BUYER BEWARE



To celebrate my son’s 18th birthday, I arranged for several family members to go skydiving at Skydive Houston near Eagle Lake, TX. http://www.skydivehouston.com/index.html



Apparently my first mistake was not verifying that they are actually members of the BBB. Their website shows the logo, but when you go to the BBB site, you are informed that they aren’t with the BBB.

http://www.bbb.org/houston/business-reviews/sky-diving/skydive-houston-in-eagle-lake-tx-35001568/



We showed up at 1pm as scheduled for our “appointment”. There is no such thing as an appointment time. You are herded into the hanger and expected to wait quietly until the staff can be bothered to get you set up for a flight. I was excited and paid an extra $200 for the individual videos for both my son and I. After viewing their joke of a safety briefing, then sitting around their hanger until around 5pm (yes, it was 4 hours), everyone was notified that the plane had mechanical difficulties and wouldn’t be able to fly that day. Mind you, the staff couldn’t tell us for about an hour. Disappointed, but understanding the situation we took a rain check.



Yesterday, we showed up at our 11am “appointment” time and the clock started once more. In fairness, the winds were too heavy to jump safely, so we waited until around 3pm. At this point, with about 8 hours invested in their hanger, our group decided to call it quits. Just to be fair, I understand safety is the main issue in both instances, but the lack of anything resembling customer service and how I was treated is what bothers me. Here is where it got interesting.



I told either Jessica or Heather that I would like my money back. They told me that there are no refunds, and started to get hostile. I said that I had spent a total of 8 hours waiting on 2 separate occasions, and I really wasn’t prepared to make a third 120 mile round trip to see if I would ever be able to get on a plane. Then they started in about how I had been warned about the weather conditions, and they couldn’t believe I was asking for my money back. They said they would (oh the humanity) have to call the owner and that he wouldn’t have much sympathy for me. Especially since it was Sunday and a family day. Obviously, his family day was more important than ours. After speaking with him, the girl paid me my money for the videos, and told me that the owner was refusing to provide service to me in the future and told me not to come back. Mind you, I hadn’t even raised my voice! They then proceeded to make a show of tearing up our paperwork.



So, just to give my perspective, I haven’t been able to celebrate my son’s birthday, have travelled a total of 240 miles, wasted an entire weekend day (both days combined), essentially loaned them $400 for a month and then was told not to return. In my opinion, there was absolutely no consideration for any inconvenience on my part, absolutely no attempt to work with me, and apparently, they are doing so poorly financially that they have to cling to every dollar as if it were their last. I would highly recommend you look elsewhere before dealing with this group.



The one comment that one of the girls made that stands out is, “We’re the cheapest in the area.” On that point, I agree with them. You get what you pay for.