Jumping castle hire - a disappointing experience

HenryBG said :

Women and men are different. Women have a cupboard full of shoes, for example – how many blokes here have as many pairs of footwear as their wives do, hmmm?

Exactly! It’s so hard to tell the buggers apart otherwise! I know when I back to someone’s place from the pub, the first thing I do is check out their shoe collection.
If it is the same as mine, I grab a beer and sit on the couch and watch footy with them. If they have heaps more shoes, I might think about hitting on them! It’s a foolproof method! Hahahaha!

Seriously though, your in-depth observation above could go in a first-year biology text! Hahaha! Too funny!

Ben_Dover said :

HenryBG said :

Why don’t you offer your services to the multi-billion-dollar advertising industry? It seems you are privy to some secret knowledge which their army of highly-paid consultants have apparently missed.

He’s very perceptive, a visionary indeed, he’s forever seeing things written here which no one else can, and quoting them.

Bahaha! That’s gold. And very true.

HenryBG said :

Women and men are different. Women have a cupboard full of shoes, for example – how many blokes here have as many pairs of footwear as their wives do, hmmm?

My partner does.

HenryBG said :

Why don’t you offer your services to the multi-billion-dollar advertising industry? It seems you are privy to some secret knowledge which their army of highly-paid consultants have apparently missed.

He’s very perceptive, a visionary indeed, he’s forever seeing things written here which no one else can, and quoting them.

HenryBG said :

You know, this is where political correctness leads people into false belief – the post-modern amongst us describe an alternate reality which conforms to their ideology. They then attempt to indoctrinate that fantasy into the less clued-up among us, asserting that their ideology describes reality. Which, of course, it doesn’t.

That’s a polite term for it, others may not be so kind in their description.

HenryBG said :

poetix said :

How are things going for you there, back in 1953, when a multiple shopping trip was what all women desired?

It just isn’t a male thing to enter into a contract and then somehow imagine you can renegotiate its terms.
.

I take it you’ve never worked in the Construction Industry?

***Checking spelling before hitting submit.**

Pork Hunt said :

In defence of grammar Nazis everywhere:

The comma is the difference between helping your uncle Jack, off a horse and helping your uncle Jack off a horse…

Narf…

Jim Jones said :

“Ha ha, woman are really irrational and like to shop and are always crying and having babies. Men like sport and cars and being tough.”

That’s what you call it: “Sexual differentiation”?

Why don’t you offer your services to the multi-billion-dollar advertising industry? It seems you are privy to some secret knowledge which their army of highly-paid consultants have apparently missed.

You know, this is where political correctness leads people into false belief – the post-modern amongst us describe an alternate reality which conforms to their ideology. They then attempt to indoctrinate that fantasy into the less clued-up among us, asserting that their ideology describes reality. Which, of course, it doesn’t.
Women and men are different. Women have a cupboard full of shoes, for example – how many blokes here have as many pairs of footwear as their wives do, hmmm?

TheDancingDjinn said :

First – The reason why women are most likely to take back a faulty product is, ….

Oops, reading comprehension fail. Go back and read it again.
That’s what happens when you place excessive emphasis on emotion over reason, I guess.

“Ha ha, woman are really irrational and like to shop and are always crying and having babies. Men like sport and cars and being tough.”

No one has claimed tht, did I miss a quote from someone?

HenryBG said :

poetix said :

How are things going for you there, back in 1953, when a multiple shopping trip was what all women desired?

While I admire your faith in humanity, I wonder if you have the figures on the sex of people attempting to return non-faulty goods to, say, David Jones?

Anything less than 90/10 would astound me.

It just isn’t a male thing to enter into a contract and then somehow imagine you can renegotiate its terms.

My Mrs had this thing going on with David Jones involving a watch. It went on for years. She originally bought it (for under $100) at a sale, then decided she didn’t like the colour, somehow managed to return it for a watch that was on sale for several 100$, returned it again on account of some fault or other, complained to DJs management about the service she received in having the fault attended to, and eventually had her original watch replaced by something worth well over $1000.

This is one reason I won’t shop at places like David Jones – I know there’s an extra $$$margin on everything to cover the irrational female timewasting factor. Plus everything they sell is second-hand because it’s effectively out on approval all the time to the irrational females.

First – The reason why women are most likely to take back a faulty product is, that even though its not 1950 there are alot of women who are at home with kids in their early years, and are usually the ones doing errands during the day while husbands/partners are working. There are plenty of men who do as your wife does.

Secondly, just becasue your wife can’t make up her mind, and just has to continue to rip off a shop that doesn’t mean we all do it.

Just like you being a jerk should’nt mean that people assume other men are jerks too.

