I would highly recommend that you book with any hot air balloon company, but this one. What was supposed to be an amazing experience, turned into a nightmare. The ride was cancelled due to the windy weather, which was fine, safety first. However, they refused to refund the money. It took over a month of filing a dispute with my credit card company, then going back & forth with them to receive even a partial refund. If you are in CO, chances are high that the ride will be cancelled due to the weather & they will look for ways to keep your money. The cancellation policy doesn't specify that if you reschedule & they cancel the ride you will be out 50% plus the reschedule fee. Even my credit card company stated they were in the wrong for keeping the money.
Odpowiedź od gospodarza
Nov 2021
Jasmine, Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to hear your flight was cancelled due to the ever-changing weather in Colorado Springs. Hot air ballooning is a weather dependent activity which, unfortunately, means flights can be cancelled at any time. However, the 50% deposit you paid, as well as the reschedule fee of $35 per person were charged because you cancelled your flight for 8/24 with less than 48 hours notice. The flight in Colorado Springs on 8/24 (the one you originally booked) flew. The flight you requested to reschedule to on the morning of 8/25, unfortunately, did not fly.
Upon that weather cancellation, you stated you wanted to rebook at a later time since the payment you made would be applicable towards a future flight. I’ve copied a section of our Cancellation and Payment policy which is in your confirmation email, as you read it out to our staff on a recorded phone call, word for word:
“...If you have to cancel your hot air balloon ride with Rainbow Ryders we ask that you contact us 48 hours before your flight. If you call with less than 48 hours notice or do not show up to your scheduled flight on time, a 50% charge of the total flight payment will be retained and will be non-refundable under any circumstances… Please make sure to contact our office between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM if you need to cancel. If you need to reschedule with less than 24 hours notice, a $35 rescheduling fee per person will be applied.”
Due to the weather being the reason for your 8/25 cancellation, we refunded the $35 per person reschedule fee. Still, as stated in our Cancellation policy, the 50% deposit is non-refundable, as the day you were originally scheduled for did fly and you cancelled with less than 48 hours notice. However, we did not want you to leave with a bad impression of our company, so we chose to issue even more of the original non-refundable deposit. We are sad to see a negative review from you, even after the situation had been resolved to your implied satisfaction.