Go Ape refusing refund

[Stripyseason]

I can’t work out of I’m being unreasonable or fighting like a mama bear here in the right.
took my kids to Go Ape on Sunday as a treat as it’s expensive (£60 for all of us). I’ll pop my original complaint email in as it explains it all thoroughly. Emails have been back and forth since then with them apologising and offering a discounted voucher for us to return and “give it another go”. I’ve said we don’t want to return as the left in tears feeling like they’d been rushed and the last thing they want is to go back! I just want a refund but 12 emails back and forth are going nowhere. They have said they shouldn’t have been rushed but they don’t do refunds and theyd like us to come back with a discount. Do I just leave it and chalk it up to experience? Or do I keep going and if so how? TIA.

Dear customer services,

Im just writing after quite a disappointing experience at X Go Ape today. It was myself and my 2 children, 8 and 11, one of whom has autism. We booked for the only available slot left which was 16:30 and arrived by 16:15 to be in plenty of time.

We had to wait for a while for the safety briefing which was fine, and we got started. We were told we would have the chance to do 4 levels if we wished. We started off great and were enjoying it until we finished level 2 and my son heard some instructors saying we were “over time”. When we went to wait at #3 an instructor said we were running behind with time and as they were closing soon we likely wouldn’t have time to do course 4 if we did 3 so we felt pushed to do 4. This wasn’t helpful as it felt a big step up from course 2 and my son felt rushed and was worried saying they’re closing, so we hurried as much as we could. It ended in a bit of a downer sadly with the kids just feeling like they’d “taken too long” on courses 1&2 despite being told in the safety briefing that we could take as much time as we needed on the levels.

I’m disappointed because we arrived in good time and if the last slot was always going to be rushed I think that should have been made clear at point of booking. We had to miss out a whole level which we had paid for. It was a lot of money as a treat and we all just left
A bit downhearted after a good start.

I’ve been to Go Ape before and had a really
Positive experience so this felt quite disappointing sadly and I’d appreciate a gesture of a refund and to let the very nice staff know that rushing us didn’t feel fair given we had paid for a slot so feel we should have been given the same time as everyone else who booked for earlier.

Many thanks etc

Also I'm not really sure what you mean about hidden disabilities? What does being hidden disability/sunflower lanyard friendly mean in this instance?

Not trying to be goady just genuinely don't get what you mean.

Yes I think the reply is sufficient. They've given you a gesture because they didn't communicate the time you had accurately. But you did get to do the activity.

FWIW I completely agree with you. You didn’t get what you paid for. Them offering you 10% off a future visit (£6!) is so little as to be actually offensive. They are NOT demonstrating awareness of hidden disabilities and NOT showing any fairness.

At the very least, I’d expect a 50% refund or a free future visit. It wouldn’t even put a dent in their profits. Very bad form from them.

This, are other posters saying if people come and spend 1hr on stage 1, they should be refunded and get to come back and do stage 2, then again for 3 and 4 separately?

What nonsense. I've worked in customer service too and there's always someone higher than you who can take over. If not, again, it's the company's fault. Crying over emails indeed. I mean sure if she's making personal attacks. Otherwise you know as well as I do they will be rolling their eyes and bitching about her at worst. If not they need to toughen up like these autistic kids had to.

How is you getting a refund because you were cheated of 13 minutes climbing going to help your son? I think it seems odd to claim this is all about your son because children don’t tend to be moved by refunds issued to their parents.

Always someone higher to take over?

That's rubbish.

I dealt with all the customers myself.

If a customer asked to speak to a manager , I was told by my manager to tell the customer that

"the manager has said that she will say the exact same thing to you that I did."

Managers won't just come on a phone, just because a customer is insisting on talking to a manager.

Yes I saw my colleagues extremely upset every single day, after taking abuse from customers.

I myself left the job because I couldn't take the abuse from customers anymore.

Customers are unrealistic, and never think that they did anything wrong themselves.

