It is only April, but now that the weather is getting nice and warm and the bouncy castle hire season is back in full swing, we already getting calls from desperate people, usually parents. We receive these calls most Saturday mornings from people with the following situation:
- Their bouncy castle booking has been cancelled last minute by the hire company; or
- Their bouncy castle has not arrived and the hire company’s phone is switched off, or not being answered
Some weeks, we can take last minute bookings, but generally by the weekend we are fully booked and cannot help. When we do help, I always encourage our guys to ask who the hire company were and what their reasons were for the cancellation. for some reason, it always seems to be the same 3-4 businesses, who all use similar excuses. I won’t say the names of these businesses, as that would be unfair, but here are some of their excuses, which they have used several times:
- Their van has broken down
- Their bouncy castle has been damaged
- They have lost their diary
- … the dog ate their diary, etc.
As a bouncy castle hirer myself, I know your van doesn’t break down that often and if it does, you should have another van or two, or an estate car available. I also know that bouncy castles don’t get damaged that often, especially if they are looked after and cleaned before and after every hire. Furthermore, you would NEVER EVER lose your diary. If you have any sense, you keep copies of all bookings at the office anyway.
So, what is the reason for the cancellations? Here are my thoughts:
- the bouncy castle hire company is not really a company, it is a guy with a couple of old bouncy castles in the shed and when he can be bothered and has no other plans for the day, he makes it on time; and/or
- the bouncy castle hire company takes every booking until fully booked for each day, then if new bookings are received which involve less delivery mileage, they take them instead and cancel the more distant bookings
Beyond a shadow of a doubt the above happens every single weekend and some unlucky party planner ends up with a bunch of bored and upset kids at their party. I think this is absolutely disgusting and having children myself, I would never allow my company to operate in this way. However, year in, year out, these individuals and small businesses continue to get away with it, as there are new customers every year.
To avoid this situation yourself, I would urge you to look closer at each bouncy castle hire business before you make a booking and ensure that you only book through a reputable hirer, who has a good website and good feedback. Please visit our homepage for details of our inflatables, area coverage and high standards. Please note that you will need to book in advance to ensure that we are not already fully booked. We offer premium quality products, which are cleaner, newer and brighter than the competition. We also have the best themes and our high referral rate means we don’t even have to advertise. Compare this to the cheapo, tatty looking inflatables that our rivals supply and their major advertising campaigns that they need to get bookings. Need I say any more…?
I hope this article results in your parties running smoothly in 2011 and onwards. That’s whether you book through Family Bounce, or any other high quality reputable company.
Regards,
Martin
Family Bounce Inflatables
