FL/GA Hunter email me with your address and I' ll get that mailed to you.
[email protected]

I was a business major in college and a biz manager by trade. I can see why a non-controlled response by customers would make a biz owner nervous but thats the nature if business in America. Every industry is subject to reviews where they have no control or an opportunity to respond. There are a million websites and magazines dedicated to product reviews including forums like this where people talk up or trash on products. Its not scientific but it makes biz owners work that much harder for customer satisfaction.

Lets face it nearly everyone who owns a business does it to make money and thats ok. But some are greedy and enough negatives responses will run them out. The ones who realize that success is determined by customer satisfaction will succeed.

Like GrumpyTom said a consumer should make an informed decision. Its his or her repsonsibility and you only need to be swindled once to learn that. Sure this fall there is a " pink arsed mommas boy" who will pay $5000 to have 5 star accomodations and shoot a 420 class bull elk. He' ll get good downhome meals and a warm place to sleep and shoot a 5X5 bull. He' ll then complain all the way home and leave a bad review. But its America and its his right to do so and next year other hunters will see his bad review do some research and find out hes just and idiot.

Every biz has to deal with it so cowboy up and learn that cyberspace is the future of ALL BUSINESS!! Make your customers happy and learn to live with the few idiots that refuse to be happy and your biz will succeed.

An' here I thort college was a waste of time.

College a waste of time? Depends on the student. But just maybe, if you study and apply yourself, you can pull your head out of the sand!

Argueing the point that the outfitter rating site is a good/bad idea is beside the real point. Its already out there. Good idea/bad idea doesn' t matter. Time to deal with reality instead of tilting at windmills.

Beaverjack, you stated that " Sites that post unsolicited reviews ain' t scientific or fair." Isn' t that what these forums are? You' ve probably been to the gear review and guns forums. What you read is a lot of unscientific opinions on what has worked/not worked for a bunch of unscientific posters. Unsolicited? The outfitter review site is soliciting opinions the same way someone on the gear or gun forum solicits opinions.

A few tidbits you might pick up in school, or perhaps the school of hard knocks - one " aw sh*t" wipes out a hundred " atta-boys" . And a dissatisfied customer talks way more people than a satisfied customer. (can' t recall the exact stat, so I' ll leave it vague).

An outfitter can bury his head in the sand and pretend that the internet ain' t out there. Good " strategy" - look what it' s done for the record companies! Or maybe, just maybe he can embrace it in his follow-up contact with his guests. See what they liked/didn' t like. Accept or reject their feedback as he/she sees fit. After all, that' s their right. Got good feedback? Mention these sites, send an e-mail with the link, encourage (not nag) them to share their experience. You' re always gonna have unreasonable, unhappy customers. Gotta do the best you can to mitigate the situation.

Someone mentioned a hunter who was unhappy because he was fed fresh caught fish. For the amount of money he was probably paying, perhaps he should have asked what the meals would be like, if it was that important. Certainly there was enough time for the outfitter to manage his client' s expectations in letters/calls before-hand, telling his customer what to expect, how to prepare. Heck, what if you were allergic to fish? You' d be glad to find out ahead of time what you' d be eating. What if your customer was allergic to fish? You' d be glad that you took the opportunity to let him know and avoided that disaster. Outfitting is a service, so it' d pay to go the extra mile to make certain you' ve done as much as you can to make your customers happy.

Monitor the sites (we all seem to be on this site often enough! ) See a negative review? Call/e-mail the poster. If you' re following up with your customers it' s likely that you already have talked to them. Is it a crank? Posted under the wrong outfitter? Contact the site host, see what you can do.

The internet is a business tool, just like the phone or magazine ads. You can use it, or ignore it. Choice is yours.

Exactly what I said, it ain' t scientific or fair. Unsolicited means only the gripers are gonna volunteer an' opinion. You send 100 fellers home happy, and the one schmuck gets on a site an' ruins your good name. I won' t be a part of it. Outfitters are mom and pop operations mosly. Families that got lots invested an' are tryin' to keep their head above water. Seen too many limp wristed city boys that wouldn' t know a good hunt if it was to fall from the sky an' smash ' em to trail jelly. Best to be fair in this world if you can hep it. I know the attorneys an' NYC suits have bred thet outta people' s minds these days, but it still makes me sick to see people bash family businesses unfairly, even if it is the way things are nowadays.

