10 replies to this topic

[Tim Bailey]

Dear all

The CPS is sickened and disgusted at the service we received on the boat trip. The food was supplied by Chester Racecourse and we expected a hearty meal, which did not arrive and was simply criminal.

As a result we will refund the whole event if that is wanted - boat trip and food. Please give us some time to sort this out, but it will be done.

As background we provisionally told Chesterboats that we expected up to 80 people, including, at that stage, one special meal for dietary reason. On the Tuesday before the trip I phoned Chesterboats and told them we had 82 people booked, but to provide food for 90 people as we expected to sell a few more tickets and if not there would be even more food to go around (what a joke!).

On the night only 40 people received some of everything, but even then the portions of pasta I understand was hardly hearty! The chicken also ran out before reaching the last few tables, including my own.

I expressed the CPS's displeasure in no uncertain terms and then looked to work with the Skipper in a constructive manner. The skipper offered a free drink to those downstairs, and I requested a free drink to those upstairs too which was done - eventually, as a few people were asked to pay initially so I dug into my own money on the night to pay them back.

I checked the meal plan that Chesterboats had with Chester Racecourse on the boat. The list had 80 meals down, plus one dietary meal. 10 short of what we ordered. Clearly we were about 60-70% short of what we expected and the dietary meal did not turn up either.

The skipper arranged for chicken burgers at the end of the trip and told me that they were not in compensation, but to help feed hungry bellies. He was equally and genuinely upset and very apologetic.

For those who were fed but received about 10 bits of pasta, it would be handy if you could describe the size of the meal served to you plus any other thoughts and to post here. I will collect these as evidence for our compensation claim.

Incidentally, we also requested some background music. Unless I've become hard of hearing I didn't hear anything.

Finally, the CPS would like to thank you all for being amazing when you were all pretty angry. A special thanks too, to those hero's who shared and or gave away their food - my 4 and 3 year old were very grateful for one.

I still have not completely calmed down over this and won't until you are all back in pocket.

Tim

Tim Bailey
Chairman CPS

Edited by Tim Bailey, 07 July 2011 - 10:55 AM.

[3Star]

Hi Tim

In arranging to attend the EEE I sold it to my wife on the basis that Chester was supposed to be a beautiful town, we would be able to spend part of the time going around the biggest zoo in the UK and that we could go on a boat trip down the Dee, including a meal, on the Saturday evening. In respect to the first two parts of the plan it worked perfectly we arrived on Friday spent the afternoon in Chester and had a meal and a few drinks in the town at night. We visited the exhibition on Saturday morning, where my wife actually bought her first CP,and then we had a really nice time around the zoo, everything was working out wonderfully...............................then came the boat trip.

It was a pleasant July evening, we managed to get on the boat first and so had a choice of where we sat, the boat set off down a beautiful section of the River Dee and then we got up to collect our meal and this is where the plan all went horribly wrong. Did I mention that it was our wedding anniversary ? Well the meal turned out not to be the anniversary surprise that I had intended. It was a surprise........ in that Chesterboats class one peice of bread, a peice of chicken and a spoonful of pasta as a meal.

I actually apologised to my wife at the end of the night for what was less than a perfect anniversary meal but I suppose we were lucky in the fact that we actually got some food which I understand not everyone did.

By the way not everyone upstairs got a free drink I and several others, having placed our orders, were asked to pay for them.

regards

Dave

[Tim Bailey]

3Star, on 07 July 2011 - 12:32 PM, said:

Hi Tim

In arranging to attend the EEE I sold it to my wife on the basis that Chester was supposed to be a beautiful town, we would be able to spend part of the time going around the biggest zoo in the UK and that we could go on a boat trip down the Dee, including a meal, on the Saturday evening. In respect to the first two parts of the plan it worked perfectly we arrived on Friday spent the afternoon in Chester and had a meal and a few drinks in the town at night. We visited the exhibition on Saturday morning, where my wife actually bought her first CP,and then we had a really nice time around the zoo, everything was working out wonderfully...............................then came the boat trip.

It was a pleasant July evening, we managed to get on the boat first and so had a choice of where we sat, the boat set off down a beautiful section of the River Dee and then we got up to collect our meal and this is where the plan all went horribly wrong. Did I mention that it was our wedding anniversary ? Well the meal turned out not to be the anniversary surprise that I had intended. It was a surprise........ in that Chesterboats class one peice of bread, a peice of chicken and a spoonful of pasta as a meal.

I actually apologised to my wife at the end of the night for what was less than a perfect anniversary meal but I suppose we were lucky in the fact that we actually got some food which I understand not everyone did.

