Clients letting people down

sikamalc

Administrator
Site Staff
Over this past season I have had a huge number of clients out stalking, many have gone away with deer, some more than others and many have re booked. However I have had a couple let me down, which considering the amount of people I deal with is an insignificant number.

This past few days I had someone off this site booked in with a friend. My ground is about 90 minutes drive away and I have a bothy I sleep in on the estate. As I am now doing this full time professionally, time is money, and having arranged for another friend off this site to help guide, who has an elderly mother who is almost bed ridden so he had to rearrange his whole weekend for the booking. Plus it was -4 so sleeping in the bothy was not something I was relishing, but with the fires on it not to bad.

I then get a phone call 24hrs before the expected arrival from the client telling me that because it appears the weather is going to turn for the worse, his friend who is an older man is not prepared to travel and they were not coming.

I also had another client this winter phone me 10 miles from Dorchester where I had arranged to meet him to stalk and also tell me he had a slight cold and because it looked like rain tomorrow he was not coming on the booked stalk :rolleyes:. This was after both Robin and myself had driven 4 hours towing a quad bike to be there.


Whilst I have no issue with people having family problems or being genuinely ill, what I do have a problem with is clients not having the decency to tell me well in advance that they are not coming and my wasting time and money as a self employed person with overheads to pay.


So if you have booked to stalk with folk off this site or for that matter anywhere, please do not make feeble excuses. Some on here are trying to make a living, and therefore cannot afford to loose money.

Thank you
 
Do you not take a deposit for bookings ?
I realise many don`t but as this is your main income, I think I would consider even a small deposit which would help with wasted fuel etc. Something that would be non refundable in the 48hrs before the stalk say? Certainly something I wouldn`t mind paying.

ATB
 
Only had one this year in the diary that never got back to me to finalise the date they had booked. I don't mind if things change for them as I have nothing like the organising you do, but it's nice to get a response to a PM asking if they are still coming.

Do you take deposits Malc? If so and they cancel for a genuine reason, do you allow them to rearrange the date or do they loose that deposit?

(Just saw the above post! Must have sent these at the same time!)
 
Fair play, and i think that any cancelled booking within 24hrs should pay, or at least contribute (at your discretion), to any costs already incurred on their behalf. I hate people who are constantly late or let you down, in all aspects of life. Genuine reason fair enough, but feeble excuses time after time are down right annoying.
 
Your not on your own a friend of mine north of the border offered a park stag 16pts and a days hind stalking for a novice at a knock down price not only did the guy cancel 12hrs before the stalk he had nothing wrong with him .he let both me and the owner down plus the estate stalker.
Same estate another tosser told me he was competant had 6 shots missed every time including a park hind at 50 yds and he had not even the deancey to apoligise.
afraid now I do not recomend anyone anywhere as feel it makes me look bad when things go wrong.
 
This is one of the joys of being self employed! Dealing with the public can be a pain in the ass but on the plus side there are a lot of very genuine people out there! Enjoy!
 
Hi guys, yes a small deposit was recieved in the first instance. I must admit I was very angry with the guy and put the phone down on him. The trouble is the arrangements that had been made for the weekend were far reaching with other people who were kindly giving up their weekend to help me, when they had personal issues to arrange.

Never mind onwards and upwards.

Booked everyweekend until the end of this month and have a block booking from Finland for October and Novemvber as they were so impressed with this year they have gone home and re booked all their mates. So happy days!!
 
A Cold??? jeez some need to get a life. Surely people realise that if your travelling this time of year we can and do sometimes get snow, Fog and ice and allow for it.

But obviously not it seems the more I read forums the more I realise just how self important and selfish some of those involved in Stalking are. Quite sad.

Sikamalc hopefully you will suffer with more like this for a long time...... I wish you all the best with your venture.
 
Terms and Conditions??

It's simply bad form, selfish and sadly frequently typical.

The folk who think that their convenience and personal foibles are the sole consideration are increasing in number in every area.

It happens everywhere and especially if they risk little financial penalty for late cancellations.

Maybe 'Terms and Conditions' agreed prior to agreeing to a long journey might help? I know others offering a professional stalking service on this forum do that. Might be worth having a look at theirs as a template for you to modify.

PM me if you want some help?

Fraser
 
Large deposites the only way Then go stalking your self as a guide you will get little enough chance to fuel your own passion.
Good deposite plus beast will ease the pain some what.
 
A common issue that member call us up about asking for BASC to sort out relate to paid for shooting / stalking.

The first question I always ask our members is this – ‘What did the contract between you and the supplier read’

So many times the reply is ‘We did not have a written agreement!’

