Dishonesty in Business

[Allegra]

So, I got involved in a pretty obnoxious scam today. I took my daughter to an event in a park. According to the advertisement, children ages 2 and up were $15 and adults were free. It didn’t specifically mention the price for children under 2, but they didn’t say they weren’t allowed to come, so I assumed they were free too. The event was a “pioneer craft day” where children could watch and participate in making rope, candles, wood projects, old-fashioned toys, and blacksmithing. The advertisement also stated that the event included a hay wagon ride and a carousel ride. (The park has a large indoor carousel.) So we paid the money and they give me two tickets for my two kids to ride the carousel. When we get over there, (and once my 3yo has visons of fairytale horses spinning in her head) they tell me that I have to pay for MY ticket. Apparently they have a different understanding of the phrase “adults are free” than I do. My daughter was not allowed to go on the ride by herself, so I got to haul her out of there in the midst of a temper tantrum because I didn’t have any extra cash on me. In this day and age, if you are going to run a scam to wheedle extra money out of parents after promising a carousel ride to a toddler, the least you can do is have a darn ATM available!

 

[Crusaderbear]

Sounds like time for a letter to the editor…

 

[jaimeleglise]

So sorry.

 

[Allegra]

Sounds like time for a letter to the editor…

I’m not sure that our newspaper is even still in existence. The last time I was reading it regularly, it had so many strange things in it that wonder if they had an editor at all. So I wrote to you guys instead.

 

[pensmama87]

Sounds like time for a letter to the editor…

I think it’d be worth it to sort out with whoever is in charge of the park, either because they ran the event or contracted with the company who did it. At the very least, it was poorly communicated what tickets were for and who needed to buy them, at worst, it was malicious or scammy.

(I would not rule out incompetence, though.)

Having a copy of the ad would be very helpful when you make a complaint.

 

[Allegra]

I think it’d be worth it to sort out with whoever is in charge of the park, either because they ran the event or contracted with the company who did it. At the very least, it was poorly communicated what tickets were for and who needed to buy them, at worst, it was malicious or scammy.

(I would not rule out incompetence, though.)

Having a copy of the ad would be very helpful when you make a complaint.

Apparently, there is another company that runs the carousel. I did contact the park on their facebook page and just let them know how I felt about it. Honestly, the event was really cool and worth it without the carousel ride. I just don’t like how my kid was unnecessarily upset and I don’t like being diddled for extra money.

 

[Allegra]

The relationship between the park and the carousel company is kind of confusing. The park is county property, but the carousel is historic and is managed by a private company, but owned or protected by a historical society. Both sides seen to be claiming that the other entity isn’t holding up its end of the deal.

 

[midori]

In my part of the world, admission is one thing, but extras cost extra. So, you go to the Lion’s Club carnival, and you can walk around the grounds, but if you want to ride the Ferris wheel or knock the bottles over, it costs something. If you go to the Pioneer Village, you can walk through the grounds for the price of admission, but if you want to pet the petting zoo, that costs extra. If you go to the Japanese Garden, the admission is one thing, but feeding the koi is another. If you go to the Stock Show & Rodeo, admission is one thing, but if you want to go to the concert/watch the rodeo/play the games on the midway, those are all separate costs.

Generally, the extras go to support whatever it is you’re doing— like, the carnival rides are operated by a third party, not the Lion’s Club, and they need to pay their workers/maintain their rides/buy new rides for next year. Or the money goes to support the animals, or the garden. Or it goes towards the competition prizes/hiring good acts/whatever.

A vintage carousel requires maintenance and conservation. It’s not easy to keep historic things in good running condition, especially if the parts are obsolete.

In your case, if the child is too young to ride alone, I’m kind of surprised they didn’t comp you your ride. That’s sort of the understanding around here— if you’re riding for your own pleasure, you buy a ticket; if you’re riding because your kid’s too young to go alone, they let you stand with them and supervise. But the way your comment was phrased, it seemed like it was more like “once I got in, I expected everything else to be free, too.”

 

[Allegra]

But the way your comment was phrased, it seemed like it was more like “once I got in, I expected everything else to be free, too.”

That’s the way the event was advertised, that admission included all the different activities. It specifically said, “admission includes a hay wagon ride and a carousel ride.” And the kids did get tickets for the carousel. But once you went to get into line, that’s when they told you that you had to buy a separate carousel ticket for the adults, even if the kids weren’t old enough to ride. I kind of thought it was strange that they even required a ticket for an adult that was holding a child. I was thinking that the last time I rode it, they only charged for one ticket if the kid needed an adult, but I maybe confusing that policy with another carousel that’s in the mall.

 

[Allegra]

And PS- $15 per kid is a little steep for this kind of event around here. I mean, that’s more than adult admission at a renaissance festival! That’s more than admission to Monkey Joe’s and the skating rink. It’s way more than any craft fair or street festival I’ve attended. I didn’t mind paying it because I know that it goes to preserving the historic village in the park, but given the price, a flippin carousel ride included didn’t seem to “out there” to me.

 

[SuperLuigi]

This really is not good business practice as described. I don’t know for sure if fraud is the operative word as advertisement space is often an issue, but I do find it incredulous they wouldn’t just let you ride and how they are apparently arguing over this.

And I cannot even begin to say how some of these fairs shred hundreds of dollars by not having something like a Square account to process cards. People don’t like running to the ATM (or paying the fee) and they sure don’t like to carry big wads of cash.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

That’s the way the event was advertised, that admission included all the different activities. It specifically said, “admission includes a hay wagon ride and a carousel ride.” And the kids did get tickets for the carousel. But once you went to get into line, that’s when they told you that you had to buy a separate carousel ticket for the adults, even if the kids weren’t old enough to ride. I kind of thought it was strange that they even required a ticket for an adult that was holding a child. I was thinking that the last time I rode it, they only charged for one ticket if the kid needed an adult, but I maybe confusing that policy with another carousel that’s in the mall.

I’ve been on carousels to hold the kids up when they were small without being charged a ticket.

If parents were free to the event, and the event included the carousel, they obviously should have let the parents ride to accompany small kids. You couldn’t possibly have been the only parent in that position.

You weren’t going to ride it for yourself while your kids sat it out.

15 dollars per kid to me seems a bit steep for an event in a park as well.

 

[Allegra]

You couldn’t possibly have been the only parent in that position…

Oh, I wasn’t. There were two other parents arguing with the carousel operator and that manager of the company was arguing with more parents at the check-in table where people were picking up their tickets. The manager had hung a sign on the front of the table in an effort to claim they weren’t scamming people, but lots of people had already paid for their admission online, where there was nothing written about having to buy another ticket for parents.

 

[Allegra]

15 dollars per kid to me seems a bit steep for an event in a park as well.

It is, but this is sort of a fund-raiser for the historic village that is inside the park. They have several original historic buildings on the land, and they’ve also added several others throughout the years. They have a couple of these events a year, to raise money for the upkeep of these buildings. The Christmas one is really neat. It’s done at night, by candlelight, and each building is decorated inside as Christmas from a different era. It really is a neat place and I don’t mind paying the extra fee, especially since adults are free. (It’s not so at the Christmas event.)