Oh wow. And so it continues. A "first time" poster with a shocking charge against Sugar Mountain. Couple of years ago, someone got personally insulted by Gunther in his office about a supposed ski theft. And the complaint was from a first time poster.
Some folks like Sugar, some folks don't. No big deal. But it is amusing to watch folks jump on the bandwagon everytime a newbie joins with a complaint.
Just don't go. Pretty easy. If it happens, walk away. Leave. No one is forcing anyone to ski there or pay whatever they want to charge. If this story is real and enough people do that, that is what will change things. Given that only one "poster" has shared this particular story, I do wonder how accurate it is.
The End of an Era...We are Shutting Down the Messageboard
The messageboard is now in read-only mode and no new posts or topics can be created. We will leave the messageboard up for historical purposes, but you will not be able to make new posts or comment on existing ones.
We have started a Discord server and hope that you all will join us on there. Technology has changed over the years and maintaining the messageboard has become somewhat of a pain in the butt and Discord offers many features for users, the main one being a very polished mobile app.
We really hope you all will join us on Discord and think you will like the platform. Use the invite link below to join.
https://discord.gg/skisoutheast
The messageboard is now in read-only mode and no new posts or topics can be created. We will leave the messageboard up for historical purposes, but you will not be able to make new posts or comment on existing ones.
We have started a Discord server and hope that you all will join us on there. Technology has changed over the years and maintaining the messageboard has become somewhat of a pain in the butt and Discord offers many features for users, the main one being a very polished mobile app.
We really hope you all will join us on Discord and think you will like the platform. Use the invite link below to join.
https://discord.gg/skisoutheast
*BEWARE of Sugar Mountain Price Gouging*
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snowmold
- Beginner
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2009 5:05 pm
Sugar's business is suffering from a long trend of not listening to the customer. Threads like this are valuable and I guarantee that for every one reasonable complaint against them articulated here or elsewhere there are dozens more.
Sugar has a rep problem and threads like this do affect their business, eventually they will have to change. This is isn't whining. There is a lot of good information that someone driving from Florida can take as they want from caring folks that are providing first hand anecdotes of real accounts of skiing at Sugar mountain.
Consistently Sugar is not detailed oriented, they sell as many tickets as they can without regard to the bigger picture. According to you as long as a business makes as much money as possible it does not matter how they do it - you'd fit right in with Sugar management.
When Sugar is good they have the best run in North Carolina hands down. I've posted on this before and read another person's post on this recently. The problem is it is so rare that Sugar isn't clogged with one top run and icy and it just happens to be a weekday that any veteran around here would touch that place. Its just not worth dealing with the various customer facing ineptitudes and lack of amenities for what they charge.
The bottom line is that skiing and snowboarding in the south, with maybe the exception of Snowshoe, is and always will be a novelty. Skiing in the south is an analog of what the sport and recreation truly are in the essence of the intended experience.
The difference is that all of the other resorts have crafted with care and thought a business formula or a niche that feels organic, valuable; they blend skiing in an overall experience that feels like it fits in the backdrop of the North Carolina high country.
Skiing at Sugar feels more like a cheap carnival trick where their obvious business is the exploitation of naive desires and where there is no attempt to artfully disguise the gimmick.
I don't completely disagree, however, your post drives my point home. If you don't like the place shut the hell up and don't go there. Go to anywhere you want other than Sugar. You say their business is suffering, yet they consistently have the largest crowds of any area. And I thought the concept of having a business was to make money. I doubt anyone is going to operate a business with the only intent of making everyone happy. No resort is going to make every customer have an enjoyable experience. I would say that any business that caters to every single complaint registered would be bankrupt in a hurry. If you take the ticket prices at Sugar and the other resorts, Sugar's tickets would be cheaper per acre of terrain than any other. I am not playing favorites here, I like all the resorts for what each offers.
Sugar has a rep problem and threads like this do affect their business, eventually they will have to change. This is isn't whining. There is a lot of good information that someone driving from Florida can take as they want from caring folks that are providing first hand anecdotes of real accounts of skiing at Sugar mountain.
Consistently Sugar is not detailed oriented, they sell as many tickets as they can without regard to the bigger picture. According to you as long as a business makes as much money as possible it does not matter how they do it - you'd fit right in with Sugar management.
When Sugar is good they have the best run in North Carolina hands down. I've posted on this before and read another person's post on this recently. The problem is it is so rare that Sugar isn't clogged with one top run and icy and it just happens to be a weekday that any veteran around here would touch that place. Its just not worth dealing with the various customer facing ineptitudes and lack of amenities for what they charge.
The bottom line is that skiing and snowboarding in the south, with maybe the exception of Snowshoe, is and always will be a novelty. Skiing in the south is an analog of what the sport and recreation truly are in the essence of the intended experience.
The difference is that all of the other resorts have crafted with care and thought a business formula or a niche that feels organic, valuable; they blend skiing in an overall experience that feels like it fits in the backdrop of the North Carolina high country.
