We showed up last Friday at COLTS NECK GC in NJ to play a round of golf - my buddy won a round of golf for four at a charity benefit (project graduation for a local HS). He called a few weeks ago and made the tee time for 2:09 in the afternoon. We all took the day off, and were looking forward to playing a course we'd never played before.

However when we went to check in at the pro shop, we were told by the staff at COLTS NECK GC, that our gift certificate clearly read "WEEKDAY," and at COLTS NECK GC, Friday is a weekend! The manager explained that we should have told the person taking the reservation that our gift certificate said weekday. "It happens all the time here," the 25 year old manager explained to us "but there is nothing I can do - you can't use that gift certificate to play today."

We offered, reluctantly, to pay the difference between a weekday rate and a weekend rate. "Nope," he said, the computer will not accept the gift certificate for a weekend round. Howerver he suggested "why don't you just pay the weekend rate today, and use your gift certificate next week, Monday thru Thursday."

We're not youngsters, we range in age from 48-65, and are VERY calm and reasonable. When we asked him if there was anything he could do to assist us, especially since it was now well past 2:00, and the chance of finding another course with an open tee time was pretty non existent. The kid insisted that there was nothing he could do for us. But told us to be more explicit about the type of gift certificate we had if we ever called again, because this happens all the time at COLTS NECK GC. We asked why the reservationist doesn't ask this question, since it does happen all the time. We got a "shurg."

I won't go back and play COLTS NECK GC, when my buddies do redeem the gift certificate.

as long as I can remember friday was always the "weekend" rate.

Stinks about the misunderstanding, but did whomever made the tee time mention that you would be using a gift certificate? IMO, it's impractical for their staff to ask everyone who calls in if they're using a gift certificate. Kind of curious why you couldn't pay the difference though, especially in this economy, I would think most courses would be as accommodating as possible.

They should probably put it on the gift certificate itself to avoid any future confusion.

I've seen a lot of courses Friday as a weekend when it comes to discounts, certificates, etc even when it's a weekday rate. I've seen others that consider it a straight up weekend during the summer. From a business perspective it makes sense on popular courses. They are trying to maximize revenue on their slowest days.

But I'm surprised they wouldn't try to make things work once you were there. You already were onsite and had the time reserved. It's unlikely they would get any revenue for the spot, so making a partial sale and creating goodwill would be a good option. The suggestion of paying full price, then coming back for your discount round isn't exactly going out on a limb.

When making the tee time, my buddy mentioned the gift certificate, but did not explicitly say it was for "weekday" play. If we had known, or were told, we would have made different accomodations. Maybe its our fault for not going on-line to check their site?

I understand there are courses that use Friday as a weekend for greens fee purposes. However most of the courses I play are county courses and the weekend starts on Saturday.

Our frustration was with the way it was handled once we were at the course. I feel they could have been more flexible - especially since we offered to pay the difference in weekday vs. weekend rates. We were also concerned since it was Friday afternoon, we all took the day off to play, and didn't think we'd find another course to play that day.

Luckily one of the Middlesex County golf courses got us on, at non-resident weekday rates ($39 each, including cart) and we finished just as it began to get dark.

That kinda sucks...sorry that happened.

Friday has always been a weekend to golf courses.



I'm sure they'll survive- he he he!

It seems impractical to put "Free weekday round of golf" on the certificate and not state that weekday is Monday-Thursday. I have a book of golf discounts for the state of Tennessee and the courses that use an extended weekend for ratings all state Monday-Thursday in the description. Seems like an easy fix to me especially if it happens all the time.

thats ridiculous, whatever happened to "the customer is always right", especially in this case since it was a simple misunderstanding, and yes, friday is a f'n weekday, thats bs, i would have been pretty po'd, and my home course actually offers a $40 play all day rate on friday for whoever said friday is a weekend rate day, so i definately feel for you there, if that is there policy i have absolutely no problem with that, run your business how you would like, but an acception should have been made, sorry man

Did the gift certificate read something along the lines of: "good on any weekday" or "good for any weekday rate"?

If its the former, under New Jersey consumer protection law, the club is actually legally liable to honor the gift certificate.

You should not only never go back there, you should bring suit against them!

A suit against them? That's one of the dumbest things I've read here WRX! ha ha ha! Something a nine year-old would say.

