Would you put up with this??

[androooo]

Ok, Now I know I am a Tasmanian, and we don't have the "competition" of other centres, so AMF probably doesn't care about "bowlers" down here, but quite a few are very "pissed" off bowlers.

Now, let's just look at this place, and for the record, I USED to work here, as a tech, proshop operator, and counter attendant, and to be honest, this place has gone to the heap! I don't care if anyone says about my comments, because a lot of bowlers, and EVEN SOME STAFF of this bowling centre agree with me!

AMF paid for some "pretty looking" mural around the walls and masking units. Sure, it looks good, but it does bugger all. Don't bowlers want machinery that works? Even social bowlers want an uninterupted "experience". AMF has done nothing to these machines basically since they were installed back in the 60's. What's the problem with that you say? Well, I can tell you first hand, parts are the trouble. Now I know this has nothing to do with the staff at Moonah Bowl, as they can only work with what they are given, but this is beyond a joke. When was the last time you waited 15 minutes for a pin to be restood (that the machine didn't pickup, and yes it was on spot!), because 5 other lanes during a 10 lane league, had broken down? This is a constant happening here, and even with letters going to regional office, nothing has been done.

Scoring computers are another thing. We must be one of the last AMF centers in Australia with the original Accuscore system. Boards are so hard to find for replacement. We had a time last year that the scoring system was down for about 3 months, maybe longer. Last year we received our first delivery of a new system. 12 lanes of back end chassis arrived, and as far as I'm aware, nothing else, 6 months later.

In May (I think), we were lucky enough to be one of the AMF centres to receive a brand new AMFCentury HVO Summit. A fantastic machine, if techs knew how to use it! Lanes are so inconsistant from lane to lane, night to night, that it is a joke. In this day and age, reactive balls are the norm (yes, even in Tassie!). But, with the lack of oil being used, you can't use them very often, unless you get lucky. Now I know there has always been a lefty-righty thing going, but this is a joke. While a right hander can almost throw a shot on the outside, a left handers shot hooks at the arrows! Or in the case of what happened tonight, league lanes 7-16: 7-10 were conditioned as normal, then the further you got the less oil, till basically there was no oil on 15-16. Now, I don't care if that is operator error or not, IT SHOULD NOT HAPPEN!!! But this is something that is common. It seems like NO ONE knows how to use this "hi-tech" piece of machinery.

Well......this is just a sample of somethings that happen in Hobart. And this hasn't even touched on the subject of the so-called pro-shop. I'll leave to someone else

I hope somebody from AMF reads this, because on half of ALL BOWLERS in Hobart, WE'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!

Andrew Phillips

 

[Tiger]

I agree 100% with the last posting on here regarding bowlers being annoyed with the way Moonah has fallen to pieces in the last few years.
In 1990 the centre hosted the The Junior Nationals and President Shield.
In 1991 it hosted the ATBC Nationals and Rachuig.
It is quite sad to see what was once a great centre being allowed to fall apart in such a manner, it is now a RABBLE.
The main problems with the centre are that the 1953-built pin-spotters are constantly breaking down - I fully remember the opening night of the 1993 League Season being marred by 75 call-outs during the one league night - regrettably this is still a problem NINE Years later.
The back-end staff can't do anything about this - they don't make parts for these machines anymore - back-end staff are forced to revert to scouring the local foundries for make-shift parts to virtually "bodgey" something up to make them last a little bit longer.
THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR 2002 AUSTRALIA.

I remember one night last year in Moonah's biggest league - Centre League (20 Teams) when problems with pinspotters, ball returns, computer scoring and so forth saw it take us 1hour 40mins to complete the first game!!!! Luckily there were a few teams that had pre bowled and were absent that evening because we had to bowl that game on FOUR DIFFERENT PAIRS.
Four days later on another pair of lanes I was on the approach shooting a 10-pin and felt a fair degree of warmth on my leg on the way past and realised that there were some flames lapping out of the ball return on that pair, then a few minutes later the sprinklers were pouring water out of the ceiling