That is the fault of the business. They should not be putting people on the front line without any recourse to someone else or power to actually do anything. Additionally, complaining and abusing are not the same thing. I do get people can be utter arses but the OP is not one of those, she is just standing up for herself & kids.

Yep, I back you up in this and ALL others who have worked in customer service will as well, managers actually don’t answer their phone to staff looking for them, they also mostly avoid customers like this and leave it to the lower pay grades to deal with, customer services get bullied by the public relentlessly and I don’t even mean with shouting and swearing, I mean with this relentless wearing down of them with call after call or email after email, until they get what they want, which is always a FULL REFUND PLUS MORE MONETARY COMPENSATION, when that’s not what they deserve.

Yes but customers ask to speak to the manager ALL the time.

If you tell customers no, they won't listen, they ask to speak to the manager.

My manager actually had other things to do in her Job. She can't get on the phone with every ranty customer.

We were trained to de - escalate the customer.

I would apologise, then tell them "the manager is saying that she will say the same thing as me" or tell them the manager is busy or in a meeting etc. Which she usually was.

If an apology didn't get them to stop, I would then give them the email for our complaints department.

How is this the fault of customers and not the business? Your attitude is as a result of working for shit employers and has made you see even reasonable complaints like the OP's as just nuisance.

Did you read what she put? Clearly not.

You started in the trees at 5.10 and you said (see below) you finished at 6.00pm .It was taking you an average of around 17 minutes per course.How would you have had time to walk to course 3 and go round it in 10 minutes?

Also dud you actually cause this issue at the time? If you didn't I don't think you have a leg to stand in.

Yes!

The ten long winded emails demanding a full refund!

I hear you. I feel you. I send you a hug :)

Very good publicity for go ape actually. You are advertising them without realizing.

*Raise this issue at the time?

The incorrect use of "myself" in the OP and Go Ape's emails... I despair for the beautiful English language.

Yawn 🥱

Which is why many of us including me have said that she should ask for proportionate compensation rather than the full refund, because yes, there was a mistake made here. The key word being "proportionate".

I can't imagine OP's kids are completely unaware of her OTT "mama bear" approach to this, even if it is taking place by email.

I can see from an earlier update that the OP has now accepted that a proportionate refund is a more reasonable and realistic response, which seems sensible - she's clearly listened to some of the more middle ground voices on here.

On what basis should someone who recieved the service they paid for get a full refund?

I think she's lucky to have gotten a voucher.

Most places won't give you a full refund, if you have gone and used the service.

If there was something you were not happy with the service, they will usually give a voucher if they give anything

I think everyone should do a six month stint working in customer service, to stop them being aggressive with other people.

I was in a restaurant yesterday.

The waitress was extremely slow to take my order. Then when she came over to our side, she took the order of a couple who had come in after me.

I got irritated. But then I thought "she is probably tired", and she also probably can't remember who came in first, as she is dealing with so many of us.

I thought of it from her side. And I was polite to her.

That came from me previously working in customer service (in a different area)

update as promised:
I’d emailed last night based on advice here asking for a smaller discount than my original full one. Just had a phone call from a Senior in customer services, she was really pleasant, had gone through everything thoroughly before calling which was appreciated. She’s offered a 50% refund which is more than I’d asked for in last night’s email, and assured me they will be updating their hidden disabilities training as a result of recent matters brought to her attention, so assuming it’s sadly not just us. She was very nice and said she is also a parent to children with autism and she can completely understand the confusion and will personally ensure all staff understand this aspect and to not make any promises that can’t be kept. Felt very heard and while we won’t be returning, I do feel assured they will improve things for other families in the future.
thank you to those who helped me, and I have simply no words for those who just hopped on to make fun of my language or suggest I could do better things with my time.

Let it go.
You said your children were upset, but might some of that have been due to them being overwhelmed by the very physical and mental challenges of Go Ape? They might also have picked up on your annoyance over time-keeping.

I think it's unfair of you to blame their unhappiness entirely on the Go Ape management, who, in my opinion, have been more than fair to you in their response.