Profil von michaelrobinson

We have recently returned from our annual skiing trip to Saalbach in Austria.

Before we set off to Austria we booked our ski hire through the web site Ski Set and the ski’s were collected from Sport Hagleitner 1 shop in Saalbach.

We booked 2 sets of ski’s through the web site and both sets of ski’s booked were Performance Gold level at an on line cost of 96.00 Euro’s each. We also opted to pay insurance for the ski’s at a cost of 24 Euro’s on the understanding that this would fully cover us for any damage of theft.

We collected our ski’s on Saturday at 16:30 hours ready to commence skiing the following day. The ski’s which we were given were not the performance gold level as ordered, but the Discovery Silver level. The Sport Hagleitner shop called the Performance Gold ‘VIP’ Ski’s and the Discovery Silver ‘Top Ski’s’. We were both provided with ‘Top Ski’s’. When we queried this we were told that we had been given the correct ski’s as booked through the Web Site.

We also took ten other members of our party to the shop where they hired their ski’s. It was interesting to find that they paid less than what we had paid online and they were given the same ‘top ski’s’ that we had been given.

On Monday we had lunch at a mountain restaurant. When we came out of the restaurant we found that one set of our ski’s had been taken and another pair of ski’s put in their place. The ski’s were exactly the same size on the bindings and we assumed that someone had taken our ski’s by mistake. We immediately made our way down the mountain and to the Sport Hagleitner 1 shop to report that the ski’s had been taken. We reported this to Monica who we understand is the owner of the shop.

Monica was not sympathetic at all and immediately demanded the sum of 350 Euro’s before we leave the shop and told my partner that she was a thief. I explained to Monica that we had taken out insurance on the ski’s and Monica advised us that the 350 Euro’s that she demanded was excess and that if we had not taken out insurance that we would have to pay double. I then asked Monica for a copy of the terms and conditions for the ski hire and insurance and was informed that this was not available. Monica then went on to reiterate that my partner was a thief and that if she did not return the ski’s to the police station that she would call the police. I also note that the web site does not state that we would still have to pay excess even though we had taken out insurance.

Monica then showed us a poster in the shop which stated that excess was 350 Euros on VIP ski’s and 200 Euros on Top Ski’s. I then tried to explain to Monica that we had not been given VIP ski’s and showed her the other pair of ski’s which had a label stating they were ‘Top Ski’s’. At this stage Monica totally refused to speak with us any further and called over a Male assistant to remove is from the shop. She told us that if we did not leave the shop that she would call the police and report us for stealing ski’s.

We left the shop, but in the heat of the moment, I forgot to pick up my ski’s, I returned minutes later only to find that my Ski’s were not in front of the counter where I had left them. I asked Monica for my ski’s and she just laughed and told me to get out of the shop. I then realised that she had placed my ski’s at the back of the counter and asked her to give them back to me. She refused. At this stage I was very cross so I reached over and took the ski’s and left the shop. As we left Monica shouted that she was calling the police and that they would be coming to our hotel to arrest us.

I have to say that I have never experienced anyone with such a rude and ignorant attitude and cannot believe that she is the owner of the shop. We experienced a similar problem on a previous visit to Saalbach and had hired our Ski’s from Intersport. We had not taken out any insurance and they only asked for a fraction of what Sport Hagleitner had requested. Intersport were extremely helpful and fully understood the problem.

We then returned to our pension and explained what had happened to the owners of the pension and that the Police may arrive at any time to arrest us. They were quite shocked that we had been treated this way but when we told them which shop we used they became less surprised and indicated that they knew of other people who had also had problems with the shop.

After a sleepless night we got up early the following morning and returned to the mountain restaurant where the ski’s had been taken. We spoke to the manager of the restaurant and he informed us that the person who had taken our ski’s had also been in touch and reported that they had the wrong ski’s. We later swapped ski’s and continued the rest of the week without a further problem.

Later in the week more members of our party arrived and we directed them to another ski hire shop, Sport 2000 which was recommended by the owners of the Pension. Whilst in the shop I asked the manager about their policy on insurance and stolen ski’s and they advised that they do not take out insurance as people tend not to look after the ski’s as well. I went on to ask what would happen if the ski’s were lost and they advised that they would immediately reduce the cost by 50 % then look at how many times the ski’s had been rented out to determine an accurate cost, they advised that the cost would be much less than the 350 Euros which had been demanded for our ski’s and they were also quite shocked when we explained what had happened. When they looked at my ski’s they advised that they were several seasons old and could never be classed as performance gold ski’s.

Basically, we feel that we have been totally ripped off and that if the hire ski’s had not turned up the incident may have put us off skiing for life.

The incident in the shop and attitude of Monica totally ruined our holiday.

It goes without saying that we will never use the Web Site again to book our ski’s