Most of the courses I play consider their weekend to be Friday to Sunday which seems incredibly ridiculous in my opinion. The manager really should have offered your group to play at a discounted rate and the certificate should have said that it was good Monday - Thursday only as not all courses consider Friday a weekend.

That stinks, but can you really pass up free golf? I would still go and play the course for free if I was you.

Interesting responses - but I think its a dead issue now.

I certainly wouldn't do anything more than write a letter to the club - or post my frustration on a golf forum or two.

I understand now that Friday is considered a weekend at many golf courses - but not all.

However my frustration still is that the course could have done something to accomodate us:
1. Allow us to play at our 2:09 time and redeem the certificate on Monday if the computer wouldn't accept it on Friday.
2. Redeem the certificate, give us the cash value, we would have returned the cash to them, along with the difference betwen the weekday and weekend rates.

There are many other options they could have taken, I'm sure, to get us on the course.

Its a closed issue for me now. I vented and feel better. And the course will survive without my ever playing there. LOL

How many nine year-olds practice consumer protection law in New Jersey?

Four people took the day off of work and relied on the knowledge that they had a weekday round of golf coming to them at no cost. "Weekday" has a common definition, however, the golf course has redefined it without notifying the recipient of the gift certificate!

There are real money damages here and the law in New Jersey allows for recovery of treble damages. What is a day off from work worth to you? Now triple it and multiply it by four and that is the extent of the golf course's liability for making a play on words and redefining Friday as a weekend day.

This is consumer fraud through and through. Sorry to hear you won't fight for your rights Bomb and Gouge or should I call you Sheep and Graze? But hey, its your right to get hosed.

P.S.

Maybe if more of us stood up for our rights American consumers wouldn't get taken advantage of as much.

Maybe a lawsuit is a bit much i dunno, but your P.S. is right on the money.

So many people b**** about business but never actually let the right person at the company know.

Coming from the snow sport industry Friday is usually a weekend, shoot even some Mondays are too, but the coupon in question absolutely should have stated the times it was restricted. If a Ski Resort gave out vague "weekday" coupons without explaining their definition of "weekend" and holiday blackout periods their would be many lawsuits filed.

A well written letter sent to the owner can sometimes do wonders.

P.S.

Same thing seems to be taking place on the courses more and more - I see a lot of complaints here about etiquette and rules problems on the course, yet when was the last time anyone actually (politely) called someone on their poor course behavior?

P.S.S.

Had no idea the word for a female dog in heat was grounds for censorship.-sorry.no, really sorry.

Simple solution. Go back to use the gift certificate. DO NOT SPEND A DIME. No food, no beer, no pro shop. Eat before/after, drink after somewhere else. Play your free round of golf, don't put acent in their till. *Then* write the letter, and make clear what happened, and what you did do. Make clear how much you didn't spend, and how much won't come in from your foursomes not paying green fees there, nor from anyone else to whom you may pass along your little tidbits of information.

think you should have told them you had a coupon. If you ordered a pizza wouldn't you tell them before the delivery guy gets there. Little common sense goes a long way. I dont think the course is totally to blame, especially since you have not played there before, it's always smart to ask.

Thr manager probably did not know what to do, agreed kinda clueless he should have worked with you a little if the price difference was not huge and course was not crowded.

Whatever the law says doesn't matter, unless you want to make some money out of this. From reading his first port, i don't think that's what the OP is after. Lawyers' logic ... i hate it.

I just checked their website ... it's a 10$ difference per person.

This is just a case of an utterly idiotic manager. The tee time was booked, if he wanted them to pay the full charge, they would have complied ... everybody happy ... simple courtesy. If there was a waiting list for people at that exact tee time, maybe from a business point of view i could understand. But no one is achieving anything with this.

It's stuff like this that gives a business bad rep. Someone on golfwrx wants to see if there is a review on here about Colts Neck GC, this is what he/she finds. There you go ... reputation slammed because of something that could have been resolved in no time.

