Delta Force Hard Sell

[Gups]

Originally posted by Tom Allen

I've come across Delta force a few times. Their selling technique is basically a con, they offer the world and give you a normal days play, on poor sites, that are designed to use a lot of paint.......

Well Tom, I work for DF. We have 15 sites now in England Scotland and Wales, with a lot of repeat custom both from individuals and commerce... the fields vary a bit from centre to centre but have a minimum of 6 fields and players only play one double game on each. The 'basic' fields are Egyptian Curse (pyramids) Village (huts etc), Convoy (vehicles), Fort, (as it says) Speedball (bales or oil drums) and then some centres have an airstrip or double decker busses or military vehicles or ammunition dump/trenches etc. I'm not sure what you mean by 'designed to use a lot of paint' as generally players go to paintball sites in order to shoot paint at one another and avoid being shot in return

He said their was a site near Cardiff, which there wasn't, and still isn't. He said it was due to open soon, but still no site has opened.....All in all a very dodgy side of paintball, not to be recommended.

Really strange that one...and here's me loading vans and sending kit and food and marshals down to Cardiff for several weeks now... Hmmm makes u wonder what all our kit & marshals are doing there each weekend, so not really dodgy at all is it?

...They were trying to sell vouchers which entitled you to eight days entrance fees and half price paint. The vouchers cost £49.95 and the half price paint was 5p/ball! Now using my poor maths skills that adds up to 10p/ball normal price.

DF do use a marketing agency to sell some of their tickets...I can't vouch for everything they tell prospective customers because i'm not there obviously. However, using your maths skills i'm sure you'd agree that 8 days entry for £50 ain't bad now is it? Obviously you dont have to go 8 times yourself as you can take 7 friends along so you all pay about £6 each. I think what the salesperson may have been trying to say is that the first 100 balls which are included are at half price and thereafter its 5p a ball... pretty standard rates for paint .. i dont know of any rental sites cheaper??

Tbh if you find the sales technique overkill, just say no thanks... like you do to the old lady who tries to get you to sign up for a monthly donation to Oxfam, or just ignore them and walk on. Or do what i do... TELL THEM YOU WORK FOR DELTA FORCE!! lol works every time

Having said that: If anyone feels they are being promised someting by the sales staff which then isn't the case on site, drop me a pm/email as well as complaining thru the proper channels and i'll make sure it reaches the ppl who need to know, as happy customers are repeat customers

 

[stuz]

OK. we all know the stories about the delta force reps. About how they dry fire markers in shopping malls and feed people a bunch of s**t to sell tickets. and im not gona deny they dont, coz it causes us trouble from customers all the time, when they come in asking for there machine guns, quad bikes or free paint all day that they were promised .

we all walk by the charity workers in the streets why not do the same to the DF reps. If they do pester you and wont go away ...... as Gups said, tell them you work for delta force, they run a mile belive me.

im just a bit confused about the poor fields comment !!!!!
obviously the fields vary from site to site, but we get complimented about our fields all the time, from customers ranging from your average stag party, to tournement players. and to tell you the truth ive not heard to many complaints about them.

as for the reps selling tactics giving paintball a bad name..... yea, i can see what you meen, but there are upsides.
I know i number of regular player from my area that would have never started playing if delta force reps hadn't force fed them tickets. and despite what others may say, we always need new players!!!

 

[Tom Allen]

Where is this site near Cardiff then, there is already a site near Cardiff called Task Force, and they haven't heard anything about a site near them which is where it is supposed to be.
When i spoke to someone in the delta force head office i was told there is a site in Bristol and Cardiff, but no details were available, strange business practice that..?
Gups give me an address so i can visit the site local to Cardiff, and i will give everyone an unbiased view of the setup, it will be a good thing to have more paintball in Wales, but get rid of the pushy non paintball related students selling your product.

 

[invid]

Originally posted by stuz


im just a bit confused about the poor fields comment !!!!!
obviously the fields vary from site to site, but we get complimented about our fields all the time, from customers ranging from your average stag party, to tournement players. and to tell you the truth ive not heard to many complaints about them.

sorry to be picky but counting the number of tourny teams in scotland- 2 i cant picture many tourny players playing at glasgow df

and having played there myself have to say the fields are pretty poor, with no other way to get to enemy objective than sling paint at 30 or so players infront of you

 

[Troggy]

Originally posted by Tom Allen
Where is this site near Cardiff then, there is already a site near Cardiff called Task Force, and they haven't heard anything about a site near them which is where it is supposed to be.
When i spoke to someone in the delta force head office i was told there is a site in Bristol and Cardiff, but no details were available, strange business practice that..?
Gups give me an address so i can visit the site local to Cardiff, and i will give everyone an unbiased view of the setup, it will be a good thing to have more paintball in Wales, but get rid of the pushy non paintball related students selling your product.

