Are We Being Unreasonable?
This feels a bit handwringy but I will post anyway.

Our group of chums have been on many mtb hols over the last 10 years, Sierra Nevadas, Finale, Ride Portugal, Alps, Whistler etc.

We are always looking for new locations and new operators to go and play with.

On Wednesday morning I emailed a company who are offering enduro style holidays in a European country (not going to give it away as I may well be being unreasonable …) looking for price, availability, and some more details.
I have heard nothing. They have been tweeting and Facebook posting over the last few days.
I resend my email today, nothing.
I decide to track down a number and send them a text. I got a reply saying please email or call. So I txt that I had emailed, they said the office would track it down. That was 10am, still nothing.
The rest of the gang are now unimpressed abandoning the idea and looking at other opportunities, I would like to try and persevere.

Now does this seem like they are a bit crap? Is it unreasonable to expect/hope that whoever texted and asked me to ring them, might, as a way of pursuing business opportunities, actually phone me back? Does this smack of a not giving a damn, poorly run attitude that might be an indicator of a disappointing holiday?

Or should I get back in my box and wait for them to decide to reply?

TLDR
Weds 10am Email sent, no reply
Friday 10am Resend email, no reply.
10:30am send text, get reply to call them or email. Tell them I have emailed.
14:30 Still no reply.
Is this an indicator of crapness?

I’d walk, personally. My reasoning would be, if their sales team can’t reply to sales enquiries, what on earth is customer services going to be like if something goes wrong?

Is there any reason you’ve not rung them, btw? That’d seem to be the obvious course of action. If it’s some one-man band affair and they’re not particularly tech-savvy they might not be checking emails very often (though you’d think they’d go and do it when prompted to do so).

You could give them a ring? That’s always an option…

To me it is a bit of a test, why didn’t the recipient of the txt ring me? They said to call, there is only one number on the website, the one I txted. It smacks of shortness of cash/tightness not wanting to call a foreign no back… I did state my intentions so they know I am customer.

If they are based overseas (don’t know if they are of course) perhaps the OP doesn’t want the phone charges for calling an overseas number?

Well and that..
It is overseas, in europe, their txt was in good English.
I can buy the non-tech savvy, but since wednesday? And still nothing after a prompt?

Move on, if they can’t serve potential customers they’re going to probably fail miserably if something goes wrong.

‘they’ could a be single person with a day job and a website reselling accommodation / guiding, plenty more providers about.

There is a communication issue.
Communication is most effective face to face.
I would suggest in this context the next best method is by telephone. Like actually speaking.

Texting is something mates do. Just ring them. It’s that simple. If after that things fail to get sorted then consider that when it is an issue. It could all be sorted in less time than it took me to write this.

Indeed, but to me it is a measure of the company if they can’t be arsed to call me.. Do they want my business or not?

I am starting to feel P-Jay, Cougar and the rest of my mates are right. Looking for a new destination..

I’d walk as Cougar puts it

Many of these companies are 1 man bands, additional guides are seasonal workers who want to ride bikes.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they set aside some time on a Sunday afternoon to do the admin work if they are out guiding during the week.

sales team

😆 They are MTB guides not easyjet.

I’d be concerned that when it comes to confirming stuff like airport shuttles or food or bike hire etc. that communications would be frustrating. If, like me, you like to see that kind of thing confirmed in writing so you can relax in the days before, it could be somewhat unsettling and stressful.

Email is the primary method of comms with bike holiday companies, as they have busy schedules it’s reasonable to expect to wait a day or three for a response.

Their FB or Twitter activity may be from a mobile, rather than the PC where their email goes.

Follow your instinct though, if you feel you’re being messed around at this stage then there are plenty of more professional outfits, I’m sure.

Its 1000E for a week too – which is not at the cheap end.

Just tell us the company, there are plenty out there who are reputable, we may be able to tell you if they are. 1k is fairly low to average for “enduro” guided weeks.

You also have to be realistic, you may be too late to book for this year, and too early for next.

1k is not low, in 10 years and about 20 trips I have never paid more the 700 euros and that was for full board. (Not including flights).
Sierras we paid 450 euros for a week last time including transfers, I’ve been there 5 times. The mountain bike adventure in portugal was about 400 euros, been twice.
Int he alps I have only ever paid accomdation never had a guide, grant you that could be 1k if you wanted to, but our last trip there was 600 all in for a 4 bed apt.
I am not in the business of badmouthing based on a hunch. With a new company you never know if they are going to be good, so dropping 1k plus flights is not gonna happen unless we get the right feeling.

1,000 euros ain’t low in my book either.

If you’re genuinely worried you should ask for testimony from other punters on here, that’s what STW is for.

I don’t think it’s entirely terrible… But it’s worse than every mtb guided holiday operator I’ve ever spoken to. As well as more expensive. So why stick with them when others will give more of a crap?

You always tend to go “well if they can’t answer emails do I trust them to run a holiday” but I think that’s a wee bit unfair, even though I’d do it myself.

For enduro riding with a group of 6 people you are going to want 2 guides, a driver, a crew bus and a bike trailer. Then you have accommodation and meals. If they are in France, they may quite easly run into problems with work hours with those crew numbers, especially if you start including the transfer day.

Basque MTB do not include evening meals in the cost so they are below 1k, but IMO they could charge an extra 250 euros include meals and for what you get I wouldn’t bat an eyelid. TP and Ben Jones are around 1.5k for their trips.

