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"Lost" reservations

Proctor Pete

By Proctor Pete
in Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports - Hunting - Events

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Proctor Pete Contributor

Proctor Pete

Posted
Posted

No direct places/people have been named in this complaint/rant

For nearly 20 years I have been part of a crew that has gone to LOTW the first full weekend of January. We have ALWAYS stayed at the same resort in the same cabin. We have happily handed over our money...through the good fishing years and the "keep anything you catch" years, drank in their bar, yadda, yadda. We even went as a family every other year in the summer and rented a cabin for the week, adding to their bottom line. We added it up and between my wife-daughter and I, we have spent over 6000 dollars with them!

Yesterday, while calling to confirm our reservation, I learned that they didn't have our reservation for this year and that there was no room at the Inn for us! It's hard to believe that because THEY SENT US A CHRISTMAS CARD saying they were looking forward to seeing us after the New Year!!! They always stated they enjoyed our stay at their resort because we didn't trash their cabin and even cleaned it for them so all they had to do is go in and change out the bedding and towels.

No amount of convincing with the owner could get us a place to stay so yesterday I frantically called everywhere looking for a joint to house this bunch but was unable to find anywhere that had enough room. Last night I had to call 8 other people and let them know that the vacation that has been on their calendar for a year was off. It looks like a long standing tradition with friends and family has just been kicked to the curb.

I won't name the resort because I personally have felt the effects of internet bashing and I want to be better and above the

pantload that is running that joint now but let me tell you, they have lost all my business, forever. I also will be taking a trip up to that area to find a NEW resort that can suit our needs and I will happily give them my money.

This is an appeal to resorts to practice good business sense and WORK to keep your customers through service. I was loyal to you, can you say you were loyal to me? Or did you go for the quick buck and double book for that weekend?

Also, make sure your reservations are confirmed before you make the long trip up there or you might end up with no place to stay.

Once again, no Names were used in this story so I hope it will remain in the forum as a warning to both customers and resorters...

Thank you for reading my rant...

Pete

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iffwalleyes Veteran

iffwalleyes

Posted
Posted

You know I wouldn't think that it would to hard to do reservation with today's computer programs but apparently it is. I have a place I go in Canada fishing and my first year they messed things up and it was very upsetting to me. But things got worked out ok and last year everyhing was prefect.

We I work we are on the road alot and have hotels and they are always seeming to mess things up. Why it is so hard I don't know but it just is apparently. Well hopefully you get things straighted out with them and can continue. With your long term relationship with these people hopefully that can outweight the 1 bad trip you have had with them.

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Neighbor_guy Veteran

Neighbor_guy

Posted
Posted

I am sorry to hear that. frown.gif

My crew books a 4 day trip every year as we are checking out we rebook. Never had a problem, but we do call a month in advance just to "check in" and make sure everything is as it was when we left. As popular as it is up there I can only imagine how hard it would be to try to rebook.

Good luck

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Northland Sportsman Community Regular

Northland Sportsman

Posted
Posted

I had a resrevation for a hotel just south of URL for a weekend and when I arrived, no room. She claimed to have lost my CC info so booked the room to someone else. confused.gif I drove the 3+ hours and found out no place to stay, what a bummer. We ended up staying at another place after luckily finding a room, but had to drive twice as far. I will never go back there. Her office was a laundry room and post it notes & paper clips all over the res book, no wonder she couldn't find any info. Just goes to show what a bad experince at a resort or hotel can do for a trip.

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dougger222 Rising Star

dougger222

Posted
Posted

Sorry to hear about that, that's tough news.

I was a little bothered by my resort the other day when I called up and said "we're comming up, can you take out my fish house?" They said sure and when we were two hours away found out it was still sitting on dry land (7PM). I asked nicely if they could at least put it on the ice for us to stay in and they said ok. Then I asked when they could drag it out and they said in the morning after they get there things taken care of. I gave them a 24+ hour notice that we were comming up.

Well, at 6:30 am the next morning I get a knock on the fish house door, "Ready to get pulled out?" Heck ya!!!

This is a very busy time for them since fishing has been great up there and people are calling like crazy. Accidents do happen it just stinks when your on the receiving end of them.

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CaptJohnWI Community Regular

CaptJohnWI

Posted
Posted

I doubt they double booked intentially to make a "quick buck". It would make no economic sense to upset customers on purpose. My guess is somebody just messed up, maybe the resort, maybe somebody else.

I sometimes get emails wanting to know why my customer hasn't received his item. Once in a great while it is because I messed up. But more often it is because I never got paid. The vast majority of the time the buyer discovers he never mailed the payment or sent it to the wrong address. Very rarely it is the Post Office that messed up. "I thought my wife mailed it" or "I found it in the glove compartment" are frequently heard excuses.

Sometimes I accidently list the same item on eBay twice. Since I only have one of the item it is not done on purpose but just an error. Then I have the unpleasant chore of informing one buyer that I screwed up and only have one of the items and cannot send him one. Similar to the double booking problem. Nobody wins so makes no sense to do it on purpose.

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Wayne Sieber Community Regular

Wayne Sieber

Posted
Posted

Hey Pete - I was just wondering if you had sent a deposit to this resort to confirm your reservation? If so, did they cash the check or was it with a credit card?

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only ice Experienced

only ice

Posted
Posted

: thats not good pete! going to miss you guys on the raido that weekend. the bald headed garbage man from proctor will miss ya to.not sure what happened up there, they are not on a pc, and the old book just dosnt work. i have also been going over 20 years, and book 3 trips a year. been lucky never missed one on me yet. hope you find a place to help you out. still have a week!!good luck cool.gif

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Woman_Angler Apprentice

Woman_Angler

Posted
Posted

Sorry to hear about the dropped reservations ~

Have you thought about just staying at a hotel or motel in the area....and then renting an ice-house out of a different resort for the days you'll need??

We started doing this 2 years ago, instead of just staying full-time at the resort & love it...just a thought & hope you are able to still make it up to LOW yet this year ~ have a wonderful 2008!!

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Proctor Pete Contributor

Proctor Pete

Posted
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Posted

Quote:

: thats not good pete! going to miss you guys on the raido that weekend. the bald headed garbage man from proctor will miss ya to.not sure what happened up there, they are not on a pc, and the old book just dosnt work. i have also been going over 20 years, and book 3 trips a year. been lucky never missed one on me yet. hope you find a place to help you out. still have a week!!good luck
cool.gif

Piggy, that's why I didn't name the place because so many others use the resort and the thread would get deleted. Oh well, it's THEIR loss, not mine. And frankly, I won't miss the garbageman after the scene he made last year... wink.gif

This place has never required a deposit before and booking a trip to the Angle/Canada would be impossible due to Customs/passport issues. I'll be looking later this season for a new resort to give my business to.

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Royal Dutchman Proficient

Royal Dutchman

Posted
Posted

Missed this post earlier but makes sense now with all the confirmation calls we have gotten this week.

Always a good idea to confirm ahead of time. By the way, a confirmation # is useless and computer resv. systems are highly subject to error. I used to spend 60-90 nights a year in motels and lost count of the times my resv. was messed up.

Being on the other side of the counter now, I see lots of reservations messed up by customers. We are human too but in the end, most of our issues(booking and otherwise) are admittedly the error of the customer.

Unfortunate that such a longstanding tradition was broken but you will undoubtably find a way to fish here again.

I am in no way defending or justifying what happened, but I am actually suprised that we don't hear more of this with all the traffic up here.

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