Who's going? [url=http://www.esafishingmaniaexpo.

scorpion

Senior Member
no excuse for poor organisation, esa seem to sub contact most of their operations. the if things go pear shaped they say the sub contractors are not pulling their weight. that is total bs. if you are charging for a service, then you need to provide the service period, no excuses. as for them giving, i would like to know what they are giving.
 

Karma

Senior Member
Hey Scorpion

Haven't seen you around for a day or two;).  Our guys are going to the Noweeds bronzie clinic and guided tour (the bugger better get us onto those busses fast) on Saturday 03/11/2007

 

Date: 03/11/2007

Venue:  Blokhuis, Maccasar

Time:  7.30am for 8.00am start

Cost:  R125.00 including T Shirt

What:  Bait and rig clinic/workshop followed by their expertise on the fishing field.

 

Are you still in with 2 of your friends???  Let me know soonest so that we can confirm numbers with weeds.

ciao

 
 

Karma

Senior Member
Cool bud.  Come over and introduce yourself, so that we know who the famous or infamous (ha ha) Scorpion is:doh.
 

Mantis

Senior Member
the reason wes is leaving is because him and his dad are filming a 12 dvd series called angling with blackfin....
 

Harries

New member
Heya,

Just like to add my vote. I drove far and especially stayed over in a aguest house to catch the expo. Had a jar full of loot, and was planning some serious spending.

What a dissapointment, and what bullshit advertizing. Luckally I havn't become and ESA member yet, and after this me thinks I'll give it a bit of time.

tight lines
 

Andre Henn

New member
Hi Guys & B8FISH

It's always very entertaining to read the postings on the forums. Can never complain about "constructive criticism".

However, when I read inaccurate information being shared, it makes me sad that the anglers can't just take a positive and use it to grow the sport...

You are right in saying that Rob Kyle can fish the ESA Pro Series, Rob was only ever contracted and payed for writing articles for the ESA Magazine. We did interview Rob for a potential future position which never realised. ESA never contracted Rob to fish in the show!!!

Wesley was a great person and we will miss him dearly. Paying him a meager salary ..., we are really trying our best to create salaries for angling in South Africa and hope we will get it right. If you think that +/- 750 a day is a meager remunaration, I wish I could earn that doing what I love and only what I love for 12 days a month with flexi hours when I was 21... but that's just me!!

Now about ALL the MOOLA I make, that's great news!!! Will be sure to check my bank account tomorrow!!! 
And on that note I would like to launch the new ESA subsidary called the MOOLA ROUGE - this is a innitiative to help us spend all this money we make - further details to follow...

We will NOT replace Wesley - CAN'T - we will introduce several new anglers in the future to add more diversity in what we share on ESA!! Already selected 2 new anglers for 2008 on saltwater and 4 new anglers on the BASS show.

Wesley has joined his dad doing angling DVD's and felt that it might cause complications forward and therefore persued further career advancement.

Yours in Angling
Andre Henn - ESA (Extreme Sports Angling)
 

Andre Henn

New member
Hi Scorpion

Would like to answer your question...

At the ESA Expo - ESA provided a partnership trying to add value to a good cause - angling education. The organisers take the profit - It cost ESA quite a bit of money being there to add what we could...

We were the media partner...

Kind Regards

Andre Henn
ESA - Extreme Sports Angling

 
 

brettam

Member
Andre

Glad to see that you have responded in sorts. I personally have had no problem with the "Kyle issue" nor that Wes had left. I watch the ESA program every week and most weeks watch it a few times. I think the show is incredible. I love the mag and am a platiumium member. This does not mean that I was happy with the show and from one of my previous post I said as much. There has been quite a lot of unhappiness with the show and I would hope for you businesses sake that you deal with this issue more than you have in the last post. One of the things that irritate a customer or potential customer the most, is being ignored when concerns or customer relation issues are not addressed by the supplier. At the end of the day your business is relyant on the members and those that buy the mag. Please show them some respect and address the issue as there are many potential members on this forum.

Keep on doing the great work wirth the show, it has taught a lot of us a great deal about fishing.

Hope to hear from you.