I know it looks like a lot of money, but for that kind of riding there is a lot to organise that you may not realise that is quite expensive. The likes of Basque MTB and TP certainly do a fair bit of work out of season as well finding and preparing trails.

If you are just based in 1 centre and using lifts then fair enough it could be cheaper. But even then, some places can be expensive because of location ie Switzerland.

I feel the same way Northiwind, I wouldn’t say it is terrible, just not giving me the right feelings so far…
I shall report back if I hear anything.

MSP sounds like you have been paying over the odds. Like I said I’ve been on 20 ish trips in the last 10 years all have been excellent and I’ve never ever paid anything like that.
https://www.sierraendurotours.com/prices 450
http://roostdh.com/malaga-bike-holidays/ 750 although last time I went there which was a good while ago it was about 500.
http://www.themountainbikeadventure.com/ 350 (was cheaper in 2013 when I went) they book accommodation separate but it was stupid cheap.
We have been with 3 different companies in Italy around Finale and Molina and the most was 600E

I doubt you will find anyone who has been with Basque or TP and feel they have overpaid.

I doubt anyone who sent Doug at Basque an email or a text had to wait 3 days either..

I think Dougs customer handling is exceptional, he is the gold standard for any company I have dealt with.

There you go then, that is precisely my point, this is the first time we have considered paying anything like 1k for the guiding and accom bit of our holiday, and they don’t appear to meet that standard..

There are 8 of us going to Morzine this year, it is 300e per head* just for the accommodation. No food or guiding or uplifting provided. I don’t see how it can be expected to add a safe number of guides, a driver, a van and trailer, transfers and any food to that for even an extra 500 a head legally.

It is obviously dependant on the costs in the area but some of the Spanish and Portuguese operators would worry me on what they have reduced the costs to for a week of guided riding. Some of the guys I met last year were giving pretty bad reviews on what sierra freeride has become.

*That is for a chalet that claims to sleep 17 (ski numbers) but would be on par for what I would expect from Basque, TP and TA.

ps. I am not having a go at you for thinking 1k is a lot. Just that ime the companies charging more than that provide a better quality of riding, and that I personally wouldn’t expect a response to an email in 3 days knowing everything they do and the nature of the business.

Personally I’d give them to Monday to respond, my ‘logic’ being they could be having a super busy week, or the office is closed for a few days. If they are, then they should get back to you on over the weekend or Monday, if they don’t they are crap!

MSP – Member

There are 8 of us going to Morzine this year, it is 300e per head* just for the accommodation. No food or guiding or uplifting provided. I don’t see how it can be expected to add a safe number of guides, a driver, a van and trailer, transfers and any food to that for even an extra 500 a head legally.

It’s not really like that if the guiding company provides the accomodation, they’ll not be paying 300e per week per head.

We’re off to Riviera Bike, 795e inc transfers, bus uplifts, evening meals, great reviews. I’ve been to White Rooms 3 times, 845e, with 1 guide per 3 punters (but slightly more out of pocket expenses for chairlifts).

They might be on holiday themselves, especially as it’s French half term just now and they won’t get a summer holiday. Not ringing is a bit daft.

If I liked the look of their offerings then I’d try speaking to them on the phone first to gauge their attitude before dismissing them

If they were much of a muchness then I’d just move on to the next one.

It’s not really like that if the guiding company provides the accomodation, they’ll not be paying 300e per week per head.

Well that depends, if they are booking sole occupancy accommodation for a full season, then they will probably get a better deal, ie the TA and white room model. But if they are moving around and just wanting 1 or 2 nights a week at each location, then I think it will be more expensive ie the Basque and TP model.

For me the accommodation the TP provided was what I actually want, Basque was a grade down but good enough, but if a company were sticking me in bunk beds or tiny crap beds that would be unacceptable. Others might find that ok.

bigjim – Member
They might be on holiday themselves, especially as it’s French half term just now and they won’t get a summer holiday.

I was thinking along similar lines. If they’re running a business in a ski resort, they’re either wrapping up the winter season or they’ve just left for their annual break. I’d give it a week or so.

Thanks for the kind words guys! I was just actually just going to check it wasn’t me!! I know the text wasn’t but I’ve been right up the mountains this week and doing emails at 6 am and after midnight or in the van during uplifts so it’s possible I missed one. Glad to see it’s not 🙂

I was thinking along similar lines. If they’re running a business in a ski resort, they’re either wrapping up the winter season or they’ve just left for their annual break. I’d give it a week or so.

I know a friend who runs one company is on family holiday in the back of beyond at the moment but they’ve not been twittering or facebooking for weeks so I don’t think it’s them. Expecting an email reply within 4 hours is a bit much anyway,

I’ve had it a number of times recently with euro guiding companies in what to them is off-season (Austria, Denmark and Sweden). However much less excusable if they are doing a full package with accommodation etc.

Well it is Wednesday evening and now it has been a week. Not heard a thing. So I am considering that these guys may well be crap and that Cougar,P-Jay and Tuskaloosa’s initial feelings were best.

They are the only provider in that country, so I need somewhere new to go in August.

We are thinking, given the time of year, rather than continental Europe, that further north might be feasible, maybe Ireland? Norway? Germany?
Any ideas for a enduro/uplift style holiday that is not the normal destinations, eg not France,Spain,Portugal, Italy…

Friday lunch and nothing. I think I am justified in ditching these guys.