kealalani

Well then, why won't your people just take the duck out of the name, end the drama and get on with making a great business for themselves? They have proven they have a corner on the market. So why use another companies marketing and name rather than come up with something more original and honest?

jephillips34

kaelalani:

My apologies if you thought I was calling you names. Actually, I'm pretty sure I didn't. May I point out for you, though, some of the remarks you've made here:
- Super Duck Tours - Boston is a scam! (thread subject)
- This company shows a complete lack of integrity...
- ...and will hopefully crash and burn, as it so deserves.
- The false company has also been accused of giving false information...
- ...this company is just not right!

As I stated before, the judge dismissed the charges of Super Duck employees giving false information. These were not Super Duck employees, but some other company altogether, a 3rd party ticket agent.

Now, I assume that your strong and vocal outrage against Super Duck must be that they would have the audacity to use the term 'Duck Tours' in their name. Sorry, gail, if you've seen me post this before in other forums, but it seems to me that 'duck tours' is a generic term that identifies the service that is being offered, an amphibious siteseeing tour.

If you were to google the term 'duck tours' you would find dozens of amphibious tour operators around the country and the world using that term. And not just tour operators using the World War II DUKWs, but operators using more modern aphibious vehicles, including Hydra Terras, like those used by Super Duck Excursions. In countless forums, blogs, reviews, postings, etc, people have been using the term 'duck tour' to refer to this type of tour, even when the tour operator isn't using that term in their name. It seems clear to me that the term 'duck tour' has entered the vernacular of the english language, based on the way the term is commonly used and understood by people around the world.

And so it seems perfectly reasonable to me that a company would use the name of the service that it offers in it's name. Perhaps you don't agree with me, but it does seem to me quite reasonable for someone to hold this point of view.

To automatically jump on the name 'Super Duck Tours' as 'jumping on the bandwagon of an established company to pick up the crumbs of soldout vessells...' does not seem reasonable to me. And I certainly don't feel that it would justify wishing that a company would 'crash and burn, as it so deserves'.

Certainly they have entered the market, hoping to compete with Boston Duck Tours. Certainly it will take some period of time for the market to realize that there is now more than one amphibious tour operator. Why it should generate such vitriol, though, is beyond me.

kealalani

So long as your company rides on the coat tails of others that have established a business, you will always be a company of questionalbe ethics.

Shall I type slower????

Come up with an original name and you will have remarkable success. Continue to be a bottom feeder, and people like me will continue to call you out.

How simpler can I put it?

Damn yes I take it personal. I call this city home for 42 years. Get your head out of my gdamned face and read what has been written.

Give the company an original name and logo and market it on its own merritts.

SIMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cigalechanta

Ok as a Bostonian. I suggest you remove the word DUCK, call yourselves the Amphibian crew (sp?) no way use duck if you really want to be fair.

BetsyG

Although its been many years since we have done tours of Boston, we really liked the trolley tour both for convenience & information. The DUCK tour (from the orginal company)was fun & unique but much more difficult to get onto to. Try the trolley, instead of either DUCK,
Betsy

starrsville

Reminds me of the double-decker buses in NYC or the trolley tours in Savannah and other cities. Even the ghost tours and the walking tours in Savannah. Very rarely can one tour operator keep a monopoly in a market. Sooner or later, competition moves in and the original company adds "original" to their name.

BTW, I happened to be on a trolley in Boston when the owner of Old Town Trolley Tours was taking a QC ride. We chatted and after he identified himself I shared a negative experience in Key West.

I just don't see what the problem is. I googled and read a bit and it seems like the owner of the original Boston Duck Tour hasn't earned many fans by trying to strong-arm potential competition in the NE. The courts will rule, of course. I checked out the Super website and it does clearly state "Not to be confused with Boston Duck Tours".

Oh, thought of a couple more. The architectural river cruises in Chicago and the whale-watching tours out of Provincetown. There's an original and there are copy-cats - and their brochures and marketing attempt to tell why "they" are best.

starrsville

Another example - in Provincetown you can see the off-Broadway show that's been running for years "Naked Boys Singing" and down the street you can see "Barenaked Lads". An original and (what I assume is a) "copycat" co-existing and competing for the entertainment dollar.

toedtoes

I don't see anything horrid about this either. It's part of competitive business. There are lots of "Duck Tours" all over - is Boston Duck Tours suing any of them for copycatting their name?

And, yes, when an existing company gets so popular that they can't keep up with the clientele, other companies will start up to "pick up the crumbs". Why is that wrong? If the original company can't compete against the newcomer, then they aren't that great of a company.