By the way not everyone upstairs got a free drink I and several others, having placed our orders, were asked to pay for them.

regards

Dave

Thanks Dave

Very sorry re your anniversary and we very much appreciate the time you have taken to write this note which is very helpful.

I'm glad the rest of the event went to plan and that we have a new recruit!

My best wishes

Tim

[Wouter Noordeloos]

Hi Tim,

I was there at the same time when the captain discovered there was not enough food. So I saw Tim was getting very excited. After a few minutes I tried to calm him down a bit.

I'm glad nobody was getting angry on Tim, Dennis or anyone else of the UK-board. It's not their fault. I feel sorry for Tim, because it's his first year as a chairman of the Uk-society and I'm quite sure he want to have a proper meal on the boat.

I orginised 3 international events, 2x EEE (2002 and 2007) and 1x ICPS (2010) with the full board of Carnivora and I know things could go wrong. I don't say I like things can go wrong, but even if you check every single detail 2 or 3 times even than things can go wrong. Is there anyone here who'll say orginising an EEE or ICPS is easy?

Hope everything go well and good luck with the fight against the boat.

Take care,

Wouter

Edited by Wouter Noordeloos, 07 July 2011 - 15:54 PM.

[Gieb]

Hi,


We enjoyed the weekend at the zoo, the EEE and Chester verry much. It was a great location to host this event.
My wife is into Chester zoo since there is a show of it on tv. (made it easier to get her to Chester also   )
Sadly something went wrong on the boattrip, but we didn't let that ruin our weekend (ty Burger King     )

We made a pic of the meal we recieved and i will post it because Tim asks for it, not to scandalize the organisators.







Kind regards

[alexa]

I was one of the lucky ones as I did get some some food to eat, and a bit of everything. I would however say that what received was most certainly not up to the £12.50 we paid for it, so some kind of refund, in part or whole would be appreciated. However, I did meet some very nice people on the boat, and it was good to put names to faces.

Kind regards
Alex.

[chimanta]

Tim Bailey, on 07 July 2011 - 07:37 AM, said:

Dear all

The CPS is sickened and disgusted at the service we received on the boat trip. The food was supplied by Chester Racecourse and we expected a hearty meal, which did not arrive and was simply criminal.

As a result we will refund the whole event if that is wanted - boat trip and food. Please give us some time to sort this out, but it will be done.

As background we provisionally told Chesterboats that we expected up to 80 people, including, at that stage, one special meal for dietary reason. On the Tuesday before the trip I phoned Chesterboats and told them we had 82 people booked, but to provide food for 90 people as we expected to sell a few more tickets and if not there would be even more food to go around (what a joke!).

On the night only 40 people received some of everything, but even then the portions of pasta I understand was hardly hearty! The chicken also ran out before reaching the last few tables, including my own.

I expressed the CPS's displeasure in no uncertain terms and then looked to work with the Skipper in a constructive manner. The skipper offered a free drink to those downstairs, and I requested a free drink to those upstairs too which was done - eventually, as a few people were asked to pay initially so I dug into my own money on the night to pay them back.

I checked the meal plan that Chesterboats had with Chester Racecourse on the boat. The list had 80 meals down, plus one dietary meal. 10 short of what we ordered. Clearly we were about 60-70% short of what we expected and the dietary meal did not turn up either.

The skipper arranged for chicken burgers at the end of the trip and told me that they were not in compensation, but to help feed hungry bellies. He was equally and genuinely upset and very apologetic.

For those who were fed but received about 10 bits of pasta, it would be handy if you could describe the size of the meal served to you plus any other thoughts and to post here. I will collect these as evidence for our compensation claim.

Incidentally, we also requested some background music. Unless I've become hard of hearing I didn't hear anything.

Finally, the CPS would like to thank you all for being amazing when you were all pretty angry. A special thanks too, to those hero's who shared and or gave away their food - my 4 and 3 year old were very grateful for one.

I still have not completely calmed down over this and won't until you are all back in pocket.

Tim

Tim Bailey
Chairman CPS

Hello Tim

Once again thanks for all the work and the good organization. I was on the last table on the lower deck and got a free beer and a sandwich as well. But actually I don't care much since I was there to have a chat with the other people and enjoyed it anyway. So as far as I'm concerned, never mind, I had a good time, including the boat trip and  dont be angry and calm down, for me it was no problem and I had a good time and I really appreciate the work you and all the others of the team did!
Urs

Edited by chimanta, 07 July 2011 - 21:08 PM.

[Tim Bailey]

chimanta, on 07 July 2011 - 21:00 PM, said:

Hello Tim

Once again thanks for all the work and the good organization. I was on the last table on the lower deck and got a free beer and a sandwich as well. But actually I don't care much since I was there to have a chat with the other people and enjoyed it anyway. So as far as I'm concerned, never mind, I had a good time, including the boat trip and  dont be angry and calm down, for me it was no problem and I had a good time and I really appreciate the work you and all the others of the team did!
Urs

Thanks Chimanta, your comments are much appreciated.

