Easy2Ride Ski & Snowboard Academy Morzine — Local services in Thonon-les-Bains

No stars of I had my way.

Still waiting on a complaint submitted via SkiBro on 10 January 2024, which reads:

Dear Sir/Madam

I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to formally complain about a recent experience my husband and I had with the services provided by Easy2ride Avoriaz Ski School.

We booked three ski lessons for two people, scheduled from 9.30 am to 12 noon on the 1st to the 3rd of January 2024. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, we were unable to attend the first session on the 1st of January.

When we attempted to join the 9.30 am class on the 2nd of January, we were informed that we could not participate due to the other participants being more advanced. The instructor was surprised that we were unable to ski (even though the attached booking confirmation clearly states that we are complete beginners with no previous ski experience) and had said that there must have been an administrative mistake made by the front office. He explicitly said that the existing group could parallel ski and plough which both my husband and I were not able to do. Although I understand the importance of grouping by skill level, the alternative offered—a group session from 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm—was not feasible for us, as we are parents of young children with their schedules to consider. One was at ski school finishing at 12 noon and the other at nursery finishing at 12.30pm. This change effectively prevented us from attending as a couple, which was the intention behind our original booking.

As a result, only one of us could partake in the lesson each day. Furthermore, my husband was instructed by his instructor to return on Friday for a follow-up session, while on Thursday, the 4th of January, I was informed that all our sessions had been used, despite the fact that we had, in total, received only 2 hours each out of the 7.5 hours booked —or, even if we discount the missed Monday session, we still expected an additional 3 hours each based on the 5 hours of service we should have received.

This miscommunication and inability to provide the paid-for service have not only caused us inconvenience but have also resulted in a significant loss of both our time and financial investment. As customers, we believe it was the responsibility of Easy2ride Avoriaz Ski School to ensure alternative slots were found that suited our original booking requirements. At no point were we referred to any terms and conditions of the booking which stated that we could not join the original group even if one session was missed. In fact, the instructor (Luis) was rude and openly discussed our issues in front of other guests and made the whole experience very embarrassing for us.

We request a formal explanation for this oversight, as well as a refund for the hours that we were unable to use due to the aforementioned issues. We have always looked forward to our skiing experiences and this incident has unfortunately marred our impression of your ski school.

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Shocking...

We booked our daughter in for a week's ski lessons for Vermilion level, where she was supposed to be taught Hockey stops and parallel turns on red. We advised we were arriving on the Monday so our daughters first lesson would be on the Tuesday. On arriving to drop our daughter off at the designated meet point we were directed by another instructor where to wait with a comment that her instructor will turn up bang on the time required which is what happened. He did not have a helmet cover available for her which identifies the kids are part of the ski school and off they went. When picking her up on that first day she told us that he'd left her at the top of the Pleney and she had to catch up the group, that she wiped out at one point, losing a ski and he was not around to see, notice or help and she sorted herself out and caught the group up again. She also said she had not received any instructing. We phoned and emailed the company and were advised it would be better the rest of the week. It wasn't. On the final Fri we happened to be about 10 mins behind the class going up the Pleney cable car, we found our daughter on her own (with another 7yr old from the group) in tears as she was struggling to get a ski on and the instructor and class were nowhere to be seen. We managed to catch another instructor who helped her get her ski on and took them both off to find her instructor. He was found at the Belvedere lift having already sent up 7 kids so I don't know what he was going to do if our daughter and the other girl had not been reunited with him. When I challenged him about this on their return he denied leaving our daughter. At the end of the week our daughter did not receive any instruction or either parallel turns on reds or how to hockey stop. We might have just been unlucky, however if you have booked and find your childs instructor is Carlos I recommend demanding a different instructor and do not leave your child in his care or expect any...

Brilliant ski school. After just 5x 2hr lessons my 5 year old (who had never even put a pair of skis on previously) was confidently skiing down the main blue run into Morzine.

She is one of those children who can sometimes let her nerves get the better of her, but they knew exactly how to handle her and she is now in love with skiing.

The student to instructor ratio is excellent, with a class of around 8 they had 2 instructors and an assistant.

The only suggestions I would have to make things better are:

1. a bit more consistency. She had different instructors for the first 2 days and never had the same assistant. It would have helped her confidence (and saved the tears at the start of each lesson) if she knew the person she was being left with.
2. Having never been to Morzine before, I didn't know on which pistes her lessons would be taking place, so I didn't know what lift pass to get her. Perhaps putting this information on your website would prevent people paying for a full area pass when a Plenny beginner pass would do. I tried emailing twice, but got no answer. I eventually got an answer by phoning.

We will be back next year to continue with the next stage of learning for our...