Skydive Australia — Attraction in Wollongong City Council

I bought the 14,000 foot jump over Wollongong Bay. The purchase was a hefty $264. (The price for a weekday jump. It is more on the weekend) With no means of transportation, I had to opt for the bus shuttle. (An extra $35) -The bus shuttle was honestly the best part of the whole experience. The driver was chipper and psyched, cracking jokes along the way. The bus driver set a great tone for the day. After filling out a couple forms on the 1.5 hour bus ride, we were dropped off near the beach. At the drop off site basic instructions were provided to prepare us for the next few hours. One thing that was frustrating with the instructions was the checking in and grouping process. You're likely to be in a group of 6 with you and your friends, regardless of if the bookings were done at separate times. -which is good. But the frustrating part was that your name for check in and grouping is called in an arbitrary order. Meaning you have no indication of when you need to be on site (ready to be called) or how much time you can spend at the beach before hand. Once you are called you will be given a group number and a time to gear up. Which could be in 15 minutes or an hour. Gearing up was simple of enough. A harness and flotation device are the only required gear, however they also offer full body clothing to keep you warm during the dive. After gearing up you take a 30 minute bus ride to the airport. You'll hang out in a building where the plane takes off until it is your group's turn. You'll be hanging with your instructors who may just be laying on the floor talking with the other staff, on their phones, and paying no attention to you. But hopefully that's not what you get... Hopefully before this point you've also recieved proper landing and jumping instruction, but if you're like my group, they may completely forget about that part until someone asks 15 minutes before take off. (Seems like a huge liability issue. Most would not have known how to land properly) When it's your turn to take off in the plane, you'll have a 15-20 minute ascent to the dive elevation. Jumping out was organized and seamless. (You won't have time to think before jumping out) 45 second free fall and 4ish minutes of parachute falling will offer an incredible view of the beach, ocean, and suburb. You may or may not land on the beach. This all depends on the winds that day. Once you've landed you'll need to wait for all groups to finish and then you will shuttle back to central.

My personal complaints.

Vinny (my tandem diver) didn't add any conversation or psych to the experience. In fact, I asked a couple of questions and his disinterested responses took away from my psych. My mom also noted that Vinny was not friendly. Some of the other tandem staff were not great either. (But Vinny was definitely the lowest psych. He did get better towards the end) When they had chances to get to know their first time divers, they instead were texting or engaging in their own staff small chat. There were 2 tandem jumpers that did a better job, buggsy? Being one of them. Due to a lack of psych from staff and the small amount of time you actually get in the plane or in free fall, $264 (+$35) was not worth it for me. In relation to Hawaii, I did a $149 jump that was better organized and with better staff. The whole process takes 8+ hours if you shuttle. I was not informed of this when we bought our tickets. It was our last day in Australia, and instead of finishing at 1 or so, (like we had thought) we weren't back in central until 5:40. (This is a full day event and you get a 30 minute experience) Video and photo packages are incredibly expensive. (I did not opt for any packages) While I will continue to never consider their prices for photo and video packages, I will note that some* of the staff did an incredible job being enthusiastic with their videos and interview questions. And if you land one of the good staff, I doubt you'll regret buying the video packages.

Would not go here again, but because of the unique location, it is a must see...

I would read this before booking. The skydiving was great but everything else was a terrible experience. We arrived 10 minutes before check-in. We were told to wait out the back before being called. Friends of mine said their experience at other places was you wait, the staff would come and interact with you, help ease your nerves and build rapport with your group. There was none of that, everyone was awkwardly sat around with one staff member on the side who looked like they hated being there, calling names.. After 45 minutes of chatting amongst ourselves, I decided to go back inside to ask what was going on. My name wasn’t on the board for the slot I was allocated. They said that there delays and it would be another hour before we are called. This would have been good to know when I checked in, there was no communication, we would have hung around for nearly 2 hours wondering what was happening if I didn’t check! I ordered the video package, when my name was eventually called I sat down for the very quick 5 minute briefing(this can be good and bad). 6 in the group, 2 had the video package and met their instructors straight away, they then had time to talk, record their videos and board. A couple of us were sat waiting right until the last minute before an instructor came out to get us and rush us on the bus. I didn’t even get my video? While on the bus, the instructors were sat at the back talking and laughing amongst themselves for the 15 minute journey, while the paying customers sat in awkwardness spread across the front left to fend for ourselves. (1 lady was so nervous but the instructors didn’t seem to care!) After arriving I asked if I could record my video since everyone who bought the package did so I had my 5 seconds of video fame and again was rushed to get on the plane. (The whole thing seemed rushed, like they were running behind trying to get as many groups up and down..) it was my first dive and it was great! After we landed, we had a brief outro and we were left to walk back and hang up our gear… My experience overall was extremely disappointing, I was expecting more from the staff, the atmosphere of the venue and the overall customer service for a nerve racking experience… Also you’re spending over $500, for that money you want to have a nice personalised video and not feel like a number…Which by the way, other venues do little interviews with family and friends and get their reactions, this one is a quick, awkward 5 second intro and outro of you and the dive… I would recommend sky diving to everyone but spend your...

Bought a $670 NZD gift voucher for my partner. Worst decision ever.

As written on the gift voucher, my partner excitedly called to book in the jump. But the rep was rude, dismissive, and unhelpful from the start. She did not know how to use the calendar, so after a little back and forth on the available times, she told us to search for the availability online. Since we had a voucher, she was 'forced' to help us with the booking. As my partner has an Indian accent, the rep was racistly unable to understand him. As a third person listening to the call, I felt embarrassed by how he was treated- especially considering this was a gift for him. So, I took over the call, and when I spoke in a kiwi accent, she could no longer be racist, snobby, and disrespectful- so she abruptly ended the call.

My partner called again to confirm whether the booking was completed or not, but the next rep wasn't great either. She kept asking for the booking reference despite my partner explaining that we had been hung up on. So, I took over the call again, and the rep complained that my partner was not 'clear.' When I asked if I was clear in providing the information- she ended the call, again!

Before, or on the day of the jump, there was no call or email to confirm the check-in time. We reached the site at 12PM, the time we booked. When checking-in, we were surprised to know that the booking was preponed to 11AM. This felt like an attempt for us to miss the jump, especially because the reps were so quick to end the call. 'Luckily', there was space in the next jump, and the jump eventually happened at 1:30PM.

Any walk-in/ non-paying customer expects to be treated with basic dignity and respect. But here, despite paying so much, the majority of the dealing with this company was unprofessional and disrespectful. Only the instructors were good, and provided decent customer service.

This is the second time I have bought a skydiving gift voucher (first time was with another company). For the mere convenience of gifting an all-inclusive gift voucher (photo and video bundle), I chose Skydive Australia and not the original company I booked with in the past. But now, I deeply regret it. I certainly won't be booking with them again and advise others to...