North Cascades Institute — Attraction in Sedro-Woolley

Folks,

While I understand you're a 501(c) and likely staffed by volunteers, I wanted to share my recent customer experience in hopes it helps you improve things moving forward. This review should also serve as a warning to anyone looking at purchasing a gift certificate for a tour through this org.

I was shopping for a birthday gift for a friend who loves Diablo Lake and riding his motorcycle on the Cascade Loop. The Diablo Lake tour seemed like a perfect fit. Gift certificates were listed as a payment option for the tour, and when I navigated to the gift certificate page, nothing clearly stated they couldn’t be used for the tours. In fact, the language—“Institute programs, including Base Camp, Family Getaways, Online Learning and Field Excursions”—was vague enough to suggest the certificates could be used for the tour.

So I purchased a $100 gift certificate and paid an extra $3 for shipping. A few days later, I received a PDF certificate by email—dated three years ago—and stating it was only good for 2022 programs. It also noted that it couldn’t be used for the very tour I intended to apply it to.

Needless to say, I was disappointed for a few reasons:

I paid for shipping and only received a digital certificate.

The certificate I received was outdated.

I only found out after receiving it that it couldn’t be used for the tour I bought it for.

I emailed for clarification on both the date and the tour restrictions. I was told the certificate was still valid despite the date. I had to send a second follow-up to confirm it couldn’t be used toward the tours—at which point I requested a refund. I didn’t get a response.

With my friend’s birthday approaching, I opted to give him cash toward the tour instead, just to avoid the hassle.

I followed up again to confirm a refund was being processed, and was told it had gone through a few days earlier. But a week later, it still hadn’t shown up on my statement, and I had to spend 15 minutes on the phone with my credit card company to file a dispute.

I’m sure you’re a great organization doing valuable work, but I hope you can understand my frustration.

I also have a background in customer service and some nonprofit work, so I’d like to offer a few suggestions:

Clearly state on both the tour and gift certificate pages that gift certificates cannot be used for tours—or consider changing this policy.

Add a free digital delivery option for gift certificates on the product page.

Update the certificate template you're using to reflect the current year. Also, the language saying it's only valid for a specific year isn’t legal in Washington State if money has been exchanged—only donated certificates can legally expire.

Consider investing in basic CRM software to help track and respond to inquiries. Many platforms offer nonprofit discounts and can make a big difference.

Hopefully my experience was an outlier, and you're able to make some small changes that improve things...

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