Just wanted to have a whinge about the Learn to Surf Surf School (the one that parks their truck on the lawn at Scabs). The wife brought me a voucher for some lessons last birthday (obviously thinks I suck). Thought I would wait until we had some promising looking swell before I used it. Long story short, I phoned them up this morning and was told the voucher had a 6 month use by date and was now worthless (it's 9 months old). $200 down the drain for nothing. Asked if I could transfer it over to the shop, get a refund or anything and was met with a resounding no. Cocks. Feel free to bag the crap out of them to anyone thinking of getting lessons: www.surfschool.com/

Thats very bad customer service Killbot.
I will be happy when all surf schools go out of business.
Just be persistant and teach yourself.
Good luck.

Yea I think they should have re-aged it for $25 then everyone is happy, they have another $25 and you dont loose $200.

fair enough killbot, that would **** me too.

pesky schools - wish they would f-off to another bank. Too many times Ive come down and they on the best bank on the beach.

Hate it when the bloody big van takes up 6 spots at a crowded beach car park.....
Some know how to run them without bieng a pain to anyone else....most dont.

Yeh I know these guys. Took my lessons with'em before I headed on me own. Eitherway they're a business that needs to make money. Should of warned you about the expiry date at the very least!

To me those lessons were really just 'here's a board, there's the whitewater, go for it (after the initial how to pop up etc). If you got mates who surf, better off heading out with them really.

Nice bunch of instructors (especially the hot blonde ) but you could almost teach yourself honestly.

Surf schools...hate them all.

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doggie said...

Yea I think they should have re-aged it for $25 then everyone is happy, they have another $25 and you dont loose $200.

That stinks... and you have every right to be Sh!tty. Thankfully, I've had two very different experiences... perhaps because I gave them a reason why I couldn't use it (which was true, but they didn't require any proof).

I had a good V8 package at Barbagello that I was a month away from doing before I did my ankle. Long story short, I just sent them an Email saying that I was booked in for reconstruction surgery and didn't know how long the recovery period was... and they gave me another 9 months... and then when I wasn't right still I just contacted them again and they gave me another 9 months. Even waived the $30 admin fee - $600 saved

And when I stacked my bike just before Easter (and was likely to have surgery on my hand) we had beachside accom booked that had literally taken years to get in-line for... I made an impassioned phone call and they let me jump the queue for booking next year as they knew they could back-fill this booking easily with people on the wait list...(and we'd already paid something like $700 deposit).

Bit average, would hardly cost anymore to add one more head to a class.
Come down to Longboards Scarborough and mention you sad story and you can have a couple of two for one board hire vouchers. Got plenty of softboards, mini mals and the like for you to get out on.

Already surf, that's what **s me even more. The missus overheard me complaining to a mate about sucking after a surf (was actually just whinging about the quality of waves at Triggs) and thought the lessons would help. That's why I waited a bit longer to use the voucher as I didn't want to head out in busted ass surf, thought I would wait for some good conditions and use it on one of their Lano trips so I would at least get some good waves out of it. The bloke had absolutely no interest in coming to an arrangement on using the voucher though. Tempted to go on the SUP forum and talk up how they want people to paddle through their lessons to help teach the students about different watercrafts. On a side note, will be taking the present buying into my own hands this year and sorting out a new board.

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GPA said...

doggie said...

Yea I think they should have re-aged it for $25 then everyone is happy, they have another $25 and you dont loose $200.

That stinks... and you have every right to be Sh!tty. Thankfully, I've had two very different experiences... perhaps because I gave them a reason why I couldn't use it (which was true, but they didn't require any proof).

I had a good V8 package at Barbagello that I was a month away from doing before I did my ankle. Long story short, I just sent them an Email saying that I was booked in for reconstruction surgery and didn't know how long the recovery period was... and they gave me another 9 months... and then when I wasn't right still I just contacted them again and they gave me another 9 months. Even waived the $30 admin fee - $600 saved

And when I stacked my bike just before Easter (and was likely to have surgery on my hand) we had beachside accom booked that had literally taken years to get in-line for... I made an impassioned phone call and they let me jump the queue for booking next year as they knew they could back-fill this booking easily with people on the wait list...(and we'd already paid something like $700 deposit).

I did the track skills up at barbagello, I had to get an extenion because of back surgery. They were great about it. Pitty more companys arnt as understanding.

Cheers for the offer P co. Had my board repaired with you guys a couple of times (when the backlog hasn't been to big) and the service has always been top shelf. Pity the surf school isn't run the same way. With all the talk about local retailers dieing from the increase in internet sales it sucks balls that the surf school is killing the pig so much that they can afford to be wankers about something like this. The guy on the phone told me that they used to do 12 months validation on the vouchers but business has been so good that thy decreased it to 6 months.

I have to agree with the Scarborough Longboards posts. Long ago (when I had cash) I bought a board from there and since I have known heaps of friends / relatives who have also bought and got good service from the guys there. Maybe check there when you get your new board mate.