Regards

Brett Marlin
 

B8FISH

Senior Member
I got a reponse when i was least expecting it. Before I am quoted out of context Andre. I am assuming that you run the ESA ship and have sunk money into the project. Therefore you have every right to take profits resulting from the project. read....Make moola. why else take such a project on. However.......

Sarcasm is the cheapest form of wit.
Words are cheap, Actions speak volumes.......
I believe our angling fraternity needs the likes of a ESA TV show. In whatever form possible. However it is the paying customer that ultimately pays the bills. It would be nice that Mr Henn heeds his customers or else the customers will go elsewhere. TV Fishing journalism in SA is taking off. I advise the paying customer to use his money carefully in choosing a program to support. That will get ESA attention.
I wish we could find out the viewership stats for ESA over the last 4 months. Whats the trend? What has the viewing been like for Hook, Line and Jeep?
In closing, I thought that Mantis had a very good post regarding the mag.....am I surprised that Mr Henn did not comment on Mantis' post?..Not really. real issues have always been ignored. Tackle the hard issues, leave the cheap shots alone.

Afterall we do need a show for our angling fraternity.
 
@ b8fish i second your last comment..well said..

@Mr Henn..you got a great thing going with probably a ton off money floating in the concept..now pls for heavens sake,if u want to make esa grow again then listen to both your advertisers but more importantly your MARKET!! They are the ones who support your sponsors in your mag and show who in turn see the profitability and spend again more with esa..so put ure to the ground and listen to what joe public has to say..

Good luck..
 

Mantis

Senior Member
howzit B8fish my bru. hope you've been stretched silly as summer approaches.

 

guys, i have gone down this road with andre from the beginning and have approached him directly a couple of times and nothing comes of it. i am reminded of the old saying "it's like p!ssing down a well....futile!".

 

it always amazes me how the obvious can be so easily overlooked. below I type a comment that could have come from andre, but naturally it is my day dreaming:

 

"hi guys

 

first of all apologies for any of your expectations that have not been met. it is tempting to bore you with a case of laying the blame elsewhere, but the truth is we missed the mark. the fact you have such high expectations of ESA goes to show just how much of an impact we have had on the angling fraternity and that motivates us to go out there and do our best to get it right everytime. ESA is is not a benvolent exercise, it is a business and naturally our aim is to make a healthy profit, but not when it leaves such a bitter taste in the consumer's mouth because they feel they are not getting value for their money. this is a long term initiative and will go nowhere without your support. i shudder to think what would happen if you boycotted our advertisers products because you were bummed with us. i am employing a full time customer service consultant, who fortunately is an angler too, so that your complaints and queries and suggestions can be handled as speedily as they deserve to be, unfortunately it is pretty much impossible for me to respond to each one personally, so i feel this is the best alternative...it is one small way to respond to your valid disappointments. and lastly, i see on this thread how many of you tried to encourage each other to go to the expo, thank you for your support, i am sorry it was such a let down, but lessons were learnt and mistakes will not be repeated. we are aware of how popular the various fishing forums are and appreciate that it is a convenient avenue to vent your frustrations, as a result the new employee will be a regular feature on these forums to ensure that we bring service to you and not the other way around.

 

i thank you all (negative and positive) for the fact that ESA is important enough in your angling lives for you to take the time to voice your opinions.

 

yours in angling andre henn i wish.
 

Andre Henn

New member
Hi Mantis - Well said...

I've/ESA made public anouncements saying exactly what you said on several occassions - really can't address everyone and everything all the time... Would love to though and we will get there in building the platforms to do just that. For now we need to put all our energy achieving the standard we need to.

I can assure you that we have a SUPER Team putting exceptional effort in, in trying to deliver the best possible customer service. Our business is based on customer service and we are very well aware of what will make the innitiative work.

ESA consist of 18 permanent employees and several contractors to make it happen and still we need several more resources to meet the expected demand. It's great that the demand is so big, it just shows how long overdue a angling infrastructure is and I can honestly say that we were not ready or expected the response and we are trying our udmost best to grow accordingly - I personally think that we are very close in receiving the relevant funding & backing to complete what we started in the most professional way possible and apreciate all the support we do receive.