The computer bla bla bla ... utter BS

Seems like fewer people these days understand the meaning of the words "Customer Service." I get the same kind of stupid looks and idiotic responses from the guys working at the club I practice at. The head pro there doesn't look to be over about 26 years old. I have a range membership. I've politely suggested a few times to him and anyone else in any position to do something about it that they put a wash bucket out on the range or get a club caddy. All I get is "Yea, that's a good idea." Still waiting! Then they tell me they can only hand out 2 range tokens at a time (that's 60 balls) because they lose too many. I always ask for at least 5 and never leave with one in my pocket (and I've let them know this). I went up one day a couple of weeks ago to get a couple more tokens at 7:30 PM (sunset was at 9PM) and the guy was closing the pro shop, just about ready to lock the door. I tell him, "hey, I like to get a couple more tokens if you don't mind." He just looks at me and says "Sorry, I've already closed up the shop." So then I go down to the range and gather my stuff up the leave. The range picker (who knows me and has a bushel basket full of balls ready to go into the machine and knows I'm a member) asks me "leaving so early?" I explain to him that I was going to get a couple more tokens but the guy had closed up shop. I glance over at the bushel basket of balls, he doesn't answer me and I repeat the story. He just replys "Yea, I heard you." Doesn't offer to fill my now empty bucket. I just walked away shaking my head. Mind you this is in an area of the country that is being economically devastated and golf courses are really struggling. This kind of service sure doesn't inspire me to play the course, spend money in their pro shop or eat in their restaurant. When did so many clueless people start running golf courses?

Yet you still go back and give them your business?

Hit them where it hurts!

Probably a Jersey thing. The taxes are so high there that you might as well not work on Fridays because Corzine, Lautenberg, Mendez, et al (both parties) will just raise your taxes even more. Fridays as weekends? Maybe if you are a doctor.

I would avoid this course. The poster was a good Joe who won the coupon in a charity event. Colts Neck Golf Course are a bunch of vermin for not cutting the guy a break for donating to the charity. i would tell the school/charity.

There is a local course that is semi-private and the cost is modest. The people there are very nice. It is a little out of the way, but I try to go there when I can. My local muni's rangemaster course guys seemed to be crabby, but now that I know them they are good guys.

If I was a member at a place where they were jerking me around then I would send a letter to the general manager, ask for a meeting. I would tell them that I was going to quit and ask for a pro-rated refund because of the surly service. I played at a private club a few months ago thanks to a lucky invite. The people at the club were super.

I did not ask them to shine my shoes "with their finest shammy" like the judge in Caddyshack.

am i the only one bothered by these comments in the OP's post???

what does age have to do with anything in your situation?

are you somehow suggesting that if he was 45 years old, he would have been able to do something differently?

the fact is, as "the kid" told you, there's nothing he could do. he probably runs across that situation all the time where somebody is trying to redeem a gift certificate that is not redeemable for a Friday, Saturday or Sunday round. tough luck!

Like I said, I have an annual range membership there. I doesn't cost me any additional money to go hit balls, it's been pre-paid. It's my first year there. Didn't know they were so clueless when I got my membership. They didn't inform me of the "2 tokens at a time" limit until I'd been practicing there at least a month.

FRIDAY IS A WEEKDAY. Golf courses can charge however they want but don't call friday a weekend day. You can't just go messing around with time measurement like all willy-nilly, arbitrarily re-categorizing days of the week just to scam a few more bucks out of the unwitting. Next thing you know they are going to call 10:00AM "afternoon". Original poster, you have my sympathy.

seems like being friendly with the staff would get you farther in this situation

just walking back and asking for 2 more tokens again after you'd hit the first bucket of balls can't be that hard, plus if they see you hitting that many balls frequently they'll probably start bending the rules for you, (unless it's late in the evening when they're all trying to get home)

I've worked on a driving range in the past, the poor guy doesn't want to give you balls because the longer you hit, the longer he has to stay there to pick them all up. You hitting balls for an extra 45 minutes is 45 minutes later that this low wage employee gets to go home.
Mr low wage range guy does not want anyone on the range near closing time, so they can get out of there and go get some dinner.

most courses have the range cleaned as well as possible so that the greens crew can mow the range in the am without murdering range balls.

Well the state of Michigan aka Peoples Republic of Granholm is advertising on The Golf Channel to come to MI to play golf. The commercial shows some beautiful spots. I think I will pass. I went to Grand Rapids last year. Super nice people, great universities but what a screwed up state. I got the impression the people in Grand Rapids were pretty happy to have a job and everyone was nice.

