 Poster: A snowHead
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So give us the expert, correct story then.....
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Was merely having an opinion about people who slate firms, reps etc, when things out of their control , usually mother nature in the case of winter sports , get all arsey and shirty because in their eyes , THEY weren't treated first, or dealt with fast .
If a rep or higher up doesn't have the info or wasn't informed , SOMETIMES it is actually true, not them lying or covering up .
WE ALL pray for snow , then when to much comes we moan .
ENGLISH PEOPLE ARE THE WORST PEOPLE I have come across for bitching about nothing
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@winterfunman, ah. So people who pay a supposed winter holiday professional with many years experience to organise their ski holiday should accept without question being held up for 20 hrs plus in very very basic shelter because there was snow in winter in winter/ski holiday locations? Interesting. I have been conservative here - Crystal only announced on the Tuesday that all guests were now where they should be 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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And I'm Welsh.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Crystal were pretty rubbish on our transfer bus from gva to les arcs yesterday. No rep on the bus and then no rep to meet us in resort so the bus driver refused to open the door. In the end we "stormed" the door. Got our bags and went to hotel.
Part of the rep job is the selling of stuff. We are not bothered but 22 people not being "sold" to. Cant see them hitting target this week.
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So the argument is that he welsh are actually worse than the English at moaning about nothing?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| winterfunman wrote: |
| SOMETIMES it is actually true, not them lying or covering up . |
Just back from a Crystal holiday. Great time, lovely reps. Except when, on the way back, one informs us that, "Unfortunately, the coach toilet is not in use today because it is frozen." Nowhere near freezing temps in village and we all know that Crystal won't pay the coach company to empty/clean it. So just stop lying. OK, the reps are told to say it but making people think they're being taken for fools really doesn't create a good impression.
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@Levi215, don't know where the "only piste down was closed due to" avalanche" has come from I skied down past the Folie Deuce every day that week. As far as I'm aware there's no walking path and all the pistes were very hard and slippy. I don;t know why the pisteurs would have let anyone walk down, people were skiing down until about 5pm. Do we also know if he was in a TO party or was independent. IMHO if there is any blame (beyond the individuals) it should be with the management of the Folie Deuce or the lift operator for not sweeping the area properly.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@stevew, talking of a different resort and using it as an example of lifts staying open way past their 'last lift' time to ensure everyone got back ok.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| maggi wrote: |
| winterfunman wrote: |
| SOMETIMES it is actually true, not them lying or covering up . |
Just back from a Crystal holiday. Great time, lovely reps. Except when, on the way back, one informs us that, "Unfortunately, the coach toilet is not in use today because it is frozen." Nowhere near freezing temps in village and we all know that Crystal won't pay the coach company to empty/clean it. So just stop lying. OK, the reps are told to say it but making people think they're being taken for fools really doesn't create a good impression. |
We all know this is a fact, do we? Ok then.
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@Levi215, OK missed that bit.
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You know it makes sense.
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@Dav, yes. (It's not just Crystal.)
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| maggi wrote: |
| @Dav, yes. (It's not just Crystal.) |
Well being as I worked for them (and others), let's just say that my experience is not of that in the slightest.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Dav, please tell us, then, your experiences of why they are never in service.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| maggi wrote: |
| @Dav, please tell us, then, your experiences of why they are never in service. |
The reason is the coach drivers who just flat out refuse to open them.
As a Crystal rep I reckon about 3 or 4 trips through the season, the toilets were open. Very low. At the end of every coach journey you do, the rep has to fill out a coach transfer report form and submit it to the transport office. You have to make a record of whether the toilet was open or not; in training its was stated that arrangements were in place for toilets to be open on coaches.
In my last season, working for a smaller chalet company, they told us at the start of the season that it was in the contract for the toilets to always be available. I literally cannot remember one week in that season where the toilet was available (if they had one in the first place). This was fed back to the transport office every week, we used about 3 different suppliers and always the same.
