Post by bsimon615 on Apr 23, 2018 7:18:45 GMT -6
I would like everyone to go back and read (under Deep South Spring Scrimmage) my recap post about the recently concluded Spring Scrimmage. In that post I talk about the fact that we did have some issues. Subsequent to that post I sent an email to Brenda Morris at the Feliciana Retreat Center. For lack of a better title, I believe she can be considered the On-Site Manager for the Feliciana Retreat Center. She is the person that I give our head count to, our housing needs and our meal count to. She is the one that I remind that we need the outside lights disabled and the observing field cut.
Last year at the start of the 2017 Spring Scrimmage we sat down and at that time I told her that we would be holding the 2017 Deep South Star Gaze at the Judson Baptist Retreat Center. She was surprised. She made some concessions to us, she wanted Feliciana Retreat Center to be given a second chance. I did tell her that our exploration of options was due to the previous On-Site Manager telling me about the dire financial situation with FRC. I told her that we had determined that it would be best to move so that we were not caught with no place to go within weeks or days of the DSSG. Brenda passionately sold me on giving FRC another chance. She said that the reports about the financial situation were over-exaggerated. Ultimately we decided to give FRC that second chance and concessions made did allow up to forfeit the deposit we made with the Judson Baptist Retreat Center.
Our DSSG last October at the Feliciana Retreat Center was ok. Ok in that the first few days were good weather wise. Unfortunately the weekend was not good so that the attendees who could only come for the weekend were disappointed. Unfortunately too, the food service was off and that was reflected in comments received from numerous attendees. This was in spite of promises that they would be able to do even better in this area. Obviously they did not. The issues with the food service were discussed at length with Brenda and changes were promised. (no "fake" eggs, and supper selections that we made). Breakfast was better for the Spring Scrimmage and I think dinner was better too. One issue, however is staffing. There was only one person available to prepare supper on Thursday evening and so supper was late. This could have been an issue had daylight savings time not been in effect.
While we had good skies on Wednesday and Thursday, the clouds rolled in on Friday. We were told on Friday that they (staff) would probably not be able to get in to prepare breakfast on Saturday morning and basically they did not. The maintenance man, Dominick, did show up and he may have helped a little bit, but for the people that were still there, how much help is needed in opening a package of Pop Tarts or Instant Oatmeal? With the weather situation we only had 5 people there on Saturday afternoon and evening and no more food service. Same thing on Sunday morning.
This past Wednesday I emailed Brenda and described all of this as justification to adjust our final bill accordingly. To date I have not heard back. If she ultimately emails or calls me back agreeing with my rationale, all of those who paid for meals that were not served will receive a credit for those meals. If she disagrees, at this point I will continue to justify our position - basically if we have no service/no food - why would we pay for it? Of course the danger in "negotiating" our bill is it puts us somewhat on bad terms with FRC. However much I feel what I believe this is the right thing to do.
Perhaps concern over the future of FRC is the real issue. We see a slow decline in service with little effort being put into improvements over the past 2 years. We stayed there for the 2017 DSSG and the 2018 Spring Scrimmage because we like the surroundings and the field better meets our needs, otherwise we would have moved to the Judson Baptist Retreat Center? So what about the Judson Baptist Retreat Center if we cannot have our bill adjusted and a promise that we will have internet for the fall 2018 DSSG?
1) We would first have to check and see if the dates we want are available (November 6th to the 11th, 2018)
2) I, and others, will have to take a look at the field(s) again to best determine how we can make this work. (3 separate observing areas).
3) Horizons are not as good as they are at FRC, but this (hopefully) better blocks the Baton Rouge light dome.
4) Food service and prices should be better.
5) Lodge rooms/motel rooms are more "motel like" at Judson.
6) The management team lives on site and are fiercely proud of the services they provide. In respect to service, Judson should provide a better product.
Beyond this, how things work out with FRC and date availability at Judson should we decide to go there, we just don't know.
What I would like is feedback on your needs. If I do not hear from you I cannot take what you want into consideration.
Barry Simon
Last year at the start of the 2017 Spring Scrimmage we sat down and at that time I told her that we would be holding the 2017 Deep South Star Gaze at the Judson Baptist Retreat Center. She was surprised. She made some concessions to us, she wanted Feliciana Retreat Center to be given a second chance. I did tell her that our exploration of options was due to the previous On-Site Manager telling me about the dire financial situation with FRC. I told her that we had determined that it would be best to move so that we were not caught with no place to go within weeks or days of the DSSG. Brenda passionately sold me on giving FRC another chance. She said that the reports about the financial situation were over-exaggerated. Ultimately we decided to give FRC that second chance and concessions made did allow up to forfeit the deposit we made with the Judson Baptist Retreat Center.
Our DSSG last October at the Feliciana Retreat Center was ok. Ok in that the first few days were good weather wise. Unfortunately the weekend was not good so that the attendees who could only come for the weekend were disappointed. Unfortunately too, the food service was off and that was reflected in comments received from numerous attendees. This was in spite of promises that they would be able to do even better in this area. Obviously they did not. The issues with the food service were discussed at length with Brenda and changes were promised. (no "fake" eggs, and supper selections that we made). Breakfast was better for the Spring Scrimmage and I think dinner was better too. One issue, however is staffing. There was only one person available to prepare supper on Thursday evening and so supper was late. This could have been an issue had daylight savings time not been in effect.
While we had good skies on Wednesday and Thursday, the clouds rolled in on Friday. We were told on Friday that they (staff) would probably not be able to get in to prepare breakfast on Saturday morning and basically they did not. The maintenance man, Dominick, did show up and he may have helped a little bit, but for the people that were still there, how much help is needed in opening a package of Pop Tarts or Instant Oatmeal? With the weather situation we only had 5 people there on Saturday afternoon and evening and no more food service. Same thing on Sunday morning.
This past Wednesday I emailed Brenda and described all of this as justification to adjust our final bill accordingly. To date I have not heard back. If she ultimately emails or calls me back agreeing with my rationale, all of those who paid for meals that were not served will receive a credit for those meals. If she disagrees, at this point I will continue to justify our position - basically if we have no service/no food - why would we pay for it? Of course the danger in "negotiating" our bill is it puts us somewhat on bad terms with FRC. However much I feel what I believe this is the right thing to do.
Perhaps concern over the future of FRC is the real issue. We see a slow decline in service with little effort being put into improvements over the past 2 years. We stayed there for the 2017 DSSG and the 2018 Spring Scrimmage because we like the surroundings and the field better meets our needs, otherwise we would have moved to the Judson Baptist Retreat Center? So what about the Judson Baptist Retreat Center if we cannot have our bill adjusted and a promise that we will have internet for the fall 2018 DSSG?
1) We would first have to check and see if the dates we want are available (November 6th to the 11th, 2018)
2) I, and others, will have to take a look at the field(s) again to best determine how we can make this work. (3 separate observing areas).
3) Horizons are not as good as they are at FRC, but this (hopefully) better blocks the Baton Rouge light dome.
4) Food service and prices should be better.
5) Lodge rooms/motel rooms are more "motel like" at Judson.
6) The management team lives on site and are fiercely proud of the services they provide. In respect to service, Judson should provide a better product.
Beyond this, how things work out with FRC and date availability at Judson should we decide to go there, we just don't know.
What I would like is feedback on your needs. If I do not hear from you I cannot take what you want into consideration.
Barry Simon