WinSport — Attraction in Calgary

These guys are crooks. Stay away.

I had been looking forward to booking ski lessons here for my 3-year-old and myself for weeks (as a single parent in the neighborhood), waiting for the perfect snow day. When it finally came we booked the day before, as they recommended to us earlier in the week. After dropping a whopping $250 for a one-hour private lesson with rentals for a ski lesson, they did not send any information on what time to arrive, what to expect, where to park, where to put belongings etc. etc. No information.

It was challenging enough to get my 3-year-old ready to go with snow gear and we still managed to arrive 10 minutes early to the lesson, but the parking lot was full. We parked right outside the doors to get checked in quickly and see what the next steps would be. There was no guidance and no one there to help us walk through our first rental as first-time visitors. (Given the price one would think there would be at least some personal guidance)

It was clear given our limited time we needed to reschedule the appointment. Halfway through check-in with our ski boots on, bags in hand still needing storage, car out front still needing to be moved, and toddler needing to use the bathroom, I asked the service desk if we should just push through and extend the lesson, or reschedule.

Neither were options and the kid behind the desk was adamant to uphold policy without regard for our unique position. Instead, he decided it was best to keep our $250 without rendering service or providing any contact for management. It was incredibly disrespectful.

I voiced my discontent and asked to speak to someone else. After waiting for 15 minutes, still with our ski boots on, a girl arrived just to confirm they were in fact, taking our money without rendering services but then provided email contacts at my insistence.

I said thank you and apologized if my tone came off as harsh; providing contacts for upper management is a resolution I can live with for stealing $250 from us without a lesson, refund, or rebooking. We escalated the matter to the general manager and instead of being met with counsel, mediation, or any sense of understanding, he instead accused me of harassment via email. No follow-up phone call. No sit-down coffee talk to discuss.

Since when did asking to speak to a manager for terrible service become harassment? Who thinks it's okay to take $250 without rendering services? As a plumber, and a service provider myself, I really find it distasteful and disgraceful.

Not communicating and educating a first-time skier for a private lesson for his child, taking money, not rendering service, and then disrespectfully refusing to provide contact for support and management, while expecting a customer to walk away without a solution is just unbelievable.

I offered the general manager an olive branch to sit down and discuss the experience and instead have been met with silence. Two months have passed with no reply. The lack of accountability is astounding. They have lost a long-term generational customer. ...

I came here during the summer to do the downhill carting which was a lot of fun, although expensive for what you get.

As others have mentioned, their website is horrible and so difficult to navigate. As I'm newer to Calgary, I've wanted to try some fun new things, but will likely pass in the future going to the COP because I just don't find enough value.

I did the mini golf and the pumpkin festival, and felt they were way overpriced for those activities as well. Their mini golf course is the easiest one I've ever done and quite lackluster.

In terms of a not so great customer service experience ... We wanted to try tubing with our family and had booked around Christmas time. Due to a family member's flight being canceled three times, we had to cancel our reservation. I opted to do a refund instead of a credit because I had no idea if we would be able to get back. They charge you a $20 processing fee for a refund.

Circumstances changed and we wanted to re- book. I had emailed in to ask if there was any chance that the $20 processing fee could be applied as a discount to my new booking, as kind of a good faith thing. Originally I would have done a credit, if the circumstances had been different, and thought why not ask if I could get my $20 back because I was rebooking now.

I received an email saying that was absolutely no problem and just to call in to confirm which date I wanted. When I called in the gal on the phone took a long time to figure out what was going on and came back with a response that they couldn't do this because there was not already a credit on my account. I explained my situation again, but according to the staff member, there was no way for them to put a credit on the account... I did ask to speak to a manager as it was confirmed via email that they could do this for me. She said the manager was standing right next to her and her response was no.

Obviously I did not rebook. It's already expensive, and I didn't want to be out an extra $20 and pay over $100 for 3 people...

The instructor Harry insulted us for no reason and totally ruined our experience in the ski lesson. I took ski lessons as beginners this year. April 2 is the last day of our lessons and also the last day for the snow season this year. I was so delighted for the coming training to improve my skills. My tutor Evan is very nice and patient. Because in our group people are at different levels, he has to pay more attention to those who need help. So he asked me to practice using the tips he mentioned to me and no need to wait for others. When I was about to go onto the carpet. The instructors Jordan and Harry stopped me and accused me a cheater who is not a ski school student and shouldn’t go on to the carpet, although I explained that my instructor is up there. They were very rude and stopped me for no reason. After I talked to their supervisor, Jordan apologized to me for the misunderstanding. But Harry is still very rude and refused to apologize. I let this issue go and don’t want to let the impolite tutor Harry who pretended he is a policeman ruined my day. But this is definitely not a good experience. Why the management team asked their tutors act as policeman to catch people who don’t have a pass? The tutors have no authority to do that and totally show no respect to us who paid for lessons but be randomly picked for no reason. They can simply gave the ski school students a temporary pass or a name tag, instead of asking their tutors accuse innocent person like me. I really hope no one has the same experience as I had today. Harry is a very strong person but also very weak as he doesn’t want to admit he just did something wrong and should take...