Experience companies (like "Red Letter Days"- a HUGE RANT!)

nrg710

I was given a balloon ride as a birthday present nearly a year ago. The voucher was bought from Red Letter Days and cost £149 (for the "Sunrise Balloon Flight"). For one.

Book a balloon ride direct through a hot air ballooning company, and this product will cost you, at most, £125. You can get them for as little as £99. So, Red Letter Days (RLD) are ripping people off by a minimum of £24.

That's only half the story. The voucher's due to expire soon; the weather is probably going to be rubbish until it does (in which case I will be forfeiting the entire cost of the voucher), and I'm not prepared to get up at 3am (and take a day off work) to travel to my nearest launch site on the off chance that the weather "might" be flyable! So I rang RLD, who (to give them their credit) were reasonably helpful in letting me swap the voucher for a contemporary cookery course for 2. Total cost of this voucher: £145. I told them to give the £4 that was left "in the bank" to charity.

Looking at the subcontractor's website, I find that I can book directly with them for a 2 hour course for £72 per person, or a 90 minute course for £54. Remember: my voucher would cost £145 through RLD and is for 2 people. Which course (the £72 one or the £54 one) do you think it's valid for?

You guessed it, the £54 one. So: book directly with the company (L'ateliers des Chefs) and it'll cost you £108; or book through RLD and pay £145. Alternatively, get a 2 hour course for 2 people for £144!

I can see no reason whatsoever for using "experience day" companies. If you want to give someone a present like a balloon ride, a monster truck driving day, an army skills weekend etc etc... talk to them first, find out if they really would like to do that and then book it directly through a provider! Nearly all flying schools/race tracks/luxury country house hotels will run a voucher scheme of their own.

In short: experience day companies are a complete rip off. Avoid them!

JailhouseBabe

nrg710 - sage advice. Unfortunately there are many people who either don't know any better or can't be bothered to look for alternatives, even when they know they might save money. We can educate the first group, however the latter will always be willing to pay extra for the 'convenience' (to themselves rather than the recipient!).

nrg710

A quick bump for this one, just in time for Christmas.

I know this to be very true for flying lessons, because I'm a pilot (and ex-flying instructor).

If you're giving someone a flying lesson for Christmas, go directly to the local flying school- they will be very glad of your business, and give you a very good price when compared to the "experience day" company's price!

Example: 1 hour lesson, booked directly through St George Flight Training (Durham Tees Valley and Newcastle airports) costs £140 in a 2 seater, or £155 in a 4 seater. Pay via Red Letter Days and it'll cost £199, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's in a 2 seater.

For what it's worth, go for the 4-seater option. This means you'll either be in a Cessna 172 or a Piper PA28- both very good training aircraft, and slightly faster than the Cessna 152 (the 2 seater option). Slightly faster = in your flying lesson, you go further and can do more.

crazy_girl

i think that is very good advice, go direct to get the best deals

judymacaroo

I was trying to book a hotel I've stayed in before, using my Red Letter Voucher - "Charming Escape for 2" it cost my friend to buy me for my 50th birthday, £149, dinner and hotel for 2 people etc. I rang the hotel direct and they said plenty of room, be great to see us in 9 days etc, but if I was using a voucher I would have to book thro Red letters, I did this, following the instructions on-line only to get an email back pretty sharpish, saying the hotel was unavailable/fully booked, I checked with the hotel, no they're not full, and indeed are still advertising on Late rooms etc in the hope of tempting people to stay! Have swiftly sent two emails to different depts at Red Letter's, but no reply as yet, really don't know what they're gaining doing this?? Plus, if I booked dinner, standard room with breakfast for 2 people directly it comes in cheaper than the voucher.....

PootleFlump_3

...and we wonder why Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis are minted!

Richard_Atkins

nrg710 wrote: »

So, Red Letter Days (RLD) are ripping people off by a minimum of £24.

Firstly I should say I work in this industry but I'm not just spouting off as I think your statement above is not quite true as when you book through an experience day company you get a few things that you don't when you book direct.

The most important is probably the ability at no cost (or with some of them a small admin fee) to swap to another experience of similar value (or pay the difference to upgrade). How many balloon flying companies also offer Lambourghini driving days or an evening at the Theatre etc. that you could swap to if you don't want to risk the weather? There's also the insurance, the vetting of the experience suppliers, the packaging of the experience voucher and the scope to change dates as long as you book within the expiry date printed on the voucher (an expiry date which is common across the whole range of experiences).

Now if you know what you want to do, you know a reliable company, you know the date and you have your own insurance (or its supplied by the company within the price) then by all means book direct as you don't need the other things experience day companies provide, but I think that saying that they are a rip off because they sell something you don't want to buy is a bit strong.

By all means check out the direct prices but I should also add that with a lot of companies, if you compare the direct price with the price from the experience day company then often the XP day company is the same price (due to economies of scale) and can be even cheaper if they have a promotion on.

Just my tuppence worth.

qwiksave

Not taking sides here but I'm sure the Experience companies have to make their money somewhere to stay in business. A lot of things in life are more expensive for 'the convenience' of getting someone doing the work for you.

Also, you may not want to ask the receipent if they want a particular experience as it would spoil the surprise ( and what if they say 'no' )

I also think it's a little unfair to blame Red Letter Days for the weather. Even if you went to the company direct you are still dependent on the right conditions.

statex

Red Letter Days must be making a fortune as you cant book your day. We were given a voucher for christmas. We registered it online and went to book it only to receive a message stating that no dates were available and urging us to change the experience. The experience is a day at a Vinyard, the only time that the experience can be booked is in October. Why do they oversell these days when they obviously know limited spaces are available. I have contacted Red Letter Days but as usual they have ignored my emails. Can I sue them for the original voucher price? I believe it is breach of contract as they have failed to provide the experience advertised and purchased.:mad: