Go Ape refusing refund

They are being rubbish. They didn’t, as far as I can tell, give you what you paid for, in terms of time. The only “compensation” they are offering is the “opportunity” to pay them more money to do it again. A discount for next time means you still have to pay them yet more money, and does not make up for the fact that you already paid for something you didn’t fully get. So they need to refund at least the proportion of the cost that matches the time you lost.

Well originally she said she had 70 minutes (90 less 20 safety), then it was 45, then 40, then 50 - so I think it’s fair to assume she did get the whole hour

You and your children clearly experienced most of the available adventures so expecting a full refund is unreasonable. You have an apology and a gift voucher so Go Ape have listened to you and made amends.

I’m so intrigued by why you think she arrived late when she booked for 4.30 to 6.30pm, arrived at 4.15pm and was booted out and back in the car by 6pm!

But you arrived late, not leaving enough time for the necessary safety talk before your slot started.

From what I can see on their website you have an hour to complete the treetops course, which is for under 10s. So it's a hour on the course (however many levels) and you need to allow an hour for the safety talk and getting out of harnesses at the end - it's not that if you are slow you get extra time; if you are slow you will miss a bit of the course. If you had an hour in the treetops you can't really complain, because you arrived late, since your slot was presumably 16.30 to 17.30. You needed to be there at 16.00, perhaps, or maybe earlier?

I think you should decide what would be acceptable and push for that. You're very unlikely to get a refund but you could get vouchers or a bigger discount. I would be pushing the fact that they say they are hidden-disability friendly but their mishandling of this meant that you didn't get what you paid for (unhurried time to complete the course and given one of your kids was wearing the sunflower lanyard which they claim to respect it should have been obvious this might be longer than usual).

If you keep bugging them you'll probably get it eventually, but I don't know if you'll actually want to go back. If not I'd just drop it for your own sanity (and maybe warm other families with SN about your experience).

If you only got 40 minutes on the course instead of the hour you paid for you should get a refund.

If you are communicating to them as unclearly as your posts are here I am not surprised they are obviously not getting it.

Dear Go Ape,
I paid for 1 hour of tree top on X date/time I was told to leave the course after only 40 minutes because you were closing. I didn't get the 1 hour service I paid for, give me my money back or I'll take you to trading standards (or whoever these complaints go to to be resolved).
Regards
Stripy

Is all that was needed.

I think their response is fair too sorry. If you had 90 minutes on the course and then time for safety briefing and taking kit off then that's 2h.
I guess they could make it clearer when you book that completing all 4 levels might not be possible, to avoid disappointment.
You come across as being a little entitled in your email, I would take the discount voucher and go again so you can have another go and do the level you missed out on.

Did they not just mean that there wouldn't be enough time to do all 4 courses in an hour based on the speed you completed the first 2? If course 3 is the trickiest one, you were only ever going to complete 3 courses max in that hour, hence why they recommended you do the "wow loop" because it is more fun I'm guessing.

You also have to be more careful with timings around busyness, and being rushed and personal factors like energy/ hunger. Booking the last slot of the day does run the risk of encountering issues such as delays that accumulated through the day, so it may be prudent of the OP to add that to the list and generally avoid last slot of the day bookings.

There isn't really any reasonable adjustment to be applied here. The staff can't stay on unpaid and indefinitely to complete the course if people are making slower progress. That delays the site shutdown for all staff.

The autism premium affects a lot of what we do and it's just reality that we get less value due to leaving early/ arriving late (to get there at a happy time of day) or powering around at DS pace. Sometimes it's better for us to break things into shorter return visits than aim to do everything thoroughly in one go.

I think the discount was a fair offer. OP had the majority of the experience and it does not deserve a refund.

But from their letter you get an hour to complete the levels, the other hour is for safety instruction, harnessing and unharnessing. The point is, did you get your hour? You are being unreasonable asking for a full refund if you did. Also, do they shut at 6 pm (sounds as if they do); if so you should have arrived at 4 p.m. for the safety talk and harnessing etc.

Who do you think you are? The Stasi? If I were the OP I wouldn’t be responding to anyone who spoke to me like that.

You are being unreasonable. We have been to go ape probably more than 10 times. We have had times my child was slow and missed on some routes, we had times when it was overcrowded and my child was stuck behind someone who was very slow for more than 15 minutes. I never thought of complaining, let alone asking for refund??? It's one of those activities that depends on your fitness level and the fitness level of those around you. Please settle for the discount voucher and stop harassing their poor customer service team ... 12 emails ... jeezzz

I completely agree with this and am also not sure why you’re getting a hard time. You did not get what you paid for, therefore they should be offering an appropriate refund, not a voucher.

And 40 minutes and 50 minutes, you are right it is impossible to follow plus it is not clear what the OP wants - a full refund or partial refund? It is not even clear in the first email to them: I’d appreciate a gesture of a refund

They said 'No' to a refund and offered a discount instead which in line with the OP's email to them is a valid option open to them.

If a refund is wanted be exact, be clear, give figures.

I think Go Ape have been reasonable, actually. I think you should take the voucher offered and chalk the rest up to experience.

Oh. Well then yes

i think you should get 50% off for sure.

take the voucher

Forget the 2 hours

did you have one hour on the tree top? Nothing else

did you have the one hour?

But that isn't a 2 hour slot.......