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

You don’t get a full refund just because you didn’t finish something, sounds a bit like a ridiculous request. A discount for next time is perfectly reasonable. Think of it is as partial refund

I agree @MeowCatPleaseMeowBack the maths seems obvious

I’m afraid when you’re taking kids out for the day expectations are set high
In this case OPs son understood he could do all 4 climbs without being told maybe he won’t as it depends how long you take on each.

When we used to go to Howletts wild animal park we didn’t always see everything because ours loved the monkeys and stayed there for ages. Sometimes we missed the play area or the lions.
If it’s explained fully it shouldn’t become an issue.

I think their email is quite fair, but a 10% discount is crap. At 90% of full price they will still be making a profit from a second visit which you otherwise would not have made, so they are effectively profiting from their mistake. Poor form.

A 50% discount would be much more appropriate in the circumstances.

If you knew you had more time why did you not ask to do loop3 afterwards?

Are you expecting them to pay extra staff hours, and potentially affect whatever evening plans the staff had, because your kids were slow? And not manage the session within the timeframe advertised, because it’s not the done thing to rush an autistic kid?

I think you’re lucky they offered anything. You should have checked what time the place closes and how that would fit with your session timings, booking a late slot like that. Then you should have managed it.

It is absolutely entitled to think you can take all the time in the world, without an awareness of how that will impact others.

70 minutes was in there somewhere too. It's impossible to follow

People are misreading some of OPs early posts where she's listing timings. The safety meeting didn't take 20 mins, they had to wait for someone to run it for 20 mins where they were waiting around not doing anything.

So I understand timing loosely as
4.30 start slot. Waiting for someone to do safety briefing
4.50 safety briefing starts
5.10 harness up
5.20 in treetops
6.00 finish tree tops

OP I think their email response is actually apologetic and I don't think you're entitled to a full refund. But I would be pushing for a partial refund or better discounted voucher

Well the point is that if they hadn't delayed at the beginning you had plenty of time in your 2 hour slot to complete all 4 levels despite being slower than average. They were the ones who caused the delay in the first place and then cut short your time on the course, so you should be entitled to a refund or a discount of at least 25%. Their offer of a 10% is low in my opinion.
They have acknowledged the shortcomings so it's really only agreeing how much they compensate you for your poor experience. Do you want a full refund of £60, half of that, or 25%?
In my experience (financial services) people never actually say what they want up front because they think it's cheeky then get pissed off when they don't get it. Often if they actually say what they want , they get it.
Tell them what you want and stop fannying about.

Your not being a mama bear, you are being “that customer”. And that’s coming from someone who also has a ND child. I think they have been very fair and you are trying it on - good on them for standing their ground as you come across as very grabby.

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

Forget the 2 hours

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

did you have the one hour?

take the voucher

Oh. Well then yes

i think you should get 50% off for sure.

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

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Exactly this. No they shut at 6:30 and my slot was 1630 -18:30