YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SINCE 1969 THE VOICE Gr Ro s: ptember 3. 1986 News 985-2132 Classified 986- 6222 Distribution YRG-T3A7 44 pages Ise Garden gets growing PAGE 31 Over sale of company coupons causes concern O CLIPS ALONS Donald James McRae and Norma Berrington say the com- pany, Promotional Industry, broke an agreement and printed too OWNERS OF two North Vancouver beauty salons say their businesses are being blemished by a company’s misleading promotion. NEWS onal Stuart Davis ‘QUEEN MARY Community school teacher. Marlene Baker leads a new class of Year 1 and 2 pupils on the first day of the 1986-87 school year. Studerits from ail over B.C. traded in summer fun for books and other back-to-schoo} paraphernalia Tuesday as schools reopened after the summer break. many coupons advertising free services for their stores. McRae, of Donald James Hair Design, said the promotional company printed 2,000 coupons instead of the agreed 500. McRae said each coupon, which sold for $15, would cost his store 373 worth of service. He said if ali of the coupons were honored Donald James Hair Design would have to ‘pump out" $146,000 worth of service. McRae noted that if Promotional Industry sold all of the coupons it would make $30,000. Berrington, of Salon 173, said she is considering taking Promo- tional Industry to court for breach of contract. She said the manager at Promo- tional Industry admitted he ‘slightly oversold’’ the coupons, printing 900 coupons instead of the agreed S00. She said the company would make $12.99 from each coupon, which offered free beauty salon West Va v ait services worth an estimated $75, “it’s cost me probably $40 out of my own pocket to honor each coupon,” she said. Berrington said she stopped honoring coupons which were printed after the 500th coupop. “ft's been extremely hard on myself and my staff. We had one man call and demand the services. It’s getting to the point where we were scared to pick up the phone,” she said. The manager of Promotional Industry, a2 Vancouver-based com- pany, was not available for com- ment to press time Tuesday. McRae, who took over the store’s management Aug. 23, said it was the former store owner who made the deal with Promotional Industry, when the store was known as Total Look. But, he said, he is willing to give coupon-holders a $14.99 discount on haircuts in order to help them recoup their money. “I'm sitting here getting thou- sands of calls. It’s the best | can do to try to help them (coupon holders) get their money back,"’ he said. ouver misses the bus ee AFTER MORE than 35 years, West Vancouver School District awarded its school bus contract to a Langley bus company instead of the municipal Blue Bus Service. Langley Bus Lines gave the lowest bid of $260,348 out of the six companies that bid for the 10-month contract, said John Cassey, secretary-treasurer of West Vancouver School District. Cassey said the district was satisfied with Blue Bus Service, but it's the board's policy to ask for bids every three or four years. He said in previous years Blue Bus was the only company that bid, and last year its contract was worth approximately $330,000. Superintendent of Transport Tony Lorage of Blue Bus Service said he believes Langley Bus Lines was able 1o offer a lower bid because its staff is non-unionized. “1 suppose it’s in the spirit of private enterprise,’’ said Lorage. “We were disappointed because we had given the school board ex- cellent service and lots of extras whenever they needed it.”’ Berry O’Brien, owner of Langley Bus Lines, said being a non-union company has made the company more competitive. He said Langley Bus Lines has school bus contracts in Langley, Vancouver, Burnaby and Bowen Island, and has been operating for 35 years.