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Dropzone Database: Europe: United Kingdom : North London Parachute Centre : Reviews

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has contributed 22 reviews

Review Summary: Average Rating: Total Reviews: 22 Write a Review Show: All Ratings 5 Star Rated 4 Star Rated 3 Star Rated 2 Star Rated 1 Star Rated Sort by: Newest First Highest Rating First Most Useful First Display: 10 25 50 100

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(Review ID:5297)

2 of 9 people found the following review helpful: Great place, Student Focused Rated by: soulrider on 2009-07-31 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: North London Parachute Centre   Pros: Atmosphere, professionalism and the staff Cons: None really

Professionalism   Vibe   Aircraft   Facilities   Services   Location

I had my first Tandem jump with them on the 9th of July and after booking and receiving my information pack I had to say finding the place (which is an hours drive away for me) was pretty easy and the directions provided were spot on. All though warnings about the unmarked police vans on the A141 would be helpful.

Right from when I arrived the place and set-up looked very professional, and when booking in I was treated really well and given information on what will happen etc. We then had the brief shortly after which again was really well done and the fact the instructors had a laugh and joke with us made the experience all the better. sitting on the plane this continued with friendly banter through out and generally a good vibe. Which really helped to keep you relaxed.

The sky dive itself was amazing as expected which is why I'm now booked on an AFF course in Spain. I would thoroughly recommend this DZ and all though it does seem to be a DZ focused mainly on students I will be returning once qualified to try and get in some fun jumps.

Give the DZ a try before writing it off, after all if you jump in this country you are going to be reliant on the weather what ever DZ you are at.

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(Review ID:5039)

4 of 11 people found the following review helpful: Busy drop zone, with massive potential. Rated by: Skydog9 on 2009-03-27 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: North London Parachute Centre   Pros: Staff, Faciltys, Aircraft, Wind Tunnel. Cons: The Bumpy track, weather and mud during winter lol.

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Hi there, North London Parachute centre is my local dropzone, I have spent several years jumping here now. Many of the reviews on this sight are totally unfare as they are mainly to do with weather, (wind or cloud base)
If you are a tandem student, this drop zone is very busy however the proffesionalism of the instructors and video work is outstanding. As I understand they carry out more tandems here than anywhere else. The staff have always got time for any questions posed to them.
Rightly so the weekends and wednesdays get extremely busy, thats why a first come first jump policy exists, when initially booking you are told about this.
With regards to students whether it be RAPS or AFF this dropzone offers excellent tuition and I have seen many people graduate through the system. Some of which are competing at high standards, or instructors themselves.
Finally if you are a student and wish to progress you need to understand that certain weather conditions apply to you for your own safety and therefore you may remain on the ground whilst tandems continue jumping. If this annoys you take up golf as this isnt the sport for you, or jump overseas as the weather is in the hands of the gods, not the staff at NLPC.
Before you knock this place come and jump here and enjoy the use of the outstanding facilties, Wind tunnel ect.
If not your loss.

Safe jumping!

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(Review ID:4839)

5 of 14 people found the following review helpful: What a rush Rated by: paneaj on 2008-10-18 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: North London Parachute Centre   Pros: Very friendly and relaxing Cons: Organisation, waiting time

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Lets get the bad stuff out of the way first. I have to say we had to wait the whole day for a tandem jump. However when we did do it it was one of the best things I have ever done. I was terrified of doing it but the instructors were really friendly, calming and funny!

You may have to wait a while but Its definitely a good place to go

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(Review ID:4776)

20 of 31 people found the following review helpful: Fed up Rated by: GeorgeRa on 2008-09-14 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: North London Parachute Centre   Pros: The staff start off nice Cons: Too many people booked to jump each day

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I'm truly fed up with the north London parachute centre. As with everyone else, I've now had my 4th visit to the place without being able to jump.

I not only want a refund but I want my expenses paid. If they weren't so stupid and greedy trying to get so many people up in one day then I wouldn't keep wasting my petrol and time driving to the darn place.

You'd think by now they'd actually realise how many people they can realistically put up in one day but alas no, they'll still tell you to come and then send you home after waiting for about 8 hours.

All I can say is AVOID them.

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(Review ID:4732)

8 of 15 people found the following review helpful: Worst experience ever Rated by: unhappychappy on 2008-08-25 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: North London Parachute Centre   Pros: Free internet access Cons: Cram many people into one day making it unlikely to jump

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I wish I had seen all these reviews before shelling out the money for this 'experience'.

They are without a doubt the worst company I have ever dealt with.

The weather in the UK isn't great so its reasonable and understandable that many jump days are out of their control. However I'm sure many times they can quite easily guess there's going to be a 90% chance that people won't be jumping and should really give people a warning since people travel from all over the UK to get there, only to find out they have wasted their time.

As for turning up at 8:00 to be one of the first jumpers as they suggest, you'll actually want to be looking at about 7am if you want to make a jump on the day. They try to cram so many people into each day that many are often sent home.

After trying 4 or 5 times you will loose patience with the company, but don't expect a refund. There staff are well seasoned at answering questions about refunds and will quite frankly tell you to just sod off and try another day.

If you want to jump then try somewhere else because there's a high chance that you'll spend many trips there before you finally get a chance.

