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

I went to Go Ape and didn't like the experience and they offered me a straight refund - I actually asked for gift voucher to gift to my daughter as it wasn't their fault I didn't like it and thought it would be unfair - they gifted me two vouchers so my daughter could take someone else with her - which I thought was very generous. I found their customer service excellent

Just a thought (I don't work for go ape) I've been once but that was over 10 years ago

you said you'd been befor so they might have assumed you were confident/could go at an adverage pace,

but if the "adverage"times to complete the course are something like:
Stage 1 -10min
3 min queue/change over time
Stage 2 _10min
3 min queue/change over time
Stage 3 - 20 min
3 min queue/change over time
Stage 4 -10 min
(So added up to 59 min)

But if you took
Stage 1 -15min
6 min queue/change over time
Stage 2 _15min
6 min queue/change over time

(You would only have 18 min left on the hour for the last stage)

Based on the slower speed it would be expected you'll not have time to do 3 and 4 in under an hour)

If you'd taken another 15 min for stage 4 that would be 57 min on the course
I think you said yourself were quicker on the last one -(sorry not clear how long you actually had on the course so only guessing at times)

Thank you - exactly this

It’s just one of those things. So instead of being able to whizz round three or four times, you might be stuck just doing two.

I do think it’s the only relevant point - because it’s up to go ape to fit a full hour into the 2 hour window. It would be reasonable of them to move the family on or say they can’t start another course if they’d had their one hour. But not reasonable if they hadn’t.

The company are basically saying “yes you were done before 6.30, but you had your full time in the trees so sorry, that’s the only thing we promise”. And OP needs to say “no we didn’t get an hour actually”. Not “but you weren’t closed yet and we were asked to leave before the end of our 2 hour slot”.

Did you and the manager really refer to “myself” in the emails? Myself is not interchangeable with me, it is not a more formal or professional way of saying “me”. It’s not “myself and my kids” and “myself and the team”, it’s “me and my kids” and “me and the team”. All of this myself/yourself instead of me/you is a madness that needs to stop.

The website makes it clear that you have 1 hour in the treetops. You had longer than that so they've been more than fair offering you another slot rather than a refund. Your main argument seems to be that you were unable to complete all the stages, but clearly some people will not complete the whole course. Do you think someone with a disability should be given more time?

I agree you might feel aggrieved if you didn’t get one hour in the trees, but it’s very clear that the two hours is for hold ups their end etc and not that it’s a two hour slot for you. Them allowing two hours is not the same as you get two hours.

It’s like when you get a hospital appointment and the letter says ‘allow three hours for this appointment.’ Doesn’t mean your appointment is going to be three hours.

Focus your complaint on the fact you didn’t get one hour actually doing the activity. You’ll get nowhere if you keep saying “it’s a two hour slot.”

You’re just coming across as grabby to me sorry 🤷‍♀️

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

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).

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?

😂😂😂😂😂

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.

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.

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 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 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 🙄

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?

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.

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 🤪

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.

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.