Author Topic: Planet ice price increased for school holidays 😡  (Read 1371 times)

AbiJ

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Planet ice price increased for school holidays 😡
« on: February 19, 2018, 02:36:59 pm »
Does anyone else find this incredibly annoying? Our rink even charges extra on the Friday and Monday either end of a school hol just in case it’s an inset day for any schools! I begrudge spending more when the experience is worse as it’s packed, and the ice is a mess, and it makes skating with kids so expensive!
« Last Edit: February 19, 2018, 02:38:38 pm by AbiJ »

The Sacred Voice

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Re: Planet ice price increased for school holidays 😡
« Reply #1 on: February 19, 2018, 06:40:20 pm »
Pretty cheeky of them, but sadly people paying over the odds for public sessions is what keeps rinks in business. I have to confess I basically skip the rink during half term weeks. The ice gets so cut up in no time at all and it's too busy for me to really practise anything. I'm training on patch sessions these days as well, but my rink doesn't have time to do a proper cut in between the public and patch session, so a lot of the damage to the ice from the public session is still there going into patch, very frustrating!
I'm blogging about my skating journey, please read along at dontexcelaxel.blogspot.com

Leif

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Re: Planet ice price increased for school holidays 😡
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2018, 07:27:49 am »
If you pay by card, they charge £1 extra. Skating attracts a £2 surcharge unless you have the £6 ICE card. And as you say, come the hols they increase the prices. PI are out to make as much as they can. I can go to other local rinks and pay much less. Oddly enough the other rinks are usually much busier. It would be interesting to see the financial figures for PI rinks and others.

However, I pay monthly for the local PI rink, which works out good value. At Christmas I was there every day for a week, at no extra cost.  :D

AbiJ

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Re: Planet ice price increased for school holidays 😡
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2018, 07:38:27 am »
We both have ice cards, I didn’t know you could pay monthly will have to look into that. I couldn’t believe it when I turned up to skate yesterday and was told they were still operating holiday prices the Monday after half term ‘just in case some schools have an inset day’! And as a regular weekday skater there I thought they were taking the mick by charging me extra! Even if they can in some warped way justify charging extra for kids during holidays I had no children with me, yet was still charged extra! Unfortunately it’s the only rink anywhere near me and it’s still about a 40 min drive, and the next closest is also planet ice 😔

WednesdayMarch

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Re: Planet ice price increased for school holidays 😡
« Reply #4 on: March 26, 2018, 03:56:51 pm »
It seems that Planet Ice isn't the only rink really hacking off its regular customers this way...

I went to my "local" rink (Plymouth) this morning, expecting the usual session from 10.00am through to 3.30pm, with a section coned off between 10 and 11.30 if there are any toddlers in attendance.  I wandered in at about 10.45, to be told that they'd changed over to the "Holiday Timetable" and that the session would now finish at 11.30.  And cost more.  I'd come from 25 miles away in Cornwall, over the toll bridge, paid to park, etc and was going to get little more than half an hour for my £7.20 admission.  If I wanted to skate longer, I'd have to pay another £7.20.  I skate there regularly - twice a week at least - and at no stage did they put up a sign saying that they'd be starting their "Holiday Timetable" earlier than normal.  They decided to do it as they thought that some of the private schools are breaking up earlier.  And the official line is supposed to be, "Oh, we have to do it from the start of the week, now..."

I do wonder how ice rinks expect to make money when they totally disregard their regular customers?  Those same people who shell out a lot of money each week, rather than the occasional ones.  All it would have taken was a notice by the ticket office last week saying, "New Holiday Timetable starts Monday 26th March!" and a lot of people who travel a long way (Plymouth is the only rink in the real South West of the UK) would be a lot better prepared.  And I would have simply have gone in earlier instead of being very frustrated and upset.
Returned to the ice in Sept 2017 after a major leg injury in 1999. Skating in Jackson Elite Pro & MK Vision Syncro. Still scary after all these years.

AbiJ

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Re: Planet ice price increased for school holidays 😡
« Reply #5 on: March 26, 2018, 05:54:04 pm »
Hmm that’s not good at all, regular skaters should be treated with more respect. It’s an expensive sport as it is without imposing blatantly extortionate rates for school holidays 😡 Unfortunately rinks are so few and far between that they can pretty much do what they like, if we want to skate then we have to put up with it.

Carrie

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Re: Planet ice price increased for school holidays 😡
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2018, 03:17:43 pm »
That must have been so annoying WednesdayMarch.  The rink should have put up some notices.  Guildford only change the times of sessions during school holidays when it’s the lowest level of patch ice that lose half an hour of their session so that an extra public session can be put in.  There is an annual timetable on the website showing when classes are held.  The daytime adult classes lose two weeks just before the summer school holidays begin so that coach loads of children can come for outings to the rink.  This doesn’t affect the Thursday evening adult classes.  Thankfully, there are no changes for Inset Days of which there have been so many since Christmas, mainly I guess because the centre can get customers from at least three counties, Surrey, Hampshire, West Sussex and perhaps Berkshire.  Regarding cost, over 50s can join PrimeTime to get a cheaper price and over 60s are concessions at £2 for the session during term time.  We also collect “metres” each time we use the centre and so I use those during holidays making skating free!  Perhaps pass some ideas on to your rink.

WednesdayMarch

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Re: Planet ice price increased for school holidays 😡
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2018, 03:55:52 pm »
I think I will!  I particularly like the idea of Prime Time for over 50s...   ;)

I think they're going to need to be a lot more proactive with getting business for the new rink.  But then, hopefully it will hold a lot more appeal as it's going to be a decent size and shape, so maybe we'll even get competitive!  Maybe I should apply for a job...
Returned to the ice in Sept 2017 after a major leg injury in 1999. Skating in Jackson Elite Pro & MK Vision Syncro. Still scary after all these years.



 

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