It's not that they don't want to pay for it. It's that the coach drivers just won't do it, and even when it's in the paperwork of the contract, you're powerless to enforce it.
Of course, that's just my limited experience.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Hah, 19 pages of Crystal bashing and I'm going away with them in two weeks.
Is my holiday going to be ruined? No.
If something bad happens will I be OK? Yes (probably)
Will I have a bottle of water and a bag of crisps in my bag? Yes. And a towel. And quite possibly some duty free.
Will I book with Crystal again after skipping the middle 17 pages of this thread? Yes.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Dav, thanks for that. It's not fundamentally different to what I've been told. Reminds me of the old joke.
Rich man: Hello, gorgeous, would you sleep with me for a million pounds?
Woman: Well, handsome, I just might do ....
Rich man: OK, would you sleep with me for a pound?
Woman: You're joking! What do you think I am?
Rich man: We've established that. Now, we're just haggling about the price!
The point I'm making is, innocent punters are being systematically and blatantly lied to, with all the talk of, "Unfortunately, on this occasion, the toilet is out of action because it's .... frozen/broken/whatever". And no, I understand that the reps are in an impossible position when confronted with, especially, families with young children stuck on a coach for much longer than they expected. They should not be put in that position. But it does not make it any less of a downright lie.
homers double, I've just come back from a Crystal holiday. It was great and I'm sure it will be for you too. Just make sure you ask the rep exactly why the coach loo is out of order! 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@homers double, we just booked too, 3 weeks time to Italy yippee! Having experienced this weekend myself as I posted above, we have no hesitation going with crystal. The problems were with all the TO's (we were with ski total) I just feel it was v slightly less severe away from the shambles that is chambery! Will do what we always do and take snacks & airport supplies in case. Coach toilets are from anyway so I never use them but think it's a shame reps have to essentially lie for the coach companies.
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Just about to cut up the rest of the Xmas cake for emergency snacks, then on our way ! 
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| FiFi_Trixibell wrote: |
| @homers double, we just booked too, 3 weeks time to Italy yippee! Having experienced this weekend myself as I posted above, we have no hesitation going with crystal. The problems were with all the TO's (we were with ski total) I just feel it was v slightly less severe away from the shambles that is chambery! Will do what we always do and take snacks & airport supplies in case. Coach toilets are from anyway so I never use them but think it's a shame reps have to essentially lie for the coach companies. |
Yep, this is the nub of it, the rep constantly gets caught between a rock and a hard place. I've been there before myself; toilet door locked and the driver outright refuses to open it. "Broken, frozen etc" are all excuses that get trotted out from the driver themself. But more often than not it's just a gallic shrug and a "non". I've even called up the central contract/transport office before and had them tell the driver over the phone of the conditions of the contract, all to no avail. The drivers for all tour ops have got away with this for years and will continue to do so, getting large amounts of coaches into difficult Alpine locations gives them a captive audience and they know this.
My mate still has terrible recollections of a journey we took many years ago (with Neilson as it happens) from Les Arcs to Lyon, where the coach toilet was "broken" and the driver flat out refused to even pull over into a service station for a toilet break! But then he always has had a weak bladder, so I have little sympathy in the matter...I seem to remember I found it all quite funny at the time.
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Not that it alters any of the discussion, but to put the record straight, the tragic incident in La Daille, had nothing to do with the Folie Douce or the bubble as the victim was seen leaving the petite Danois in the centre of town at about 1.30am.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Dav wrote: |
I've even called up the central contract/transport office before and had them tell the driver over the phone of the conditions of the contract, all to no avail. The drivers for all tour ops have got away with this for years and will continue to do so, getting large amounts of coaches into difficult Alpine locations gives them a captive audience and they know this.
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I'd best keep the lid of my water bottle then...
