Cayman Aggressor: When does it become too much?

[Wookie]

So, who’s got the cash?

Aggressor - the corporation - or the boat?

I have no idea of the inner workings of that company. I only sold them a boat.

 

[boulderjohn]

My wild guess is that it has to be local to the Cayman Aggressor. Other Aggressors are able to run, so if it were corporate, I would assume they would have allowed us to transfer to a different location.

 

[tursiops]

My wild guess is that it has to be local to the Cayman Aggressor. Other Aggressors are able to run, so if it were corporate, I would assume they would have allowed us to transfer to a different location.

Not a new problem. Best to think of Aggressor as a travel-booking company.
What’s Going on with the Aggressor Fleet?: Undercurrent 08/2015

 

[Wookie]

My wild guess is that it has to be local to the Cayman Aggressor. Other Aggressors are able to run, so if it were corporate, I would assume they would have allowed us to transfer to a different location.

Yes, I know the chef on the CA. They are running trips every other week for locals at $900 a head. The CI government isn’t letting tourists in, and appears to be not renewing work visas in an effort to keep local jobs local. This seems to be limited to the CA….

I think that the CA is a corporate vessel, not a franchisee.

 

[living4experiences]

I wouldn't be so sure that The Aggressor Fleet is holding all the cards, especially not in today's "Cancel Culture" world.

At the moment, they hold your money. That is a fact. However, you could send a carefully worded email to their corporate HQ in which you offer them the opportunity to refund your investment which I am guessing is a few thousand dollars or else you will explain what they did in a BRUTALLY HONEST social media campaign and on review sites such as Tripadvisor. Remind them that this will likely cost them more in the long run than refunding your trip would cost them and if the only thing they are considering is the bottom line then you may be able to convince them that issuing you a refund is actually in their best interest financially.

A friend of mine refers to this as the "MBA Effect". Companies have become so obsessed with looking at the short term, the next quarter, that they have taken their eye off of the long game. They have become obsessed with maximizing short term profits (or at least minimizing short term losses) that they don't see the long term effect of having their brand's reputation permanently damaged because of poor customer service.

This is a great idea. I think a year and a half is enough time for all you folks with vouchers to wait on Aggressor's timeline and inflexible rules. It's time to get your money back. There's no time like the present for you to take some action. Do you really want to wait two, three, four more years to take the trip?

 

[Hoag]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but before this all started, I had a photo trip to Banff Alberta planned that I had to cancel. I got my money back from everyone (even Parks Canada who had as a condition of sale "No refunds under any circumstances.") except from WestJet, who put the funds into a "Travel Bank".

Yesterday, I booked a trip and went to access those funds and it went very smoothly. I applied them toward new flights (to Vegas) and when booking my flights online, I was even prompted with "You have funds in a travel bank. Would you like to apply them toward these tickets?" and with a single click of the mouse, these were applied.

Although I was skeptical, congrats to WestJet for making it so easy.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

 

[kelemvor]

I wouldn't be so sure that The Aggressor Fleet is holding all the cards, especially not in today's "Cancel Culture" world.

At the moment, they hold your money. That is a fact. However, you could send a carefully worded email to their corporate HQ in which you offer them the opportunity to refund your investment which I am guessing is a few thousand dollars or else you will explain what they did in a BRUTALLY HONEST social media campaign and on review sites such as Tripadvisor. Remind them that this will likely cost them more in the long run than refunding your trip would cost them and if the only thing they are considering is the bottom line then you may be able to convince them that issuing you a refund is actually in their best interest financially.

A friend of mine refers to this as the "MBA Effect". Companies have become so obsessed with looking at the short term, the next quarter, that they have taken their eye off of the long game. They have become obsessed with maximizing short term profits (or at least minimizing short term losses) that they don't see the long term effect of having their brand's reputation permanently damaged because of poor customer service.

I don't think that threat would have the effect you think it will. Aggressor has a long history of awful customer service and bad reviews - many of which are posted in various threads here on scubaboard and other travel sites. I've never been a customer of theirs, but I've seen many a negative post about them. Since they've already got so much negative publicity - what's one more? I guess people don't search for reviews of Aggressor or maybe don't believe all the trip (or non-trip in this case) reports. Don't get me wrong, there's some good reviews as well - as you can see from Dr. Rich's posts.

 

[Diverlady13]

Don't Aggressor boats often have independent owners?

Yes. I have a friend on the east coast (USA) that owns a travel business. I met her on the Belize Aggressor. She doesn't dive, but her husband does. They took the Aggressor LOB because her company had just recently gotten a contract with Aggressor to be able to sell their liveaboards and safaris and river cruises. What my friend said is that the Aggressors in the Caribbean are all company owned and run. This is apparently true for the Kona Aggressor as well. I'm not sure about Galapagos or Socorro, but it's my understanding that the remainder of the fleet are actually franchised and/or licensed, so not necessarily run the same way as the corporate ships. That said, I believe the "no refund" policy is company-wide. When we booked our LOB, it was made very very clear that there would not be a refund if the trip got canceled - even if Aggressor was the party to cancel. That was pretty annoying, but we didn't book very far in advance and I was confident that there wouldn't be a cancellation.

 

[tursiops]

When we booked our LOB, it was made very very clear that there would not be a refund if the trip got canceled - even if Aggressor was the party to cancel.

That ought to be enough information to just hang up and look elsewhere.

 

[Dan G]

This is what is posted on their website:

CANCELLATION POLICY
Reservations made through Wholesalers, Tour Operators, Travel Agents, Dive Stores, Dive Clubs, or Active Instructors are subject to their payment and cancellation policies.

Individuals: If a cancellation is made:

1. 121 days or more prior to departure, 20% of the rate is forfeited.
2. 120 - 91 days prior to departure, 40% of the rate is forfeited.
3. 90 days or less prior to departure, 100% of the rate is forfeited and no refund is available.

Using the somewhat indirect language "If a cancellation is made" is a problem. If researching a trip, I would read this and determine this means "If the customer makes a cancellation" but clearly that is not the case. Is there somewhere else on their site that provides more detail about their policies, because I cannot find it.

Clearly they want you to buy trip insurance, which also means that they are not out any money if they actually cancel the trip rather than the customer.