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(Review ID:4669)

4 of 11 people found the following review helpful: Great for skydiving terrible organisers! Rated by: claireirons on 2008-07-26 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: North London Parachute Centre   Pros: Great instructor, good faclilities. Cons: Terrible organisation and customer service

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Skydiving is the most amazing experience ever and definitely worth doing however DO NOT do it at the North London Parachute Centre!!!

The instructors were fantastic and the actual jump was great but the people who organise the day and the customer service is terrible!

Firstly I had several jumps cancelled due to plane problems and the weather, which admittedly can not be helped. However, the people at the rebooking centre made it impossible to reorganise and I ended up paying even more money to re-jump.

On the day the policy is first come first serve and you can not request to jump together - OR SO THEY SAY! We got up ridiculously early to arrive at 7am. My brother and I were near the front off the queue and signed up together. My brother jumped 5 hours later and I jumped 7.5 hours later (after 40 or 50 other people had jumped!!).

The way to move to the top of the queue is actually to ask to jump in a pair (then they bump you both up the list to fill the plane) or pay £108 for the photos (then they are more than keen to make sure you jump before the clouds come over).

The manager was exceptionally rude. I was invited into the office by an organiser so she could explain why they had messed up the schedule. The manager then came in and aggressively told me to leave the office which I was invited into!!

Apparently it is very difficult to organise who can go on the plane first but the way I see it is - it does not take a genius to work out that number 2 comes after number 1 and that number 1 and 2 are not 20 numbers apart!!!!

When I said I was not willing to wait hours after my brother had jumped they refused to give me a refund. They were totally unwilling to correct their mistake or even apologise for their incompetence. Terrible customer service considering I had paid hundreds of pounds for the experience!

As I say, instructors were great, I loved the jump but just don't go there! And if you do remember it is not first come first serve and stay out of the way of the rude and unhelpful people in the office!

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(Review ID:4568)

6 of 15 people found the following review helpful: Didnt even bother to read my USPA licence before refusing to accept it. Rated by: Downunderjumper on 2008-06-08 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: North London Parachute Centre   Pros: Good Aircraft Cons: Only interested in Tandoms and AFF, not newly grad jumpers

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Having just recently graduated and completed my USPA A Licence while on holiday in the US, I rocked up to the DZ around 5pm on Saturday as the cloud was looking to break and I was hoping to get a jump in before sunset (they advertise that loads operated until 8pm or sunset) I entered the office for a gear and document check, where I was greated and told I would have to pay a BPA membership, which was expected, but when I presented my USPA A Licence Proficiency card (which had been completed, stamped and validated correctly) the immediate reaction was that they could not recognise this as it is a temporary licence to be used until your official USPA licence is received in the post. Kinda defeated the purpose of having the temporary licence I thought, but then the reason for their reluctance became a little clearer when I was told I would have to jump as a student at £35 per jump which was almost double the normal slot price.
Upon my questioning as to the reason the licence was not being accepted the instructor then commented how he would have to read the licence I presented as he cannot read without his glasses! They had already refused to accept it at that point! I returned the next afternoon and the weather was great, they had large numbers of tandems so after waiting over 60 minutes to get the OK to manifest from an instructor I left.
Over the two days I felt that my presence as a qualified sport jumper, who was only there to jump and had no need for training at the time was unwelcome or a hinderence. I also appreciate the need for rules and regulations within the industry, but I felt that they were being over implied to justify additional charges.

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(Review ID:3818)

2 of 16 people found the following review helpful: Shame - could be really good. Rated by: Bushy on 2007-04-18 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: North London Parachute Centre   Pros: Location Cons: Everything else

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What scenery? The fens? you need to get out more!

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(Review ID:3797)

8 of 13 people found the following review helpful: Rockin Rated by: crashtested on 2007-04-08 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: North London Parachute Centre   Pros: Good Crowd, Great training, Safe Cons: Tandems

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Chose to start training there because of the name, North London Parachute Center (Bit of a liberty) but it still is the nearest dropzone to London.

I started with aff level 1, great training and good facilities, Gary and Lloyd are great guys and get you up for your first jump with confidence.

Managed to get me on a 2nd lift to pass my level 2 that day as well :)

Weather wise its England, and it was November, so it was ropey as you'd expect and a lot of long journeys to no avail,
but its England and that would have been the same wherever I had jumped.

I was back there over this weekend, the guys there all know my name now,and make me feel really welcome and its only my 5th time up (2nd jumping) Mike another instuctor took me through levels 4 - 8 in 2 days, then squished in my first Consol to finish Saturday night.

Great for tandems (if you like that sort of thing)

If your serious about jumping and get your tickets in early (7am) expect 4-5 jumps in a day on the weekend.

If your really serious about jumping take tuesday - Friday off work. loads of room midweek.

...and they've fixed the road!



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(Review ID:3465)

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful: Very friendly, professional bunch Rated by: biatchxris on 2006-10-13 (user profile) (user reviews) Review of: North London Parachute Centre   Pros: Reaaly Friendly Cons: Drive a bit bumpy

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I did 28 jumps then stopped, too nervous to do my 29th after a 3 year break until i spoke to the guys at Chatteris, they were fantastic, putting me through a fast track AFF, i have now done that 29th jump and can't wait for the 30th. Thanks guys.

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