HenryBG said :

Jim Jones said :

HenryBG said :

Anything less than 90/10 would astound me.

It just isn’t a male thing to enter into a contract and then somehow imagine you can renegotiate its terms.

…

I know there’s an extra $$$margin on everything to cover the irrational female timewasting factor. Plus everything they sell is second-hand because it’s effectively out on approval all the time to the irrational females.

Lol – that’s amazing. Poetix is right: it really is 1953 in your head.

Feminism is just something that happened for everyone else, isn’t it?

Not sure I understand – are you saying that since feminism, we are no longer a sexually-differentiated species?
Or are you saying that since feminism, sexual differentiation is a taboo subject?

“Ha ha, woman are really irrational and like to shop and are always crying and having babies. Men like sport and cars and being tough.”

That’s what you call it: “Sexual differentiation”?

You sound like some lame comedian doing embarrassing shtick from WWII. Do people shuffle their feet with embarrassment and quickly find excuses to be elsewhere when you pull this sh1t in person?

Alocal said :

Good news,

The operator has called and we have worked out a resolve 🙂 I will not be naming them.

Glad to hear your extortion went well.

Jim Jones said :

HenryBG said :

Anything less than 90/10 would astound me.

It just isn’t a male thing to enter into a contract and then somehow imagine you can renegotiate its terms.

…

I know there’s an extra $$$margin on everything to cover the irrational female timewasting factor. Plus everything they sell is second-hand because it’s effectively out on approval all the time to the irrational females.

Lol – that’s amazing. Poetix is right: it really is 1953 in your head.

Feminism is just something that happened for everyone else, isn’t it?

Not sure I understand – are you saying that since feminism, we are no longer a sexually-differentiated species?
Or are you saying that since feminism, sexual differentiation is a taboo subject?

HenryBG said :

While I admire your faith in humanity, I wonder if you have the figures on the sex of people attempting to return non-faulty goods to, say, David Jones?

Anything less than 90/10 would astound me….

So, to have such insight, you must have the figures then…? Hahahaha!

HenryBG said :

Anything less than 90/10 would astound me.

It just isn’t a male thing to enter into a contract and then somehow imagine you can renegotiate its terms.

…

I know there’s an extra $$$margin on everything to cover the irrational female timewasting factor. Plus everything they sell is second-hand because it’s effectively out on approval all the time to the irrational females.

Lol – that’s amazing. Poetix is right: it really is 1953 in your head.

Feminism is just something that happened for everyone else, isn’t it?

Sir_Orangepeel said :

“We called the operator stating that we had to Cancel …”

I know this is besides the point, but why capitalise the c in cancel??

On computer and phone software cancel buttons are usually written with a capitalised C. I think there is a good chance that some people have forgotten it was a real word before it was a button. I’m going to Submit this comment now.

poetix said :

How are things going for you there, back in 1953, when a multiple shopping trip was what all women desired?

While I admire your faith in humanity, I wonder if you have the figures on the sex of people attempting to return non-faulty goods to, say, David Jones?

Anything less than 90/10 would astound me.

It just isn’t a male thing to enter into a contract and then somehow imagine you can renegotiate its terms.

My Mrs had this thing going on with David Jones involving a watch. It went on for years. She originally bought it (for under $100) at a sale, then decided she didn’t like the colour, somehow managed to return it for a watch that was on sale for several 100$, returned it again on account of some fault or other, complained to DJs management about the service she received in having the fault attended to, and eventually had her original watch replaced by something worth well over $1000.

This is one reason I won’t shop at places like David Jones – I know there’s an extra $$$margin on everything to cover the irrational female timewasting factor. Plus everything they sell is second-hand because it’s effectively out on approval all the time to the irrational females.

Pork Hunt said :

In defence of grammar Nazis everywhere:

The comma is the difference between helping your uncle Jack, off a horse and helping your uncle Jack off a horse…

I’m puzzled. Why does my uncle want to jack off a horse?

Where I’m from we say “it rained the night before”. Where has ‘rain event the night before’ come from? The term needs a smothering event while it’s still in its infancy.

Anyway, I hope we have multiple extended sun events for the weekend.

EvanJames said :

MissChief said :

, the decision about setting up equipment on a water-logged block should have been left up to them. The possibility of a muddy event was always a risk you were taking.

What a bugger of a job that would be, packing up a sodden, muddy rubber castle, and then washing the horrible thing.

I’m glad we didn’t need rubber castles when I was a kid. Ordinary birthdays with food and pass the parcel were pretty exciting on their own.

Indeed, but they didn’t get to make that decision.

tommy said :

I’ve used Gecko Gang and had a rain event the night before as well as early morning on the day. They rang on the morning of the party to say it was too wet and it was unsafe, got our money back. The staff they use to supervise are casuals so noone is out of pocket.

