The resident members of the WRC moored opposite the fireworks display - Henley 1999
The First Lady, Treasurer and Chair of the Wines & Spirits Committee waiting for the fireworks
Here's one the Campo's made earlier - Chairman, Captain, Treasurer and the new club flag
The Treasurer and the VC taking the air
The Captain fulfilling his obligation to ablute in the Thames.Ah, 1999. The year of the boat trip and the unveiling of the club flag, thoughtfully made with the loving hands of the Treasurer from an old hospital blanket and a selection of other recycled fabrics, thus proving the green credentials of the WRC if any proof were necessary. We enjoyed mixed weather on the trip, but as we arrived in Henley on Saturday morning at about 10.30 and cruised under Henley Bridge, the sun came out, and as we left on Sunday, it started to rain. Honestly – I don’t make this up. Well, not much of it anyway.
Something else I haven’t made up (well, I couldn’t) is the contents of the letter of complaint the Captain (Secretary at the time) wrote to Hoseasons to illustrate our gripes with the boat we hired. By means of illustration, I shall repeat extracts of the text here in full. Please bear with me, and you have my assurance that time spent reading this is time well spent.
Tempus Pro Areyousittingcomfortablyio?
6th July – 1st letter
"From the Secretary, BH Campion WRC
FORMAL COMPLAINT 1999 HOLIDAY 02 JULY – 05 JULY MAID HELENA
We are a small rowing club that hired the above vessel for Henley Royal Regatta. We had an enjoyable experience over the hire period and plan to make this an annual event. This is in spite of, rather than because of, the boat hire problems we encountered…..although clearly booked for six persons, with a supplement of £57.20 paid, full facilities were not provided for six persons. Particularly, there was only seating for four….Within three hours of leaving the boatyard the boat broke down…on 4th July the hot water system broke down, leaving us without washing facilities for the final 24 hours……….on the final morning the water system broke down, leaving us no water at all for the remaining period."
The Captain initially concluded in point 8
“We feel an acceptable level of compensation would be to reimburse us for the extra person supplement, the car parking fee and for the percentage of the holiday when our accommodation was not up to the standard agreed in the hire agreement ie 42% of the total remaining cost. By my calculations, this equals £288.61. Any additional display of good faith, on top of this sum for the inconvenience caused will, of course, be gratefully accepted….we invite your comments before taking this to the Travel Industry Ombudsman.”
How do you think Hoseasons responded? Well, cutting out extraneous waffle, their letter concluded
“For obvious reasons, we do not like to see any of our visitors unhappy, and whilst we do not feel the compensation you have requested is justified, we are pleased to offer a 10% reduction off the hire charge of a future holiday with us….”
You may recall (or may be delighted to note) that the Captain riposte was swift and cut to the core. The Treasurer was pregnant, had been left unwashed for a period of time and was cheesed off. So, after alluding in his own immortal fashion to “the Health & Safety hazard that was Maid Helena for that last 12 hours”, the Captain concluded
“We hired your cruiser for six people over a 66 hour period. We suffered three breakdowns, delays, inadequate accommodation, lack of washing facilities and drought. The inconvenience of such ignominies over such a short period is obvious. Then to offer us a 10% reduction on future bookings with you when we were so patently dissatisfied with the last one was insensitive in the extreme. You have provided us with no adequate explanation for this offer and our desired level of compensation of £288.61 remains appropriate.”
The Captain knew he had written a cracker at the time. In his letter to his Chairman, he wrote “I particularly like the “drought” bit! PS You don’t happen to know if there is a travel industry ombudsman, do you. No? Thought not….never mind!”
I seem to recall we got a cheque for £158.18 in the post in a matter of days
Something else I haven’t made up (well, I couldn’t) is the contents of the letter of complaint the Captain (Secretary at the time) wrote to Hoseasons to illustrate our gripes with the boat we hired. By means of illustration, I shall repeat extracts of the text here in full. Please bear with me, and you have my assurance that time spent reading this is time well spent.
Tempus Pro Areyousittingcomfortablyio?
6th July – 1st letter
"From the Secretary, BH Campion WRC
FORMAL COMPLAINT 1999 HOLIDAY 02 JULY – 05 JULY MAID HELENA
We are a small rowing club that hired the above vessel for Henley Royal Regatta. We had an enjoyable experience over the hire period and plan to make this an annual event. This is in spite of, rather than because of, the boat hire problems we encountered…..although clearly booked for six persons, with a supplement of £57.20 paid, full facilities were not provided for six persons. Particularly, there was only seating for four….Within three hours of leaving the boatyard the boat broke down…on 4th July the hot water system broke down, leaving us without washing facilities for the final 24 hours……….on the final morning the water system broke down, leaving us no water at all for the remaining period."
The Captain initially concluded in point 8
“We feel an acceptable level of compensation would be to reimburse us for the extra person supplement, the car parking fee and for the percentage of the holiday when our accommodation was not up to the standard agreed in the hire agreement ie 42% of the total remaining cost. By my calculations, this equals £288.61. Any additional display of good faith, on top of this sum for the inconvenience caused will, of course, be gratefully accepted….we invite your comments before taking this to the Travel Industry Ombudsman.”
How do you think Hoseasons responded? Well, cutting out extraneous waffle, their letter concluded
“For obvious reasons, we do not like to see any of our visitors unhappy, and whilst we do not feel the compensation you have requested is justified, we are pleased to offer a 10% reduction off the hire charge of a future holiday with us….”
You may recall (or may be delighted to note) that the Captain riposte was swift and cut to the core. The Treasurer was pregnant, had been left unwashed for a period of time and was cheesed off. So, after alluding in his own immortal fashion to “the Health & Safety hazard that was Maid Helena for that last 12 hours”, the Captain concluded
“We hired your cruiser for six people over a 66 hour period. We suffered three breakdowns, delays, inadequate accommodation, lack of washing facilities and drought. The inconvenience of such ignominies over such a short period is obvious. Then to offer us a 10% reduction on future bookings with you when we were so patently dissatisfied with the last one was insensitive in the extreme. You have provided us with no adequate explanation for this offer and our desired level of compensation of £288.61 remains appropriate.”
The Captain knew he had written a cracker at the time. In his letter to his Chairman, he wrote “I particularly like the “drought” bit! PS You don’t happen to know if there is a travel industry ombudsman, do you. No? Thought not….never mind!”
I seem to recall we got a cheque for £158.18 in the post in a matter of days
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