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I have done many transfer buses and not once has the loo been in operation. Hysterical that the transfer drivers have the power over a huge organisation  there's a lot of its everyone/everything else's fault on this thread, poor little TO.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Private transfer means loo breaks not required. Paupers the lot of you. 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Been away with Crystal twice. Bogs stated by rep as being out of service for all four journeys.
I've no comparables with other TOs.
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| ansta1 wrote: |
| Private transfer means loo breaks not required. |
Do they provide catheters?
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You know it makes sense.
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No, buckets on the floor
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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look guys i have run out of popcorn twice now and this debate (sorry debarcle) is still going on has no one form Crystal shown up yet 
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Poster: A snowHead
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@CEM, more chance of finding a rep in their own bed before 10pm or the transfer bus loo "not frozen" 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@chocksaway, I thought I'd read that too, certainly in the report that I came across.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Shimmy Alcott, i am not sure why you have such a large axe to grind against TO's? You said you stopped using them six years ago, surely no-one can hold a grudge that long. It wouldn't be healthy or good for the soul to carry that around for six years. Perhaps your childs ski holiday getting re-arranged has added to your general ill-feeling? I don't know.
We got caught out in the recent gale force winds, I am a roofing contractor, with over 80 calls from different homes reporting storm damage and only three squads we really couldn't cope. A week later and we are still getting round them. Nearly all of our customers were understanding and patient, but a small minority were shouting down the phone demanding immediate attention*.
IIRC you run a dental practice. I imagine it would be similar for you to have 30 calls at the same time with acute toothache, or perhaps snow stopped the dentists getting into work and left patients waiting outside on the pavement for hours with no updates, snacks or water? No doubt some of them would leave criticism on any facebook page you had.
No business deliberately sets out to give poor customer service, but anyone can fall short depending on circumstance.
*It always seems to be 30-40yo's that shout the loudest and demand the most, although they usually pipe down when we tell them it is company policy to prioritise the elderly and the schools.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Hi guys, I have been pestering Crystal for a response on my Xmas trip and after 21 days they have told me they are writing to me today!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| dode wrote: |
*It always seems to be 30-40yo's that shout the loudest and demand the most, although they usually pipe down when we tell them it is company policy to prioritise the elderly and the schools. |
I'm 37 and tend not to shout. At my age I can appreciate the problems an 18 year old is faced with when a coach can't get up the hill however the vast majority don't and have little or no patience having been up since 3am to catch a stupid o'clock flight.
TO's should forget stocking up with water and store a few bottles of red, that'd ease the tension.
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Some TO's in the summer season used to have an option, when booking, of saving money by not taking the transfer option.
Maybe some of the whingers should ask about that next time they book.
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@dode, Crystal did not care to help me resolve my rather considerable problem with the holiday after their sales operative gave us incorrect information on the location of the creche. Im not going into all the detail again but it was the final straw that made me realise that TO didnt really give a shoite about their customers, it was all about the bottom line. IMO I was not getting good customer service from TO so I decided to take the trip organisation into my own hands. Im happy with that decision, have saved a fortune, get everything the exact way I want it, get ski passes renewed online or delivered to home, book ski kit with the shop of my choice (not the one that the TO has a deal with that can end up being a right hike away from the hotel - so it makes my life easier especially when the kids were younger and you had to deal with them, your own kit and theirs), mostly private transfers so we dont have to worry about the "frozen toilets" etc etc etc.
Every business will have problems, it is how you as the business deal with the problems that differentiates the good companies from the bad.
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| homers double wrote: |
| TO's should forget stocking up with water and store a few bottles of red, that'd ease the tension. |
If it's cold enough to freeze the bus toilet would the red not be difficult to maintain at an appropriate temperature?! 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
@Shimmy Alcott, i am not sure why you have such a large axe to grind against TO's? You said you stopped using them six years ago, surely no-one can hold a grudge that long. It wouldn't be healthy or good for the soul to carry that around for six years.
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Obviously been around DG too long
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FAQ
utter mortification. BA have already apologised.
