Club owners should think more about people planning at the last minute

[danc694u]

One thing we have noticed, the lack of concern from club owners for people who might plan something at the last minute.

We frequently roll into town on thursday, friday, or saturday. Only to find out, there is "NO WAY" to contact anyone at the local club. Maybe e-mail, which may get answered with a Hello how are you, let us know the next time you will be in town. 10 days after the party.....DUH!!

Please provide a phone number (most do) that actually gets answered!!

Anyone who would like to see new people in their club, with a possible last minute contact, please drop us a line. We travel all 48 states, Canada, and Mexico. And might very well be in your area this weekend!

danc694u@yahoo.com

[Close Encounters]

Phone contact is your best bet with most clubs at the last minute. Seems my cell phone is just so much easier to carry around than a computer and satalite dish.
Most everyone we know has their contact phone number follow them.

[Tom & Bonnie]

Originally Posted by danc694u

One thing we have noticed, the lack of concern from club owners for people who might plan something at the last minute.

We frequently roll into town on thursday, friday, or saturday. Only to find out, there is "NO WAY" to contact anyone at the local club. Maybe e-mail, which may get answered with a Hello how are you, let us know the next time you will be in town. 10 days after the party.....DUH!!

Please provide a phone number (most do) that actually gets answered!!

danc694u@yahoo.com

What exactly is your beef?

It sounds like you put off deciding if you want to go to a club until the last minute and then get mad at the clubs for not being accesible when you call? Yet, you say that most clubs do have an accesible phone mumber for you to get thru? Which is it?

As a club owner who spends a great deal of time preparing for our weekly events and who often times get phone calls as early as 4 am during the week, I would suggest that perhaps you should try a little long range planning as well.

Many club owners, like ourselves are greatly overworked, under appreciated and under paid. The rest are all braggarts ;-)

Commercial clubs like ours, always are accesible via phone, especially toward the latter part of the week. If we don't answer the phone call right away it may because we're; in the shower, (Our club number is forwarded to our cell phone as well) at dinner, with someone who may be offended by our conversation, or just plan busy preparing for the evening, etc. We promptly return calls when; the correct call back number and name is given (assuming we can understand the voice mail) and we never leave a message on a couples voice mail because of discretion. Also, we oftentimes cannot get the hotel operator to connect us to room 215 at the Holiday Inn unless we know both your first and last names.

House parties and hotel socials may be a little different as the operators of those events have their own jobs, families and unrelated events to interfere with. Not to mention the fact that they may be a RSVP event and are booked full.

Hope this helps and don't forget;

"Have you hugged your club owner today?"

[danc694u]

Originally Posted by Tom & Bonnie

What exactly is your beef?

It sounds like you put off deciding if you want to go to a club until the last minute and then get mad at the clubs for not being accesible when you call? Yet, you say that most clubs do have an accesible phone mumber for you to get thru? Which is it?


"Have you hugged your club owner today?"

My beef is, many of the "owners" don't answer their phones. And, we never "put off" anything. We travel extensively, and do not plan where we will be, more than 5 days out. Our travel is work related, so we are unable to "plan" 2 weeks in advance.

We would like to be able to contact "owners" the day before, or the day of a party. THAT is when we generally know where we will be that weekend.

Or, maybe we could contact EVERY club within a 3 state area, and ask to be placed on the list for that weekend. That would probably be easier than trying to call.

[danc694u]

Originally Posted by Close Encounters

Phone contact is your best bet with most clubs at the last minute. Seems my cell phone is just so much easier to carry around than a computer and satalite dish.
Most everyone we know has their contact phone number follow them.

We have tried desperately to be in your area on ANY weekend. We've heard so many great things about you guys. Rest assured, when we do get a weekend in your area, you will be hearing from us.

[remox]

I can't speak about the rest of the country but....

Here in New England there are legal reasons that often prevent me from being able to accomodate folks who contact me last minute. I absolutely cannot accomodate locals that late. I can make some allowances for folks travelling. I can't help everybody and abide by the law. Travellers need to belong to an organization such as ILA or NASCA or a club affiliated with those organizations. Locals need to plan ahead.

Trust me, I would love to be able to take walk-ins. But I cannot do so and run a legal swing club as a business in Providence, RI (and moving is not an option as I have found nowhere else in New England where I can run a legal club).

I always err on the side of obeying the law. Perhaps you should consider what the club needs to do to provide a safe legal environment in which you can relax and play.

As to answering the phone? If there is someone in the club the phone is either answered, or we are already on the phone and you get voicemail. I spend an amazing amount of time returning phone calls and playing phone tag with potential patrons who don't seem to answer their phones either.

E-mail, yep we use it. We also tell people "DO NOT E-MAIL US THE DAY OF A PARTY." There is no computer at the club (for privacy reasons to protect the identity of members). Otherwise we respond typically within a few hours, certainly within a day.

If you are unable plan more than 48 hours in advance because of some last minute change in your life such as being sent to my area on business the day before I understand. I will try to work with you and wish you the best of luck in the rest of the country. But, if you are simply unwilling to commit to something more than a day or 2 in advance............

[remox]

As a point of curiosity...What business are you in where,
A) your travel is usually or always last muinute, and
B) you can take your spouse?