Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Read this Before Booking with Blair Worldwide

Buyer beware.

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3411043/m/3471078051/p/1

That is a frightening story.

Hard to believe that a booking agent wouldn't have some obligation, particularly so if the checks were made out to him, or his company, and he, or his company, cashed them.

If the outfitter actually did cheat a bunch of people out of $$ and is dying, I hope that he dies a painful death and that the people who have judgments against him strip the carcass of his estate to the bones and then take the bones and sell them!

JEff

I actually received a e-mail from Blair this weekend involving discounted hunts,

You can pretty much imagine what the focal point of my reply was about.........

WOW! what a douche!

This has recently been hashed over plenty on the Campfire. Check out the general big game forum.

The comment I made is that anybody who lays out that kind of money for a hunting trip (or anything else) without buying trip insurance or CAREFULLY reading the booking agent's contract is eventually going to get stung.

Is there actually insurance, that will cover you 100 percent in all
situations like this?

Why do I doubt that...

I can't wait for my next unsolicited call from Jeff Blair!

Mike

John,

I have found that booking agents, outfitters, and guides are easily offended if you ask for a hard copy of what they willing tell you F2F or over the telephone. I ask a lot of detailed questions and want, expect, detailed answers.

It seems to me that if you believe in your product, you should be willing/able to stand behind it.

JEff

That's not uncommon, but the best ones are very forthcoming. Anymore I won't deal with anybody who won't provide a contract.

On the other hand, a lot of people expect hunting to be 100% guaranteed. I was on a hunt in Alaska a couple of years ago with a bear outfitter (very honest, and a long time in the business) who was reamed out by a client who evidently thought he was buying a high-fence deer hunt, with every night spent in a fancy lodge 15 minutes from heated blinds. The client didn't like living in a backpacking tent and not having his choice of giant bears within 2-3 days. Not so oddly, the only "outfitted" hunt the client had ever been on before was a high-fence deer shoot. So it works both ways.

The booking agent I've used the most is the one that got me started buying travel insurance. As he put it, "I offer a high-risk service during a specific period. If you can't make it because your father dies, then why should I refund your money? I'm sure you father was a great guy, but I didn't know him, and you signed the contract with me."

I know booking agents and outfitters are already paying out the nose for insurance, just in case somebody gets their toes stepped on by a horse or gets food poisoning from camp food. But if they became totally liable for YOU not being able to make it, or the outfitter dying of a heart attack, then their charges would go up enormously.

Trip insurance is cheap. For a $10,000 hunt it runs a few hundred bucks, exactly how much depending what you want covered, whether medivac helicopters or non-refundable plane tickets. You can buy it for any kind of trip, including a beach vacation in Hawaii.

I agree with Mule Deer that when you go hunting you are not buying the animal, but rather the hunt. The problem with Jeff Blair is that he sold a hunt and has refused to provide it. If you read the entire thread on AR you will see this is not the first time he has done this. His email address is also listed in the thread and I sent him an email asking if the allegations were true to which he has not responded. He has responded to others saying he is only a "travel agent" and bears no responsibility in this matter.

Which is probably exactly what his contract states. I don't know, having never booked a hunt through Blair, but I have seen a number of booking-agent contracts in the past dozen years.

Unless the booking agent's or outfitter's contract specifically states they will refund any pre-paid money at any time, anybody who books a hunt should buy trip insurance. It's that simple.

Mule Deer,

You are probably right, but I have never seen his contract either so it is only conjecture on both our parts. What gets me is that even casual hunters knew about the Heathington fiasco, but this self proclaimed expert gave him $50 or $60 thousand of his client's money and is still able to look at himself in the mirror each morning.

The thing I know for sure is his web site promises, "There are no gambles when booking with Blair Worldwide..." I guess that means if you book with Blair you are going to get screwed 100% of the time.

Wow - this is some funny stuff. People actually sue their babysitter when then get stepped on by a horse or get sick from eating crappy camp food. Why do these people even go hunting? When did it become something like what Mule Deer describes???? Go and do it yourself!!!! When your horse steps on your foot you can blame yourself, when you get the schits from your own bad cooking, blame yourself!! The best way to avoid getting screwed by an outfitter or booking agent is not to use one.

Spot on!

Ranger1: I see you reside in MT. Try hunting brown bear, sheep or mountain goat in Alaska or cape buffalo in Zimbabwe

Makes me want to get back in the biz. Might do so. We nearly always kept the deposit money here in the US until after the hunt was satisfactorily completed and paid the outfitters at the end of the hunting season. Only when we pere pressured to send it ahead did I start to have problems and eventually left the industry. Should be a better way to do this. I feel a trip to visit with hunting outfits and PH's and Alaskan guides coming over me. There is a right way to do this and provide a valuable service to both the hunter and the outfitters.

first, it is not normal in my experience for the hunt to be paid for 100% far in advance, shifting all risk to the hunter long before the hunt. second, I'd really like to see Blair's contract.

I don't know if those guys got my name from DSC or SCI or where, but for years I have received unsolicited mailings, emails, and even robo-calls from Blair. Glad I never responded.

He IS an efficient marketer. Can't fault him for that part. Had the same experience. Give your e-mail address to about any company now or - heaven forbid - your cell phone number and BOOM! You are now locked into the international robosystem until you make cahnges to the numbers or addresses. These numbers and such get traded and sold as well.

AARP is the worst offender.

Perhaps you can post a primer on how one would accomplish that for dangerous game in Africa. Long way to ride your horse.