Eric's now aware of the HU thread and has responded:
Certainly alot to reply to, but I'll keep it brief.
Everything stated by the unhappy guests is true. No one is exaggerating their experience or what I told them or why what happened to them did in fact happen.
I do take exception to possibly two points....One, no one is "taking any money" currently or in future from L.A.R.A. As of the last "completion" of the last tour on 1 March, which the user "JoBloe" is recounting, all tours have been cancelled and refunded. You can rest assured, there are no future/pending/unresolved tours after that date. If there have been any inquiries for tours/rentals/services from us after about the end of January, they have all been replied to the same:
"We no longer offer any services of any kind and will not undertake to do so in the future."
The only other point I take exception to, I said I was "broke"...I guess that's certainly subjective, but in this case, it refers to my financial situation as it pertains to L.A.R.A. I was trying to explain that, as part of the deal made with Don, by him not honoring his commitments, I unfortunately would not be paying essentially again for the tours to proceed as promised. I did do what I could in what little time I had to make it as pleasant as I could. I do agree and understand it wasn't enough. But finding out everything had gone to shit byt he 1st week of Feb, there was very little I could do with regards to now having to FIND and HIRE bikes, which I did, as well as try to provide them ( the guests) with some sort of guide or leader. One group, I used my support driver to lead them, which on one hand wasn't exactly what they had been hoping for, but it also didn't leave them standing there with their dicks in their hands like one of the other groups. Point is, I did the best I could with what I had with so little notice. All 3 groups that were casualties of this screw up received some form of compensation from my pocket. Some I was able to hire bikes for, some received lodging and transport to other destinations, some were led by my driver. All were (extra) monies paid from my pocket that should have been counted as "proceeds" from the sale of the business to Don.
As far as not revealing some of these details to the guests, the part of the story that isn't being told is my last communication with Don was in the end of January. I was not aware there was any friction or issues going on with us. WHen I was contacted by the first group that revealed problems, the forum user "Holden", I saw that Don was cc'd on the email(s).
I asked them, Did Don reply? No. Not a word.
I sent Don my own email(s) asking for clarification. Nothing.
It was really the 1st week of February I suspected something was going on, but with no contact, I had nothing to go on. Was he hurt, sick, out of town, away from emails/phones? No clue. And to this very moment, still, nothing. Not one word of anything.
So yes, in the fallout from a very poorly conceived business arrangement, there were some casualties, I will admit to that. Without any info from the other party involved, I cannot explain, justify, excuse or debate his reasons.
I can say with certainty that I did not operate and own this company for nearly 8 years with little to no negative feedback, having supplied 100s of guests over the years with great tours, great bikes, and great services under these type of circumstances.
If anyone out there would like to frame this as a "scam" or rip off, you're free to do so and I won't debate it any further. BUt simply trimming away all the fat and BS, it amounts to nothing more than a disagreement between two (ex)partners, that sad to say, affected some people and their expected experience.
The web site will be killed shortly and as I said before, we are not taking any bookings for any services, period. What I worked to build the last 8 years has been ruined for reasons that are certainly open to debate.
It doesn't amount to a hill of shit, but I can say I am very sorry for the people that were affected by this and feel they were taken advantage of and or lied to.
And as far as booking with Don in future, like me, I know Don isn't a common thief or liar, but somewhere, someway our expectations and agreement(s) must have deviated seriously from the original intent. As trite and simple as that sounds, I suspect that's exactly what happened. Nothing more, nothing less.
The last and only other point I'll raise is this....for those of you reading from abroad and not having lived the ex-pat life, please understand, in situations like this, when 2 parties don't/cannot agree, we can't just "call the police" or take them to court to settle our differences. Contracts aren't worth the paper they are written on and private parties are often left to settle this on their own. Yes, of course there is a "court system" in Laos, but as anyone with experience would attest, the time, effort and money would be better spent pissing into the wind. For me, I have to just let it go, chalk it up to a very poor experience, and move on. Of course I wish it were that simple for those that were affected, but I'm sure it won't be.
Happy and safe riding and all the best to all of you in the future.
