At Brendon Manor, we've always tried to make things easy in terms of payment, so for the last 8 years we've always had a "pay on the day" policy - this has meant that any last minute changes or cancellations could be dealt with without having to refund and meant you had time to save before the trek.
Over a recent week, we've lost over £300 worth of business from customers who have booked in and then failed to turn up. We know the majority of you are brilliant in keeping us informed if something goes wrong and your unable to make your desired trekking time - however both these sets of customers chose not to even send a quick email or pick up the phone; deciding it was better just not to show up at all.
Therefore, we have make the following reluctant decision that from Sunday 1st September, we will require payment for all treks and lessons at the time of booking confirmation. This will take place in the following way:
Book your trek online using our online form like you do now - the form won't be changing but please make sure you always receive a form submission confirmation (you won't believe how many people don't and wonder why we don't receive their enquiry)! Troubleshooting for our online forms can be found by clicking here.
We will get back in contact with you using the email address provided (again vital this is correct) and give you a date and time.
If you're happy with this let us know, if you're not; again let us know! 9 times out of 10 we can always find you a solution on a date near to your desired one.
Once we've agreed on a date and time between you (the customer) and ourselves (Brendon Manor Stables) we will send you a Payment Link. This Payment Link is a secure payment screen from our vendor SumUp. These are as secure as any transaction on any website. The difference is we will email you this link for you to click through on and it won't be part of brendonmanor.com so a different website address will show on your browser. On this website page, we will have the sub total of your trek already pre-programmed in. All you need to do is enter your card details as per any other online transaction and submit. SumUp will do the rest from there. The same cards as we accept in the office now will be accepted on here.
This must be done within 24 hours of the link being sent to allow you time to pay, so it's important for you to let us know of any delays.
Non-payment within 24 hours will result in that date and time becoming vacant again, so you may lose that booking. Again, contact us if you think or know there maybe a delay, we can help.
Once we have received full payment into the account, we will send you a confirmation email just like we do now.
It would be worth printing and bringing with you your transaction number just in case of any problems on the day.
The above is an example of a test payment on our new Pre Payment Link - we will publish a more indepth post running through this closer to 1st September.
We will aim to add any multi ride discounts on to the payment link, if you are riding multiple times within the period allowed for this discount.
We will only accept payment on the day in rare circumstances and we will let you know if this is possible - for instance if you have contacted us last minute for a trek on the same day so would not have time to complete the transaction before hand. We will be in touch in the near future with our regular local riders also to let them know how it effects them.
The above would also be applicable for those who book via Facebook, Whatsapp and text message, so please be aware for the latter you will need some form of internet connection now to pay. Please contact us at the time of booking with any issues.
In turn, we would like to make it clear on our cancellation policy in regards to refunds from 1st September 2024:
72 hours or more before trekking time - 100% refund
24-72 hours before trekking time - Refund and percentage based on circumstances
24 hours or less before trekking time - non-refundable
Remember trekking is an outdoor activity that takes place in most weathers!
Refunds will not be able to be processed without a transaction number - so please keep this email safe!
Refund guidelines, including what happens if Brendon Manor has to cancel your trek, can be found in our terms and conditions which can be found here
All the above does not affect our MULTI DAY RIDES which come under their own set of terms and conditions.
We hope you understand the above is to protect our business and also prevent large scale price rises in the future. Yes, financially it will affect us with more card/electronic transactions meaning we don't get the whole pound, but we couldn't keep losing hundreds of pounds on a daily basis.
All treks booked for dates on or before August 31st will be pay on the day. Any bookings existing after 1st September prior to this being released today will be still pay on the day unless you wish to pay in advance. The above is only applicable going forward to new bookings for 1st September onwards.
Thank you for your understanding and reading this. Please direct any questions to brendonmanortrekking@gmail.com