I bought my boyfriend his first sky dive for his birthday yesterday, and he took a day's holiday off work so that we could get the reduced rate that you pay at this centre if you attend on a Wednesday (I'm a student, so this rate -£165- is still a lot for me actually, but I thought an experience like this would be worth the cost). After a long journey and having to stay overnight in a guesthouse nearby, we arrived at 7am and were second in the queue. We had been told beforehand that if the weather conditions were right, jumping could commence at 9am. However, the staff took a long time to get everyone registered and only took my boyfriend in for training at around ten past 9 - at which point the weather was fine for jumping (as confirmed by a member of centre staff). After a lot of faffing around and trying to sell him a video (for £140), they got him into his suit along with a bunch of other people. At five to ten they were finally ready to board the plane, and as they were about to get on, one of the centre staff called them back. It took a while for us to find out what was going on, but it turned out that the wind had literally just picked up too much, and it was no longer safe to jump (the limit is 23mph, and the speed had gone from 23 to 28mph in the time it had taken for them to train him and get him ready, all of which SHOULD have been done BEFORE 9am). Had the centre staff been more organised, he would've been able to jump yesterday. Instead, we ended up sitting around for an entire day to see whether the wind would drop, and finally being told to go home at 4:30 after having waited for nine and a half hours. I wish I had spent the £250 it has SO FAR cost me (counting train fare and overnight at a guesthouse as well as the £165 I have so far paid to them) on something else. Now, I understand perfectly that these people can neither control nor predict the weather, and that's fine. However, the entire process of jumping takes about 15mins, and they had a window from 9 till 10 when the weather was fine for jumping, and they missed it because they were not organised enough. Furthermore, I found their attitude quite rude towards their customers. For example, there are signs up all round the place that are pretty appallingly worded - one says 'Food/drink not purchased in the canteen is not allowed!!!!!!!!!!!' and I am not joking about all the exclamation marks. It seems a bit rich to make you have to buy their canteen food after you've paid so much money to be there already, especially when all they sell are pretty expensive burgers and chips (which I really didn't want given how unhealthy it is), and it's £1.50 just for a cup of tea. There were also signs up which said sky-diving is a weather-dependent activity and if you can't handle that, then don't book in the first place. This, to me, indicates a failure on the part of the centre to understand and respond to the needs of their customers. Obviously, if we had attended, waited, and been turned away in any manner it would have been disappointing. However, there is a complete lack of empathy from the staff about the situation, and you are given very few alternative options because you are NOT ENTITLED TO A REFUND. All you can do is come back again and again in order to try to jump again, most probably having the very same experience several times before actually managing to jump. Plus, if you want to jump on a different day - because, like us, you have booked time off work to attend mid-week, but can't afford to do so again - they charge you more money (another £55 on top of what you've already paid) to attend at the weekend, so there is absolutely no attempt made to make it easier on you next time given what a rubbish time you've had of it already! They do say on their website and in their paperwork that it is a weather dependent activity, I'll give them that. However, I believe they do not make clear just how unlikely it is that you will be able to jump on your first attempt. I assumed that, say, 80% of the time you will be able to jump, but we spoke to numerous other people yesterday, and most of them were individuals who had attempted to jump three, four and five times, without success. I'd say you probably only have a 20-30% chance of jumping first time. If I'd realised it was that unlikely before, I would never have booked this in the first place. And now I KNOW how unlikely it is, I'd like to get at least SOME of my money back so that we don't have to pay rail fare and bed and breakfast fees to most probably have to undergo the very same TERRIBLE experience yet again. I would much rather take him out for a plush meal somewhere than ever return here. As I say, I appreciate that they cannot control the weather and that is fine, but a little more warning about the unlikelihood of jumping first time would've been appreciated, as would some empathy when people are disappointed. The opportunity of being able to eat our own food while waiting for nine hours just to be turned away, would also have been appreciated, as would the opportunity to claim back at least SOME of the money spent rather than being roped into either (i) losing all of it for nothing or (ii) returning again for, most probably, the very same experience. I wouldn't have minded losing my £50 deposit, for example, but I paid an extra £115 yesterday to sit there and drink expensive tea in a horrible environment. Should one hire equipment to go scuba diving, and be unable to go because the sea is too choppy, it is equally not the fault of the people who hire the equipment out to you that you cannot make use of it, but they GIVE YOU YOUR MONEY BACK, and I don't see why sky diving should be any different. They haven't spent any money on aeroplane fuel etc., the staff man the centre ever day anyway, and they've made fairly extortionate amounts out of you by insisting that you buy their food and drink from their rubbish canteen. I imagine many people do not bother coming back here after their initial experience of the place, which means they make £200 or so out of each individual, and in many cases do not deliver what has been handsomely paid for. My advice would be: unless you live somewhere fairly close by, from which it is relatively easy and inexpensive to get to, and unless you don't mind returning on several occasions before actually completing a jump, do NOT book with these people. Don't give them the business, they are undeserving of it. Ideally, if you are going regardless of my best warnings against, drive there and take CDs with you and food to eat in your car, and, as I say, only go if you don't mind the almost certain prospect of return.
