Mike Ball Spoil Sport 'rip-off' exceeded $1600

[Natasha]

I'm glad they responded. I can also say everything I heard about them is positive. At the scuba trade shows, their booth is amongst the busiest. I don't think this would be true, if they were not giving the utmost in service, and products available.
Am I willing to pay more for service and an outstanding product? You bet I am. I hope to dive with Mike Ball in the 'somewhat' near future. It's my husband's dream trip to go to Australia.
:sunny:

 

[metridium]

How do they determine who pays which list prices? Is it based on your nationality, your residency, or the nationality of the travel agency you use?

 

[seabass]

Even if the price disparities weren't based on currency fluctuations I hardly consider it a "scam". Pricing based on ability to pay or location based pricing is commonplace and happens all of the time. You shouldn't be outraged by it, it certainly isn't unethical. In the past it was based on the inefficiencies du to lack of information. With the internet allowing information to be shared so easily, this form of pricing will be much harder to do. When you buy, do your own due diligence.

The whole travel industry prices this way. For example, all inclusives in Cozumel constantly run specials, so that everyone there has a different rate and those rates are determined by region (the internet can even be considered a region now). Someone coming from New York city potentially pays higher rates than someone from San Francisco. Just look through the newspapers in 5 different cities and you will find different prices for the same packages to the same places.

I recently bought a ticket from singapore to perth. On travelocity the price was 800, my friend bought the same ticket for me in Malaysia for 350. Am I mad at Travelocity? Am I mad at the airline?

Cars are priced this way, you can find the same car in a different city for significantly more. I can buy a car in Austin and pay 1000 less for the same car in Houston. Are the Austin dealers gouging me?

Furniture is priced this way, I can buy furniture in North carolina, pay 1/5th of the price compared to texas and have it shipped and it is still cheaper. Many of the furniture stores in North Carolina won't sell to you over the phone unless you actually go to their store and have signed a sheet in the last 30 days. They are charging me more because I am not from North Carolina, however if I buy the plane ticket and actually show up, I can get the discount.

Maybe Europeans are much higher volume customers than US customers so he gives them discounts. Maybe the other operators are heavily marketing in Europe and not in the US so they have to match their European prices to the competition.

In the end, if they hadn't known that someone else got it for cheaper they would have been perfectly happy. When they found out they could have gotten it for cheaper, all of a sudden they were unhappy and we now feel they got scammed? That just doesn't make sense.

 

[metridium]

Again, what's the mechanism for determing who pays which rate?

Do all Americans pay the USD rate? If they happen to be in Europe at the time of booking, do they pay the European rate?

What if an American living in Australia wants to book a cruise in 10 months time and pays with an American credit card? Or with Australian funds?

What if an Australian in the US wants to do the same thing with Australian funds? Or American funds?

 

[Natasha]

SeaBass understands what it all means, and how it all works.
You did a great job explaining it. I have gone to North Carolina and you are 100% on the money about the furniture too.
As far as I know, it goes by what you put down as the address you live at, where they can bill you, or where your credit card is billed to. That is how the cruise lines work. They have specials for different regions according to your address.
I'm sure not all companies work this way, but you could use it as a probable guideline.

 

[metridium]

So an American abroad thinking of booking a charter more than a few weeks off would be well-advised to temporarily change his billing address to receive rates appropriate to his locale?

Hmmmm......

 

[Natasha]

No I wouldn't say that. I don't know how every company works. You could write Mike Ball or call them. I'm not sure if you're now in the US or what.
I would only do group trips with Mike Ball and I would get US prices since billing would be to my Chicago office. It would not be on an individual bases because it would be a group.

 

[Jonathan]

I would imagine it works on you pay where you book. If you use an agent in the US you pay the US "price", if you book direct you pay the price in that country - that's the way it seems to work for me anyway.

Living in Japan (forgetting the fact that they seem to charge Japanese more) I tend to book direct as it is easier to explain to a dive operation what I want - plus (sorry Sunfish and others lurking) I really do not want to take part in a Japanese package tour.....

Jonathan

 

[Jeddah Aquanaut]

I'm glad Mike Ball's people responded. They sound fair and legit to me. As for examples of what is "fair" or not, in Vermont, New Hampshire residents can cross the Ct. River and buy a car, say for example, in Brattleboro, and not pay sales tax. Why? No sales tax in NH, so the VT dealers give them that break to attract customers. When I buy something in NH, even though I'm from VT, no sales tax. Sometimes the world spins clock-wise, and sometimes counter-clockwise. People need to make sure they get treated fairly (price-wise), for sure. However, find out the facts first. And, after all is said and done, if anybody out there doesn't like Mike Ball's outfit, don't book on it.

 

[Allison Finch]

I JUST had an interesting interaction with the Paradise Sport, Mike Ball's boat in Papua New Guinea. Two days ago I returned from three weeks diving on the Star Dancer and the Paradise Sport was diving the Kimbe Bay area due to tough weather in their usual haunts. I had lunch with a fellow who had just finished a trip with Mike Ball's boat and he complained that while he had been looking forward to fresh seafood while on the boat, they never had any seafood the whole time. Lots of beef and chicken.

Jayne, the chef on the Star Dancer went into Kimbe with the chef from the Paradise Sport to do some shopping for both of their next trips. She reported that while she loaded ten cartons of fresh foods in the van, the other chef came out with only two shopping bags. We figured they must have lots of frozen foods on board. Hmmmm, just a thought...

All I can say, we were fed like kings and my wetsuit started shrinking from all that salt water.

I can't say anything about the costs, but while they carry up to 22 divers on the boat, one trip had 6 divers and their next had 10. Doesn't sound like they can stay afloat too long on those numbers.