Comments on: BC Ferries False Advertise

By: Paul McEwan

Paul McEwan — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:24:22 +0000

I wrote the post quite a while ago but it’s still front and centre news. A regular business could not get away with this.

By: jan

jan — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:59:18 +0000

I also feel ripped off with the assured loading passes as I having been purchasing when they didn’t have an
expiry date and now have to keep buying them.. They have skyrocketed in price and unless I hand over BC
ferries $1000.00 I have to keep buying them as I also bought them with the intention of using them for
emergencies. I believe they are no different than a cash card and should not have an expiry date. The whole
system of reserving and assured loading passes is just a cash cow for the ferries. Either you have a
reservation or you don’t.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:20:52 +0000

Definitely agree with “Peeved” and “Jack Reimer”, as we are also in the same boat with nearly $500 balance remaining to either forfeit or purchase a more costly item.

It’s starting to become evident we are not alone. We only purchased this pass for emergency situations, too, and consequently had 6 tickets left when it expired. Our usage was pretty evident to BCF.

So instead of paying double fare for an assured loading, we obviously have paid 5x for each of the four trips. All we were hoping to have from BCF was the opportunity to transfer the balance to another BCF item as we have no other choice for ferries, but such is not the case.

BCF could also have put a time limit on the tickets debiting at an initial rate for two years, then moving to an indexed rate thereafter. It would reduce the number of tickets if the consumer didn’t use up the balance by the end of two years, but the consumer would continue to have the ability to get an assured loading pass, and BCF would have the money in their account.

By: martin

martin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:11:31 +0000

These guys are steeling us blind. The money left over from assured loading ticks was always usable for thepurchase of your new book of 10.Now they jack up the price so a new coast card costs 1200.00 and if you don’t pay the difference in 6 months they keep your money.I just about lost 1000.00 because I had changed my email and didn’t know about the new money grab policy.[They send you one email telling you your pass is expired] I know there are a lot of pissed people out there who have lost a lot of money. I hope they start a clase action suit against these BCF A-holes.

By: BC Ferries "not so valued" customer

BC Ferries "not so valued" customer — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 05:08:55 +0000

BC Ferries is acting like a true monopoly by treating its valued customers like shit!!

Since when does a business put conditions on how a credit has to be spent?

The expired assured loading tickets credit remaining should be transferred to a BC Ferries Experience card (which is basically a business gift card with a set dollar value) so a customer is able to use them for future sailings with or without a reservation.

Credit is credit and it doesn’t expire!

What is going on here? Is this legal???

By: Jack Reimer

Jack Reimer — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:23:29 +0000

Assured loading tickets appear to be a rip off of the highest order. I have a remaining 5 trips left on my last purchase of 10 trips, and as I now find out, having passed the expiry date, the remaining value (over $400) is only redeemable as a ‘trade in’ for the purchase of 10 tickets at a cost of $1250. Meanwhile… The equivalent cost for a reservation… and achieving the same thing is 89.50 vs. the $125 costs using the assured loading. Also.. I am only able to use the remaining $400 as a down payment against another 10 assured loading tickets, not for another product such as a reservation.

Reservations are cheaper than assured loading, so why buy assured loading. Shouldn’t the costs be the same? Some option should be made to use the credit against other products. Either I spend another $840 or lose the $400 remaining value.

This is dishonest marketing.

By: Peeved

Peeved — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:50:11 +0000

A good website Paul.
I moved from Victoria to the mainland in 1965. I have purchased and was family gifted the BCF Assured Boarding ticket (ABT) product over the many years since its inception. These were firstly offered in (good for life) booklet form then the BCF admin went to a swipeable plastic form only a few years ago. Always only purchasable with cash or a major credit card, (BCF will still not allow DEBIT CARD for anything ?). Over the 100s of boardings and many years these were saved for emergency family and other emergency crossings. (These do require to be there 20 minutes before sailing). This last Christmas day my wife and I were at the terminal 1 hour early but were informed at the wicket that the sailings were 2 hours apart, and we would miss the next sailing. I therefore
produced my card (with 7 sacred sailing credits on it). (When checked the night before the website seemed to
indicate 1 hour Christmas holiday sailings?). The ticket attendant said my AST sailing credits had expired. I was astounded and very upset. Especially upset because a previous attendant had transferred 3 lifetime book for sailing credits to my swipe card, when I balked she assured me that they would not expire. These sacred and very expensive sailing credits were never squandered but were cherished and saved only for emergencies. The ticket attendant was truly very sympathetic but said I would have to contact the BCF for some kind of an explanation? I last paid ~ $ 90 per credit an my last card, they are now ~ $ 140.
We have grandchildren and a wonderful 97 year young father which we must always be quickly available.
I understood all our Crown corporations were proposed to serve all BC taxpayers only in their best interest?

By: admin

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:52:23 +0000

victag I didn’t even bring those people up in the post because it almost needs a completely separate post to deal with the absurdity. We know what the term “reservation” means but the phrase “Assured Boarding” seems to be a marketing product created by BC Ferries. Again, filed under the heading Guaranteed Travel Option on their Fare Info Page. Those who purchase this ticket really got bent over the railing.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:40:47 +0000

That’s right Donna and I agree, paying the full amount upon “reservation” would actually mean reservation. Heck, it might even add to the BC Ferries bottom line when someone didn’t show at departure time, (lets make it 5 minutes, not 45 minutes prior) and they re-sold the spot to a standby, (this is what we call those who didn’t think ahead).

A system like that would be understood.

By: victag

victag — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:36:15 +0000

How about those poor souls (not really poor considering the outrageous price paid) who bought “Assured load tickets” which were not accepted over the weekend. These people shell out huge dollars (around 1400$ for a book of 10) to get guaranteed boarding. Of course they would not go and buy a reservation since they were “Assured” a spot on the boat…not that they could have gotten a reservation since they were full weeks in advance of the long weekend. If I was one of them, I would be filing a lawsuit.