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

Yes they admitted this in one of many follow up emails

I beg your pardon?

Another one here who doesn’t think you need a full refund. If you’re given one hour, and you had one hour, then time is up. It sounds as if there is no guarantee that anyone can complete all 4 levels anyway. I think a discount is very generous!

No blood. Thank you. I want a fair refund because we didn’t get what we paid for. I didn’t get the experience I paid for. At
considerable expense. With a special needs child I have little energy but I will use what I have to fight for what is right. We won’t be going back so I don’t want
a voucher.

??????

I actually agree with this

12 emails in, I think the longer you spend on this the more "expensive" this trip gets to you (in terms of time and money combined) and your best outcome is to let it go.

I tend to think there's often an "autism tax" to pay - we get less, have to leave earlier than others, nearly always, because autism. 3/4 is not bad, especially if you used a free carer ticket or anything like that. (I have no qualms about using a carers' ticket for a family trip, because our visits are so much briefer than other people's. )

The 10% off voucher is a bit of an insult though - it might give me the rage!

Because they pride themselves as practising under the hidden disabilities act there apparently is an ombudsman, yes. I don’t feel entitled for fun, but I feel entitled to receive what I’ve paid for.
im glad you don’t work customer facing either!

I think you’re a frustrated customer who didn’t get what they expected, but did get what they should have expected iyswim

It’s not a “mama bear” type situation at all - no one was in a danger or at risk, you’re just frustrated due to not getting what you wanted.

I think it stands to reason that if you book the last slot there’ll be less wiggle room for if you’re running slow. I would have cheerfully said to DC to go and do the last part of the course (my DS is also ND so I do understand) which would have mitigated some of their stress had having a slight change of plan.

Often I think it’s a parent’s own frustration or feelings of not getting value for money that leads to kids getting distressed by these things.

But OP didn't get what she paid for

She paid for an hour and got 40 minutes. Only 66% of what she paid for.

Take the offer. They seem pretty reasonable.

So what was their response when they agreed that you only had 40 minutes on the course?

In fact when DS and I did a go ape recently, we found it was too difficult for him. We also progressed very slowly but he was finding aspects of the course scary.

The instructors did exactly what they did with you and advised us to skip course 3, which they said was the hardest bit - maybe it was the same course?

We just did course 4.

I also feel that 15 minutes isn’t really worth a lot of upset. As mum you could have put on a cheery voice and reassured the kids that it was fine, level 4 is the best one, and now we will have time to stop for a treat on the way home, etc. The kids didn’t need to be upset about it? And if they were upset about not completing, why wouldn’t you want to come back so they could do it again and finish it? That sounds like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

It wasn't OP that was running slow it was them. She completed 3 sections in 40 minutes, actually quicker than they anticipate you do. They cut her time short by 30% because they were slow to start the safety brief

I get OPs times keep changing. But if what she's saying is true then of course she should be pissed off, you don't pay for something and expect to only get 2/3rds of it just because you paid for the last slot!

Imagine you go to the cinema and they stop the film 2/3rd of the way through because they were slow to start the ads!

Again very polite, apologised, manager will go over training with this team. But still a 10% voucher 🤦‍♀️

Oh come on, it's obvious she had 90 minutes in the trees as the email from them confirmed. She started off annoyed at not getting her "2 hour slot." Once people pointed out it's 1 hour in the trees she changed her story to an hour then 45 minutes then 40 and then 50.

I feel sorry for customer services having to try to pacify these chancers.

I was referring to her initial email to go ape ( no timings mentioned they’ve been added later for us )
and go apes response, which given her initial email to them is fare.

If OP isn’t happy with the offer then the next stage would be contacting the ombudsmen. They’ll need proof.

You need to be really clear about how much time you had post safety briefing and when you got your wrist band. If you’ve toyed between 70 and 40 in the thread then your complaint emails may have been equally confusing. If you had 70 minutes in trees then nothing to complain about- you need to let the 2 hour thing go as that is not for the activity, it’s to make sure people allow the right amount of time for parking etc.

If you only had 40 minutes in the trees then you do have a legitimate complaint but need to be much clearer about that being the issue.

its largely irrelevant whether you did course x, y or z- you’re paying for time in the trees not a specific route. There will be kids who just do the easiest course over and over in the hour.

Yes - it is very difficult to keep track when the account keeps changing. OP can you cut and paste the response from Go Ape where you say that accepted you had less than one hour in the trees as this is surely the most important email.

Do you have any proof that you only had 40 minutes? Otherwise I imagine that they would dispute it.

You could go to one of the national newspapers money columns. But you need to focus on the fact you only got 40 minutes of a 60 minutes session, which you didn't even include in your first email to them. All the other information about being at the end of thr day is superfluous. The fact you didn't get a hour is your complaint

If you honestly only got 40 or 50 minutes then you should get a refund proportionate to the time lost plus a bit for the inconvenience and missed fun.
If it is more that you thought they'd make it 2 hours altogether and it took 90 minutes then that's irrelevant.
So it really depends on which of your posts are accurate on whether you should pursue it or not.

I agree with you completely, OP, and am surprised they are picking this fight. Their safety briefing was slow starting and then they shut the course early, at 6, not at 6.30, so that's unreasonable. You only had a lesser time in the trees 40 minutes and they were hurrying you along.

None of this makes for a pleasant fun disability-friendly trip.

Giving a 10% voucher is embarrassing, because the whole trip make you feel rushed and unwanted and too slow, and why was that necessary if they were closing at 6.30 as originally told? You aren't going to go back with a lot of faith in their procedures, are you?

They shouldn't advertise the last slot of the day if it's not suitable for people and they close early at 6 instead of 6.30.

I have no idea why everyone says just suck it up, I don't go to places to be hurried and made to feel bad for doing the thing they just said you could do and then changing their minds and hustling you out of the door!