Latest posts for the topic "The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!"

The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Sun, 6 Mar 2016 09:45:29 GMT

My good lady wife has asked me to put this thread on as we've just got a good deal on a week in Lech only to find all the savings wiped out by the cost of ski rental. Now I appreciate that rental is usually a tad more expensive in Austria than France but Lech seems to be taking the p..s to levels I've not seen before as in massive rip off merchants. Is this a case of "they've got you by the short and curly's" or is there something i'm missing.Don't mention promo codes done all that and cheapest I can find is 165 euros for the week.I can't seem to find a way round this as their doesn't seem to be many shops to choose from so little in way of competition and what's there seems to be owned by the local mafia{family} so have they got me by the goolies!!!

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Sun, 6 Mar 2016 12:40:50 GMT

I think 'rip off' is an over used phrase these days.....

Pricing is usually down to the economics of supply and demand. I haven't skied Lech (but would like to) but I'm led to believe it's a premium resort and as such I wouldn't expect bargain basement pricing.

We always use Snowberry when we ski in Val d'Isere and their kit is brilliant. Current online price for int/adv skis for the week is 139 Euros. Adv/expert is 159 euros.

Therefore Lech seems comparable (unless you are being asked to pay 165 euros for substandard kit)

Out of interest, I only paid 995 krone for advanced skis when in Are, Sweden recently. That calculates to about GBP80 for the week which seemed amazingly good value.

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Sun, 6 Mar 2016 12:58:59 GMT

I agree with Barney. That doesn't seem overly expensive for a resort like Lech.
Indeed in Soldeu, which some people would say was a 'cheap' resort, you would pay 150-200euros for top of the range equipment.

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Sun, 6 Mar 2016 16:31:08 GMT

Hang on - seems really expensive to me!
Alpe D'Huez - with Sport 2000. 6 days
free ride skis + multi ride (change as much as you want) + insurance = 112.20 E
or - 85.20 + 15.00 + 12.00
Cham87 first Saturday as most stuff was out. Changed to Head Rev 90 then Rossi Sin 7 (brand new).

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 07:20:47 GMT

Doesn't seem a bad price. Assume season is 18 week and skis are in region of 1000 Euro, plus 3 services so total cost 1060 Euro. Even assuming that the shop is free and the nice person who adjusts your binding gets zero salary that would require equipment to be rented 60% of the time to break even. Of course if you want second or third season skis you would expect a discount but is difficult to avoid the math of running a business.

OldAndy: Out of interest, why did you change from the Cham 87 to the Head Rev 90.

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 07:42:14 GMT

I paid 90 euros in Val for Atomic redster xt last year and was quoted 140 euros for same skis in snowberry so that's a no brainer bb. This year 84 euros in Courchevel again for Atomic redster xt. These are two premium resorts bb and brucie. I rest my case

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 07:57:32 GMT

Interesting. Last year several ski hire shops in St Anton were found guilty of colluding over prices. I noticed that Lech has no Intersport - one of the few resorts anywhere in Europe without one.

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 08:12:59 GMT

My sentiments entirely iainm. I can only find three shops in Lech and prices are exactly the same. I tend to ski on Atomic redster everytime unless a storm comes in and in the Lech shops they appear to only have Atomics from 2014 season looking at the graphics for 165 euros and that's with a promo code. I find some of the previous comments a little naive with the exception of oldandy who seems to be on my level

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 11:24:18 GMT

No case to rest Birdy. Wherever you are you have to pay the going rate. And on the subject of naivety, perhaps it would have been sensible to check prices before settling on a 'good deal' to a resort like Lech.

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 11:29:52 GMT

To Ranchero on ski choice.
I have skied the Cham 87 a couple of times and the Cham 97. Nothing wrong with them but I think quite heavy and they feel a bit dead compared with others such as Scott Mission, Movement Jam, BBR 9.0

Laurent, the shop owner, recommended the Rev 90 and I found them really good in the mixed and varied conditions we had.
The Sin 7 was a great ski, very light and lively. Had these for only one day as they were booked out next day and the shop only had one pair in my size. I would have liked to have tried these in different conditions, particularly on hard icy (spring type) stuff. The reason I wanted to ski these is I have been fascinated by the Soul 7 but never tried them. Thought these would be an interesting option as a bit narrower and more in line with the mainly piste skiing I do with a few forays off piste.

