fun and games booking ski lessons at Arc 1600......

Alex Heney wrote:

Bed by 9:30? Pfah! Amateurs.

Yes, the lifts have been open for an hour by then :-). What do you
want to go to bed then for?
--

Lifts? In Val Claret the Melting Pot usually kicks out at 4ish I think,
then you can grab your gear and hike up Piste H for a couple of hours
to the top of Toviere. Watch the sun come up and then down you come.
Just don't try and steal any snow-mobiles or piste bashers en route.
We're not students any more (well, some of us aren't)

Matt

Hey, nice discovery! Thanks for the tip!

" " wrote in
message ...
Just a thought and seeing that you are off to Les Arcs, but have you
looked at the digital map site http://www.memory-map.co.uk/downloads.htm
and looked at their sample map area for France. They have centred the map
at Bourg st Maurice and most of the Les Arcs Ski area is covered with
1:25000 maps and aerial photography. There is even a 3D viewing system
with fly through so you can envisage what the route will look like. And
because it is only trial software it is free! I was so impressed I bought
a full copy of the system to look at other areas as well.

John

JohnRicketts wrote:
Well.....where do I start. The women in my family also happen to be the
learners. They don't like slumming it, they object to the long drive (or
is it my driving?) they expect you to ski with them, they don't put in
enough (any even) preparation at the gym then wonder why they cant hack
it. A week away with the lads also has a competitive edge! And in
anycase, if you ski first lift till last every day then you can manage
bed at 9:30pm on your own quite nicely without missing the female
company! ;-)

John
PS. No offence to other females who may be extremely active,
non-complaining and quite capable of hacking the pace! :-)

" " wrote in
message ...

I can understand driving down overnight - I did it 3 times last year and
I can understand, just, the renting of 3 cars from Geneva airaport, but
why no women? That will take a lot of figuring out. I suppose the not
taking learners (aren't we all still learning?) is about trying not to
corrupt other people to our pleasures and hence in the long run saving
them from having to go skiing 2 or 3 times a year - for ever! Very noble
of you.

John

John Ricketts wrote:


:-)
Thanks.

Getting them to respond to emails within (say) 24 hours would be a good
start, even if its just a standard reply! They could then progress to
learning how to reply to faxes! You get the feeling that technology is
passing them by somehow....

Thinking about it, perhaps the office is only staffed part of the week
at this time of year??? (just trying to find them a good excuse)

Changing subject completely (and while I'm in a "whinging pom" kind of a
mood), I figured it would be a good idea to hire an mpv and a car seeing
as there are 6 of us staying in Bourg (and 4 up the mountain). However,
the rates for 6+ seaters were ridiculous! I ended up booking 3 mazda 2's
from budget at Geneva (swiss side) for £137 each for 8 days. A Ford
Galaxy or similar was going on for £600!!!

John

PS. Next year, I think I'll drive down overnight again. 1 car load, no
learners, men only!! ;-)

"pg" wrote in message
. ..


"John Ricketts" wrote in message
...
| Hmm..... ESF don't seem to make it very easy to give them money. For
a
| non-french speaker (I am having lessons now!) trying to book some
private
| lessons for a couple of beginners in our party of 10 at feb 1/2
term.snip

Ha, while you were writing that I was chatting to the 1800 ESF director
Jean Marc Haas over a coffee, and he was telling me how much the
websites had improved since the last time I complained (the translated
version of the ESF 2000 site was a joke a couple of years back, the
English virtually incomprehensible). Daniel who runs the ESF up at 1600
is a nice guy, receptive to comments about service etc, I'll pass on
your views!

Pete
http://mysnowsports.com

Update! I finally got a 1 line email back after 1 week! Unfortunately, it did not acknowledge the booking form faxed through, but instead just asked me to visit the website!

"vous pouvez visiter notre site esflesarcs.com merci"

I reckon my FAX (carefully babel-fished in french) must be sitting in a locked office somewhere.....reminds me of the Carlsberg advert with the phone ringing in the deserted customer complaints department........ except in this instance its the customer order department!!

Am I just too early??? Do they not start taking lesson bookings yet?

John




"Matt T" wrote in message ups.com...

pg wrote:

"John Ricketts" wrote in message
...
| Hmm..... ESF don't seem to make it very easy to give them money. For a
| non-french speaker (I am having lessons now!) trying to book some
private
| lessons for a couple of beginners in our party of 10 at feb 1/2
term.snip

Ha, while you were writing that I was chatting to the 1800 ESF director
Jean Marc Haas over a coffee, and he was telling me how much the
websites had improved since the last time I complained (the translated
version of the ESF 2000 site was a joke a couple of years back, the
English virtually incomprehensible). Daniel who runs the ESF up at 1600
is a nice guy, receptive to comments about service etc, I'll pass on
your views!