I'm not bothered in the least! I'm willing to bet it does make a difference. A "Manager" is supposed to be a position with decision making authority. If not, then he's not a Manager, he's a clerk. The translation of, "There's nothing I can do," is:

"I don't have the authority or the initiative to do what is right."

The Manager should have:

1. Honored their certificate or allowed them to pay the difference
2. Spoken to the reservations person(s) and informed them that in the future they are to inform people with gift certificates that Fridays are considered a weekend at their club
3. Had gift certificates (to be sold in the future) changed to clearly print on them "Not redeemable on Friday, Sat. or Sunday" or:
4. Spoken to his Management to get this ridiculous Friday restriction eliminated from Weekday gift certificates

Now, do you think this moron who "runs into this problem all the time" has done any of those things? Some "Manager" he is!

Now that you mention it, maybe age does play a part! I said "kid" because he acted like a kid! I would expect someone with a bit more maturity to have been able to work out a solution that was amenable to all. If the "kid" was able to do that, he wouldn't have been a "kid" in my view. He would have been a 25 year old manager who displayed maturity. Does that make you happy? And no, we weren't trying to pull anything over on anyone, as your post kind of implied!

We mentioned the gift certificate when we made the reservation - no where on the gift certificate did it say Monday to Thursday only - it said "weekday", nor did the person from Colts Neck, who took the reservation tell us that Friday was a weekend at Colts Neck. We would probably have complied with almost any suggestion that the "kid" had made - except pay full price today and come back next week to redeem your coupon.

Sheesh! I'll try to be more sensitive to the "younger" crowd from now on.

1. agree with that (to a point). but then everybody would just bring those gift certificates in on the weekends and that would totally defeat the purpose.
2. who says he didn't?
3. who says he didn't?
4. who says he didn't?

Last year me and buddy had basically the same thing happen, only the manager at the pro shop was fantastic and took care of it in a very logical way:

My friend won a certificate for 2 free rounds at Lakeview Resort down in Morgantown WV. He told me it had to be weekday and so we made a tee time for the following Friday at noon. When we arrived there he handed the guy working at the shop the certificate, to which he replied, 'oh i'm really sorry but these can only be redeemed Mon-Thur.' He then showed us that it is printed on the certificate, in very small text under the 'Valid Weekdays' text. We of course asked if there was anything that they could do because not only had we taken off work, but we also made the trip from Pittsburgh all the way down there. He said the same thing, that unfortunately the computer would not allow him to enter the certificate since it was not a valid day to use it, but he said he could have the manager come talk to us. So the manager comes and we explain the situation to him, and here's the response he gives us:

"Ok well how about this guys.....the price difference between weekday and weekend is $20. So how about you guys pay the $20 difference, and what I'll do is enter into the computer that you're paying entirely in cash, then I'll put your certificate under the drawer in the register. Next week, as soon as I have two guys come in paying for weekday rounds, I'll enter the certificate then as though they're paying with it, and we're all balanced up."

Needless to say, we happily agreed and thanked him a couple times over. He told us it was not a problem and he wanted us to enjoy their course, especially after taking the time to come all that way.

I tend to think the guy in your case could have handled the situation in a similar manner.

Spoken like a true lawyer. It's unfortunate that we have become so litigious as a society that we are going to run around suing people for not honoring a coupon for free golf.

That sounds like a great use of the taxpayer's money: paying a judge to hear some ambulance-chaser suing a golf club because someone couldn't use a coupon on Friday.

It has nothing to do with 'fighting for your rights', IMHO. It has more to do with the fact that I wouldn't want to take several more days off work, and pay an attorney, to recover damages in the amount of 1 greens fee, and possibly 1 days pay (although they did get to play golf that day at another course, so the day off wasn't completely wasted).

The OP is right to not patronize the golf course if he feels he was mislead, however to take them to court for the damages is beyond ridiculous. It is a waste of taxpayer dollars, and it has nothing to do with 'fighting for his rights' and everything to do with lawyers lining their pockets.

The two token limit actually makes sense if you think of it from the frame of mind of a business man. When given an unlimited supply of balls with a membership, some members may be prone to requesting a lot more balls through their tokens than they will actually hit. Lets say i want to hit two buckets, i may ask for three since i don't want to run out. I then leave over a bucket worth of balls. Someone else comes along who is not a member and who pays by the bucket and they get a free bucket. That's great if your the beneficiary, but if you run the range, thats one less bucket you sold. Multiply that over a season and the amount of times it happens and it can really hurt.