I suspect “wet” means “I’ll have to clean the mud off this thing for 3 hours then dry the thing out for another 3 hours”. I sympathize with that!

Yep, this whole thread is an advertising initiative.

Why not.

I’ve used Gecko Gang and had a rain event the night before as well as early morning on the day. They rang on the morning of the party to say it was too wet and it was unsafe, got our money back. The staff they use to supervise are casuals so noone is out of pocket.

I suspect “wet” means “I’ll have to clean the mud off this thing for 3 hours then dry the thing out for another 3 hours”. I sympathize with that!

In defence of grammar Nazis everywhere:

The comma is the difference between helping your uncle Jack, off a horse and helping your uncle Jack off a horse…

MissChief said :

, the decision about setting up equipment on a water-logged block should have been left up to them. The possibility of a muddy event was always a risk you were taking.

What a bugger of a job that would be, packing up a sodden, muddy rubber castle, and then washing the horrible thing.

I’m glad we didn’t need rubber castles when I was a kid. Ordinary birthdays with food and pass the parcel were pretty exciting on their own.

Alocal said :

Good news,

The operator has called and we have worked out a resolve 🙂 I will not be naming them.

You have resolved the issue. You have worked out a resolution. You have not worked out a resolve. OK, I know, I’m category 1 in the Cracked article. But congratulations on getting a result.

Good news,

The operator has called and we have worked out a resolve 🙂 I will not be naming them.

Sorry to not seem very supportive, but I don’t see how the lack of drainage on your property is the operators problem.

The suitability of your block for hire equipment following inclement weather is certainly a factor to take into consideration when making a booking and perhaps even discuss with the operators before paying any money but as far as after the fact, it really is a risk YOU have taken, not them.

If you didn’t want to incur a cancellation fee, the decision about setting up equipment on a water-logged block should have been left up to them. The possibility of a muddy event was always a risk you were taking.

HenryBG said :

harvyk1 said :

I can not stress this enough, make sure you stick to just the fact, keep emotion out of it, and tell them exactly what they need to do to remedy the situation. Also get someone else to read over the letter before you send it.

This is basically a woman thing: unlike we blokes, women attempt to turn every instance of buying something into a triple-headed retail experience:
1. They go out and spend hours buying something. Usually superfluous rubbish.
2. They go back and spend more hours arguing about how it doesn’t fit/it’s the wrong colour/it was raining and demand a refund
3. They can now go shopping AGAIN and enjoy a third episode – but still on the original funding – of spending hours agonising over whether or not to buy something or other nobody actually needs.

In this case, we have a consumer who has signed a contract to buy a service. She’s decided for some neurotic reason to not use that service, and wants the contract retrospectively altered so that she gets her money back.
Usual “gimme something-for-nothing” nonsense.

How are things going for you there, back in 1953, when a multiple shopping trip was what all women desired? (Got to keep my post short as I just feel this tremendous urge to go shopping coming upon me…If only hubby would leave a pound or two in my handbag now and then…Oh dear, it’s only a shilling. Must be more attentive in the kitchen.)

Alocal said :

I would love most of you, if not all to put yourself in our shoes.

I would love your problem to be my problem, haha, if I bothered RA with all of the issues I’m dealing with in our half-completed renos/extensions the internet would break.

Probably another contributing reason for my original reply. 😉

well if you cancelled on them they did lose money. and if they’ve given you a refund – albeit piddly in your own mind – they are even out of pocket to you.

maybe some of us can also see the perspective and experiences of small business.

Alocal said :

1. Still flooded front yard and back on the day of the booking.

Are we still claiming it was “4 inches of water”? Or is that claim being slowly abandoned now?
Got any photos?

Alocal said :

2. Little or no communication from the operator

Is it “little” or is it “no”?
And how does this tally with your statement that you rang up and cancelled, which appears to me to be the entire breadth of any communication required in this kind of a situation?

Alocal said :

3. Safety issue raised with them, but of no concern

What “safety issue”? How was it identified? and what do you mean “of no concern”?
You cancelled, therefore there was clearly no “safety” to be concerned about on the part of any operator who was no longer responsible for any event at your residence.

Alocal said :

4. They stated over the phone ‘As far they are concerned we cancelled’ (Regardless of the flooded area of our property) they claimed that they lost money.

What ever happened to good old customer service?

What, like giving irrational whingers something for nothing, you mean?

Bails said :

What a stupid analogy. If you think concerns over flying in wind is the same as running electricity cables through 4 inches of water for kids to play on is the same thing, then you’re an idiot.