It's not like Boston Duck Tours is a small mom & pop business and Super Duck Tours is a large corporation that has swooped in and is undercutting their prices.

TheWeasel

<Sooner or later, competition moves in and the original company adds "original" to their name. >

Funny you should mention that. I think Wisconsin Dells is kind of where duck tours originated, and the first company calls themselves the Original Wisconsin Ducks while the second company is called Dells Army Ducks. Much ado about nothing, I think.

starrsville

Interesting. Based on your post I googled and found that even the Boston Duck Tour's website acknowledges that -

>>Company History
Contrary to local belief, the unique idea of a Duck Tour did not originate in Boston. Duck operations have been in existence in the Midwest for decades, and in fact, continue to thrive. <<

The company started in 1994 and the founder left in 2000.

http://www.bostonducktours.com/compa...ory_frame.html

Maggi

On our recent Boston trip we had a front row seat to the original Duck tour which passed by the window of our hotel frequently. Without fail we heard uproarious laughter and everyone looked like they were having such a good time. Observing them made us want to do the tour, but it was sold out, so we opted for the Super Duck Excursion. It seemed evident that they were not yet very organized, in fact bumped three people from our bus due to overbooking. Although she tried, the guide was not very entertaining and her jokes fell flat. It seemed as if we were going in circles and we stayed in one little section of town. All in all, I thought it was a waste of our time and money.

MikeT

No matter what the name, those tours are an eyesore and obnoxious, with all the quacking and carrying-on. I wish they whole shebang would go out of business, or at least have them get out of those damn boats.

kealalani

By definition, these super duck vehicles are not Duck vehicles. They are a hybrid - re designed, not the original.....

quack

jephillips34

kealalani, good point duck = DUKW; this was also presented by BDT in their lawsuit.

However, if you were to do a quick web search for 'duck tours', you would find that many of those tour operators using the term 'duck' are in fact NOT using DUKWs. All of the following duck tours use Hydra Terras, like those used by Super Ducks:
- DownEast Duck Tours (Portland, ME)
- Albany Aqua Ducks (Albany, NY)
- Diva Duck Amphibious Tours (West Palm Beach, FL)
- Portland Ducks (Portland, OR)
- Miami Duck Tours (Miami, FL)
- Captain Duck Tours (Puerto Rico)
- Caribbean Duck Tours (St. Maarten)

Also, there are other amphibious vehicles that are also commonly referred to as Ducks:
- LARC (a vietnam era military vehicle), used by Cape Cod Duckmobiles (Hyannis, MA)
- Stalwart (another military vehicle), used by Austin Duck Adventures (Austin, TX)

And, yes, gail, I've posted this same list elsewhere.

gail

Mr. Phillips (John): Do you have any financial interest in Super Duck Tours?

jephillips34

gail, I'm pretty sure that I've already answered that, but I don't mind repeating myself on request. No, I do not have a financial interest in Super Duck Excursions.

You know, it is possible to have a positive thoughts about this company without having a financial interest. I was trying to make that point by quoting one of the more positive quotes from the Boston Magazine article. Believe it or not, there have actually been some positive reviews posted online by people other than me.

I recognize that there have also been some negative reviews. Some of them, I think, reflect some regret that they were missing the 'famous' Boston Duck Tours, but others probably reflect the inevitable problems faced by any new startup: inability to attract highly-talented 'cast', dealing with unexpected changes from the city officials, glitches in computer systems, etc.

On the whole, I've tried to stay extremely positive, as a necessary counter-balance to the extremely negative comments I'm responding to.

starrsville

jephillips, you have stayed positive and shared good information.

garyt22

In Toronto, they have the Hippo Tours... same vehicles different name...so there!!!

jephillips34

And even with the 'Hippo' name, people still use the term 'Duck' to clarify the type of service they offer:

http://melrosemirror.media.mit.edu/s...30303436333339
(7th paragraph)
"Some of us took the Hippo tour (another name for Duck tour) while others visited the Hockey Hall of Fame, taking pictures with the Stanley Cup."

http://www.busride.com/Page.cfm/PageID/2199
(4th paragraph)
"Parent says that the Toronto Hippo Tours exists because tour and travel operator, Geoffrey Lind, brought the Duck concept to Canada"

Ackislander

MikeT has it right. If you live in Boston, you hate the duck tours, passionately or mildly.

People write on here about white shoes in Europe; believe me, nothing brands you as the idiotic brand of tourist more rapidly than riding through the streets of a city quacking.