Out of the 1500 e-mails we receive a day there are 30 negative ones which we address emmediately. Our main aim will be to build the comprehensive angling infrastructure in South Africa and look after our members to the best of our abilities.

ESA is a deadline driven company - and where we've been 100% involved - we've met every goal and objective. I must say that we've learned the hard way through being let down by some of our suppliers - now I know you guys bellieve that we always shift blame - we ARE responsible and selected these suppliers. If it was possible I would have started the following subsidaries: courier/postal service, web development company, exhibition house, clothing and merchandice company, publishing house and graphics company... lets not get petty... the point is, in time I am sure we will get all of this 100% sorted!

EXPO - this was a new venture for us and we were excited in getting involved to try and provide a educational service and be the media partner. Out of the several responses we've received I do believe that we have learned a lot and will get much more involved in the future to build something amaizing. In the last month a lot of exhibitors and especially retail stores pulled out. Now we are use to this and received several letters threatning that they will try and boycott ESA because we are this huge threat to the industry. This resulted in about 2000 sq/m being cancelled. SAD!! We've learned a great deal from this and I can assure you that when we do it again - it WILL be spectacular, we will take a complete different approach!!

Magazine - Guys we had a definate vision as to what we would like to achieve in what we provide through the magazine. If we had our way - the mag would have been close to 200 pages already - we are in a partnership and work together with a publishing house. They implemented a specific business model which we have to adhere to - there are several benefits in this that will ensure longevity and the sustainability of the publication. It was a great breakdown of the mag you did and just rubbing in the salt - however I can ensure you that we are very aware of this and as soon as we are in a possition to do so - we will look at buying additional editorial pages into the magazine.

The Television Shows - We strive on a weekly basis to continuously improve our television show and must say that I am very confident in what the future holds.

On that note I would like to state that up to now everything has gone back into growing the sport and the angling infrastructure and will carry on doing so untill we get it to the standard we believe it deserves.  I once was an angler as well and we took on a responsibility and WILL follow it through - this vision was and always will be driven by passion - our objective is and will stay to fill all the gaps. I believe that ESA concist of every last angler and supporter out there - positive and negative!!

Once again - thank you all for the constructive criticism - it really helps to know the perception and I must apologise that we can not always respond on the postings - from a time perspective it is not always possible.

Yours in Angling!!!
Andre Henn
ESA - Extreme Sports Angling
 

brettam

Member
Hi Andre

Thanks for the response.

Good luck and lets hope ESA goes from strength to strength. Tight lines

Brett
 

Mantis

Senior Member
and so my respect for you grows Andre, not because you agreed with me, but because it honestly takes big kahonies to face the music head on, as you have just done.

an alternative perspective is always a good thing.

 

i went for a ride on my bike just now which is always a good way to clear my head and i realised something akin to eating humble pie...i own my own business (started from scratch on a non-existent budget) which through God's grace has grown fantastically this year and growth is an incredibly difficult thing to manage without dropping your standards, the further away you extend responsibility from yourself, the more difficult it becomes to engrain in people the same level of dedication that you hold.

 

and i realised this: despite having valid complaints, how many of us would like our own performances/businesses scrutinised under the magnifying glass which ESA is being subjected to? so, valid or not, our voices have been heard, andre has responded (nice one bru), we were all vociferous in our complaints, so let's be as vocifierous in acknowledging that this time a response was recieved and that there are understandable, albeit regrettable, reasons behind them.

 

i dont think the consumer should ever be silenced, keep voicing your gripes, but let's see if we can manifest that in a tone other than that which is currently being used.

 

 
 

jace

Senior Member
Hi guys
I think this thread shows how to agree to disagree. There has been good responses from both sides and for those that did not take part in the debate it gave a balanced view.

I would hate to dredge up the past but I think it needs to be said. This was an ADULT discussion and was carried out with respect. It DID NOT degenerate to levels of some previous threads and I hope this thread serves as a basis for future discussions in respecting the other view...AND I really hope that all members adhere to the cyber-mark set up in this discussion.

Regards
Jace
 
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