1. you’re assuming that it is raining on the day of the party and the water hasn’t cleared
2. you’re assuming that a circuit breaker wouldn’t protect against a short
3. you’re assuming they wouldn’t call off the event themselves.

Bails said :

Similarly, I’d suspect you could argue that the weather lately has been severe, and if the T&C state that the company has to be available to make a decision in severe weather, then they haven’t met their contractual obligations.

OP cancelled the contract first, their obligations are over. If OP had called up the company and said “hi, it’s raining down here, do you think you’ll be setting up the castle tomorrow? or should i cancel the party?” there might have been a different outcome

Bails said :

Not only would I argue this until I got all of my money back, I would utilise social media and forums like this to make sure everyone knew about what a pathetic company they are. Too many businesses prey on the fact that people aren’t going to do something about being ripped off.

lol why don’t you call today tonight and have a cry on there?

Thanks guys for a lot of great comments and the usual trolls out there, where would we be without the trolls? 🙂

I would love most of you, if not all to put yourself in our shoes.

1. Still flooded front yard and back on the day of the booking.
2. Little or no communication from the operator
3. Safety issue raised with them, but of no concern
4. They stated over the phone ‘As far they are concerned we cancelled’ (Regardless of the flooded area of our property) they claimed that they lost money.

What ever happened to good old customer service?

Bails said :

This is the entire problem with RiotACT. You idiots pick on random capital letters, or incorrect use of punctuation, rather than address the issue that this person has raised. It’s like it’s your right in life to police the Internet for spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes. It’s pathetic!

I think OP raises a perfectly valid issue whereby she paid for something, and not only was it not provided, but the company failed to meet a reasonable level of customer service. It’s pathetic morons like the contributors to this page that perpetuate a cycle of poor customer service by maintaining the “sh*t happens” ambivalence.

Bugger the spelling.

Read the OP again and see if you can put the comments into a clear sequence of events%u2026

“We had a jumping castle booked 4th of March for our 1 year olds birthday party and that was the week of the sever rain event here in canberra and most of NSW.

On Saturday night of the 3rd, we had around 4 inches of water in our front and back yard making it impossible to hold this activity.

We called the operator stating that we had to Cancel due to safety reasons and that it was physically impossible to have the castle erected. They said they would call me back that night. They never did.

We called again on the Monday and got the runaround then got a hold of them. They state in their T&C that if we cancel, we loose our money. However, saying that in their T&C they are to contact us in sever weather conditions. They didn%u2019t. Even if they turned up and stated that it was unsafe to erect, they would not go ahead and no refund issued. This company never took the time to assess the situation at our place the day before nor communicate to us during the 300 ml of rain that week.”

Based on the complaint as detailed above we can say:

Original booking = 4 March (a Sunday).
Rain event = 3 March (Saturday night).
First phone call = After the rain event.
(So Saturday night then, most likely around 12-16 hours before the original booking.)

“We called the operator stating that we had to Cancel due to safety reasons and that it was physically impossible to have the castle erected.”
(Client calls to state the booking is to be cancelled, apparently, without consultation. Was the call to a person or an answering machine. ie. was there an opportunity given to the supplier to discuss safety and suitability issues? We don’t know.)

“They state in their T&C that if we cancel, we loose our money.”
(Client just admitted that the booking was cancelled at their request.)

“However, saying that in their T&C they are to contact us in sever weather conditions. They didn%u2019t.”
(Firstly, the sever [sic] weather conditions happened on Saturday night, apparently. Surely it would be reasonable to think they might call the following morning. Secondly, the client had already made the decision to cancel.)

“This company never took the time to assess the situation at our place the day before nor communicate to us during the 300 ml of rain that week.”
(Well, apparently the rain event occurred the night before, not the day before. Officially speaking we haven’t had 300mm of rain so far in all of March, but to be fair, that’s largely irrelevant because we did have a crap load of rain that week. And so, finally, we get to a legitimate grievance. It seems it would have been reasonable to expect a confirmation call on Friday to see if the client’s location was still suitable for the jumping castle.)

Now, I may not have described the sequence of events accurately, but I think it’s a pretty good summation of the details that have been presented.

My original “shit happens” response was as much a comment on the poorly worded complaint as it was about the issue itself.

I’m sure the jumping castle crew have a water tight legal contract. boom tish. Looks like its cancel on their terms and they probably have had to protect themselves in terms of dodgy weather.

i mean – pretend alocal wanted a jumping castle for last weekend and the jumping castle crew said fine and it was booked in yonks ago. Meanwhile they had another request for the same weekend that they had to turn down. So party B goes off and finds another jumping castle crew. Meanwhile alocal cancels the day before her own event, jumping castle crew will therefore lose out a day’s income through no fault of their own. They didn’t cause the weather, and whether it was sunny or rainy probably had someone lined up to do the job. While the rain obviously isn’t alocal’s fault nor the jumping castle crew’s fault either, i bet the contract was suited to the needs of the jumping castle crew.

