[Dixielandjazz] Road Problems

[Tom Wood]

PLEASE DELETE IF NOT INTERESTED IN TOURING

Dear Listers,

Tom's (Wiggins) tale about the train tickets and AMEX was enlightening.  I
think it is very helpful for travelling bands to highlight these problems
together as they can alert future tour organisers of potential situations
that might arise.

We are having some problems hiring vehicles on the Continent this year and
must hire two vehicles with twice the fuel cost across from Brussels to
Enkhuizen, Berlin, Dresden to Frankfurt.  We are travelling with three wives
making a band party of 10 which is at least more manageable than Tom's 13!!
However, any large transporters in Germany, Belgium, Holland (and most of
the continent) is normally 7 seats up to, in special cases, 8 or 9 people
maximum.  Any vehicle for over 8/9 persons requires a special license to
drive and they are normally not readily available (usually "on request")
even if you have the license.  They also have horrendous drop-off charges,
16% Airport loading plus 21% tax/excess charges with the usual additional
second driver fees.  The other problems are that they usually do not cater
for any luggage, as the term implies, they are "people (only) transporters"
without luggage space!  I tried to be smart and suggested taking a 15 seat
UK vehicle across the English Channel only to find that the hire company
insurance cover would not allow this.

Some of our kind American friends (e.g. Bob Romans and neighbours) will
recall us arriving at his door in Lodi in our 15 seat Dodge Ram and likewise
in UK using 12/15 seat vehicle hires which are no problem in these
countries.

We have ended up with an 8 seater VW plus 4 seater car hoping to squeeze all
our international luggage plus instruments into these two vehicles (even
roof racks are a problem).  It would almost be cheaper to buy a large second
hand vehicle in the UK for band use.  Perhaps we could set up some kind of
exchange for musicians for accommodation and band wagon (plus trailers/roof
racks) hire ?

Cheers,
Tom (any vans for hire?) Wood

----- Original Message -----
From: <TCASHWIGG at aol.com>
To: <Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2004 8:31 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz]was MORE ASCAP / now road war stories.


> My final input on this worthless to us organization,
>
> I treat them the same way as I would a letter from a collection agency,
for a
> company like American Express who I have had an eight year dispute with
and
> refuse to pay them for $4,000.00 worth of Train tickets that their Travel
> agency never delivered to me in Europe but rather showed up at my hotel at
5:00
> a.m. with a sealed envelope which was supposed to be my Round trip train
tickets
> from Paris to Switzerland for a festival.
>
> I boarded the train with 13 people in the band and got about thirty miles
> outside Paris when the conductor came by and asked for Les Billets,  (
Tickets)
> I handed him the sealed envelope, which he opened and went through finding
> the reservations for the group but not tickets.   I assured him that they
must
> be in ther because I had paid for them and the travel agency had delivered
them
> to me in that envelope.   "No, No Mizzureire (sic) zare ees no teekets,
only
> rezervations.   You must pay again or get off the train with all your
> peoples."
>
> OH crap, I could see thirteen guys walking back to Paris alongside the
train
> tracks with equipment and 35 pieces of luggage with my butt being kicked
all
> the way back, :))
>
> Well, I quickly figured no problem, just give him the Old AMEX card and
pay
> him and settle up with them when I get to Switzerland or back to Paris.
Wrong,
> Wrong, Wrong, "So sorry Mizzureire (Sic) but we do not accept zee credit
> cards, only cash on zee train in any currency or combinations of it zat
you
> haves."  So I made all the fellers cough up all the money in their pockets
and I
> took all that I had left in cash for road expenses for the trip and paid
the guy
> enough to get us 1/2 way to our destination.  When we got there I got off
the
> train and went to a ticket window and was able to recharge the rest of the
> fares to AMEX.  They assured me that their office in Paris would fix the
problem
> and refund my money when I got back to Paris.
>
> Well, after two days of fighting with them in Paris they still did not
refund
> the money and swore that they had placed the tickets inside the envelope,
> even though they had no records anywhere showing that they had indeed ever
even
> issued the tickets.
>
> Since the bill for AMEX does not come for about four weeks later I had to
> wait till I got back to the States to deal with it because our tour
continued on
> beyond Paris and I could not stay there and fight them forever.
>
> I wrote a letter to AMEX in the USA and explained it all to them and told
> them I was not going to pay for the second set of tickets, they said they
would
> cancel my AMEX Card, I told them I didn't care if they stuck it where the
Sun
> did not shine I was not gong to pay for what I did not get.  They insisted
that
> I would have to go back to Paris and settle it with zee French.  I said
you
> own the damned agency, you deal with them I am not going to pay you twice.
> They canceled my card, even though I paid for all the legitimate charges I
had
> made on it.  Then they called and harassed me for months trying to collect
the
> outstanding balance and I just kept hanging up on them and writing
"DECEASED"
> on all their mail and return to sender.
>
> To this day I won't do business with them, and I must get five
solicitations
> a month to take their stupid cards.
>
> So my final recommendation for ASCAP is the same:
>
> Just write "DECEASED" on anything you get form them and send it back
return
> to sender, you can bet it will not be a royalty check for you anyway.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Tom Wiggins
>
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