AGENT: Ripped Off!

[Philip Glass]

Global Sporting Safaris, Inc. is a booking agency that you may have heard of. I unfortunately booked a mountain lion hunt with them for this fall. I got a call today from the outfitter telling me the unfortunate news that GSS has gone bankrupt and he has not been paid any of my deposit. I immediately contacted Barbara Crown at SCI's Hunter Information Service and she was aware of the situation and was able to provide me quite a bit of information on the situation. There are many others who have lost deposits or have trophies being held until the hunter pays the full amount owed to the outfitter. Barbara is a wealth of knowledge and a great contact for SCI members in so many ways. As many of you know I am a big proponent of meeting my outfitters and guides in person at SCI, DSC, or similar events or alternatively booking with big reputation booking agencies like The Hunting Consortium. I am fortunate to not be out very much money and will proceed with my hunt even though I may not see a penny of my deposit. GSS is being represented through bankrupcy (not filed as of yet) by Second Wind a company who reportedly has the money and will be negotiating reduced payouts of what is left.
Never again! I will be unsubscribing from all the online booking agencies that send me emails. I will stick to my former methods of booking my hunts.
Regards,
Philip

 

[DillonG]

Thank you for sharing this. I am preparing to book my first safari and have been debating if I should use a booking agency or not. Appreciate your report.

 

[Graham Hunter]

My experience is run from most If not all Booking Agents. I exclude persons who represent one Outfit as the US Rep close friend or whatever. I got Royally screwed by Blair World on a Zim hunt as well as the PH Lloyd Yeatman - Chipimbi Safaris. I rely on the gentlemen here on AH as well as the reports on good Outfits based on trip reports . Also have a large number of fellow hunters for recommendations.

 

[DillonG]

Appreciate the input, may have to reach out to you for recommendations. Wanting to hunt PG in RSA and just trying to get a good feel for what outfits and PHs are highly recommended. Seems that KMG might be the top of the list on AH.

 

[MMAL]

Sorry to hear about your situation Philip. Hopefully you get most of your money back. Good luck on you my lion hunt.

 

[Mekaniks]

GSS website looks like they are still booking hunts

 

[LivingTheDream]

Wow I get emails from them like every other week. Sorry to hear about your situation but thank you for posting I was close to booking a hunt through them!

 

[wesheltonj]

It’s been years since I represented anyone in bankruptcy. But another company trying to settle debts is not how it’s done. The US trustee pays out to the creditors if any thing is left. They might use a third party to help them but that’s after the filing not before.

Looked them up, management company for turn arounds and debt elimination.

 

[BnC 04]

A rep from GSS actually called me 2 weeks ago in reference a Europe hunt. Talk about trying to grab what you can while the ship is going down.

 

[Brent in Az]

If GSS is using a third party to negotiate payouts, they may well be trying to avoid bankruptcy, by settling for pennies on the dollar. If someone settles for what they offer, then there is no further recourse. A court appointed trustee usually disburses the funds based on who files a claim. The trustee also sells the company or personal assets that are not exempt.

Sounds like this company is owned by an unscrupulous shark.

 

[enysse]

WOW, thanks for the warning!!!! Sorry about your deposit!

 

[Wheels]

Sorry to hear about this Philip. Thanks for the heads up.

Hope your able to get some of your deposit back.

All the best on your hunt!

 

[CAustin]

Very sorry that hear this Phillip. Glad you didn’t sink too much into it.

 

[RogerHeintzman]

I've been in contact with GSS but never booked with them. I have their catalog offerings. The money they spent to produce the catalog could bankrupt them.

I'll will not use another booking agent either. Was screwed on a Zim buff hunt.

I prefer to deal direct with outfitter.

 

[flatwater bill]

The hunting world is going thru turbulent times now. It was nice of you to post a heads up here on AH. Best of luck on your hunt. ...........FWB

 

[YancyW]

Very sorry to hear about this, I hope you still have a great hunt. Also, thank you for the heads up.

 

[K-man]

Sorry to hear about this. It puts a black eye on a lot of booking agents. Hope your trip turns out well in spite of the issue. One thing I have done when using a booking agent is I put both the outfitter name and the booking agent name on the deposit check. That way both must see and endorse it so there is no mishap.

 

[Mekaniks]

Sorry to hear about this. It puts a black eye on a lot of booking agents. Hope your trip turns out well in spite of the issue. One thing I have done when using a booking agent is I put both the outfitter name and the booking agent name on the deposit check. That way both must see and endorse it so there is no mishap.

Yeah, so the problem with that is many times the booking agent does not tell you who the outfitter will be until after he receives you're deposit because he does not want you to go book direct with the outfitter and cut out the booking agent.

 

[PaulT]

GSS and my experience with them when I had my outfitting busniess.

For them to "represent" me I had to forward the cost of initial set up on their web pages which displayed my content, from memory that was $1000 or $1500 and then any follow-up costs associated with any changes required me to pay for it which was on top of a 15% commission they demanded for any hunts booked by them.
All of this cost me quite a bit for the few years I engaged them.
They had no first hand experience with my outfit as that required me to "donate" a full cost free hunt to one of them so that they could say they had been there.

Foolishly I complied for a few years during which they never booked a hunt for me and I finally pulled the pin on them.

There are a lot of "outfitters" out there of this ilk.
They pressure the outfit for a free hunt for themselves and then there is an obligation by the agent to promote that outfit, good, bad or ugly. A clear conflict of interest. Quite a few "gun-writers" doing the same thing)

In saying all of this there are some incredibly good agents out there and just as there are dodgy outfitters you can't generalise with agents.

The value of a good agent in booking your hunts is priceless.

Over time I found that when cost/price is the deciding/controlling factor the level of risk and credibility diminishes.

As everything else in life you get what you pay for.

There are quite a few long term, credible and legitimate booking agents who's primary concern is the welfare of their client but that does not come at nickels and dimes.

 

[TheGrayRider]

Global Sporting Safaris, Inc. is a booking agency that you may have heard of. I unfortunately booked a mountain lion hunt with them for this fall. I got a call today from the outfitter telling me the unfortunate news that GSS has gone bankrupt and he has not been paid any of my deposit. I immediately contacted Barbara Crown at SCI's Hunter Information Service and she was aware of the situation and was able to provide me quite a bit of information on the situation. There are many others who have lost deposits or have trophies being held until the hunter pays the full amount owed to the outfitter. Barbara is a wealth of knowledge and a great contact for SCI members in so many ways. As many of you know I am a big proponent of meeting my outfitters and guides in person at SCI, DSC, or similar events or alternatively booking with big reputation booking agencies like The Hunting Consortium. I am fortunate to not be out very much money and will proceed with my hunt even though I may not see a penny of my deposit. GSS is being represented through bankrupcy (not filed as of yet) by Second Wind a company who reportedly has the money and will be negotiating reduced payouts of what is left.
Never again! I will be unsubscribing from all the online booking agencies that send me emails. I will stick to my former methods of booking my hunts.
Regards,
Philip

Did Global Hunting Safaris Inc. file a voluntary or involuntary bankruptcy petition in the US? Which federal district court and which state? What is the case number? You should be able to look at the petition on the PACER program with the district court information and the case #. Be careful out there, TheGrayRider!