Skydive Melbourne — Local services in Melbourne

Extremely disrespectful and rude receptionist, Erica. We booked in for 4 people at 11:00am on 29th November. The day before departure, I emailed the company saying I needed to cancel 2 bookings for a person was not feeling well and the other had experienced heart- failure before. She emailed me demanding a convincing reason for the cancelation and a medical report. Excuse me, who the f* does she think she is to have us explain ourselves for not participating? She does not have any authority or any f*ing right to have us provide our medical reports. Who brings his medical report to a trip? Not to mention that the email she sent me could not be replied. The next day, just hours before our departure, Melbourne Skydive contacted me saying they had to put/call off my booking for the bad weather. I and my crew honestly could not do skydiving the next day for we had to fly to Sydney. Therefore, I requested a full refund. This receptionist then emailed me saying she would like to have us do skydiving 3.5 hours later than the original time. This was unfair for us since we had to visit our relatives at 3:30 or 4:00pm. Starting at 2:30 pm and finishing at least two hours later means our plan would be disturbed. Moreover, we had to fly to Sydney the next day. I contacted Melbourne Skydive head office to present my request for a full refund. They happily canceled my booking and took my bank details to proceed the transfer. I thought it would be the end of the story, but,...

At about 12:00pm, which was an hour after our canceled flight, we were walking at St Kilda beach when my little brother saw the Skydive office along with skydivers ready for their flight. He asked us to let him join the crew, so we decided to make a different booking JUST for him as long as we would finish before 3:30pm or 4:00pm. While meeting this receptionist and exchanging details, she recognised my email and started questioning us why we canceled our last booking and demanded a medical report as well as our flight tickets to Sydney. Again, she was proceeding a completely different booking that has nothing to do with the last one we had her Head Office canceled. Furthermore, the initial booking was canceled and the refund was to be proceeded by her Head Office, not her. She has no f*ing right to demand us any explanation for the cancelation not decided by her, let alone our personal medical reports or even our flight tickets to Sydney. I told her everything above. She then reluctantly proceeded our new booking for my brother and told us he would start at 12:30pm. We waited for an hour, but no one came to help my brother with skydiving gears. I asked her when my brother would start, but she impolitely and unapologetically told me it's just the matter of time, and that 12:30pm is the check-in time, not starting time. I cannot believe someone would provide customers with falsifying information and still remained that ignorant. The skydiving tour finally began at nearly 2:00pm and finished at 4:15pm, which clearly disturbed our plan. We came back to the receptionist for our video and photos, but she unapologetically told us the camera was turned off and there were nothing recorded for our brother. Meanwhile, her team member was sitting close by editting photos and videos for other members in my brother's crew. We indeed received our refund for the failed footage. It was very irresponsible, unprofessional and disrespectful of her and other team members to have ruined our brother's experience like that, either they intentionally deleted the photos, video or not. Erica's attitude towards us (after accepting the fact that the refund was due to be processed by her head office) was downright rude, unresponsive, ignorant and disrespectful, which certainly put us off the service. This sort of inapptopriate behaviour and disorganised management are unacceptible in fields of customer service/ hospitality. We will never deal with this company again and neither will our family...

Edit: Skydive Australia resolved my issue and gave me a discount. I was quite frustrated at first but I'm glad they acknowledged fault and my experience skydiving was amazing

▪️Poor Experience with Skydive Australia▪️

Unfortunately Skydive Australia cancelled my booking without notifying me. Upon arriving at the depature location, I realised the office was not open. I had received a confirmation email 3 business days prior to my booking and was genuinely perplexed.

I called the customer relations team and was advised that Skydive Australia was not operating yet in Melbourne due to COVID19.

The consultant advised that due to booking through a travel/experience agency - Redballoon - a technical error may have occurred regarding the lack of communication of the cancellation.

However, in the weeks prior I had received a call from Skydive Australia confirming my vaccination status and booking. The consultant further advised that the day before my booking, October 26th, was the first day flights would recommence in-line with COVID19 regulations.

I support businesses who follow government regulations concerning COVID19 safety measures and completely understand the need to cancel the flight. However, when customers are receiving confirmation emails after you have closed the business that is obviously quite a big error.

My partner and I had both taken leave from work for the day and driven to St Kilda and back. I was so excited the week leading up and had to work myself up emotionally quite a lot in preparation.

I made a request to lodge a complaint, as Skydive Australia accepted fault and apologised for their mistake. I have not been offered any remediation other than an offer to schedule my appointment for another day. I find it iconic that if I had failed to attend a booking without notifying Skydive Australia I would have lost all of my money... strange how it doesn't work the other way around?

I understand changing COVID19 regulations are complicated, but surely after such an change the very least you could have done was to make sure you notifed customers, particularly when you had already called and emailed me to confirm. Very poor experience and poor customer relations, I was told I would receive a call from management within 1 hour of my experience, but nearing CoB the following day without a call and I am less confident Skydive Australia are taking my complaint seriously.

In the end I was out of pocket and feeling devestated. Hopefully customer service can reach out to me after...

Logistically, this place is a bit of a mess.

The staff are genuinely lovely, but everything surrounding the experience was a massive headache. Over the course of a few months, we faced constant cancellations; so many that we almost gave up entirely. I’m no aviation expert, but the weather always seemed fine, which made it feel like something else was at play, possibly overbooking or delays related to managing jump schedules and wind conditions.

To make matters worse, there's an expiry on how long you can rebook, which felt really unfair considering the frequent cancellations. For something this expensive, there should be more flexibility. I was lucky to have a gift card (which also had an expiry), but my friends paid full price and still had to deal with all the back and forth and the impending expiry.

Another downside was the relentless upselling of photos and videos. My mates made it clear from the beginning that they didn’t want them, as they’d skydived before and found the packages too pricey. Despite that, they constantly had cameras shoved in their faces, which made them feel uncomfortable and pressured. They were there to enjoy the jump and the view, not to be pestered into posing for overpriced media. It’s also worth noting they advertise "300 photos," but you’ll probably end up with about 20 decent ones, which is understandable, as I’d rather the tandem focus on safety than snapping pictures, but still something to be aware of.

On the day we finally got the green light, we appreciated receiving texts about delays rather than showing up early and waiting around. Unfortunately, we still ended up waiting a few hours. At one point, we overheard a tandem mention that if we’d been just four minutes later, the jump would’ve been cancelled. I can’t imagine how frustrated I’d have been if that happened after everything else.

The skydive itself was incredible, no doubt about that, but the process of actually getting there was exhausting. If I ever do this again, I’ll probably go with a different company. It's a real shame because the people who work here are kind and clearly passionate, but there are too many behind-the-scenes issues to justify the price. Honestly, even just a sincere apology or a complimentary photo package would’ve gone a long way. As it stands, it seems like this chaotic experience is business as...