There are many occupations where if someone cancels within 24 hours its too bad – the scheduled appointment must be paid.

Alocal said :

wrigbe said :

The responses here are really bizarre. Actually its a perfectly reasonable expectation that you would get your money back in bad weather. I also booked a jumping castle with the Gecko Gang during the recent period of bad weather. When it was too wet on the day they rang me and we agreed it was too wet for it to go up and I go my money back. Simple as that. No drama.
I am amazed that other jumping castle providers don’t work the same way. After all I suspect they could be liable if something went wrong.

Could not agree more. And the company involved with us is NOT The Gecko Gang. We will use them next time 🙂

Ah, I see – this is actually an elaborate piece of advertising for The Gecko Gang.

Bails said :

This is the entire problem with RiotACT. You idiots pick on random capital letters, or incorrect use of punctuation, rather than address the issue that this person has raised. It’s like it’s your right in life to police the Internet for spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes. It’s pathetic!

Ok, you heard it here first people! The only thing wrong with the RiotAct is that the members are grammar and spelling Nazis. If we could drop the Pavlovian reaction to bad spelling and punctuation, and develop an almost mystic ability to decode Bogan, this place would epitomise the perfection of web-pages.

Bails said :

I think OP raises a perfectly valid issue whereby she paid for something, and not only was it not provided, but the company failed to meet a reasonable level of customer service. It’s pathetic morons like the contributors to this page that perpetuate a cycle of poor customer service by maintaining the “sh*t happens” ambivalence.

Damn right, when I phone up someone, request and pay them for a service, then tell them I don’t want it any more, they should be responsible for my choices and forego any fees.

Henry82 said :

Bails said :

I think OP raises a perfectly valid issue whereby she paid for something, and not only was it not provided, but the company failed to meet a reasonable level of customer service.

Or OP cancelled the contract and therefore they didn’t have to return any funds as it was clearly outlined in their T&Cs. For all we know, it could have dried out over-night and the jumping castle would have been fine.

If you book a plane ticket, then you decided it was too windy to fly, do you think the airline would refund your money? As others have said, you need to separate your emotions from the facts here.

What a stupid analogy. If you think concerns over flying in wind is the same as running electricity cables through 4 inches of water for kids to play on is the same thing, then you’re an idiot.

Similarly, I’d suspect you could argue that the weather lately has been severe, and if the T&C state that the company has to be available to make a decision in severe weather, then they haven’t met their contractual obligations.

Not only would I argue this until I got all of my money back, I would utilise social media and forums like this to make sure everyone knew about what a pathetic company they are.

Too many businesses prey on the fact that people aren’t going to do something about being ripped off.

Assuming to be the expert in all things Jumping Castle probably got you off on the wrong foot with them.

Rather than cancel and suffer the penalty for cancelling, I would have let them (led them to) make the decision about cancelling themselves, i.e. is there any chance there could be electrical problems from the amount of water around and do you have liability cover in case of said event? You know a few of the parents attending are lawyers and I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to their children.

Unless you can think of any other way to recoup the money from them, you might have to write it off as a lesson learnt.

On a totally unrelated matter, can people please stop saying “there” in place of “their” or “they’re” – I must be getting old because it’s bloody ANNOYING!

Bails said :

I think OP raises a perfectly valid issue whereby she paid for something, and not only was it not provided, but the company failed to meet a reasonable level of customer service.

Or OP cancelled the contract and therefore they didn’t have to return any funds as it was clearly outlined in their T&Cs. For all we know, it could have dried out over-night and the jumping castle would have been fine.

If you book a plane ticket, then you decided it was too windy to fly, do you think the airline would refund your money? As others have said, you need to separate your emotions from the facts here.

dpm said :

Hahahaha!
See if you can pick which RA posters who fit into personailty disorders #1, #2 and #3 mentioned here:
http://www.cracked.com/article_17522_6-new-personality-disorders-caused-by-internet_p2.html

Hilarious! I could organise at least half of the regular posters on this forum into that classification in no time. (And I acknowledge that I have a bit of all of them depending on my mood)

wrigbe said :

The responses here are really bizarre. Actually its a perfectly reasonable expectation that you would get your money back in bad weather. I also booked a jumping castle with the Gecko Gang during the recent period of bad weather. When it was too wet on the day they rang me and we agreed it was too wet for it to go up and I go my money back. Simple as that. No drama.
I am amazed that other jumping castle providers don’t work the same way. After all I suspect they could be liable if something went wrong.

