For the past twelve years I have gone to the CMA Festival each June, except for the two years when the CoVid epidemic stopped it from happening. Each time, every year, I used a tour company based out of Nashville called Johnny Walker Tours. I loved working with them, and they always took care of me. I bought CMA Festival tickets and hotel packages. In the first years I bought up to 6 of them, some years 4 packages, and the past couple of years I got 2 of them.
The tour company was good at holding my seats, in the Gold Circle, on the aisle, row 11. I would hear from them in the Fall to put down a deposit and then pay the balance in March.
Last week the CMA Festival officials announced the line-up of country music artists on all the stages, and the time schedules for this June’s fest. Seeing the announcement on Facebook made me think, hmmmm… I need to pay for my packages and I wondered why Johnny Walker Tours had not sent me an email.
So, I sent off two emails to them last week. I waited, and then a few days later my emails bounced back into my mailbox. I then googled the company and got bad news: they are permanently closed.
Now, I take responsibility for not noticing that I had not heard from them last Fall. I should have. I got used to them reaching out to me, year after year, and knew they considered me a good repeating customer.
Here’s the thing: I feel very sad that the company closed, and I hope they didn’t need to shutter their doors for financial reasons. But I also feel disappointed that they did not send out a letter or email alerting past clients like me, and letting us know of the need to find festival packages elsewhere. My excellent tickets in the Gold Circle were never offered to me through a different company. I heard nothing.
So, this June I am not going to Nashville for the CMA Festival. I could scramble and find some tickets, certainly not as good as the ones I had, and try to find a hotel. But at this point the hotels in walking distance to all the lower Broadway action are booked.
I will survive. In May & June I am going to three Tim McGraw concerts, on what I call my “Tim Mini-Tour” and I am looking forward to them. I have been blessed to have the CMA Festival experience so many times, and I know I will do it again. I just need to start from scratch and find the right tour package, and I have already reached out to sites on Facebook where CMA Festival fans chat.
The big story here is businesses come and go, even those that seem to be secure, and successful – and caring. For years I felt that Johnny Walker Tours was that. When they closed their doors last fall they had no obligation to me, and thankfully I had not given them a deposit yet. But they left me ‘high and dry’ without any notice.
I can’t help but think this would make great lyrics for a country song.
They left me without a word.
I got left. I got ghosted. I got burned like a sad country song.
Marla’s Musings 