I haven't posted here for a long time, and have never posted a public complaint about anything. But my experience yesterday at Strawberry Bay left me so upset and angry about how I was treated that I feel compelled to do so here.
We bought packages through KSL for a night's stay in the lodge with a full day snowmobile rental, so we took our kids up Friday night to stay overnight and spend a day on the lake Saturday. The staff was very accommodating for our late check-in and the rooms were clean and nice.
Saturday morning we went through the rental process. A young man walked me around the snowmobiles we were renting, noting a few minor scratches but otherwise stating that the machines were clean and in good shape. I am not a snowmobile expert and certainly did not do a thorough mechanical inspection or ride the machine prior to taking possession of it.
We drove our rentals onto the lake and spent the day fishing with friends. I did notice when driving the machine that the steering seemed loose, but I am not a snowmobile expert and assumed it was just wear and tear on a normal rental. My machine stayed parked on the ice the entire day, and was driven nowhere except out from the lodge and back. It was NEVER driven off of the ice or anywhere remotely near any trees. Several of my friends, one of whom has hired the guiding services of the lodge for his father's elk hunt in years past, were with me and will attest to that fact.
We returned to the lodge that afternoon, parked the snowmobiles, and proceeded to have problems jumping a dead battery on my truck. While dealing with the battery, we received a phone call from John at the lodge, stating that my machine had been in an accident with a tree, that the steering column was bent, and there were chunks of wood on the machine from the "accident."
I of course told him this did not happen during my rental, and he proceeded to go from 0 to 60 in no time at all, becoming belligerent, argumentative, and threatening to call the sheriff, which he stated was "protocol," but which was obviously an attempt to bully me into submission to agree to pay for the "damage" to the snowmobile.
When I got my truck started, I drove to the lodge to continue the discussion and look at the machine. John was rude, condescending, and threw every threat he could think of in my direction, calling me "son" and threatening legal action that would cost me "thousands of dollars." There was no damage that I could see, and the "wood chips" were tiny specks of sagebrush the size of a pencil eraser. It also became very clear to me that John wouldn't even consider the fact that the machine may have been damaged on a prior rental that they failed to notice on check-in.
At the end of the day, I did sign a contract stating that I would be liable for whatever damage to the machine that they deemed appropriate. But I have never been treated so poorly as a customer. Bullied, publicly humiliated and ganged-up on by 5-7 people at the lodge who refused to even listen to what I had to say, and who have already charged my credit card for the "damages."
I work in at a billion dollar multinational corporation with an army of lawyers on staff, and would be more than happy to engage John in a court of law. I'm not done with this yet and will have my justice.
BEWARE OF THESE SCAM ARTISTS.
We bought packages through KSL for a night's stay in the lodge with a full day snowmobile rental, so we took our kids up Friday night to stay overnight and spend a day on the lake Saturday. The staff was very accommodating for our late check-in and the rooms were clean and nice.
Saturday morning we went through the rental process. A young man walked me around the snowmobiles we were renting, noting a few minor scratches but otherwise stating that the machines were clean and in good shape. I am not a snowmobile expert and certainly did not do a thorough mechanical inspection or ride the machine prior to taking possession of it.
We drove our rentals onto the lake and spent the day fishing with friends. I did notice when driving the machine that the steering seemed loose, but I am not a snowmobile expert and assumed it was just wear and tear on a normal rental. My machine stayed parked on the ice the entire day, and was driven nowhere except out from the lodge and back. It was NEVER driven off of the ice or anywhere remotely near any trees. Several of my friends, one of whom has hired the guiding services of the lodge for his father's elk hunt in years past, were with me and will attest to that fact.
We returned to the lodge that afternoon, parked the snowmobiles, and proceeded to have problems jumping a dead battery on my truck. While dealing with the battery, we received a phone call from John at the lodge, stating that my machine had been in an accident with a tree, that the steering column was bent, and there were chunks of wood on the machine from the "accident."
I of course told him this did not happen during my rental, and he proceeded to go from 0 to 60 in no time at all, becoming belligerent, argumentative, and threatening to call the sheriff, which he stated was "protocol," but which was obviously an attempt to bully me into submission to agree to pay for the "damage" to the snowmobile.
When I got my truck started, I drove to the lodge to continue the discussion and look at the machine. John was rude, condescending, and threw every threat he could think of in my direction, calling me "son" and threatening legal action that would cost me "thousands of dollars." There was no damage that I could see, and the "wood chips" were tiny specks of sagebrush the size of a pencil eraser. It also became very clear to me that John wouldn't even consider the fact that the machine may have been damaged on a prior rental that they failed to notice on check-in.
At the end of the day, I did sign a contract stating that I would be liable for whatever damage to the machine that they deemed appropriate. But I have never been treated so poorly as a customer. Bullied, publicly humiliated and ganged-up on by 5-7 people at the lodge who refused to even listen to what I had to say, and who have already charged my credit card for the "damages."
I work in at a billion dollar multinational corporation with an army of lawyers on staff, and would be more than happy to engage John in a court of law. I'm not done with this yet and will have my justice.
BEWARE OF THESE SCAM ARTISTS.
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