Gotta be said gups - we had exactly the same thing down south. Tickets were being sold for the Delta Force due to open in the Winchester area when the site didn't actually exist.

Well ok, it existed - it just wasn't open...yet...and still wasn't a year later when a bunch of my mates realised they'd been conned by dodgy marketing. The head office just kept saying the same - we can't give details just yet, but don't worry it's coming soon.

Now I have never been to a DF site based on this alone. I couldn't really give a stuff if they had the best fields in the world...the company (or its agents whom they should be responsible for) have been ripping punters off for years for a fast buck. Sorry but there's just too many horror stories to not believe it

 

[Tom Allen]

For years now they have been selling tickets for paintball venues, in areas where they have no site. I've seen students who have bought these tickets in Cardiff, only to find that the closest place they can use them is Birmingham.

In my eyes that's a CON.

There's no other word for it.

Also the punter is promised a days play for £6. Yes Just £6, or at least that's what they're lead to believe.

This is not good for paintball.

 

[Edd Hobday]

Originally posted by stuz
OK. we all know the stories about the delta force reps. About how they dry fire markers in shopping malls and feed people a bunch of s**t to sell tickets. and im not gona deny they dont, coz it causes us trouble from customers all the time, when they come in asking for there machine guns, quad bikes or free paint all day that they were promised .

From what you say here it seems that you work for DF, you know that these reps are promising things your sites can't/don't deliver and you don't agree with their selling techniques.

Surely it's DF's duity to sort the reps out or expect the bad image? You don't seem to want to show any responsability for them when they represent your company, seems strange.

Just my opinions from what ive seen
-EDD

 

[hankin]

I did work for delta force but no longer do and as such do not care if they get a bad rep( in fact play at west London paintball site it is the best!!!!!) but i have been led to believe recently the management of the ticket reps has been taken over by delta force itself.


I have seen most of the fields in the South east sites and feel that they are at least as good as the other sites(except w.l.p).

It seems that the only difference is delta force is nation wide and is more business orientated. I agree that the ticket sales ppl are fools but who has actually been to a delta force site and been disappointed. It is easy to slag it off but like smart parts are you only doing it because its successful.

Delta force is the first to say it does not cater for tourney players but i feel it is good for punters as they mostly seem to enjoy themselves.

Nuff said

Jay

 

[Pee Wee]

Originally posted by Roland


Has anyone else come across Delta Force selling this way?

Yeah so far ive been asked twice in the Romford area.

And when I attempted to tell them I play tournaments they did'nt even have a clue about anything about tournament paintball.

Some times a i feel that our efforts to promote our sport are just useless if even paintball 'sales persons' arent even aware that its a tournament sport.

Ashley

 

[Gups]

Originally posted by Tom Allen
Where is this site near Cardiff then, there is already a site near Cardiff called Task Force, and they haven't heard anything about a site near them which is where it is supposed to be.....

Hey Tom. The new DF Cardiff site is indeed very near to the Task Force site, about 5 mins away. If you want to visit the site, maps and directions are sent out once you book. The booking line number is 014832 11194. The site is relatively new and so not as developed as some of our more established sites. So far the base camp, fort field (2 storey fort) speedball, and village fields are completed with a pyramid field and others under construction. If you go, i hope you have a good day!!

Re the points others raised about hard sell and ppl being misled, DF's marketing agency have over 100 agents who are out on the streets day after day each talking to about 100 people each per day, about playing paintball. That's a lot of coverage and a lot of people buying tickets. I marshal at the kent and essex sites as well as working at the HO and tbh, hand on heart i can say that i have NEVER had a person complain that they haven't got what was promised. I'm not saying that some people may have been told things by unscrupulous agents wanting to earn a fast buck, but i'm saying we need to put it into context, its a very small percentage. Complaints are always followed up by our customer service dept. Also, all the terms and conditions, price of paint etc are set out on the back of the tickets the agents sell, which the public can read before they decide to purchase. If i were purchasing something off a street vendor i would want to read the small print, wouldn't you?

On a final note, before DF's hard sales policy is comdemned too hastily, consider that the rental sites make the bucks for the paint companies and their distributors. Without the rental sites paint and equipment would be a lot more expensive for us tourney players and sponsorships, i doubt would exist or at best only for the elite!