Now, before you come back with the how great it is for customer relations to allow these free buckets, you have to remember this is a business that puts food on the table and pays the mortgage for someone. If they keep giving away the store or allow it to be given away, they make no money. The give away would be disproportional to the revenue it would generate.

Now, should the range guy have filled your buckets knowing you are a member who hits all his balls??? of course, THAT is bad service. But the two token limit is actually good business.

It became a weekend as soon as they realized they could make more money calling it such.

I noticed a couple of posts talking about the fact that the computer won't let them put in the certificate.

Do computers really hold that much power?

^LOL. yes they do. wink

The course probably gave the prizes away in the first place , they should say Mon-Thur on the gift cirtificate . Most promotional gifts that I get on line are Mon-Thur . If I can't get there on those days thats my problem not the courses .

Maybe so, but he's 100% correct.

Gonna tell you all a story guys and gals!

I am a senior assistant to Head PGA sticks and balls Pro at a club in Scotland. Been in this industry a long long time.

One day last year a group of 8 people phoned up and booked a couple of times at the shop. One of the junior assistants at the club took the call and promptly took their details and fixed them up with their allotted slots. Nothing crazy here?? I hear you all cry!!

AAAAAhhh my friends here comes the rub! In this group 2 of the people had previously played at the club a year ago and loved the course. At the time I had been chatting to them and because they loved the course so much i gave them a couple of 4 ball vouchers for half price golf the next time they came. Ya all come back now ya hear!!! was the cry when they left the shop that day.

So they did!

And they decided to use these vouchers and bring some friends........only trouble was that the vouchers had expired and theoretically could only be used weekdays too. They had booked a Sunday time. They hadn't noticed.

So along they came, itching for some golf!

They turned up at the shop and I was out the back at the time doing several sets of regrips for some members. The same junior assistant welcomed them and took their vouchers.

DISASTER!!!!

The flummoxed young lad was now in a situation....

"I'm sorry sirs and Ladies you cant redeem these vouchers as they are out of date and specifically designed for weekdays!!!"

The red mist obviously came down....... These lovely gents and Ladies had travelled a considerable distance with the promise of half price golf, lush fairways, true rolling greens and beautiful views in mind. Only to be told by a young man (not his fault!!!) that yer games a bogey!!

It was at this point in the already heated conversation that I walked in.

Now I must point out that I am no hero...but I do understand the value of customer service, word of mouth, pound signs in the till and a general good fealing at the club.

Within 2 shakes of a golfers waggle I had calmed the situation down. Apologised for this intolerable and quite upsetting experience. I Tore up the vouchers and instructed the young man to allow these lovely ladies and gents to play for free. The golf would be on us today and I won't hear a word of argument or see a pound thrown over the desk for green fees.

Serenity took over and once again the vain in my head STOPPED PULSING!

Later on, after their relaxing round, the 2 groups came back into the Pro shop and spent over £3000 on equipment, clothing and other odds and ends. Went into the bar and spent over £600 on food, drink, wine and cigars. Exclaimed that they were overjoyed with the kindness and service they had received and vowed to tell their friends back home about this lovely experience.......... And you know what????

They did!

One of the ladies (who I think was a touch squiffy after a few flaggons of the old devil juice!) even gave the young assistant a kiss on the cheek when she was leaving.

We have had these people back and back again, and their friends.......and their friends friends and so on. Spending similar amounts each time.

The moral of the story???

This is a service industry. GOOD Customer Service is appreciated and even with a recession on the horizon, people will still want to play golf. There are a lot of pounds and pennies to be spent.

The only question is.....Which club are they going to spend them at? The one that goes out of their way to stop them enjoying themselves or the one that goes out of their way to help them.

I will let you decide my friends!

Oh..... and I always thought Friday was a weekday? Must be getting old and stupid!

Happy Golfing!

You all come back now ya hear!!!

Bad customer service is NEVER good business. See the nice post above from Scotgolfer - someone who gets it! We need more people like him in the golf business. Believe me, if the people at my club treated me like that, I'd go out of my way to spend more money in their pro shop, their restaurant and I'd be encouraging my friends to do the same, just as Scotgolfer has found!

