IRONMAN Rules, Customer Service

Triathlon Forum
1

I was looking for a place to file a complaint with IRONMAN & Providence Equity (The Parent Company)…after searching everywhere on their web sites I realized I was not going able to do it over there…I think this is the right place to start and create some momentum among the Triathlon community.

I supposed to be in Frankfurt doing the Full Ironman on July 3rd. I was flying with my pregnant wife and 3 kids (Houston-Istanbul-Frankfurt). Due to the bomb at Istanbul Airport, all flights were cancelled for my trip…at this point I started searching for other options to travel to Europe, but the ticket pricing was too high for the 5 of us. I e-mailed the staff at IRONMAN Europe and USA about the situation, trying to have a waiver, transfer on the race or my money back. I also called USA Headquarters and left messages over the phone. IRONMAN Europe answered by e-mail two days later telling me they were not able to help here.

Here is their answer:
Open QUOTE
“Hi Cesar,
I am really sorry about my late reply! I apologize!
Did you travel to Frankfurt? Have you made it?
Unfortunately we cannot offer you any transfer to a different race even under those circumstances. I’m really sorry about this and I hope you made it to Frankfurt without any difficulties!
Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Kind regards”
Close QUOTE

I sent a second e-mail describing more in detail the situation:

Second e-mail:
OPEN QUOTE
"I was not able to travel to Germany to take part of the Ironman due to the difficulties on the Airport in Istanbul. I am very disappointed at your organization to know that after so many years of training, commitment to the sport and bringing so many friends and family to your events for so many years (10+ years); Your organization can not offer a better solution to this problem that is out of my control.

I am an AWA…which can tell you my commitment to this sport. I have incurred in a huge loss by not being able to travel to this event…and at least I was expecting to receive the option to move into another event.

I was thinking on completing in 12 full Ironman around the world in order to go to Hawaii…but when I hear that your organization is not even open to discuss a solution to a very simple request…then it may be time to move into another adventures around the world.

Also, waiting for 2 days to hear from you under the pressing circumstances didn’t give me the chance for looking into other possible solutions. I am 5,232 miles away from your race place and take a lot of planning and money to move my family over there. I called also multiple times the headquarters in USA without having any success on trying to solve the problem…It seems that your customer service is the worst ever.

Total Expenses by trying to go to this race:

5 Airlines Tickets: ~ $7,000 Dollars (I got FULL refund + Excellent Customer Service)
Hotels (2 weeks in Europe) = ~ $4,000 dollars (I got 50% Refund + Fast Resolution)
Rental Car (2 Weeks) = $1,500 dollars (I got FULL Refund + Voucher to use in another occasion)
Finisher Pix = $ 150 dollars (Transfer to another race + Fast Response)
Ironman Race = ~ $ 800 dollars (I did not get Refund, I did not get Transfer , Wait for 2 days for a response + I did not get Good Customer Service)
Total: $13,450 dollars

From those $13,450 Dollars all other companies involved in this adventure provided some sort of solution (Turkish Airlines, Care Rental, Pictures and Hotels)…**EXCEPT your IRONMAN organization…**Very disappointed indeed.

FYI: I will file a Consumer Complaint against your company in USA through the Best Business Bureau and open a claim to discuss what is happening here. I am very disappointed with the way your company is handling this situation under the circumstances.

Have a nice day.

Cesar Gongora
CLOSE QUOTE

Here is the response again

OPEN Quote:

Hi Cesar,

I’m really sorry to hear that you see it like this.

Unfortunately the situation is also out of our hands. You and we have no influence on such situations. You have signed up to the race accepting our race transfer and withdrawal policy. This states clearly that transfers are only possible until two months prior race day. Even in such cases, where it is out of your hands to travel to Frankfurt, we cannot make any exception from our rules.

I’m really sorry about this and I understand that you have paid a lot of money for your trip and the race but there is really nothing I can do about it.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Kind regards
Melanie Kleinschmidt
Athlete Services Europe
IRONMAN Germany GmbH
IRONMAN
EMEA Headquarters
Höchster Straße 90
65835 Liederbach
Germany
CLOSE QUOTE
How can I send a 2 months notice for this issue??? Making Exception for the rules??? What kind of Business Practices are they following??? Whit that kind of attitude they will be in Business for a very short period of time.
I hope that the parenting company read this e-mail (PROVIDENCE EQUITY) and start some fixing very soon.
BTW: This is not the first time that I have hear Triathletes and Friends complaining around IRONMAN policies, Customer Service rules and Regulations
We the Triathletes are the ones that provide a company the road to succeed and prosper…
Sorry for the long story but I am hoping to gain some traction and start having some positive feedback from IRONMAN very soon…
Have a safe training

Cesar Gongora

2

I am sorry this happened to you, but I am not sure you are going to get the type of response you’re looking for here.

3

“I am sorry this happened to you, but I am not sure you are going to get the type of response you’re looking for here.”

i think this is a pretty legitimate reason to offer this fellow a slot in another race.

4

I think we all agree their policies suck, but when athletes openly sign up and accept the policy, they can get away with it. Whether legally or not we mostly accept the policy as fact and so when we get injured or have death in family most simply don’t push to get entry back. How many cases of “I just got cancer and can’t race and IM said tough luck to moving my race entry”??

