10) Bouncy castle “Horror”
Stories. (“HIRINGS
FROM HELL”)
The BIHA has just constructed
a new website dedicated to these “disaster” stories – please visit: www.hirings-from-hell.com
We have a good selection of
true horror stories for members this month.
A big thank-you to all of you who emailed me your disaster stories.
Don’t forget that if you
experience a “hiring from hell” disaster story, or even just something that
went a bit wrong – please do email it to me at mark.jerram@ntlworld.com and share it with 400+ hirers in the UK, and
lots more from overseas.
We had to
deliver our biggest castle, a 15ft x 16ft adult unit, to a long narrow garden.
At the front end of the garden on the left was a large fish pond and on the
right was a small marquee, leaving a narrow gap to get to the rest of the
garden. We picked it up quite late at night and there was little light. As we
went between the pond and marquee, yep, you guessed it, the wheel on the sack
barrow slipped over the side on the pond, and before we could grab it, the
castle rolled over into the pond, which turned out to be 6 ft deep. Well,
"wet castle" doesn't really cover it. although we could just reach
the straps under the water, there was no way we could lift it, even an inch.
Luckily a friend of mine has a lorry with a HIAB crane, and there was a lane
running down the side of the garden. The next day we went round and hoisted it
out of the pond and over the fence. Luckily the castle had very stout webbing
straps, as we reckon it weighed over one and a half tons.
About
2 months ago I got a call for a young lady asking for a bouncy castle for young
teenagers. Against my better judgement the booking was taken on the basis of
payment up front and a £100 deposit because it was to be left over night. On
the day of the booking the weather was bad rain all day we rang the girl and
her dad answered "yes of cores we still want it" So we left it a bit later
when the rain had eased and delivered it as requested. the castle was erected
on the edge of a part of the garden that he had been trying to grow grass ( and
failed ) because it was so wet I advised that 1 would use 2 ground sheets and
some old safety mats so it was not the end of the earth if they got dirty. they
asked for the roof to be fitted I suggested this would not be a good idea as it
would be removed soon after I left but no they wanted it fitting so fitted
it was. On leaving I gave the farther a bag for the roof asking
when they take the roof off could he please put it away safe he
agreed and side he would make sure it was looked after and would clean the
castle at the end as I was collecting 7.30am next morning to take it to the
next job 9am.
On arrival
next day the castle was un covered, roof attached by one rope at the back
and the general condition of the castle was black . Mud walked all over in shoe
prints not just feet marks. The roof looked like it had been washed in mud. I
was gutted 4 years never seen any thing like it. So I decided that I would
not return there deposit ( something have never had to do before ).
No one was
up so I packed up and left. three hours later I get a call from the
girl "how do I get my deposit back" I explained that I
would not return her deposit because of the condition of the equipment. She
apologised and hung up 1/2 hour later dad is on the phone telling me I had no
rights keeping there money. I explained every thing and that the terms and
conditions stated that damage other than fair where and tare would be
charged for. He expressed his opinion that the mess that the castle was in
did not constitute damage and I should return his money. After this call
my hole day Saturday was taken up by him ringing me threatening trading
standards, small claims court, B.I.H.A., and any thing else he could dig
up.
Then the
next thing was the brother in law same sort of thing. On Sunday the dad
phoned me again and side this as all got out of hand can we sort it out. I side
as a good will gesture to keep the piece I would return £30 as I lost a job for
£85 that I was unable to do because of the state of the castle ( also the
first time in 4 years I have had to let some one down ) and the
time it took me to clean it I was still out of pocket but if it put a end
to him ringing me I was willing to do it. He refused the offer and hung
up.
I would be
interested if you or any one else thinks I was right or not. As this is
the first time I have done this I would welcome others opinion right or wrong.
Brian Auty
( Active Hire ) Leeds
Hiring from Hell story 3
One
member has told me that he supplied a petrol blower to a bouncy castle booking, and the rain-cover came down and accidently
blocked the vent on the side of the blower.
To keep the inflatable correctly inflated the customer moved the
throttle to full power (and did not move the rain-cover) out of the way. For over an hour the blower screamed at
maximum revs until all the fuel ran out.
A member has emailed me a
rather amusing story. He was setting up
an inflatable in a customer’s back garden.
Suddenly, he wanted to have a wee.
So, he asked the customer if he could use the toilet. The customer (a man) said that he could go
against a tree in the garden, as he had
just had a brand new downstairs bathroom fitted. Fortunately, he declined the offer of a tree as the customers
wife was in the house – and it would not have looked very professional if his
wife had looked out of the window or come out to hang up the washing.
Name
withheld.
Hiring From Hell Story 5
We were
delivering a foam sided ball pond to a house that was near the top of a steep
hill. There was no drive so we had to park the van on the road. Got the ball
pond into the house and set it up, then back to the van for the balls. They are
kept in a couple of large nets hanging from hooks in the roof. As I pulled the
first one out, the tie caught on a snag and pulled open. Before I could react,
1000 balls went cascading down the hill. It took about an hour to collect up
all the balls that hadn't been run over!
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BIHA Note: Although some of these true “horror”
stories are shocking, I would like to
empathise to members and anyone else reading this newsletter – who are perhaps thinking
of starting up an inflatable hire business – that most of these types of “disaster” stories are
rare. To give you an idea as to how
unusual they are – I have been hiring inflatables to the public for 10 years (and I do on average approx, 700
bookings per year) – and the number of “hiring from hell stories” which I have
personally had in all that time is around 8.
So, it is important to put it into perspective – 8 “rogue” bookings out
of approx. 5,000 hires is not bad.
I hope these stories will
entertain you, but at the same time (and much more importantly!) I hope that all BIHA members can learn lots
of lessons from these true “disaster” stories,
particularly in regards to safety and taking control of the
booking. However, there will always be
outside influences which are totally outside our control.
Please do visit the new
website which the BIHA has recently set up at www.hirings-from-hell.com