First of all, let me just express my amusement at the fact that this place is called the "North London Parachuting Centre". Being north of the M25 (by quite a distance I might add) does not qualify as north London. I live quite near to Scotland, but I'll start telling people I live in North London from now on. I originally booked my tandem skydive for June 2011, paying £195. We were told in the run-up to the day that we should turn up to the centre no matter what the forecast, as the weather can change for the better at any moment. Sure enough, the forecast was very windy and rainy. But we did as instructed and turned up in hope. The accessibility of this centre is poor, to say the least. If you don't drive then you're in a pretty bad position. We had to take the first train from London as well as a taxi from the station which amounted to £50, and we arrived at 10am, solidly at the bottom of the jump queue. Of course we could've come the previous day and stayed in the centre's accommodation but that would've amassed even more costs. Upon arrival, we were told immediately that it was almost certain that there would be no jumps that day, and we were free to stick around or go home. Good on them for telling us the truth and I appreciate that they have no control over the british weather. But they proceeded to tell us that we could've phoned the centre in the morning before setting off to see the forecast, which could've potentially saved us the journey. So why did they originally tell us to come to the centre no matter what the forecast? Very poor communication there! Because I was not in the country for the rest of the year, the next opportunity I had to jump was June of 2012. I was told to pay an extra £25 because I had waited more than 6 months. This I find unacceptable - people who are forced to reschedule because of bad weather should not be penalised. If anything, they should be given preferential treatment at the least. There was nothing I could do about this so I had to pay the 25. However, the jump was called off AGAIN due to windy conditions, thereby putting travel costs and time to waste. I rescheduled again for September 2012. Again, it was cancelled due to wind. I had to pay an extra £10 because I was over 15 stone. I am not conscious about my weight at all but I can imagine for some other people it would be very offending to be weighed in front of everybody else in the reception area and then told to pay the "fat-tax". I'm not sure why this "fat-tax" must be paid before the jump given that a large number of jumps seem to get cancelled. After the jump was cancelled I was not refunded the money until I was driving away and remembered to ask them myself. I can only imagine the number of people they've conned with that little trick. Three times I have wasted an entire day travelling to this place only to find out it was cancelled. The total cost is approaching £300 now, in addition to all the time spent travelling. The fact that they are totally unaccommadating with regards to financial costs is quite insulting. Most of the people there on the day seemed to be people returning after cancelled jumps so it seems their jump percentage is very low indeed. What baffles me more is that the centre is surrounded by wind turbines - so the area is obviously prone to winds... I will not be in the country for the next couple of months, so it looks like the next best opportunity I will have to jump is spring 2013. This will probably mean another £25 charge. I fail to understand how this makes sense, and it certainly does not encourage customers to return for another jump, or to promote the centre to friends. On top of this, the "cafe" is extremely overpriced and seating is severely lacking indoors for those days when it is too cold to stand around outside. On a more pleasant note, most of the instructors did seem knowledgeable and friendly. However, this did not make up for all the shortcomings of this centre.
