verses 1 week!
So it looks like you are a lot more PO?d about this than Brian was! It also sounds like he was completely satisfied with the service he received from the boat?s office. Considering that, I asked my self if perhaps you just didn?t understand the current situation and causes of cancellations. But since you must have read Brian's post(s) on the ?other board?, and the rest of the thread as well, that just couldn?t be the case. Could it? :?
Along those lines, there were these two posts from a couple of people who seem to have no trouble understanding why these things are happening.
I'm afraid it's a sign of the times, many of the mid to long range fleet is in for tough times with the fuel prices.
Sorry to hear that. Rough times for the fleet right now. High fuel prices and people are starting to hold on tight to the purse strings. Trips that where full last year are having a hard time getting enough people to make the trips feasible. Hope you can find another trip that works for you.
Even Brian said this:
Susan over at the Supreme said that there were four long range boats sitting idle last week.
Now after all of this, I have a question. If the guy who lost out on the trip doesn?t have a problem with it, then WTF is your problem? Oh wait! I remember now. You?re indignant because:
hokeysmoke said:
It Ain't Right...and we are seeing more cancellations in prime time now. Maybe if enough of us tell the owners by staying away OR THE PEOPLE IN THE OFFICES that monitor these boards that their cancellation practices suck, then maybe they will change.
And also because:
hokeysmoke said:
because I wanted to create more exposure to this one sided practice!:z
The only thing you?ve managed to ?expose? here is your complete ignorance of the realities involved in running a LR boat as a business.
The reason that the boats have the reservation rules that they do are that they only want people signed up who are serious about going on that trip in that time frame! This helps keep the pikers away. What used to go on regularly was that a guy would sign up on 3 or 4 different boats at a time spread of a two or three weeks so that he could pick the trip that was leaving when the bite got hot. All he had to do was cancel the other reservations, and on short notice that meant that a space on another boat(s) would be left open because of the short notice, thus taking money out of other boat?s pockets if they couldn?t fill it. This is why all the boats have relatively the same policy regarding reservations and cancellations!
But the shoe is on the other foot now. With the price of fuel well above where it was figured to be, which affects the price of everything, you want the boats to ?suck it up? and run short, which will often mean running the trip in the red, just for your convenience. How nice!
For many years there was hardly ever a trip cancellation. I have been on many trips that ran short. But the boats simply can?t afford to do so with the additional fuel costs. In case you haven?t noticed, there have been an increasing number of cancellations for the last two years or more. This corresponds directly to when the price of fuel, particularly diesel, started going through the roof!
So just how long is a boat supposed to run trips that loose money for the sake of customer loyalty? And how long can they do that before they fold?
And oh yeah! There was something else mentioned on the ?other board? that would take care of the entire problem you?re beeitching about.
You can actually get trip cancellation insurance for a reasonable fee guys, Its rather common in the cruise industry. I for one have always wondered why the landings have not jumped on this.
MMM
It?s not the first time trip insurance has been mentioned here or on the other board!
So taking all of this into account, I have to ask. Do you still have a problem?
Next time, try leaving other people?s problems, on other boards, that don?t involve you at all, exactly where you found them. OK?
The boats do what they can and they don't do what they can't afford to do.
FISH HARD!
