Go Ape refusing refund

My children and I; my team and I 🤣

Go Apes email back to you is excellent, however an apology of a 10% discount for next time is very poor.

Personally I think you should get £20-30 refund but I also think they're digging their heels in as much as you are.

I suppose it's a lesson learned to make sure you get a better slot next time, if there is a next time.

It doesn't sound worth the aggro, but you could try one final email, saying that as they've acknowledged you had 40 mins in the trees and therefore only 66% of the experience you paid for, you'd like to request a refund of 33% the total paid. But places are often quite strict on giving actual refunds!

🤣🤣

You only got 40 minutes in the trees, which is two thirds of what you should have got. So that's a 33% refund for a start. Plus your inconvenience, disappointment, and time spent emailing them warrants a 50% refund. That's what I'd be pushing for, and I wouldn't give up till I got it. They'll pay it in the end.

Agree. I and most of my family have autism. It's deeply embarrassing to see it used by people like this.

She hasn’t changed how long she said they had in the trees. She has expressed herself badly and quoted silly little bits of correspondence, but you have actively chosen to count clarifications as changes in story. You get to the Go Ape course when you check in with them, not when you have already climbed into the trees. You leave the course when you have returned all your equipment and checked out. They rushed her out in 90 minutes unnecessarily, short changing her by about 20 minutes in the trees in the process, which was probably enough time to have done level 3, and certainly enough time not to have felt rushed through level 4.

OP, you need to succinctly explain that as you only had 40 minutes in the trees, and were rushed as well, that a 10% discount to return is unacceptable.

Ask them outright to consider a 33% refund. If they refuse ask them on what grounds are they refusing and ask them why a 10% future discount is appropriate. Then cut and paste relevant assertions from their website that state minimum of 1 hour on the course.

If they were slow (I'm assuming nervous?) there's no way they would have completed the more challenging routes. I don't know which course OP was at or how old the kids are, but there's a massive difference in challenge between route 1 and 4 at the course my DS goes to.

Yeah but was it actually? It’s 90 mins “on course” in another. And does she think her kids could have really completed level 3 AND 4 in that buffer time she claims they had.

I'm autistic myself, you didn't answer my question however.

I don't use it as a tool to gain leverage in complaints or arguments. You've not been treated differently because of your child's autism or neuro divergence so I can't really see why you mentioned it.

She’s changed how long she had in the trees through the thread. I believe she did get an hour. But the only ones who know the truth are the OP and staff (and her kids if they were paying attention to the time) . So. Doubt we’ll ever know 🤪

Sorry, that’s rubbish. She has specifically said they got considerably less than an hour in the trees and that they left 30 minutes before the site was due to close. It’s nonsense to argue she thinks they should have been allowed another hour and a quarter in the trees. It’s obvious she is not arguing that.

As they cut your time short, I think they should provide a partial refund, at least 25%, but more because they hurried, disappointed and upset your family, I think a 50% refund would be reasonable in the circumstances. Is there a head office you can contact?

I get the impression OP didn’t get a full two hours in the trees which she was hoping for and is now talking a load of nonsense to try and get a free experience 🙄

I initially thought YABU because the email you sent and their reply suggest you had sufficient time in the trees. Your updates actually say you had 40 mins. On that basis the your not be unreasonable to expect at least a partial refund. When you’ve pointed out you didn’t get your 1 hour in the trees, and therefor didn’t get the full experience you paid for, what have they said? Have you proposed a pro rated refund on the basis of time missed?

I get the impression, given that they were the last slot, that the 90 minutes “on the course” included getting into harnesses, waiting for the safety briefing, having the safety briefing, going into the treetops, coming back down, taking harnesses off, getting a certificate and being expected to leave. There’s no other way they could have finished 30 minutes before closing time when they were the last customers.

I still disagree. It is both relevant that they did not get the hour in the treetops they paid for and relevant that they got poor customer service because they were unnecessarily made to feel anxious over timings (they were miles off running out of time…) when the provider had been forewarned the customer had asd and was prone to anxiety. Why ruin the experience by going on about the closing time and making them feel they had to rush round the course when they didn’t need to? They should not specifically advertise that they pride themselves in being able to deal with hidden dsabilities if, actually, they have no understanding of them at all.

It says one hour in the treetops but to allow two hours for check in etc etc online 🙃 you keep changing how long you were on the course for but your last timing given says 90 mins so I do think you’re just at fault here OP and you need to get over it.

😂😂😂😂😂

Most people seem to be missing that you can't just jump down at the 1 hour mark: so I assume that lots of people don't get the full hour, as they will have done 3 out of 4 in 47 minutes, so there clearly isn't time to finish?

I paid for my 3 year old to go to a climbing wall this Week. There was one other boy in the session. He climbed nothing, my little one probably did 15 mins out of the hour (luckily they had a small soft play that was included!) I never even thought about asking for a refund?

No, it's not "me and my kids", or "me and the team". It is "my kids and I" or "the team and I". Certainly not myself, but me/I should go after the rest of the people indicated.

HTH (and missed point of thread where the OP is being VU).

I think you are unreasonable to expect a full refund as you did get to do 3 out of the 4 sections. So at a push I would be trying to get them to increased the discount they are offering from 10% to 25%. The fact you don’t want to return is irrelevant. You have made a complaint, they have offered a voucher and discount so you either try to get the discount upped or let it go. To expect a full refund because you didn’t get the experience you wanted is unrealistic.

Also you keep going on about how you had to wait 20 mins for a safety briefing (this is just part of the experience) and would have been accounted for in the time period offered. But then in a follow up response you say the briefing took from 4.40-5.10 (which is 30mins) so which was it?? 20 or 30mins?
You also make it sound like you got 70 mins in the trees at the start of your post but then say you only got 5.10-5.50pm to do sections 1-2….and was back at the car at 6.02pm….but you said you did section 4 so you managed to do section 4, unharness and back to the car in 12mins?? Your timing seem completely off