Pete
http://mysnowsports.com

Same same but different - I was trying to sort out my new Tignes pass
on their website which seems to have had an overhaul since last winter.
Also trying to work out whether they're doing half price season passes
this autumn. Managed to login okay, English translation is pretty good,
try and book anything - "you must have at least one Tignes Pass to book
this". Okay, how do I book a Tignes Pass? "If you just want to book a
Tignes Pass, tick the Tignes Pass only"

Hmm, now where's that checkbox....hunts around... je ne sais pas.

Matt

"JR" wrote in message
...
Update! I finally got a 1 line email back after 1 week! Unfortunately,
it did not acknowledge the booking form faxed through, but instead just
asked me to visit the website!

"vous pouvez visiter notre site esflesarcs.com merci"

I reckon my FAX (carefully babel-fished in french) must be sitting in a
locked office somewhere.....reminds me of the Carlsberg advert with the
phone ringing in the deserted customer complaints department........
except in this instance its the customer order department!!

Am I just too early??? Do they not start taking lesson bookings yet?

John

That's pretty pathetic. Not spoken to Daniel (Arc 1600) yet, but if it's
ok with you I'll print off your comments here and give them to his
colleague from Arc 1800 tomorrow, we've a meeting in the evening.

Pete

We had a similar experience with ESF at Valloire last year. Tried to book
through website, sent a Fax, got no acknowledgement. Phoned, told
everything OK. Turned up (this is half term week) and told no lessons for
us - yes they had got our Fax but tough.

Pity that ESF maintains a monopoly in so many resorts....

Mark Hunter


"JR" wrote in message
...
Update! I finally got a 1 line email back after 1 week! Unfortunately, it
did not acknowledge the booking form faxed through, but instead just asked
me to visit the website!

"vous pouvez visiter notre site esflesarcs.com merci"

I reckon my FAX (carefully babel-fished in french) must be sitting in a
locked office somewhere.....reminds me of the Carlsberg advert with the
phone ringing in the deserted customer complaints department........ except
in this instance its the customer order department!!

Am I just too early??? Do they not start taking lesson bookings yet?

John




"Matt T" wrote in message
ups.com...

pg wrote:

"John Ricketts" wrote in message
...
| Hmm..... ESF don't seem to make it very easy to give them money. For a
| non-french speaker (I am having lessons now!) trying to book some
private
| lessons for a couple of beginners in our party of 10 at feb 1/2
term.snip

Ha, while you were writing that I was chatting to the 1800 ESF director
Jean Marc Haas over a coffee, and he was telling me how much the
websites had improved since the last time I complained (the translated
version of the ESF 2000 site was a joke a couple of years back, the
English virtually incomprehensible). Daniel who runs the ESF up at 1600
is a nice guy, receptive to comments about service etc, I'll pass on
your views!

Pete
http://mysnowsports.com

Same same but different - I was trying to sort out my new Tignes pass
on their website which seems to have had an overhaul since last winter.
Also trying to work out whether they're doing half price season passes
this autumn. Managed to login okay, English translation is pretty good,
try and book anything - "you must have at least one Tignes Pass to book
this". Okay, how do I book a Tignes Pass? "If you just want to book a
Tignes Pass, tick the Tignes Pass only"

Hmm, now where's that checkbox....hunts around... je ne sais pas.

Matt

And finally....after 4 weeks!.....

__________________________________________________ __________________
Bonjour

Nous avons bien reçu votre réservation pour les cours particuliers

du dimanche 18/02 au jeudi 22/02/07 de 12h à 14h en anglais

nous traiterons votre demande et vos arrhes uniquement en décembre.
Dans l'attente, recevez, nos sportives salutations.

A bientôt !"
__________________________________________________ ____________________

How can it possibly take 4 weeks to acknowledge an order! Its absolutely crazy! Still, I guess I'll just have to be extremely grateful that ESF would be so good as to stoop so low as to offer their services to a couple of mere english beginners ;-)

John (relieved, all pieces of the puzzle now in place for feb 1/2 term)



"pg" wrote in message ...

"John Ricketts" wrote in message
...
| Hmm..... ESF don't seem to make it very easy to give them money. For a
| non-french speaker (I am having lessons now!) trying to book some
private
| lessons for a couple of beginners in our party of 10 at feb 1/2
term.snip

Ha, while you were writing that I was chatting to the 1800 ESF director
Jean Marc Haas over a coffee, and he was telling me how much the
websites had improved since the last time I complained (the translated
version of the ESF 2000 site was a joke a couple of years back, the
English virtually incomprehensible). Daniel who runs the ESF up at 1600
is a nice guy, receptive to comments about service etc, I'll pass on
your views!