Could not agree more. And the company involved with us is NOT The Gecko Gang. We will use them next time 🙂

Do they have proof you cancelled in an email or anything?

If not say you didn’t cancel it, they did. Works for my clients most of the time.

Bails said :

This is the entire problem with RiotACT. You idiots pick on random capital letters, or incorrect use of punctuation, rather than address the issue that this person has raised. It’s like it’s your right in life to police the Internet for spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes. It’s pathetic!

I think OP raises a perfectly valid issue whereby she paid for something, and not only was it not provided, but the company failed to meet a reasonable level of customer service. It’s pathetic morons like the contributors to this page that perpetuate a cycle of poor customer service by maintaining the “sh*t happens” ambivalence.

Hahahaha!
See if you can pick which RA posters who fit into personailty disorders #1, #2 and #3 mentioned here:
http://www.cracked.com/article_17522_6-new-personality-disorders-caused-by-internet_p2.html

Bails said :

This is the entire problem with RiotACT. You idiots pick on random capital letters, or incorrect use of punctuation, rather than address the issue that this person has raised. It’s like it’s your right in life to police the Internet for spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes. It’s pathetic!

Welcome to the internet

The responses here are really bizarre. Actually its a perfectly reasonable expectation that you would get your money back in bad weather. I also booked a jumping castle with the Gecko Gang during the recent period of bad weather. When it was too wet on the day they rang me and we agreed it was too wet for it to go up and I go my money back. Simple as that. No drama.
I am amazed that other jumping castle providers don’t work the same way. After all I suspect they could be liable if something went wrong.

well, it wasn’t provided cos she rang up and cancelled it.

act of god, dodgy weather, nuclear hurricane – the decision to operate or not still seems to be at the hands of the jumping castle crew. On the information provided they don’t seem to have broken the contract.

EvanJames said :

Hitting them with a double-barrelled MOTHER and OFFENDED and you’re on a winner.

oh yes. Also, extra rant bonus points for starting the sentence with “speaking as a mother…”

This is the entire problem with RiotACT. You idiots pick on random capital letters, or incorrect use of punctuation, rather than address the issue that this person has raised. It’s like it’s your right in life to police the Internet for spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes. It’s pathetic!

I think OP raises a perfectly valid issue whereby she paid for something, and not only was it not provided, but the company failed to meet a reasonable level of customer service. It’s pathetic morons like the contributors to this page that perpetuate a cycle of poor customer service by maintaining the “sh*t happens” ambivalence.

Henry82 said :

Gismondo said :

what’s the issue again?

I AM A MOTHER AND I AM RIGHT.

You forgot OFFENDED! Being OFFENDED works a treat when you want something (or want to stop something). Hitting them with a double-barrelled MOTHER and OFFENDED and you’re on a winner.

James-T-Kirk said :

Opps forgot that RA eats angle brackets…

Here is a proforma that others will find helpful for their posts on R.A.
——————–

Im going to keep this short….

I’m. Short for “I am”.

Other than that, good pro-forma.

Now, what about one for a rant? I’d like to promote rants, as opposed to whinges, as rants are bloody good and I agree with most of them. Want more rants.

Alocal said :

Did you read about the child safety issue?

Gasp. OMG. There was CHILD SAFETY involved.

I’m pretty shocked actually that they didn’t pay back everything plus a bit extra for this. I mean, child safety and all.

HenryBG said :

harvyk1 said :

I can not stress this enough, make sure you stick to just the fact, keep emotion out of it, and tell them exactly what they need to do to remedy the situation. Also get someone else to read over the letter before you send it.

This is basically a woman thing: unlike we blokes, women attempt to turn every instance of buying something into a triple-headed retail experience:
1. They go out and spend hours buying something. Usually superfluous rubbish.
2. They go back and spend more hours arguing about how it doesn’t fit/it’s the wrong colour/it was raining and demand a refund
3. They can now go shopping AGAIN and enjoy a third episode – but still on the original funding – of spending hours agonising over whether or not to buy something or other nobody actually needs.

In this case, we have a consumer who has signed a contract to buy a service. She’s decided for some neurotic reason to not use that service, and wants the contract retrospectively altered so that she gets her money back.
Usual “gimme something-for-nothing” nonsense.

Are you really that much of an idiot or are you being facetious?