I’d also bet that this happens so infrequent that they’ll take their lumps from issues like this and then move on. We’ll all call them an ego maniac capitalistic company and then move on tomorrow while filling up xyz IM event.

5

Providence Equity no longer owns Ironman. Just a FYI.

Sorry about this situation.

6

Just curious, which airline flies Houton to Frankfurt and connects in Istanbul? Seems out of the way.

Goes without saying dont see any american airlines connecting through there anymore. Sorry about your situation tho.

7

Agree. While I don’t think WTC is gong out of business any time soon due to their cancellation policies, the rules are what they are and we read them (theoretically) when we sign up. But I agree that WTC is in a position to bend the rules now and then based on circumstances without running a risk that it has to start offering transfers to people who might miss a wedding (i.e., being called to military duty).

Sucks they didn’t here (and sorry the “we’re not in control of the terrorists either” line doesn’t play well).

Agreed its shitty customer service that WTC has every right to give

8

Turkish Airlines
.

9

And one of the many reasons I do not race any Ironman races anymore.

10

And one of the many reasons I do not race any Ironman races anymore.

There’s no shortage of those.

Or people willing to sign up for their races, myself included a couple times a year in addition to local / independent stuff. What they do well they do really well.

11

Did you buy the refund plan? Was it offered for this race? Terms specifically state that “unexpected covered travel delays” are covered.

12

“I agree that WTC is in a position to bend the rules now and then based on circumstances”

i’ve got a longstanding problem with how our whole industry works as regards our refund/transfer policies, and i’ve written about it, i haven’t made it a secret how i feel. the only industry that treats its customers this badly is the airline industry, and even the airlines gave this fellow a refund.

let’s step back a moment. forget that fact that you all, reading here, are acculturated to this policy. this guy could not go to the race not because he was injured; not because he lost his job or had his job transfered. he cannot come to the race because terrorists blew up an airport apparently critical to his travel to the race.

when humanity cannot stretch this far, i think our industry bears some scrutiny.

honestly, the attitude of you all on this forum board is, “i have been shat on royally, and screwed to high heaven by this sport of triathlon when it comes to transfer/refund policies. because i have been royally inconvenienced, i have no sympathy for anyone else, regardless of the reason.”

i think you’re all suffering from stockholm syndrome.

13

“I agree that WTC is in a position to bend the rules now and then based on circumstances”

i’ve got a longstanding problem with how our whole industry works as regards our refund/transfer policies, and i’ve written about it, i haven’t made it a secret how i feel. the only industry that treats its customers this badly is the airline industry, and even the airlines gave this fellow a refund.

let’s step back a moment. forget that fact that you all, reading here, are acculturated to this policy. this guy could not go to the race not because he was injured; not because he lost his job or had his job transfered. he cannot come to the race because terrorists blew up an airport apparently critical to his travel to the race.

when humanity cannot stretch this far, i think our industry bears some scrutiny.

honestly, the attitude of you all on this forum board is, “i have been shat on royally, and screwed to high heaven by this sport of triathlon when it comes to transfer/refund policies. because i have been royally inconvenienced, i have no sympathy for anyone else, regardless of the reason.”

i think you’re all suffering from stockholm syndrome.

I think you’re suffering from reading incomprehension

14

And one of the many reasons I do not race any Ironman races anymore.

What would the OP do if one of is parents was given days to live just before a scheduled IM? The situation at Istanbul was incredibly tragic and by comparison, mildly lucky for the OP not to have been there. WTC’s policies have never paid for these kinds of things and they now offer insurance which I believe would have covered this. Reporting WTC to the BBB for a policy that has been in place, and clearly disclosed in advance, is a waste of time. Still sucks though and I understand the OP venting.

I like going to destination races and one of my factors in selecting them is that I would want to go regardless of whether I am racing or not. So if I were hurt at the last minute or for some reason could not race, I would still be happy to go anyway rather than feel as if all the costs for airfare, hotels, etc were strictly for the race.

15

I disagree. Last year I was signed up for IMLou and got ran over by a truck while training resulting in broken bones and surgery. I remember thinking in 24 hrs after the race, whelp should have bought the wtc insurance plan. I will say that it was far enough out I got $150 back but I still lost a majority of what I paid. I signed up for 3 wtc races this year and didn’t get the insurance for any of them. If I
get hit again then it’s my fault from not learning my lesson the first time.

16

If you’ve done 7 you’ve come out ahead not getting the insurance assuming you’ve only had the one instance (which I hope does NOT happen again).

17

Do you have travel insurance?

This seems like an obvious claim.

18

I think you’re suffering from reading incomprehension

I think Slowman was largely agreeing with you.

19

Not that this is funny but last Friday night my apartment building burnt down. Well 60% of it and the whole building is now uninhabitable till early 2018

I’ve asked for a transfer as my own plans have changed and it is currently not realistic for me to be doing an IM in 3.5 weeks.

I’ve got all my flights, hotel and car costs back. I am waiting to hear from IM. We shall see

IMG_9518.JPG

20

Honestly, I get the policy, but in the event of a terrorist attack on your connecting airport? Really? This is a bad decision on WTC’s part.