AIBU to complain after Flip Out restrictions disappointed the children?

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Would you be annoyed with this or am I being a bit dramatic?

DP is away this weekend so thought I’d occupy the kids by taking them to Flip Out. Being honest - not usually something I often do with them BUT they do often go with other friends. In the last 12 months, they have been at least 4 or 5 times. Regularly prior to this too. They had all specifically asked to go.

Took x1 16 yr old, x1 14 yr old plus x2 12 year olds. 2 children have done gymnastics for a long time though not currently in classes. This is relevant to my story

Total cost today was £63 for entry, socks for 2 kids plus locker charge. Fuel obviously additional. 20 mile round trip. I’ll make it clear that whilst we aren’t on the bread line, I haven’t got £63 to simply throw away. I expect at least some value for my money

We had booked online lastnight. Got there. Kids went on the arena and were told they weren’t allowed on the white trampolines/stunt area unless the were professional parkour trained or currently in gymnastics classes. These are the trampolines that are a bit more bouncy so were what the kids wanted to go on with them being a little older.

Only notice of this was a hand written piece of paper in reception - which obviously I would have been oblivious to having booked online the night before. When I pressed them on why, it is because they are short of staff. Not really my problem is it.

I requested a refund or at least partial refund given they were not delivering what we had booked. I was refused on the spot and informed to email them.

4 disappointed kids. Huge amount of money for an hour. I understand H&S but surely in this circumstance, you would offer a refund for people not happy with this?

Would you complain? Or am I being a bit precious?

I have added an image of the notice - this is still under review so I would imagine this will be added on shortly

It may well be that there was no one available authorised to give refunds, so well worth emailing.

I know I'm missing the point but the fact that 'professional' isn't even spelled correctly would tip ne over the edge.
YANBU.

Why not just say they were currently doing gymnastics? Was the harried staff member at flip out going to double check their credentials with the local gymnastics clubs?

Professional being spelt wrong is not a great look for them.

I might have just said 'yes yes they all go to gymnastics ...' and accepted the risks were on me.

I would definitely email as it not being declared when you booked is a fair argument.

However, all that said, I would very much expect and encourage my dc to have a jolly good go on everything else and not mither. All of it is fun and they're with each other having a treat, I would want them to make the most of they were allowed to use. I would give short shrift to anyone moaning when they're so lucky to be taken at all.

This. Also there’s a whole bunch of other activities. You adapt and make the most of it. Still had ever opportunity to have a great time.

The apostrophe in trampolines would have set me off.

What would have stopped you lying? How would they check?

Yes I would complain and ask for a refund or free return visit

I’d be more irritated with the poor use of spelling, punctuation and grammar on the poster!

Does it mention any of this in the terms and conditions??

I'm not sure how a staff member can really help anyway even if they were fully staffed!

like others - if I was confident mine were safe then I’d have said they are in lessons for gym.

so yes I would email and ask for a refund

I think it depends on how much of the whole thing the white trampolines make up. If there are only 2 white trampolines say, then they might not have got much of a go on them anyway, if it was busy as presumably there’s a numbers limit. But if they are half the area then that’s pretty crap and I would
expect a 50% refund.

Have you emailed them?

So what actually was there for the kids to do?

Unfortunately by the time the kids had come to me to tell me, they had already told the member of staff that they are not currently professional gymnasts or parkour experts - otherwise yes I would have told them to say they were currently in classes!!

Agreed though - were they planning on checking their credentials?!

I was however tempted to say to (useless) member of staff policing that area that someone had thrown up in the foam pit and chuck my kids on the terribly restricted trampolines!

Just request a refund and explain simply and politely to them.

I would not have lied to get in. There may be safety issues that have arisen that led to this notice.

Also no apostrophe needed on 'trampolines', and '7 years of age' is the standard way of expressing that information.
OP - I hope the kids get over any disappointment - I'm sure they'll bounce back 😉 (sorry 😀)

As for what else there was to do there - well I think we quite unluckily went to the smallest Flip Out. The ‘normal’ trampolines were very worn, hardly bounced. The white trampolines were the only ones that looked decent and like older kids would get anything out of the experience. I’ll email them and see where I get with it.

I know it’s not a fortune but I can’t help but feel particularly cross about it especially when it’s a staffing issue - not an actual safety issue. It’s all my DD has gone on about tonight!!!

On a further note, if it had been made clear at the time we checked in that they couldn’t have used the white trampolines, we would have driven to the other Flip Out or happily obtained a refund and gone completely elsewhere. We had time given we went at midday.

Amazing one liner!!! 😂

Well congrats on raising honest kids.
If you'd encouraged them to make use of the white trampolines anyway, even after they spoke up, do you think the staff would have known your group of kids from any others? The policy seems to rely heavily on self policing by the kids choosing to obey an arbitrary rule

I was in agreement of your post but you’re saying the staff were useless? How were they useless?

I expect they were just following orders and they will not be able to claim on insurance if they don’t have the right staff in the right places.

This sounds like they've had some kind of serious incident recently and are hurriedly covering their backsides. Definitely would ask for a refund and tell them they need to make it clear online.

So you’ve not been refused a refund yet as you’ve not emailed them yet? Seems a bit unnecessary to be slagging them off online in that case.

Do they get many professional parkour people coming for a bounce, do you think? Seems quite specific.

I used to say smug things like this but now having a daughter who is very bright but severely dyslexic I realise how unpleasant these kind of comments are

I think its impossible for us to say until you have emailed as they asked you to do