The most likely sequence of events would have been that the client asked if a shotgun would be available in camp, the agent said yes no problem and did no more about it.

Sadly the vast majority of agents are 'instant experts' and don't really know much about the business. They're the ones who will tell you what they think you want to hear rather than the truth.

A GREAT example of this happened to a client who booked a 21 day Tanzanian hunt with me. (which incidentally was very successful)

This guy had previously booked a rhino dart hunt through a US agent with a RSA outfitter..... THE HUNT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ME WHATSOEVER The clients (signed) contract told him that his hunt began and ended at JIA and that's where the PH would collect him and return him to...... 3 day's before departure the client managed to talk to the outfitter on the phone who told him that he was actually being collected from Richards Bay Airport in KZN.... if that conversation hadn't taken place the client would have been waiting to be collected at the wrong airport. As it was he only just managed to get a seat on the connecting flight.

He had also been told that his package included an Nyala.......no-one mentioned that the trophy fee was almost $2k..... then the contract promised a set date for shipment of the fibreglass rhino trophy.... it left RSA about 3 months after the promised date and only then after the client had been forced to appoint an RSA agent who had to threaten to report the outfitter to PHASA if he didn't do something about it..... the outfitter had obviously intended not to send a trophy at all. Then the Nyala skin and trophy that the client had asked to be sent to his choice of taxidermist failed to arrive and it took 5 months and numerous threats of complaining to PHASA from the RSA agent before the trophy got sent to the correct taxidermist.... by then the skin was completely buggered.

Through all this hassle the US agent refused to even answer e-mails, phone calls and registered letters. His attitude was that he had the clients money and wasn't interested anymore.

What made this all worse was that the outfitter concerned actually sits on the board of PHASA.

I'm not tarring all agents with the same brush. Some are very good, but most are a waste of space. Anyone booking through an agent should ask to be put in contact with the PH/outfitter at an early stage and if the agent refuses to co-operate then the client should look elsewhere.

This just goes to prove how important it is to check references thoroughly and avoid any deal that looks a little too good to be true...... because it is probably just that. The industry is full of cowboys, so it pays to only deal with the real professionals......even if at first glance it looks that it will cost a bit more. In the long run, quality is always worth paying for.

Guys, that's just one example of how things can go wrong if you don't do your homework properly......there's dozens more.

Incidentally, the client concerned now books all his African hunts with me and no-one else and he sends others to me on a regular basis......so the couldn't care less attitude of the US agent and this other outfitter has cost them something like US$100,000 worth of business every year.

P'raps I should thank them!