Refund policies can affect the customers actions . If you refund everyone then people sign up to hold a place without committing to the event. It can breed a lot of cancellations and leave a lot of expenses for the organizer.

Then there are the managing of expectations. When you here there will be 100 boats and only 50 show up the one that show up will be disappointed.


​​​​​​I am sure it is a decent amount of money when you have several others in a boat. It's natural for people to be one sided and want the money back. But a no refund policy is reasonable when you look at it from the organizers perspective

Would be nice if it was tax deductible. Unfortunately, it's not in my situation.

Great responses here. And a worthy topic, even if I wasn't an organizer.

I signed up for Lake Lanier for three straight years before I got a boat on the chance I MIGHT have one for the event. Always got in early and had a good slip reservation. Then I gave the slip to someone else that registered but had a less desirable slip. Never even thought about asking for a refund on the entry or the slip and was happy to make the donation.

all of this plus the time issue. most of us have day jobs. the poke run is not a income for us its a love and passion for the boats, people a charity. we had 375-8ish hands in 2018. if we have to go dig up all the info and everything else with a refund it becomes even more time. that's a valuable thing when planning a run.

I agree that there should be no refunds. I think the flip side to that is, majority of us, other than the "chosen few" are all blue collar guys, business owners etc. Hell, every year i have a list of runs we are hitting, but i always tend to never register until a week or two prior. Some of these event entry fees are getting a bit out of hand, so the thought of alot of us holding up over a grand for idk, 6 months ahead not knowing if we will sell, break, or have biz go up or down, have life come up, is the total flip side. I LOVED how Tony at Elite Poker Runs did a hefty early bird registration discount. I am curious to see how many people took advantage of that offering. Though like i said, its a total flip side, if we WERE available for a discount, i would imagine there would be higher boat counts.. Maybe an available refund option up until a month before the run would be the happy medium? Though i know many organizers use the entries for cash flow for the cost of the run put on because it isnt free, so at some point, either before or after, it would have to come out of the organizers pocket.. Certainly a rock and a hard place situation because boat counts are what we all want!

I cant get past the fact you they pay an average of 1500 bucks for 20 baseball game tickets for a basement dweller team.
But I will agree that for events such as runs and show and such there should be no refunds.

Never forget that "fan" is short for "fanatic," meaning common sense and logic go out the window.

On the other hand, the Giants won three world championships in four years (2010, 2012, 2014) so my loyalty was well-earned.

Plus, the seats are really freaking good.

My buddy is not rich but has season dolphins tickets for about $14,000 a year (for 8 home games plus a couple pre-season!). Dolphins have sucked for years and I always joke he could have a better car (Chevy Equinox is his ride now) and a boat for what he spends on tickets after just a few years. He groans about the undefeated season and how the seats are so good he would hate to lose them now.

I can go to any game I want using Stubhub. Sure I will pay more but I get to pick the game and don't have the annual commitment. Billionaire sports team owners and millionaire players surely don't need my money!

How people spend their discretionary income is—for me—beyond irrelevant. Your money, your choice and I have no business judging it. But I have to believe that. I'm a San Francisco Giants fan.

Your solution, though, is a good one. Rather than asking the organizing body to adjust to your needs, schedule uncertainty and budget, you go event by event. Sounds like a reasonable solution to me.

But I have news for you: The billionaire owners and millionaire athletes still appreciate your financial support—that is the way most people enjoy most sports events, by the way, as most fans do not have season tickets—even one game at a time. That, too, is part of their revenue model.