Tecko12 said :

I have only just seen an example of these entertainment ride company’s not really worried about safety.
I was at a school fete last weekend and a large ride had set up there right near a light pole. We had been watching them set-up all morning and could see the ride would collide with the light pole. We warned the guys setting it up and we got the response”She’l be right mate”. Sure enough they had kids lined up waiting to purchase tickets for the ride, they tested the ride and it hit the light pole. This had glass and broken bits of plastic flying for meters around the ride were kids were playing. But instead of getting a broom and clearing the glass up they left it all there and swore at each other. If someone was to be injured by the glass there who would be to blame? The ride company or the school? Shows carelessness.

I see.
I think this conclusively demonstrates that the OP’s hydrophobic offspring were in serious danger of getting wet or even muddy and that therefore any contract she signed is necessarily null and void.

Also, the rubber castle’s owners plan to electrify her back garden with their unsafe powercords also clearly proves the contract she signed can safely be ignored and disregarded.

Opps forgot that RA eats angle brackets…

Here is a proforma that others will find helpful for their posts on R.A.
——————–

Im going to keep this short and simple as it is quite long… and I’m not going to name them yet!

We had a *name of thing* booked on for our *name of event*.

On *day*, we had *name of bad thing* happen making it impossible to hold this activity.

We called the operator stating that we had to Cancel due to *name of bad thing* . They said they would call me back that night. They never did.

We called again on and got the runaround then got a hold of them. They state in their T&C that if we cancel, we loose our money.

This company never took the time to assess the situation at our place the day before nor communicate to us during the previous week.

After emails back and fwd to their offices, they will only refund a small amount of the *insert amount paid*.

Due to the fact that they never returned phone calls, contacted us directly to sort the matter out after the first time, they have given us a bad experience. It seems that they have rules for the ‘customer’ but won’t follow them themselves.

My major point to them was putting the lives of children at risk. Think of the children –

It seems that this company puts profit ahead of safety.

Thoughts?

—

End of proforma.

harvyk1 said :

I can not stress this enough, make sure you stick to just the fact, keep emotion out of it, and tell them exactly what they need to do to remedy the situation. Also get someone else to read over the letter before you send it.

This is basically a woman thing: unlike we blokes, women attempt to turn every instance of buying something into a triple-headed retail experience:
1. They go out and spend hours buying something. Usually superfluous rubbish.
2. They go back and spend more hours arguing about how it doesn’t fit/it’s the wrong colour/it was raining and demand a refund
3. They can now go shopping AGAIN and enjoy a third episode – but still on the original funding – of spending hours agonising over whether or not to buy something or other nobody actually needs.

In this case, we have a consumer who has signed a contract to buy a service. She’s decided for some neurotic reason to not use that service, and wants the contract retrospectively altered so that she gets her money back.
Usual “gimme something-for-nothing” nonsense.

Here is a proforma that others will find helpful for their posts on R.A.
——————–

Im going to keep this short and simple as it is quite long… and I’m not going to name them yet!

We had a booked on for our .

On , we had making it impossible to hold this activity.

We called the operator stating that we had to Cancel due to . They said they would call me back that night. They never did.

We called again on and got the runaround then got a hold of them. They state in their T&C that if we cancel, we loose our money.

This company never took the time to assess the situation at our place the day before nor communicate to us during the previous week.

After emails back and fwd to their offices, they will only refund a small amount of the .

Due to the fact that they never returned phone calls, contacted us directly to sort the matter out after the first time, they have given us a bad experience. It seems that they have rules for the ‘customer’ but won’t follow them themselves.

My major point to them was putting the lives of children at risk. Think of the children –

It seems that this company puts profit ahead of safety.

Thoughts?

—

End of proforma.

I have only just seen an example of these entertainment ride company’s not really worried about safety.
I was at a school fete last weekend and a large ride had set up there right near a light pole. We had been watching them set-up all morning and could see the ride would collide with the light pole. We warned the guys setting it up and we got the response”She’l be right mate”. Sure enough they had kids lined up waiting to purchase tickets for the ride, they tested the ride and it hit the light pole. This had glass and broken bits of plastic flying for meters around the ride were kids were playing. But instead of getting a broom and clearing the glass up they left it all there and swore at each other. If someone was to be injured by the glass there who would be to blame? The ride company or the school? Shows carelessness.

Alocal said :

The operator did not loose any money for the event, they only lost the booking..

Well potentially they would lose money, what if they had turned down a booking that was undercover? They might also be contractually obligated to pay their staff for short notice cancellations.

Alocal said :

My Appologies; The party was for a 1 year old, however a vast majority of children there was above 4 years of age. The point of the matter, said company failed to adhear to their policies.

They didn’t ring you back, BFD. You did not adhear[sic] to the hire.

Alocal said :

I wonder if those of you who would have kids and this happened to you,would you just sit back and let this happen or would you fight for principal?

Principal who?

