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Guide trip disappointment


TBone2983

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I recently had a long time friend fly in from D.C. area to go ice fishing. he doesn't get a chance to go much. we get up there friday morning in a sleeper shack and supposed to go out sat. morning on a guide. sat. come and the guide texts and ask if he can move it to sunday some things came up. wasn't to thrilled but said fine whatever. sunday comes the guide texts again saying its too cold. (high of 14 that day with winds 5-15mph) hes gonna pull the plug. last year we hole hopped with him in ) degree weather. so I ask him about shacks with heaters hour later he texts back saying he is sick now. and if we hadn't caught a lot of bluegill out of the sleeper he would of made sure we went out. im sorry but I didn't drive 3 1/2 hours and have my buddy fly in to catch bluegills. I could have down that down the road at a small pond or the IGL. so Im [PoorWordUsage]. I dont think im over reacting. how would you guys go about handling this? anybody else ever dealt with a guide service and got the run around?

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Thats terrible service IMO. Things do happen, like getting sick, etc, but it seems like it was one excuse after another.

If they are not capable of handling the job, they are in the wrong business.

Hopefully you had some sort of "adjustment" to your bill because of the changes.

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That stinks that that happened to you. I personally would be a little upset too if that happened to me. When I go up there it is not for bluegills I go for big perch, walleye, and northerns. I would say how you feel is pretty normal and I understand that things happen. I guess for me when we go up there we don't use a guide we just start drilling holes and go from there. Sorry you had a crummy experience this go round.

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I sure wouldn't have been satisfied either T-Bone. I would explain to him (in a nice way) of your disappointment, and why, like you're stating here. Hopefully you'd get some sort of break on any price you paid, although it doesn't fix the end result. Things do come up and happen. But if a guide has any sense of service at all, you would think that they would agree that they fell short of "guiding". All they would have to do is put themselves in your shoes, and how would they feel.

I guess a lesson learned would be to explain up front how BIG of a deal a guide trip like this is (with your DC friend coming and all). In hopes that you set the stage for them prior to the guide. You would think you shouldn't have to do this, as a guide should think that for every customer they "guide" that it's a special experience...but i guess some don't think that way.

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I guess a lesson learned would be to explain up front how BIG of a deal a guide trip like this is (with your DC friend coming and all). In hopes that you set the stage for them prior to the guide. You would think you shouldn't have to do this, as a guide should think that for every customer they "guide" that it's a special experience...but i guess some don't think that way.

Based on what he's shared, I seriously doubt this "guide" would even care. Sorry to hear about the terrible experience/service. Seems to be more and more common these days in nearly any service industry.

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Yeah if it's a guy that makes those kinds of excuses multiple days in a row it doesn't matter if it was a millionaire or joe-shmo on the schedule he'd let either one down. Sounds like a real dandy. ANY legitimate guy would have had a back up plan. Even if they are in competition most legit guides will help each other out with large groups or 'sick days' or what not and should have had a plan to put you on the ice with a good guide no matter what. Or at least drug himself off his death bed to meet you out there and set you up for the day and leave at bare minimum- at that point for free.

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That sucks. You didn't say, but I'm assuming you weren't charged for the guide service and are just ticked off about the mediocre trip that resulted without it. I'd be mad as well, but if you didn't pay for the guide service in the end then I'd say that you just have to move on. Letting us know about what we might expect with this guide should suffice as therapy.

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Sounds like the bottle flu to me.

I had a guide that suffered from that when I was supposed to go out with him. They had a big party the night before. However, since he had several other guides working for him he sent one of them. It worked out very well and we limited out on perch. The guide who owned the company eventually made it out with us and was pretty friendly. Too bad TBone2983's guide didn't have the same plan.

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Thanks for the input guys. No I didn't pay for the guide service but I did pay for a sleeper, fishing license, food, $150 in gas, and bait to catch bluegills? Like one guy said you go up there to catch perch, walleye, and pike. Mostly I feel bad for my friend that flew in. Chalk it up as a loss and move on.

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Sorry to hear about the bad experience,the worst part is that he kept leading you on that you might be able to fish the next day - otherwise you could have found a guide at the last minute to take you out and at least salvage part of the trip.

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I'm dating myself but your "guide" sounds like the old "land shark" skit on SNL years ago. The land shark would ring the door bell, then try to lie to get into a house or apt to eat the occupant and would come up with cheesy responses as to who he was or whey he was there and would constantly keep changing who he was and why he was there until he got the homeowner to open the door. Only this guy was the opposite. Multiple excuses and changing them when the 1st one doesn't work to get out of his commitment. Sorry you had that happen.

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That's terrible T-Bone. I would be just as upset/irritated as you are. The worst part is that through his "texts" he sounds like he was just giving you the run around - which is terrible since you went all the way up there for that trip. Worst case you could have established a backup plan/different guide service if he hadn't said - we'll go Sunday. That sounds very un-professional and I hope that he at least explains himself or offers some type of compensation to make this right.

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I would post this to the Waubay forum as well. You may get more feedback there. I fished with him a number of times in the summer and winter. Half the time, we just followed the crowds. I can do that on my own.

I have moved on to a new guide for open water.

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Being a guide, you make it a point to ALWAYS follow through with the plan. And if something pops up (or us it never has) you have to have a back up plan (I.e send out another guide or help the customer out by setting him up with another service, etc). Never just leave it like it sounds this dude did. I would be upset as well. Our business relies on repeat customers and that stunt he pulled doesn't sound like he made one from you. Advise-hire another service next time. And if you ever interested in getting up to the Superior/Duluth area, give me a PM. Good luck

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the sad thing is I am a repeat customer. this was the 3rd year ive hired him and had always tipped him pretty decent. my buddy from D.C. has flown in before to do this. so if that's how he treats a repeat customer id hate to think how he would treat someone else. I put this post on here to get feedback and also to warn people to prevent the same disappointment and waste of time/money I did. it might seem like im trying to run his name into the ground but everything I have said is true. ive posted on a few FB groups too and gotten some feedback from other people that said he's done sketchy stuff before. I guess once he got on the cover of In_Fisherman magazine Ice guide this year it went straight to his head. no more time for the little guy

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Guiding is part success, part service. The business won't last long without a healthy, positive balance of both. They often rely on word of mouth and referrals to get business. I hope you got (or get) a good, truthful explanation and share it here. In particular, what was it that "came up" on Saturday. I know I don't get to call in to work on a whim when something "comes up". At least not without some explanation.

I guess in the end, just know that what goes around comes around. I'm doubting he will be in business too long if he keeps that up.

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I go on the open water with Cody from Bustin Eyes Guide Service. Very reasonable prices for the quality of equipment. He has a large new boat and it is so clean I felt I should have taken my shoes off before I got in.

He has state of the art electronics, and many friends that fish the area. He always has a great handle on what's working and where. We were casting crank baits for walleye, and we weren't within a half mile of another boat ever. Great guy to fish with.

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