I know that some people shy away from written agreements, but they are there to protect both parties.

It should clearly state what is expected of each party; in pheasant shooting it would state the expected bag, in relation to the maximum number of sots per bird, plus an overage for example.

In stalking it could include charges per outing, charges for a miss, charges for a wound requiring follow up, charges for trophy fees and so on for example.

I don’t think it is unreasonable for a supplier to ask for a non refundable deposit, and recommend to the purchaser that they should look into shoot cancellation insurance.

An analogy (maybe not a good one!) is like a Plummer having a call out fee.

As the OP rightly says, its his living – just because someone cancels because the weather looks a bit iffy, the supplier has still spent time /money up to the point the customer arrives, and the customer should be under no illusion that they have to corer these costs.

David
 
At least they contacted you, i had a client this year did a no-show without even ringing me.
I always take a small deposit but at £25 it is nowhere near the cost of a no-show, especially on a weekend which are always popular.
Cheers
Richard
 
I think if it was me and my livelihood I would have a clause saying that cancellations must be made with three days notice, after that time they are eligible to pay the full price for the booking, at your discretion depending on circumstances. Hotels and the such like do it, why cant you? Just get it all in writing. May make some people rethink a slight sniffle!
 
I would expect to pay, and have paid, a deposit up front for stalking.

To me it shows commitment from both sides to seeing the deal go through. Ok, there may be additional costs (trophy fees, venison, etc) that can't be calculated up front, but those can be reconciled after the event.

+1 also on the written terms and conditions. How many threads have we read on this site where disputes could have been avoided if only clear T's and C's were in place?

willie_gunn
 
Though I have not had any in recent times, I have had them in the past, like devon deer stalker no contact to say they are not coming, don't answer or return your calls.

Afraid the deposit will not cover it,when you have made arrangements for their accommodation be it Hotels or B&B
and you feel that you need to make some sort of recompense to these Establishments because you need to use them again.

You have had to travel considerable distance to the stalking area, and engaged help for the period
You can't tell them they are not getting paid because the clients did not turn up,well you can but don't expect
to get trampled in the rush next time you ask.

While being self employed has its good points, its not always a bed of roses.
 
Why not ask for the entire outing fee as the deposit? As a consumer it wouldn't bother me in any way. Our dentist says they will charge for appointments not cancelled with at least 48 hours notice, one time I had genuine car trouble and they let me rearrange. You could use your discretion in genuine circumstances.

I was very surprised the first time I booked with YDS and he didn't want any money up front. If I had to cancel at the last minute I would always offer to pay the outing fee. I wouldn't hold it against the stalker if they took it either!
 
Malc,

After suffering as you have, I was forced to change my good-natured approach and request a booking fee with all stalks.

I now ask for full payment of booked day rates & accommodation. Strangely, the ONLY issues I ever have, revolve around those who have not paid in advance!

I feel a bit bad requesting advance payment from guys (friends) who have asked for a return booking, however, this job has shown me that it IS possible to buy experience! :(

Rgds

Ian
 
Thanks guys,

Having been in this game semi professional for some 30 years, during which time most of my clients have been American, Danish, Finnish, Spanish etc I have always had a booking form and terms to be signed before anyone set foot in the UK. However over the past two years I have taken more english clients, mostly off this site and have made some very close friends.

I would not take the whole stalk fee up front (although that may change) for the time being. As some may know having just been made redundant after 38 years and loosing my home as it went with the job it has been a hard year. However thanks to a wonderful partner who I think the world of and many very good friends off this site we are turning a corner and are about to buy our own home and build on a business I love and have been in for a long time. I suppose I am saying that these two instances have caught me unawares and at the wrong time, but thank you everyone for the advice and support.

Sikamalc
 
malc start taking the money up front(for the basic stalk fee/s) mate if they are geniue they will understand it, the ones that moan with paying up front are the ones to avoid cus there timewasters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I think you have to change with the times. There was a time when in most matters your word and a handshake would be enough to seal the deal, no longer. Pheasant shoots have already been mentioned and I realise that there are differences but at one time we used to make the bookings at the start of the season and trust the client to roll up, no deposit and we had few problems. However, we noticed a change in attitudes and during later seasons we were let down at the last moment on more than one occasion.
We were reluctant to do it but next season we requested a 75% deposit, non refundable and they paid the balance on the day. The problem went away and on a couple of occasions when the client couldn't turn up he sent someone in their place. We had no further trouble and no complaints. It's a buisness, precious little room for sentiment, unless exceptional circumstances.
 
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