Golf Course Issue

Lcoolhand on 28/02/2015 - 15:35
Last edited 28/02/2015 - 17:38

The story goes like this. Yesterday I booked a tee time at a local public course for today, party of 3 golfers. During the phone call it was requested that I pre pay the entire 3 green fees as it was a weekend, which is a little unusual for a public course but some can get very busy so I obliged and provided cc info.

Now this morning one of my the party was feeling very unwell, I called the course at 8:30am and let them know my booking for 3 would actually be for two as someone is sick, they thanked me for letting them know and noted the change, said see you later today. I didn't ask about a refund for one player at this point, figured we would do that once I get to the course.

I arrive and let the staff know the situation I'd pre paid for three only have two and made a call that morning. The staff member behind the counter tells me "I can't help you with that" and goes on to explain that there is a 24 hour cancellation policy, otherwise the amount is forfiet. Now if I had totally cancelled the booking I can maybe understand this, but I've made an alteration and if I had've initially booked for two or even one and added players on the day it would have been no problem and they still would have alloted the same time for me.

The kickers are that this policy was not mentioned At ALL at time of payment, and the course was virtually empty. I had a discussion with the guy at the front counter for 5 minutes but he was adamant his hands were tied and wouldn't budge. I hate aggressive customers so I told him no animosity toward him personally but the policy is pretty ridiculous and I wasn't even told about it.

tldr; pre paid for 9 holes, party of 3, one was sick on the day, no refund policy which they didn't tell me about when they took payment,course was virtually empty.

Am I being ridiculous or did I get screwed by the course? Do I have any avenue to deal with this

General Discussion

Comments

  • Lunchtime on 28/02/2015 - 16:17
    +2

    Your being unfair. Its not the golf courses fault that your friend got sick after booking on short notice. They could have sold that spot to someone else

    Next time, find a 2 for one coupon before calling the golf course

    • coolhand on 28/02/2015 - 17:19

      hmm do you think so? There were only three other groups on the whole course though, no one close ahead or behind, I definitely didn't prevent them from selling a spot. Also they generally allocate the same amount of tee time to a group of 3 as to a group of 2

      • martinj on 28/02/2015 - 17:46
        +4

        It would have been packed, but everyone cancelled at the last minute.

  • martinj on 28/02/2015 - 17:44
    +2

    The whole point of having people prepay is to discourage them from cancelling. If they give a refund, it defeats the whole purpose of having you prepay.

    It does suck for people like your friend who have a genuine reason for cancelling. Unfortunately there are too many arseholes out there who book things and then cancel without a good reason, leaving businesses out of pocket and causing other people to miss out.

    • coolhand on 28/02/2015 - 19:20

      True. I honestly thought that it was unfair but from the feedback on here it seems I shouldn't worry about it.
      I guess I have been baised by the fact the course was also horrible, and only after the game did I check for reviews of the course which had 1.5 stars out of five with numerous bad experiences on iseekgolf.
      I doubt they ever get really busy even on a weekend, not enough that they would ever be at capacity, and not enough to warrant needing to charge the full amount straight away, maybe a deposit would be more suitable.

  • [Deactivated] on 28/02/2015 - 18:02

    Don't be mad at the course, be mad at your friend. Or maybe be more mad at yourself, because from what i gather you've booked and prepaid, but your friend doesn't know about it, and therefore you can't ask him for the money back.

    Next time don't pay for your friends, cause true friends never pay you back ever.

    • coolhand on 28/02/2015 - 19:13
      +4

      Nah my friend was aware it was pre paid, and I guess he's not a true friend because he will pay me back haha

  • Cheeper on 28/02/2015 - 20:18
    +1

    It was mean of them, nothing else.
    As a token gesture they could have refunded half the fee… but no.. zilch.

  • WT on 01/03/2015 - 10:55

    Could you and your buddy then played an extra 4.5 holes if refund was not an option?

  • AJW on 01/03/2015 - 11:24
    +1

    Grab someone in the car park, ask them to join your party and give you the money? Tell the guy at the front your friend has made a recovery and can play again. They can't not allow your new friend not to play if you have pre-paid?

    better still, let your new found car park friend play for free and should u a drink at the 19th (or 10th if it was 9 holes lol)

  • vikvance on 01/03/2015 - 15:40
    +1

    The kickers are that this policy was not mentioned At ALL at time of payment, and the course was virtually empty

    My own feeling is that they acted unfairly if they did not tell you that the fees would be non-refundable.

    Consumer affairs Victoria gives a good summary of the steps to resolving consumer disputes.

    http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/contact-us/resolve-a-dispute

    Additional info can also be found on page 9 of this Industry Guide to Australian consumer law for travel & accomodation business:

    Consumer cancellations

    You can avoid many potential problems by including
    a cancellation policy in a written booking agreement.
    Your cancellation policy should spell out what happens
    if a booking is cancelled by you or your customer
    because, due to events beyond all parties’ control,
    it is impossible to fulfil the original agreement. Such
    instances are known as a ‘frustrated contract’.

    A contract is not frustrated if the situation means that it
    is only inconvenient, difficult or expensive to carry out.

    For online bookings, you should make terms and
    conditions easily available and identifiable on your
    website to avoid possible disputes. Failure to disclose
    these conditions could be considered unfair, due to a
    lack of transparency.

    http://www.consumerlaw.gov.au/content/acl_resources/download…

    • [Deactivated] on 01/03/2015 - 23:48

      Yes if they didn't advise him of conditions over the phone then they have no right to charge him.

      Ring them, tell them about the consumer affairs advice, ask them for a refund. If they still won't be reasonable get the bank to do a CC reversal.

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