Skiing at Sugar feels more like a cheap carnival trick where their obvious business is the exploitation of naive desires and where there is no attempt to artfully disguise the gimmick.
I don't completely disagree, however, your post drives my point home. If you don't like the place shut the hell up and don't go there. Go to anywhere you want other than Sugar. You say their business is suffering, yet they consistently have the largest crowds of any area. And I thought the concept of having a business was to make money. I doubt anyone is going to operate a business with the only intent of making everyone happy. No resort is going to make every customer have an enjoyable experience. I would say that any business that caters to every single complaint registered would be bankrupt in a hurry. If you take the ticket prices at Sugar and the other resorts, Sugar's tickets would be cheaper per acre of terrain than any other. I am not playing favorites here, I like all the resorts for what each offers.
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Cutback
- Beginner
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:24 pm
"Skiing at Sugar feels more like a cheap carnival trick where their obvious business is the exploitation of naive desires and where there is no attempt to artfully disguise the gimmick. "
Nope. Business is to make money. If people go there and aren't happy, they don't go back and the business suffers. Does not appear to be suffering so far.
Happens every year. A "new" blogger comes with a shocking, horrific story of customer service at Sugar Mt and all the haters jump on board.
Simply put, if you don't like any resort, don't go there. No one is forcing anyone to ski at any resort.
Nope. Business is to make money. If people go there and aren't happy, they don't go back and the business suffers. Does not appear to be suffering so far.
Happens every year. A "new" blogger comes with a shocking, horrific story of customer service at Sugar Mt and all the haters jump on board.
Simply put, if you don't like any resort, don't go there. No one is forcing anyone to ski at any resort.
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Cutback
- Beginner
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:24 pm
@KneeDeep 198051 wrote:Do you know that for sure? It'll be interesting to see how their skier days trend year-to-year following this season.
No more than those who claim it is suffering. But I'm kinda basing it on the fact of how many complaints there are about the lines on the weekends, which do not seem to be any shorter in the last few years.
No more than those who claim it is suffering. But I'm kinda basing it on the fact of how many complaints there are about the lines on the weekends, which do not seem to be any shorter in the last few years.
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skiatlanta
- Advanced
- Posts: 1916
- Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2003 5:15 pm
@KneeDeep 198051 wrote:Do you know that for sure? It'll be interesting to see how their skier days trend year-to-year following this season.
I think you have to look at other resorts at the same time, cause there are too many factors, such as weather, the economy, etc that can affect the statistics.
A lot of you people saying that people can just decide to go other places are completely ignoring that sugar used false advertising. It's really dirty what they did, and as they continue this sort of thing every year, people really will start to notice. Skier visits may seem to be fine every year for sugar, but eventually, all of these terrible business practices will catch up to them, especially if it involves groups(Imagine a group that was told they could pay 32 and ski, and now has to pay 64).
It is beyond "just go somewhere else" when sugar uses false advertising.
I think you have to look at other resorts at the same time, cause there are too many factors, such as weather, the economy, etc that can affect the statistics.
A lot of you people saying that people can just decide to go other places are completely ignoring that sugar used false advertising. It's really dirty what they did, and as they continue this sort of thing every year, people really will start to notice. Skier visits may seem to be fine every year for sugar, but eventually, all of these terrible business practices will catch up to them, especially if it involves groups(Imagine a group that was told they could pay 32 and ski, and now has to pay 64).
It is beyond "just go somewhere else" when sugar uses false advertising.
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Cutback
- Beginner
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:24 pm
"A lot of you people saying that people can just decide to go other places are completely ignoring that sugar used false advertising. It's really dirty what they did, and as they continue this sort of thing every year, people really will start to notice."
If they did in fact did that, I would agree. My point is that every year, someone comes up with this "shocking" claim about some customer service related issue at Sugar Mountain. This is not the first time. Usually it is a first time poster who wants to share their outrage about something.
If all these stories were true, you are correct. Their business would be suffering. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.
Regardless, the final decision rests with the person making the purchase. If you don't want to pay $64, you don't have to.
If they did in fact did that, I would agree. My point is that every year, someone comes up with this "shocking" claim about some customer service related issue at Sugar Mountain. This is not the first time. Usually it is a first time poster who wants to share their outrage about something.
If all these stories were true, you are correct. Their business would be suffering. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.
Regardless, the final decision rests with the person making the purchase. If you don't want to pay $64, you don't have to.
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IIIBradIII
- Beginner
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:14 am
Pay with a credit card and chargeback the unadvertised portion of the price the next day. Simple.
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jbc28
- Expert
- Posts: 6156
- Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2006 8:27 pm
skiatlanta;198077 wrote:
It's really dirty what they did, and as they continue this sort of thing every year, people really will start to notice.
I am not so sure about that. One thing that I learned while working retail (motorcycle shop) in college is that there is an almost endless supply of uninformed, non-researching, careless, or otherwise idiotic consumers in this country. It is amazing how many people that will willingly get screwed over and not think anything of it.