Pete
http://mysnowsports.com

"JR" wrote in message
...
And finally....after 4 weeks!.....

_______________________________________________ _____________________
Bonjour

Nous avons bien reçu votre réservation pour les cours particuliers

du dimanche 18/02 au jeudi 22/02/07 de 12h à 14h en anglais

nous traiterons votre demande et vos arrhes uniquement en décembre.
Dans l'attente, recevez, nos sportives salutations.

A bientôt !"
__________________________________________________ ____________________

How can it possibly take 4 weeks to acknowledge an order! Its absolutely
crazy! Still, I guess I'll just have to be extremely grateful that ESF
would be so good as to stoop so low as to offer their services to a
couple of mere english beginners ;-)

John (relieved, all pieces of the puzzle now in place for feb 1/2 term)

==========================

I did make a few pointed comments, and the response was that they were
"working on a few technical problems"!

How can it take four weeks? Easy! This is the way things 'work' in
France. My eldest and boyfriend are doing a season at Les Arcs this
year. No bank accounts, so I took them along to my bank in Bourg
yesterday morning. Couldn't take them the day before because the branch
is closed Mondays "Sorry, but you will need an appointment, how does
Wednesday November 1st sound?" Sorry, it has to be today. [Snooty look
from employee, part of special training in customer relations, along
with the deliberate 25 second delay as you reach the front of the queue
before she looks up from what she's not doing] "Well I'll check, but I
doubt the manager will be free, he has appointments every day until
then".

Hour later, phone rings, expected call from manager. "I can just about
fit you in at 3.15" Fine, sorted. Bundle daughter off at appointed time.
"You not coming?" Sorry no, too busy (I knew what was coming).

5.15 pm, they return, white-faced, drained, exhausted. Exactly one hour
and fifty minutes to open two standard current accounts.

That's France.

Looks like there's a big hole for a customer relations consultant over
there! Could be a useful side-line for you!

John

"pg" wrote in message
...
"JR" wrote in message
...
And finally....after 4 weeks!.....

_______________________________________________ _____________________
Bonjour

Nous avons bien reçu votre réservation pour les cours particuliers

du dimanche 18/02 au jeudi 22/02/07 de 12h à 14h en anglais

nous traiterons votre demande et vos arrhes uniquement en décembre.
Dans l'attente, recevez, nos sportives salutations.

A bientôt !"
__________________________________________________ ____________________

How can it possibly take 4 weeks to acknowledge an order! Its absolutely
crazy! Still, I guess I'll just have to be extremely grateful that ESF
would be so good as to stoop so low as to offer their services to a
couple of mere english beginners ;-)

John (relieved, all pieces of the puzzle now in place for feb 1/2 term)

==========================

I did make a few pointed comments, and the response was that they were
"working on a few technical problems"!

How can it take four weeks? Easy! This is the way things 'work' in
France. My eldest and boyfriend are doing a season at Les Arcs this
year. No bank accounts, so I took them along to my bank in Bourg
yesterday morning. Couldn't take them the day before because the branch
is closed Mondays "Sorry, but you will need an appointment, how does
Wednesday November 1st sound?" Sorry, it has to be today. [Snooty look
from employee, part of special training in customer relations, along
with the deliberate 25 second delay as you reach the front of the queue
before she looks up from what she's not doing] "Well I'll check, but I
doubt the manager will be free, he has appointments every day until
then".

Hour later, phone rings, expected call from manager. "I can just about
fit you in at 3.15" Fine, sorted. Bundle daughter off at appointed time.
"You not coming?" Sorry no, too busy (I knew what was coming).

5.15 pm, they return, white-faced, drained, exhausted. Exactly one hour
and fifty minutes to open two standard current accounts.

That's France.

JR wrote:
Looks like there's a big hole for a customer relations consultant over
there! Could be a useful side-line for you!

John


Tongue-in-cheek quote from my Wife's fench lawyer today who hadn't got
back to her for a while:

"Ah, oui. You have to remember that French people are very busy at the
moment. And we're also very rude."

To be fair, in my limited experience the French are about as good as
the British when it comes to customer service, admin, phoning you back
etc. etc. - in fact I'd say they were slightly better. I was stunned
when last season a France Telecom engineer turned up on time, up a
mountain in the middle of December when the appointment had been made
some 6 weeks earlier.

Matt