BeaverJack, you said reviews on outfitters will be biased... And references wont be?? Do you think the outfitter that burned me will use me as a reference??? its just more info to feel out the quality that the outfitter does. The more info the better. The internet is here to stay and i hope it washes out the crooked outfitters and praises the good ones.

Who was the outfitter that burned you? See if it is the same one that got me. No name needed just state and city, I' ll figure it out.

Darn it BeaverJack, don' t agree with me! We' re on opposing sides of this arguement!!

Simply put, my point was that these boards are out there. Agree or disagree, it would behoove an outfitter to manage that exposure instead of ignoring it and letting it blindside him.

One schmuck can' t ruin a good name, unless he' s stinkin' rich and owns a newspaper or something like that. A good outfitter, like a good contractor, plumber, etc. will get a lot of business through referrals.

When I first looked at the site that started all this commotion the first post I read was positive. I was about to come back to this board and ask the original poster what specifically he had problems with, since others were happy. I read on though and saw more negative than positive, and many negative threads voiced similar problems. Sounds like a red flag. Take a step back, there' s maybe 12 posts. This outfit has probably hosted more than 12 guys in the last few years. I know its just a sample, may not even be representative. But I know a few things to ask about should I be looking at this outfit. And from this entertaining discussion I' ve learned quite a bit more.

One thing y' all are ignorin' are thet outfitters are an independent lot. Thet' s why they' re in the business they are. They don' t suck up to nobody, an' they ain' t about to worry about innernet sites an' whinny hunters. You take or leave them on their terms, not some city boy' s business standards. Some are old an' crotchety an' some are younger an' crotchety. Don' t think they' re made like yer average Walmart host, least I ain' t seed one like thet. You start makin' outfitters out to be business men, an' you' ll lose a lot of what makes a huntin' trip good. Competence ain' t allays gonna mean thet somebody is apt to be a service slave, or even a nice person for thet matter. That' s gonna piss some people off, jus' as sure as some small minority don' t like beaverjack. Give me a competent grouch anyday over a suck up dude with a $200 cowboy hat.

BeaverJack, your posts get more amusing by the day! [&:] You praise the outfitter reviews in the NAHC Resource Directory, but if you are a member and go to their website you will see just how many members are disgusted with the whole rating process associated with the club. If an outfitter donates hunts to the club for the contests, that outfitter gets VERY few bad ratings in the directory, and everybody knows it. A lot of folks have been posting there in the last 6 months with claims of bias against the whole outfitter rating process.
Huntinfo.com is the best way to weed out the good outfitters from the bad that I' ve seen on the ' net so far. And you' re tear jerking support of " mom and pop" operations just wreaks of bias! Just because an operation is small and family owned doesn' t mean it is always operated in the best interest of the client. It' s like anything else; there are the good and the bad. You act like you' re the only real man out there, and anybody that has a bad experience with a small outfitter and complains about it is a " pansy" ! Just keep on thumping that chest, pal! It' s really hilarious!
I grew up in farm country and watched a lot of " mom and pop" farms go belly up, and these folks were real good friends and family. I still hold some bitter grudges toward big business and some government agencies. But I know that those folks didn' t lose their livlihood for lack of effort. THAT is what makes their situation so sickening. But if an operation takes advantage of clients and willfully misleads and falsifies advertisements to take the hard earned cash from the working clients, then I say to hell with them! Let them lose their business! It' s common knowledge that when you provide a service to the paying public and you don' t " ruck up" with your promises, you lose!
schmalts, you hit the nail right on the head! Most times a reference list from the outfitter is dripping with bias. A lot of times when I call for references I' ll ask them if they made any new friends while hunting with an outfitter, and if I can get names and phone #' s, I' ll see if those names are on the reference list, and if they aren' t, they are the first people I call. Ninety percent of the reference list will be " regulars" that return every year or so and are well cared for by the outfitter because of healthy gratuities dished out to the staff. Shopping for a reliable and trustworthy outfitter is far from easy. I know I work way too hard for my money to dish it out to someone who can' t or won' t stand by their promises.[:@]