Money Well Spent

Closing day was rather slow as far as instructing was concerned. The beginner rope tow area had melted off sometime during the week, despite the best efforts of the grooming team and the relocation of snow. The lower elevation runs had many large swaths of ground break running through them, making it feel almost like a run out of bounds. It's amazing how one solid week of warm weather and rain can completely destroy a several foot base.

Inside the school, I was helping field the many calls from customers regarding the state of affairs on the mountain. More specifically the purchasers of the 3-pack system we sell (3 days of instruction, lift, and rental for beginners). A lot of these calls were coming from people who had purchased the system but had not utilized all three sessions yet. Typically each phone call went through a three step process like so:

Refunds - As each sign around the school, on the agreement paper, and all over the ticket sales states, no refunds are given. The only case where a refund has been given as I know it involved a student who was inadvertently injured while waiting for their class to start.

More Time - When a refund isn't available, the demand for the resort to stay open longer is made. As with any seasonal sport, it's hard to determine how long a season will be exactly. All the resort has is past performance to predict with. There are no special deals with Mother Nature and no tricks that can keep snow from melting. Once the snow is gone, it's gone until next season. You've had all season ( on average 4 months ) to use those two other visits, don't blame the employees for your lack of ability. We even went out of the way to call you two weekends ago to warn you of the possible end of season.

Roll-over - Can't we roll over the unused sessions to next season? Unfortunately, no. Just as was described to you before the sale verbally and on the signed agreement, we can't offer this feature. They are use them or lose them days, and you've had 90+ days to use them. We just don't have the administrative capacity to keep records like this.

These were the calls I could understand. You missed out on the season and want to at least try to re-coup your loses. The group of people showing up on closing day looking to purchase first time lessons are the ones that confuse me even more. We made sure to explain that it was the last day the resort would be open that season and they still persisted to purchase a first time ski package. An even smaller sub-set of those customers insisted on purchasing a 3-pack ticket. Any and all ability to rationally describe the savings by purchasing just a single lesson that day was lost on the customers. The resort would gladly take their money, but as a front-office representative it's hard to watch such a purchase happen.