So we get a letter to the editor from a couple of guys who were visiting Vegas and decided to play Desert Pines Golf Club. Our guys (we'll call them Jim and Brent) call ahead for a tee-time. During the call, they ask the pro there about current course conditions. At $135 a round, wouldn't you?
"Great," Mr. Pro lies, come on down and bring us your hard-earned money. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! (Ok, so that sinister laughing bit was mine. Sorry.) Anyway, Jim and Brent arrive, head to the first tee and proceed to play 18 holes on what seems like a bone-dry cow pasture. As they wrote to us: "The greens were the worst I have seen (bare dirt & green dyed grass seed-under renovation)." After the turn, they walked to the pro shop and asked for a refund on their $135 greens fee.
No dice, the staff tells 'em, NO REFUNDS!
Sure, the club offered the guys a rain check. But since they live 1,800 miles away and may not return to Vegas for quite awhile, what the hell good does that do!?
I can't imagine this kind of stuff is sanctioned by the owners at Desert Pine - it's probably the pea-brain working the cash register, a guy who should be doomed to pick up range balls with his butt cheeks at high noon for a week as punishment. The customer is always right, remember!? Now the Desert Pines folks have two dedicated critics on the loose, fired up enough that they're writing letters to the editor, alerting bloggers like me, and have vowed to file complaints with the local PGA Section and Better Business Bureau.
Note to the Desert Pines dimwit who told Jim and Brent to stuff it: The world is a very very small place now, thanks to the internet. The customer you stiff today, could be firing out dozens of nasty e-mails about you tomorrow. He might post on golf bulletin boards or he could be golf blogger, poised to rake you over the coals. He or she might even take their beef to TravelGolf.com like this guy did with another Vegas clip joint, Stallion Mountain. Is your rep really worth the $270 you took from these guys!?
With this kind of two-bit crap, no wonder Vegas golf gets such a bad rap.
Checkout:
http://www.travelgolf.com/departments/blogs/mark.nessmith/2005/04/20/desert_pines_in_vegas_needs_to_get_a_clu