I agree that Friday is a "weekday". However, there are courses in this neck of the woods which advertize senior rates and other promotions, for Monday through Thursday.

Right, like this one for example:
http://www.coltsneckgolfclub.com/golf/greensfees.cfm

I have read all these posts and as a person who deals with the public all day everyday some of the responses are funny. The whole point is we are in a market where all businesses are needing to be be better,smarter, and take care customers like they never have before. If you don't the competition will. One other thing to remember is that making the customer happy doesn't always mean giving something for free,just addressing their concerns in an appropriate manor, showing genuine concern for there situation.Customer service coupled with a quality product is the only way to survive in todays harsh financial enviroment. Todd

I am guessing you never read the last paragraph of my post, so i have bolded it for you. Bad customer service is never acceptable, however, the 2 token policy for members of a range does have good logic behind it. Just because a customer is sometimes inconvenienced does not mean the policy is bad. Just because YOU never leave with any tokens or leave over balls does not mean that everyone else behaves the same way. Again, to reiterate, this does not excuse the poor attitudes you experienced.

This settles it then....if you look at the link, it says nothing about 'weekend rates' although rates on fridays are the same as sat/sun. Never says that Friday is a 'weekend' day. And if you look at Junior rates they are Mon-Fri with a time restraint on Sat/Sun/Holidays.

And according to webster -

Main Entry: week·day Pronunciation: \ˈwēk-ˌdā\ Function: noun Date: 14th century : a day of the week except Sunday or sometimes except Saturday and Sunday

I'll give them Sat/Sun but not Friday. And don't use the computer as an excuse...if it would have been a friend or VIP, I'm sure they could have worked around the computer. Kid or no kid, this is bad service and I would write the owner/manager a letter explaining what happened.....hopefully this person will be smart enough to take care of you and make this right. If nothing else, send them a printout of this discussion.

Spoken like a real troglodyte. First of all, its a small claims matter, so you would probably represent yourself. No lawyer lining his pocket - and as a matter of economics, you would have a hard time finding a lawyer who would take a case where the damages are so small.

But wasting tax payers' money? When you file a suit it costs money to file, in most places more than $200. Its not a free service paid for by the tax payers.

It sounds like you have quite a bone to pick with the legal profession but its us lawyers who have crusaded to create consumer protection laws in all 50 States.

Oops, gotta go, I hear an ambulance siren passing.

are you joking? I see that friday's rates being grouped with saturday and sunday mean that friday is a weekend to them.

I don't think there's any way a resonable person looks at that rate chart and concludes that friday is a weekday (I know friday is a weekday, but for golf rate purposes, in this case it is not)

Not really joking at all...just stating that they never actually call any of the 'groups' weekends or weekdays. If they called the Fri-Sun rates weekend rates, I would agree with you a little more....or if they called the Mon-Thur rates weekday rates, again, I might agree with you. So, if they used a little common sense and actually used consistent naming, they might not have these problems. And for Juniors, friday is a weekday...or is it just a special weekend price for that day only?

And, from my point of view, I don't think that any reasonable person getting a certificate good only on weekdays should ever think that they have to verify what they mean by weekday. Also, it said 'free'....should they have checked on that too?...does their definition of free mean you only have to pay greens frees and for the cart?

Give me a break.....if you are going to use a word like weekday and change the definition, put the actual days on there instead. Maybe this is why they were smart enough to not use weekend/weekday on the website.

I also had an issue with a course I played this weekend. I booked a tee time online a few days before. The course is about 35 miles away from my house. The day of the tee time comes and it is storming pretty bad. Called the course and asked if I could get a rain check. No deal they said, course was open after storms came through and it looked clear for the rest of the day. They said that is was non-refundable and non-cancelable. So I make the drive to save myself the $$$. Played one hole and the sirens went off. Lightning/Downpour etc. Went to the pro shop and they said the radar isn't looking good for getting back out anytime soon.

So basically it was 70 miles of driving to play one hole and get a rain check. Good customer service goes a long way. It amazes me when businesses are run like this. I will be back to play my rain check round, but not again. Nor will I bring guests from out of town, which I had been doing.