Solutions

The good news for anyone following my experience of dodgy services in South Australia is that we eventually recovered all our money back from Exotic Sportscar Hire. On the 27th January they took our $3,000 deposit. On the 29th January they informed us that there would be no refund until after 28 business days. $701 was paid back to us on the 14th March well after the stipulated refund period. After a lot of complaints by me to ESCH and perhaps action by Travel Zoo, a further $2,000 was refunded on the 19th March. We still had $299 outstanding, for which ESCH finally provided a readable reconciliation statement on the 15th March. In addition to the $189 we had paid for the original voucher, they were now claiming all sorts of reasons for making extra charges. I have already detailed how ridiculous these charges were in my previous post.

On the 15th March I phoned Consumer Affairs (Consumer and Business Services in SA). The first question the counsellor asked was whether I had contacted our credit card company. She explained that we had 90 days to raise with them a disputed payment and ask them to recover our money. If only I had known this from the start. It took two phone calls to the 28 Degrees MasterCard call centre to get some action. The first fellow tried to fob us off, but the second time we got a more professional worker. She immediately agreed to refer the matter to their disputed payments section in Melbourne. I had to supply copies of all our correspondence, and on the 15th April we got back the final $299.

I'm not sure if the 90 day dispute rule applies to debit cards as well. I had once been fobbed off by the people at ING DIRECT when I tried to recover my money from a company called the Decorator Bug after it went into liquidation. The man who ran this, and a number of other companies that install blinds, shutters and so on, appears to have been trading while insolvent. I had paid a forty percent deposit with a Visa Debit card. The person at ING DIRECT said that there was nothing that they could do. Maybe I should have been more assertive. It all worked out okay for me in the end but I know a lot of people lost large sums of deposit money. Interestingly the Decorator Bug is up and trading again.

I got another emailed response (11th March) from TravelZoo, which issued the voucher for Exotic Sports Car Hire. This basically stated that they bear no responsibility for us losing our money and having such a terrible experience. They did take some credit for our getting back some of the original $3,000. At least it seems that they will not be promoting Exotic Sportscar Hire in the future. I do despair about companies like ESCH. Eventually it will disappear from the scene, perhaps through bankruptcy and take with them all the money they have taken from their victims, and then probably re-emerge under another name, and it all starts over again. They are only a subsidiary of Stemidoju Pty Ltd.

Living Social is still promoting this company. They have varied their name to Exotic Sports Car Hire. I complained to Living Social and they claimed they would investigate. I also tried to add my complaint to the others on the LACARTES website but failed. They are still promoting ESCH.

The best thing about my experience with ESCH was a reminder of how many good people there are still out there, particularly those people who made comments or emailed me offering assistance. They had all lost money to ESCH, but they were still giving some of their valuable time to helping others. So many good people also helped me get the shutters I had ordered from the Decorator Bug and at the original cost. These experiences serve to remind me how many good people there are out there.

Most problems seem to have reasonably positive solutions, even if they are not evident at the time. In 2006 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and I have been keeping a separate blog of my journey with this disease entitled "God, Prostate Cancer, and Me". My father had it as well. They removed his prostate in a major operation that involved cutting through his stomach. When this didn't work they operated again and removed his testicles. After that there were no further treatment options.

I was diagnosed too late for the operation, which is now pinhole surgery. I have received external radiation therapy and internal radiation administered through small tubes inserted into my prostate. Castration has not been suggested but I have received medication that has the same effect. When these all failed to stop the progress of the cancer I was placed on a trial of a new drug Ipilimumab, marketed as Yervoy, and used primarily in the treatment of advanced cancers associated with melanoma. Maybe I was on the placebo but that do not do me any good either. I am now on chemotherapy, Docetaxel, every three weeks, and Prednisone, a steroid, twice daily. This has reduced the spread of the cancer and negated earlier symptoms, like lymphedema. My point is that there are options that weren't available to my father and the prospect of further advances. Don't give up. I like the old saying: "Tough times pass, but tough people keep going."    

Bad Service

Bad service doesn't really cut it. A terrible experience better describes the events leading from my purchasing a voucher to Exotic Sportscar Hire (a subsidiary of Stemidoju Pty Ltd, a company based in North Sydney) through Travelzoo Local (Australia) Pty Ltd late last year for $189. This should have been a fun thing. Maybe I'm at fault for being overly trusting, but this is the first time I've had trouble with a product sold through Travelzoo, or any of the scoupon issuing companies.
I bought the voucher for an 8-hour hire of either a Porsche Boxter or a Mercedes SLK convertible as a Christmas present. My good wife has had a lifelong ambition to possess a Mercedes Sports. Warning bells should have registered with Exotic Sportscar Hire (ESCH)'s demand for massive amounts of personal information, and lack of responsiveness to our request for a later starting time and preference for the Mercedes.
After making the 8am Sunday meeting time in a Glenelg hotel car park, Elizabeth had a brilliant day driving the issued Porsche Boxter, after first cleaning it up a bit. She also had to point out to the ESCH representative that he was 7 kilometres out in his speedometer reading.
Despite Travelzoo's fine print stating that there would be a "credit card pre-authorisation required with a limit of $3,000", the ESCH representative actually deducted $3,000 out of her account. Alarm bells really started ringing when ECSH informed us by email two days later that the $3,000 security deposit would not be repaid for 28 working/business days. Even after that time passed, it took a week of constant emails via the ESCH website to receive a refund of $701 and a non-readable reconciliation statement. When we managed to get a PDF reconciliation statement we were staggered at charges totalling $299 (i.e. in addition to the $189 already paid to Travelzoo for the voucher). The statement included all sorts of extra charges: an extra driver charge (when there was only one); a cleaning charge (the car was returned in the same state as collection); a 4% ($120) credit card charge on the security deposit (not mentioned at the time), and GST charges (not previously mentioned). We have calculated the only amount owing is $38.80, after deducting the $20 cheese platter voucher we never received.
I've not yet fully tested what Travelzoo might do to help. They are still promoting deals with Exotic Sportscar Hire. I did get a response originally when I had not been getting any from ESCH. The Travelzoo officer said that she hadn't been aware that ESCH kept the security deposit so long.
After more hassle, ESCH refunded a further $2,000 on 19/03/2013.
I feel the value of Travelzoo promotions generally are becoming just that, and not the great value they used to be. Whether we get the remaining $299 of the security deposit back only time will tell but it has been a lot of stress and wasted time. Stress is not good.