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 11:52:22 GMT

Brucie couldn't agree more on your last point about checking beforehand and I certainly will in future but I've never come across these rip off prices anywhere before as I said previously Austria is usually a tad more pricey on rental than France but I only paid 102 ereuros in kitz two weeks back

euros in kitz two weeks ago and as stated before what I've paid in Courchevel 1850 and Val the claim you made about premium resorts doesn't stack up. The fact is due to a lack of competition Lech's ski hire costs are a rip off

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 13:14:47 GMT

I've just had a look on lechzuers.com, which may or may not be the official Lech website. Very odd that they give a table of prices for ski hire and then give links to several ski hire shops at the side. This seems to suggest that the price is the same at each of those shops. Hmmm, very fishy

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 13:37:54 GMT

Certainly is dobs and apparently owned by same family so I'd call that a monopoly but some of the chaps on this site think I'm being charged a fair price and I say where!

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 14:18:11 GMT

I hear what everyone is saying on this thread but I simply don't have the time or motivation to chase down the cheapest ski hire every time we head off on holiday. I'm happy to pay Snowberry rates in Val d'isere as their kit is great, they are very helpful and they have a great facility which allows the storage of skis and boots overnight in their shop.

Likewise in Zermatt, we've used Flexrent each time, not because they were the cheapest but because they came recommended and again allow storage overnight in their shop.

I suppose in the context of spending several thousand pounds for each family ski holiday, I'm not that interested in chasing down 30 or 40 quid for a cheaper set of skis.

As I said earlier, it's simply supply and demand at work. However, if the marketplace is fixed in Lech then you either pay up, take your own skis or go on holiday somewhere else.

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 14:25:48 GMT

Austria does seem to be garnering a bit of a reputation for cartel like practices in resorts, but it is what it is. The extra you will pay will probably amount to a good round of drinks! Let it go and enjoy your holiday Birdy! :D :D :D

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 14:42:16 GMT

Blimey brucie what do you drink! No you're right bud. I just simply wanted to know from anyone who'd been if there Was anywhere else to hire thats not advertised but as ever on this forum one thing leads to another and the original point in question is lost in discussion but its a good crack and I think we've took this thread as far as we can. Thanks for your input snowfiesnowfiends

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 14:48:43 GMT

I'll have a Jagermeister and Red Bull!

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 16:39:19 GMT

It might just be considered relevant that all the hire shops in the Arlberg are owned by one family....
That, at least was the case three years ago.

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 18:32:04 GMT

Dave Mac, that makes sense then. Since you cannot do a lot about it (unless you want to complain to the Austrian competition authorities), you just have to factor it into the price of the trip.

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Mon, 7 Mar 2016 22:39:11 GMT

Dave Mac wrote:It might just be considered relevant that all the hire shops in the Arlberg are owned by one family....
That, at least was the case three years ago.

This is highly unlikely, all the shops in Lech have different owners.
http://www.firmenabc.at/strolz-gesellschaft-m-b-h_lGP
http://www.firmenabc.at/sportalp-gmbh_BQyU#crefo
http://www.firmenabc.at/johann-pfefferkorn-gesellschaft-m-b-h-co-kg_FDvX#crefo
http://skibex.at/warum-skibex/ (sole trader, only opened this season)

Strolz is by far the biggest outfit with an estimated turnover of almost Euro12 million.

It would be interesting to find out how and by whom the "suggested" rental prices were determined
http://www.lechzuers.com/rental?_ga=1.96952351.1068645385.1457272713

The cheapest place will likely be Sporthaus Pfefferkorn as they are member of the Sport 2000 purchasing association.

Re:The great Lech ski hire swindle!!!!

Tue, 8 Mar 2016 15:12:10 GMT

Will you have a car? If so, you could save quite a bit by heading over to Pettneu and using Mietski. They offer much cheaper ski hire than anyone else I have seen, though it does get more expensive the closer it is to your trip (similar to Ryanair pricing). You also get exactly the skis you ordered - not just whatever is available on the day :wink:.

It would be quite a drive from Lech so probably not worth it unless you could hit it on the way in and out :cry:.