Ripped Off by 1800SkyRide
1800skyride is a rip off. I had made a reservation on Jan 20, 2007 for May 6, 2007 for a hot air balloon ride in San Antonio for six people. I never received a call from the piolt 24 hours prior to flight time. So I call 1800SKYRIDE only to find out that there was never going to be a balloon ride-there was no piolt! I talked to a guy named Chris. He said that there was not a pilot and if I wanted a refund to contact Emily at [protected]@1800skyride.com. I did that on May 5, 2007. I still haven't gotten a response from Emily. So yesterday May 28, 2007 and today and I have called and talked to a Ryan. He assured me that there will be a hot air balloon ride in San Antonio. When I asked him questions about the pilot, he was very evasive. I started out asking for Emily. All I got was her voicemail. Of course she hasn't returned my phone call. Alot of money has been spent for what we thought was a mother and daughter event. Now it has been ruined. All we want is to get a full refund. Anyone looking for a fun time needs to stay away from 1800SKYRIDE.
Buyer beware of hot air balloon rides!
These guys are only booking agents, and shady ones. Booked a balloon ride for my husband as a surprise for his birthday. I am certain they had been given notice the provider they booked was not available. Every time you call you are given the run around, put on hold, disconnected. This is after they take your money of course. This is the letter I sent today. I called back at 5:00, as instructed, because that would be the only time a manager would be there, and just got vmail, and not his. Nice!
*******************************************************
Re: 1800SkyRide.com
I am extremely unsatisfied, disappointed, and frankly appalled by the level of customer disservice provided which is further exacerbated by having to sit on hold every time I call in and listen to the same recording about your commitment to providing the best possible service and how my satisfaction is your primary concern.
I was told, only today, that the provider you all booked my trip with was unavailable since he had broken his hip. The only reason I booked with you all was because of the location you went from and I had already contacted Daryl (at balloons over Georgia) directly and found out he had broken his hip. Daryl’s wife told me on 6/6/06 that he had broken his hip. But yet you all were more than happy to take my $500 on 6/22 for that same trip and not even tell me until 7/17 and only because I called.
Here’s the series:
Trip booked with Andre on 6/22 and credit card charged. Received no confirmation email. I understood from Andre at the time that someone would be calling in the next few days to confirm and would also be contacting me 24-48 hours prior.
No one contacted me so I called back on 6/28 and asked for a contact # for the actual provider. This is a surprise for my husband’s birthday and I wanted to schedule some other things around it so I needed some specifics. After spending forever having to justify the outrageous demand to actually speak to the provider of service, I was put on hold forever listening to your concern for my satisfaction and then was disconnected, but got the confirmation email.
Called back today and tried again which is when Tammy was honorable enough to level with me re: what was really going on.
I consider this to be unethical and fraud. You have totally ruined my husband’s birthday.
And now to top it off I have to wait until 5:00 to talk to a manager and plus have to type up an email to get a refund! Either change your recording or get honest about your concern for my customer satisfaction.
Please let me know when today I can expect to see this credit show.
1800SkyRide.com is affiliated with Taparu LLC. I purchased skydiving lessons for October 13, for three people, (paid in full in advance) and told the sales representative that October 13 was the only possible date because the wedding was scheduled for the next week-end. Needless to say, when I contacted the jump school, they had no reservations and refused to schedule a jump for that day.
1800SkyRide.com now refuses to respond to me in any way. Richard Crowder [protected] indicated that I would be receiving a refund, but now refuses to respond to my phone calls.
Beware people!
This company is a scam. You will book a hot air balloon ride, hang gliding, skydiving, etc. and they will charge your credit card the same day but you never get what you paid for. I was going to have a hot air balloon ride in Little Rock, Arkansas, for my 40th birthday and after making reservations and paying I was awaiting their vendor in Arkansas to contact me and they never did. I called and emailed the company several times and was told they are scheduling it now and would call me back or that they hadn't reached my reservation date yet or simply that they do not have any vendors in Arkansas! I was able to find out some facts that I would like to share with the public. This company is based in Smyrna, Georgia, showing an address of 3240 S Cobb Drive St, Suite X, Smyrna, GA 30080, and their fax number is [protected]. I have filed a complaint with the Atlanta Better Business Bureau as well as the Federal Trade Commission. I have also reported this company to my credit card company as fraud. Please note this company goes by numerous names such as: 1800SkyRide.com; soaringsports.com; nevadaskydiving.com; Skydivingamerica.com; skydivegrandrapids and there are many more.