Another experience that generated those tight chest feelings was my visit to the Ashford Day Hospital on Monday (4/03/2013). I moved between four waiting rooms over the more than three and a half hours waiting for my operation. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive but I found the whole process impersonal. Even the anaesthetist had difficulty finding a spare room when he needed to interview me. I had expected more because of really positive experiences with the Adelaide Cancer Centre (ACC), which I think also comes under the Ashford. I was referred to have a port inserted in my chest for the easier delivery of the chemotherapy I'm getting at the Centre. Technically the service from the surgeon, anaesthetist and Ashford theatre staff in doing this was first rate.
I stayed in the Ashford overnight for observation, which just continued an already bad day. No offer was made to sponge me down from the operation or help me change out of the surgical gowns into pyjamas. The ties on the gowns kept unravelling every time I went to the toilet (a not infrequent event) and I started worrying I might dislodge the chords dangling from the needle in my chest. I guess there could have been good reasons for just offering me a sandwich and cheese and crackers that night. Not having eaten since early morning I was pretty hungry and hoping for a proper meal, perhaps supported with a glass of wine. No main course was offered for breakfast either, just cereal and a piece of toast.
The next day I was up, had a shower, dressed in my usual clothes and out of there for a proper meal - a wonderful feeling.

While I am laying out those experiences that have given me grief, I have to mention my attempt last year to have the refrigerator repaired. The fridge was making these intermittent loud noises, which from my internet search seemed to be a slipping fan belt in the motor and beyond my capability. I phoned what I thought was a local company, but I was directed to a call centre for Electrical Refrigeration Services or ERS, and and according to their account this is somehow connected with Sharpe Electrical. The technician had an offsider whose job appeared to be to prepare the bill.
Of course the noise had stopped when he got there and he simply stated "I don't know what it is". I tried to explain further what I had heard, but he just said that one of the motors probably needed replacing and that he couldn't tell which one it was without hearing the noise, and that I needed to pay him $110. Before I knew it I was handing over the credit card and they were out the door. The whole thing was over in less than five minutes. I wouldn't have felt so bad if he had at least taken the back off the machine and pretended to check the mechanism for awhile. I'm now putting up with the noise. I think when I get the money I'll just buy a new refrigerator.

And what is happening at Waterfall Gully? One of my ways at keeping healthy is to do the inspiring, but exhausting, trek from there up to Mount Lofty and back down again. The trail goes through a range of bushland, provides spectacular views and frequent contact with native beasties. Many of the people I meet along the trail are overseas visitors, no doubt directed there by Tourism SA. This is a very popular walk or, in the case of the very fit, run. Waterfall Gully is also now being used for weddings, in addition to the restaurant that has been built into the side of the hill. All of this is administered by Parks SA. But why is there so little parking provided? Even during the week parking overflows to the road, but on the weekend it is crazy trying to find a park and the man giving out $140 tickets for illegal parkers is kept fully occupied. Car drivers are aggressive, as only Australians can be when fighting over scarce resources. What must our international visitors be thinking?
I have a negative impression of Parks SA. The only officers I can remember seeing are those at places like the gates at the Innes national Park where they take your money. When I first came to South Australia, I brought with me many positive experiences of camping and bush walking in Queensland. But the camping grounds I've been to here have been expensive and unpatrolled. The main animals are vermin, rabbits and foxes. I gave up camping at the designated grounds because they were invariably invaded by drunken all night parties. These were no small affairs but often supported by large loud speakers, spotlights and beer kegs. People who attempted to reason with the party goers were just abused or ignored.

I do not mean to give the impression that much of the service industry here in South Australia is bad, although some of it is down there with the worst I've seen overseas. I have also had many good experiences. For example, I must have the fortune to be a member of one of the best gyms in the world - Health Works, at Marden. There is the usual top of the range of equipment and classes, but the owner/managers, Wayne and Des, maintain a fun, but professional, atmosphere, a good distraction from the pain of exercise. With the help of new technology, they've now open twenty-four hours, but I prefer to go when the guys are there.

Since I last reported I've had a few small writing successes. In the middle of last year I won a Campbelltown Literary Encouragement Award and some money courtesy of the Campbelltown City Council. I titled my short story, The man with the frog growing under his arm, a whimsical, horror tale about the history of Thornden Park. For anyone tempted to read a fairly short story this can be found at the following link: The man with the frog growing under his arm. I was criticised for my paragraph formatting (spacing between paragraphs rather than indenting the first line). I'm not sure...
I was really pleased to have the story of my great uncle, and his family, published as "Armidale's Cordial King: William Henry Logan", Armidale and District Historical Society, Jounal and Proceedings, No. 55, September 2012, pp 63 - 79.