$17000 was spent on the mural and new ceiling to impress social bowlers but lets be honest - they may have done this to give them something else to look at - they will have plenty of interruptions to thier bowling.
I noticed in the "What's the Score" magazine that Moonah was supposed to receive new scoring terminals in July last year.....Still Waiting!!!!!
I remember in 1985 the then Premier of Tasmania Robin Gray opening the new ACCUSCORE computers, they are badly in need of replacement - so where are they?
The lane conditions are another bone of contention amongst locals.
One could swear that you are in six different centres on the one day given the pathetic lack of consistency in the past few years.
Last year was the best I've ever seen Moonah's lane conditions and I was the first to congratulate them on this.
Pro-shop operation is another problem.
When I am participating in a tournament and I have a problem with my equipment, I expect to be able to go into the pro-shop and pay for some work to be done on my bowling ball.
I found the pro-shop to be locked shut (Opened Monday's and Wednesday's 5PM-8-PM)
I had some finger inserts installed - they split after TWO SHOTS on instruct-o-mat

I am also annoyed that If I want to have proper drillings done on my ball, I have to travel to Launceston - 202kms away - to get this done because of the lack of professionalism currently available.
I was speaking to two ex-bowlers at the football on Sunday who told me that they were thinking of coming back to bowling.
They asked me a question "Have they fixed those f'n machines yet?" When I said no, they instantly said "Well We're not going back then" - two more bowlers lost!!!

The feeling amongst locals is that problems have not been rectified in a satisfactory manner....numerous letters have been sent to those in charge requesting for urgent upgrading...sadly these requests have fallen on deaf ears...The old "It's Only Tasmania For Christ's Sake" syndrome.

If you believe the strong rumblings from the deep South that I've heard - Leagues will be pulled off the lanes and there maybe a general strike of league players until the situation becomes more manageable.
It is a great shame but it may have to be done - ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

 

[Heather Spencer]

Androo, what you have said in your post seems to ring true with not only AMF centres in Tassie, but also here in SA. Last week in league the sweeper kept coming down before the ball was bowled, or the pins reset for the second shot of the frame, thus resulting in the bowler bowling his/her first shot only to have the remaining pins swept away, and leaving a lot of us guessing what pins had been left. However, this week our league, which is a pretty strong one (not so much with high average bowlers), but with regulars who really enjoy their bowling, we all had our 5 minutes of practice and realised immediately there wasn't a skeric (is that how you spell that)?? of oil on the lanes, all right handed bowlers balls were going over to where the 7 pin would be. We started our league bowling, were into our fourth frame when obviously I wasn't the only one really struggling, because bowling was stopped and a meeting for all Team Captains was called. It was decided that the league just pack up and leave, refusing to bowl on such conditions, and resulting in the bowling centre losing out on a large amount of money, and having half the centre not being used.

Again, as you said in your post, we cannot blame the staff. We were told the lanes had been oiled prior to bowling, so obviously the oiling machine wasn't working. I felt sorry for the staff on duty because they were the ones who had to "cop" the complaints.

I think the best way to make a stand and demand that the regular customers of the bowl are treated properly (well come to think of it, any customer), is to refuse to bowl with the conditions or lack of maintained machinery, until these matters are put right.

Whilst the oil thing where I bowl was hopefully a once off, it might make AMF start to realise that to keep their customers, they have to make sure equipment is working properly. We are fortunate here, we have other centres close by, and I am sure from some of the comments I heard on tuesday night from my fellow league bowlers, that if things don't improve vastly, they will take their business elsewhere.

I might only be a "mere" average bowler, but as you said, even the social bowlers want to go in and enjoy what they have paid for.

Sure we are going to encounter problems occasionally, and we all accept that, after all, a machine is a machine and can be subject to break downs occasionally. It is inconvenient when that happens and you have to finish your games on another pair of lanes, but every bowler accepts that can happen, but when week after week, there is something wrong to stop us from enjoying what we go down there to do, in the end the bowl will suffer. As for the staff who might be reading this post, you know which bowl I am talking about, and no-one blames you, you are a great bunch and always very approachable.

Heather S

 

[griggsy]

i agree with androo, tonight i bowled practice games and the first shot i through the pin spotter dropped bloody pins, now this happens all to often of a league night, and then within the next 10 mins there were SIX consecutive calls about lanes breaking down. this is beyond the bloody joke god damn it. then as i got through my games( very slowly) the social bowlers next to me had to put up with the lanes dropping pins again for 5 consecutive frames, now can any one tell me if this would make you want to bowl!