I was given a gift certificate for 750.00 dollars for a plane ride and the company won't call back to book the flight. This has been going on for a months.
My wife brought me a gift certificate to skydive and this place offers no place in my area and when i ask for a refund, they want to take 25 % of the bill as a fee. This is the biggest scam!
DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM, believe me, you will thanks me.
These guys are being sued over skydiving fraud, too. IMO the only way to get these guys for good is to have a FEDERAL level court with all state jurisdiction go after them for their many many tales of customer abuse, outright fraud and lying.
They stole photos to put on their cookie cutter skydiving websites. Google skyride photo theft and you'll see that too.
NEVER use 1800 skyride or [protected] (same place)
I WANT MY MONEY BACK! They promised to refund the whole amount talking with a name Stephanie and said they will call beck. They never called nor I reveive any refund by mail. I called and they said it was declined. They said they can request again then they will call with in 2 weeks. They siad they declined.
It was a surprised bday gift for my partener! Came and had the flight but ended up paying from my own pocket as the place they said on the telephone didn't have any idea of sky-ride company at all! I was trying to get my full refund in behalf of sky ride's own mistake!
Then, they said they can only give me some part of the money they will have to deduct some percent and will send it.
I never got anyting from them. It is good for 2 years and it is now almost 2 years on July 7 I still havn't got any money from them. They are now offering me ONLY Certificate so I can go ride again some place.. I refused as I have read many article regerding refused baloon fly certificate as the busness no contract with sky-ride at all!..
I WANT MY MONEY BACK AND I WANT TO SUE THEM BUT NOT SURE HOW. ANYONE CAN HELP ME, ANY LAWYER OUT THERE WHO READ THIS PLS CONTACT ME AT GIELANE0505@YAHOO.COM
THANKYOu!
Let's do something about these CREEPS! Let's shut these people down! I just called and told "Priscilla" that they better watch out b/c this crap is coming to an end!
STAY AWAY from these guys! These stories sound way too familiar. Like some have mentioned, request a charge back from your credit card company claiming that services were never rendered. I recently did and they just confirmed that they are going to credit my account. I had my credit card company do a search on Google and read all of these horror stories. Good luck!
Records indicate this customer's complaint was verified as legitimate, and was later resolved by the company.
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I also have had trouble with 1-800-skyride! My husband was diagnosed with a terminal disease in June of '05. HE bought us a Balloon ride for two as a Christmas Present for me in '05. We tried three times in two different states to set this up each time no call and no ride! When my husband was getting sicker we tried to change it to a Bed and Breakfast, they said no problem it was one of their other ?Adventures?! They never sent us that information either! Now my husband has passed away and we can no longer make this memory together. I spoke to Richard, Allen, Emily, Franklin, Micheal and finally my last attempt to Nick--no luck they tell you one thing yet NEVER follow through! DO NOT BUY FROM THEM THEY ARE A RIP OFF...Not only did I lose my husband but I also lost the one memory he wanted so bad to make for us.
This company ruined my husband and daughters Christmas present. I made plans on December 21st for a Balloon Ride for December 29th. I was told by the represenative that someone would be contacting me within 48 hours and I never heard a single thing. I did however get the information of which balloon service that they would be using in the area the night I made the purchase and decided to call the local company personally to get all dates, locations to meet, and information for the date of the flight and was told ,"Nobody has contacted me, and I"m completely booked". This company debited my card in the amount of $456.00 and time after time, call after call, I was given the run around and was either put on hold or got a answering machine. This company is a BIG SCAM. NOBODY EVERY USE 1-800-SKYRIDE.com for anything unless you want to be the next victim. Also, they do have a lawsuit pending in Atlanta coming up soon and I would suggest everyone that deserves justice contact them to get in on the suit. Information regarding the details of the pending suit can be found in the following website provided below.