For every ones info, I've been in contact with the Managing Director of Chesterboats and I hope to have everything resolved by the end of the month. I'll post updates as an when I get news.

Cheers

Tim

[MrAga73]

Hi Tim, Hello to everyone....
Well...things are exactly as they were written from Tim and all you others.
I want only to share my experience....since we, a large group of Italian, were sitting togheter at the first floor of the ship....and we didn't succed to eat nothing...even bread :)

After realizing that there were no food the remaing time of the boat cruise was trasformed in a sort of "nightmare" because  the Beer's Alcool was beginning to show its effect on an empty stomach and we  were all hoping that at the return someone could buy for us some Pizzas at the PIZZA HUT  :PPP

The poor A. Wistuba was just with a breakfast because he was always busy at the conferences and selling... ;)

Tim , I want to tell you that in any case I and my friends had appreciated the Boat Captain's willen to fix for the problem with free snacks and free beer and the hamburger at the end ( even they were not so eatable...). It was not his fault of course and the gathering service was the "black hole"....

The only misstake it was made was maybe not to have TESTED in advance the service. I mean....if I want to invite dozen of people to a restaurant I prefer to go to eat before alone just to be sure that they will like it.
The same was done with the restaurant at EEE Italy.....some months before the EEE a coupe of person went in the place to eat.
THis is all what I can tell.

Anyway....the positive thing is that will be a great experience for the English Carnivorous Society and also for the other ( German or France ) that will be called to hold the next one in 2012.

Byeee!

Salvatore "Mr_AGA"

[Tim Bailey]

MrAga73, on 09 July 2011 - 22:15 PM, said:

Hi Tim, Hello to everyone....
Well...things are exactly as they were written from Tim and all you others.
I want only to share my experience....since we, a large group of Italian, were sitting togheter at the first floor of the ship....and we didn't succed to eat nothing...even bread :)

After realizing that there were no food the remaing time of the boat cruise was trasformed in a sort of "nightmare" because  the Beer's Alcool was beginning to show its effect on an empty stomach and we  were all hoping that at the return someone could buy for us some Pizzas at the PIZZA HUT  :PPP

The poor A. Wistuba was just with a breakfast because he was always busy at the conferences and selling... ;)

Tim , I want to tell you that in any case I and my friends had appreciated the Boat Captain's willen to fix for the problem with free snacks and free beer and the hamburger at the end ( even they were not so eatable...). It was not his fault of course and the gathering service was the "black hole"....

The only misstake it was made was maybe not to have TESTED in advance the service. I mean....if I want to invite dozen of people to a restaurant I prefer to go to eat before alone just to be sure that they will like it.
The same was done with the restaurant at EEE Italy.....some months before the EEE a coupe of person went in the place to eat.
THis is all what I can tell.

Anyway....the positive thing is that will be a great experience for the English Carnivorous Society and also for the other ( German or France ) that will be called to hold the next one in 2012.

Byeee!

Salvatore "Mr_AGA"

Thanks for the comments Salvatore, much appreciated.

Dennis and I checked the boat out before the event and realised that the 120 people capacity would have been cramped, so we kept numbers to 90. Glad we did as it was still a little tight. We were unfortunately unable to check the food as it was subcontracted to Chester Racecourse, though I had several conversations with the racecourse caterers, and Chesterboat, to get assurances of it's quality and amount - for what that was worth!!! We looked at lots of other venues, but could not get a place that would take the numbers elsewhere.

Comments about the experience were very good too, but they were clearly not let down as we were by the shameful Chester Racecourse caterers.

On to happier things, it was good to finally get a chance to chat to you towards the end of the EEE, and to hear that you all enjoyed the event.  When our turn comes around again we will take your advice and have an advanced tester feast!

My best wishes to you.

Tim

[Andreas Wistuba]

chimanta, on 07 July 2011 - 21:00 PM, said:

Hello Tim

Once again thanks for all the work and the good organization. I was on the last table on the lower deck and got a free beer and a sandwich as well. But actually I don't care much since I was there to have a chat with the other people and enjoyed it anyway. So as far as I'm concerned, never mind, I had a good time, including the boat trip and  dont be angry and calm down, for me it was no problem and I had a good time and I really appreciate the work you and all the others of the team did!
Urs

....I fully agree.
It was a very enjoyable meeting and a great opportunity to put faces to many names I knew for a long time. I enjoyed it a lot!
This "food-glitch" happened but certainly is not worth spoiling the good memories!
All the best
Andreas