 

[androooo]

PROGRESS REPORT

Nothing has changed. Once again we put ourselves through the misery of another night bowling. It started when we walked into the centre, and saw the oiling with the OLD Century100B (circa 1980), where the oil pattern very quickly became what can only be described as a reverse block. I now know this is not the problem of the techs, as the HVO Summit has been suffering with a dodgy drive motor, which has finally given up the ghost.

After 4 frames, we had to change pairs (from 13-14 to 17-18), due to a breakdown. We weren't the only pair that had to be transfered as 7-8 had to be moved as well due to mechanical difficulties. Things just got worse from there as 2 balls were damaged. One which happened to be one of mine had a huge chunk ripped out, which needs to be drilled and plugged, and another ball on another pair of lanes also got rather significant damage.

We will be having a major meeting next week, as to what the bowlers of this will be doing, and I can only hope that other leagues may do the same.

PLEASE AMF.....Do something about your older centres.

 

[Tiger]

Well, I have to say this but, I have had an absolute ****ing GUTFUL.

Monday night in the President's Cup Tournament, our pair (1-2) was TRIPLE oiled to 48-feet buffed to 56-feet.
The very next pair was 32-feet double oiled and buffed to 38-feet. - WHY THE DIFFERENCE.
For example I played straight down the 10-board on Lane 3 and crossed over leaving the 1-3-6. Played straight down the 10-board on Lane 2 and left the 1-8-9 !!!!
Wednesday night the first game takes 51-minutes to bowl on 13-14.
Then removed to 17-18 where continuing problems are experienced....36 breakdowns to be exact in THREE GAMES.
We finished 45-minutes after the previous latest finishing team.
Tonight, I was again privy to play on the WORST lane conditions I've seen in a number of years.
Consistency is obviously not in the Moonah ethos.
Once again starting on 17-18 we were removed after a 47-minute opening game - only when the social bowlers had finished on 21-22.
A total of 27-breakdowns were encountered this evening. Little wonder I only shot 509.
That's a total of 63-breakdowns on the lanes that I've bowled on in two nights.

I DO NOT blame the staff at Moonah - they can only work with what they are given - and that is precious little.
I feel that we should only be paying a flat rate of $10 for league.
If we are given FOURTH DIVISION equipment we should not be expected to pay the same rates as the rest of the bowling community in Australia.
Social bowlers are also talking about the way the centre is....
Come on AMF, we aren't asking for the Taj Mahal to be built in Main Rd Moonah, just decent pinspotters and decent lane conditions.
On that subject, I would have rated the lane conditions as a quite good 7/10 for the early part of this year.
Unfortunately in the past couple of weeks that rating has fallen to around 3/10.

 

[Anita]

I know everyone here is pretty mad but i thought you would like to know something. The other night in league a pin managed to find its way under the floor to just before the ball return, pretty skilled really. Well this was not anyone's fault but it did take a while to fix. I was on the next pair and paying a bit of attention as i hadn't seen this problem before but anyway i was REALLY! proud of the staff their, working as quickly as they could to fix it, staying out of the way of those bowling next door and on offering bowlers on those lanes a free drink as compensation for the time they were losing. I thought this was a nice gesture and i know everyone complains about Tassie lanes and AMF centres in general but i thought these staff members should get a special thank you and round of applause.

 

[androooo]

Yes Annie, you are correct. There are some good staff around, and Launceston seems to have the good ones here. It's a pity some centres can't learn from them.

Anyway, later tonight, our Wednesday night laegue shall be having a meeting on the future of our season. STAY TUNED!!

 

[Tiger]

Update:
Tuesday Morning - 4 Breakdowns and 42 Resets
Wednesday Night - 3 Breakdowns and 40 Resets
Total collated from the pairs that I bowled in during competition this week - both 7-8.
A much better effort.

In relation to the Strike issue, a meeting was held at Moonah this evening in regard to this by Members of Sponsors League.
It has been decided to carry on with the competition and try to garner support from other leagues and take up a petition from each and every player to present to AMF.
AMF Regional chiefs will be in attendance at Moonah on April 25th.
It is hoped that all leagues will present a delegation of two people from each of these leagues to speak with the regional managers at the meeting to hopefully come to some sort of satisfactory arrangement.