Celebrity Helicopters — Local services in Compton

Worst experience ever dealing with this company. I book hundreds of tours and experiences annually for my clients and have never been treated in such a horrid way.

My clients contacted me at the time when Celebrity Helicopters were suppose to be picking them up at their hotel to let me know that no one had showed and they were not answering their phone. I was of course mortified as I had reconfirmed the pick up time and the tour with the owner Robin Petgrave several times and tried to call the company myself to see what was going on. After several attempts I managed to get through to a volunteer, who unbelievably was alone in the office and had no access to booking data. I was promised they would call back or contact my client asap to arrange the transport and get them to the start location, as the volunteer suspected I did have a valid booking even if she could not access the system.

Some time went by and neither me or my client heard back. I called again and was simply told that they cannot actually call foreign phone numbers, only US numbers. This is of course firstly outrageous as they have no problem taking foreigners bookings and then leaving them stranded, and secondly probably a lie as why would calls be restricted in this manner.

I was then told a car was to be sent to collect my clients. A Lyft. The only reason I had booked with this particular company was the fact that they offered an option with mini limo hotel transfers on Viator. I wanted to offer my high profile clients a touch of luxury. Now instead of a mini limo, they were getting a Lyft. No explanation or apology at any stage as to what had happened to the originally booked service.

My clients again waited and waited, and no one showed. Turned out they had sent the Lyft to the wrong address, when I had specifically given them the name of the hotel and there is only one in LA. I had also confirmed this previously with Mr Petgrave twice so it should have been crystal clear. And you would assume that after neglecting to honor a prepaid booking the measures to fix the situation would be taken carefully.

The situation then continued to me finally getting to speak to Mr Petgarve himself. Instead of offering an explanation or an apology, his reply to my query and concern about the fact that my clients had been waiting for quite a while was "why are you still talking". Not kidding. He repeatedly said this to me over the phone when I was asking what had happened and how this will be resolved. Absolutely unbelievable.

During this time they refused to call my clients, they refused to provide the Lyft drivers details so that either myself or my client could have contacted him to figure out where he was and overall continued to behave in a very rude manner.

I have contacted Mr Petgrave several times after the incident offering him the chance to explain or apologize but he has failed to respod.I have also contacted Viator and managed to get partial compensation as they could not deny the fact that the booking had been completely neglected. Through them Mr Petgarve had passed on a message saying that they do not offer a mini limo transfer at all. This was however clearly advertised on Viator and stated on my booking voucher, as well as confirmed by Mr Petgarve over emails before the date of the tour. So indeed, this company is a scam as a previous reviewer has pointed out, and I sincerely urge anyone considering to book with them to think again. Do not support businesses like this when there are some lovely, honest and honorable people out there working really hard to...

Where to begin?

I was told to call a specific number, ask for Robin, and wait patiently to be picked up from the airport. So I did. The initial story was, he was an employee for a local radio station and was to transport me to the station to ‘claim my prize’.

I was on a ‘goose-chase’, if you will. A goose-chase my boyfriend sent me on that very morning. I flew in from Texas to California, alone (this was part of my hunt).

Robin had me convinced he was only the ‘transporter’. He played the role very well and before I knew it, he was piloting his way, in a helicopter, through the skies of Los Angeles California, with me by his side.

Yes, I was initially terrified when my escort and I were playing in the helicopter and he decided to turn it on. For some, very odd reason, I stayed in the helicopter (despite the fact that I wanted to jump out because I thought my escort was only a transporter), but I stayed.

Long story short, Robin pretended to be my transporter and I believed it all.

Our helicopter ride was quite the experience (my first ever). When we landed, I saw my boyfriend standing there in a tuxedo and I, instantly knew, Robin was in on his plan. My boyfriend then began talking to me and before I knew it, he was down on one knee and I said YES!

Everything was recorded from the landing to the proposal (by Robin’s very good friend, AJ, who did a beautiful job on the video BTW). Robin played a very crucial and unforgettable role in the proposal. He is very personable (as evident by my willingness to board a helicopter with a ‘total stranger’, at the time). If you are not looking for an unforgettable experience, don’t call Robin. If you’re looking for prim and proper, talk to him and let him know (I’m sure he could play the part). He is an amazing person and I had the time of my life with him. I will definitely be seeing him again and I highly recommend him to anyone...

I was really looking forward to surprising my mom with the helicopter ride , charcuterie board, and pictures package I purchased from Celebrity Helicopters direct website. I booked the tour for Mother’s Day 5/11/25 and selected the available time of 7pm to catch the sunset 7-730. The day of I had to call multiple times, email, and text to figure out what was going on. I received an order confirmation email the day I booked. The confirmation said the order was received and processing. My mom and I are visiting each other in LA from other sides of the world. This was supposed to be a very special gift for her on our last night in the area. Instead I was told our reservation time couldn’t be honored. It had been a disappointing experience especially because the reviews for this company were from so many satisfied customers.

My recommendation to the company using a professional company email address to contact patrons and to confirm any changes at least 48 hours in advance. I did appreciate finally receiving a call from Rita. I also recommend asking customers to provide at least 1 stateside CONUS number and to list their preferred method of contact. Lastly, there should not be the advertisement that your company hours are until 8pm if that is not actually true. All unavailable time slots should’ve been removed to avoid confusion with the self service online booking process.

With this booking being made on May 6th. Confirmation of contact information and the potential that the selected time was unavailable should’ve been made known to the customer immediately. Not less than...