Vail Resorts’ slippery slope

On Saturday, I reluctantly purchased a couple of season passes from Vail Resorts to ski at Park City. I said reluctantly, because I deeply dislike Vail Resorts. Calling is extremely difficult as phone numbers are hard to locate and Vail Resorts want customers to only use its website. 

After successfully locating that number though, I spoke to a nice sounding customer agent called Heather who guided me through the process that wasn’t very user-friendly for me, through the company’s unwieldy website. When we came to the total amount, it didn’t quite add up as I realized that I was charged an extra $4.95 per pass as an alleged “shipping charge”. 

The next day I called again and got Jane on the phone, all the way in the Philippines that confirmed that the $4.95 amount was indeed for each pass purchased. We are not talking about much money but if one computes the 2.1 million Epic passes sold by Vail Resorts in 2021-22, that charge could mushroom into more than $10 million extra revenues! 

The day before I couldn’t see that charge anywhere on the Vail Resorts website, so when I vehemently protested she said “Okay, just pick up your passes at the resort ticket counter and I’ll waive these charges. I told her to mention to her superiors that Vail Resorts’ way of doing business was sneaky and dishonest. 

Then, according to Heather, my card didn’t go through, yet, at the same time America Express emailed me its usual “Large Purchase Approved” notice for the full, correct amount. I told her this was proof the card had been accepted. She couldn’t comprehend it and she struggled for another 20 minutes leaving me on hold and finally saying, “I’ll call you tomorrow (she eventually sent me the message below). 

The next day, I checked my American Express account and saw the transaction amount had been charged four times in addition to a lesser amount. Eventually after spending two or three more hours on the phone between Boulder, Park City and the Philippines, I received an email confirmation thanks to the Philippines’ customer service reps who was better than their western counterparts. 

To add humor to the whole situation, the Park City customer service agent emailed me that “We are unable to purchase your Epic passes through our reservation system for you at this time”, at the exact same time I received the confirmation! This entire sitcom simply confirms Vail Resorts’ squirrelly reputation, sticky fingers, poor infrastructure and terrible business practices.