Alocal said :

kids Birthdays can’t exactly be moved again.

Random caps strike two. Moved again?

Alocal said :

The operator did not loose any money for the event, they only lost the booking.

Loose?

Alocal said :

Whether we booked or not, they would still come out even but now their name will be tarnished due to poor customer service.

Makes no sense.

Alocal said :

astrojax said :

Alocal said :

… but now their name will be tarnished due to poor customer service.

well, not if you don’t actually name them…

Not yet…

Oh, so this is an extortion racket.

Read over the fine print carefully, chances are it will state they are the ones who need to make the call on cancelling, not you.

That said, I’d send a polite but firm letter explaining the situation, explaining that had it not been raining you would not have cancelled and that you would like a refund in full as a result of the bad weather, don’t go into how they should have called you, as whilst it’s poor customer service for them not to call, it is immaterial in this situation. Give them a time frame in which to respond (say 2 weeks), and explain that if you are unhappy with their response you will escalate the matter to the office of fair trading.

I can not stress this enough, make sure you stick to just the fact, keep emotion out of it, and tell them exactly what they need to do to remedy the situation. Also get someone else to read over the letter before you send it.

astrojax said :

Alocal said :

… but now their name will be tarnished due to poor customer service.

well, not if you don’t actually name them…

Not yet…

Alocal said :

… but now their name will be tarnished due to poor customer service.

well, not if you don’t actually name them…

Gismondo said :

So you rung up & cancelled, noting in their T&C that you were NOT entitled to a refund.

As a result the company did NOT come around to your property and set up a jumping castle in dangerous conditions. They then part refunded some money you weren’t entitled to.

what’s the issue again?

Did you read about the child safety issue? No communication from the operator? Failing on their bid to come and assess the situation? None of this was done by them.

Sir_Orangepeel said :

“We called the operator stating that we had to Cancel …”

I know this is besides the point, but why capitalise the c in cancel??

Late night posting – tired eyes 🙂

My Appologies;

The party was for a 1 year old, however a vast majority of children there was above 4 years of age. The point of the matter, said company failed to adhear to their policies.

I wonder if those of you who would have kids and this happened to you,would you just sit back and let this happen or would you fight for principal? kids Birthdays can’t exactly be moved again. The operator did not loose any money for the event, they only lost the booking. Whether we booked or not, they would still come out even but now their name will be tarnished due to poor customer service.

“We called the operator stating that we had to Cancel …”

I know this is besides the point, but why capitalise the c in cancel??

Gismondo said :

what’s the issue again?

I AM A MOTHER AND I AM RIGHT.

Mothy said :

Holden Caulfield said :

By the way, how much enjoyment would a 1yo get from a jumping castle anyway? Wouldn’t it be more suited to 2-3yo and above?

As a parent with a 13 month old, provided there were some bigger kids jumping all over the castle making it a nice bumpy ride for her, she’d love it.

Thanks. (Mine was an genuine question, apologies if it came across as not being so.)

So you rung up & cancelled, noting in their T&C that you were NOT entitled to a refund.

As a result the company did NOT come around to your property and set up a jumping castle in dangerous conditions. They then part refunded some money you weren’t entitled to.

what’s the issue again?

Holden Caulfield said :

By the way, how much enjoyment would a 1yo get from a jumping castle anyway? Wouldn’t it be more suited to 2-3yo and above?

As a parent with a 13 month old, provided there were some bigger kids jumping all over the castle making it a nice bumpy ride for her, she’d love it.

Seems like they are about as good at running a jumping castle business as Alocal is at using correct grammar….but that aside, sounds like you should have paid a deposit rather than the full $285 in case of situations just like this. Write this one off as being a $285 lesson (minus the small refund) in common sense.

maybe their idea of severe weather is worse than yours. Maybe they didn’t think it was severe enough to cancel…

Take it up with your credit card provider. This will give you leverage to negotiate a better outcome.

Holden Caulfield said :

S*** happens.

By the way, how much enjoyment would a 1yo get from a jumping castle anyway? Wouldn’t it be more suited to 2-3yo and above?

As much as a 2 – 3 yo.

Holden Caulfield said :

S*** happens.

By the way, how much enjoyment would a 1yo get from a jumping castle anyway? Wouldn’t it be more suited to 2-3yo and above?

Good help there HC, I couldn’t imagine that there would be other kids at the party of different ages, a 1 year old’s party must only have people younger then one, not the 2 through 5’s and even older that may turn up.

$285 is a fair bit of money to pay for something you did not get, take them to small claims court, see if they change their tune then.

S*** happens.

By the way, how much enjoyment would a 1yo get from a jumping castle anyway? Wouldn’t it be more suited to 2-3yo and above?