Saw the ad on Groupon for a decently priced romantic air tour for two for $169. I wanted to see if they would accept a last minute reservation because I procrastinated and waited until the night before to schedule it. I called once to schedule for 5 PM the morning before. They said they only had a 4 PM available, and that they would call me back in 10 minutes. They didn't. So I called back and asked again to schedule for 5 PM the following day. I spoke to the owner, Mike. He was nice on the phone, and explained to me that there was an opening for 5 PM the following day. He told me that it would be $216 with taxes and gratuities, fine. I asked him to E-mail me more information about the flight the following day. He did.
Now, this is where everything takes a turn for the worse. Unfortunately, my girlfriend ate something that didn't agree with her the night before on our early anniversary date, and got food poisoning. She could not sleep the night before, and was so sick that we had to cancel all of our plans for the day. It was disappointing, especially because I had an elaborate day planned. I hate to be the guy who calls and cancels things at the last minute, but it was an extenuating circumstance. I called the ATA Flight School and asked to speak to Mike, but one of his employees told me he was "Busy on a government website" and that he was not available to speak to me. I explained to the employee the situation, and that I was very sorry for the inconvenience and apologized for canceling on such short notice. I asked how the transaction would be handled, and he told me there would be a $25 cancellation fee. I told him that would be fine, but to have Mike call me as soon as he was finished with his business on the government website. I go about my day and get a call from Mike at 6 PM, saying, "Max what happened? We had a 5 PM appointment scheduled for you." I responded by saying I spoke to one of his employees who informed me that you were busy at the time, although I left a message for him to call me back ASAP. He told me he did not receive the message, and that he was sorry for my girlfriend being sick. He asked when I would like to reschedule. I told him that unfortunately because it was for a special event and that my schedule would not permit me to reschedule, that I would rather take the hit on the $25 dollar cancellation fee and be done with it. He responded abruptly by saying, "It is actually a $45 cancellation fee", and questioned me on why I would rather not reschedule. I told him that there is very little free time on my schedule for us to do this again, and that if the cancellation fee is $45, so be it. He followed up by saying that "He does not want to deal with this at 6 PM, and to call him back the following day". I called him back and told him I would rather put the situation to bed right away. He told me he "Had a very long, rough day and that I booked a trip which is non-refundable". He continued by saying, "Your money is here for whenever you want to spend it but I am not talking about it now. If you call me tomorrow after I sleep on it maybe I will have a change of heart, goodbye" and hung up.
My immediate thought was how unprofessional he was while handling this situation. He was rude, abrupt, and he hung up on me. Not to mention how unorganized his business is, with employees who do not communicate amongst each other and misinform customers. If his employee would have told me that the money was non refundable and there was no $25 cancellation fee, a different conversation would have ensued. Regardless of the fact that he said that "My money is there for anytime I would like to spend it", it made me not want to do business with someone who treated a customer with such disrespect. Anyways, I informed my girlfriends father about the situation, and he told me that he would get involved.
After over a week of my girlfriends father and Mike playing phone tag, they spoke and Mike explained to him that "He would meet me somewhere in the middle". I got a phone call from Mike early this afternoon, and he told me that "My money was there when I would like to spend it", which is no different from the conversation we had 8 days ago. I proceeded to tell him that "I am not interested in doing business with someone who is rude to their customers, misinforms them, and has absolutely no communication with their employees. I was told I would have to pay a $25 cancellation fee and I would like you to honor that." He responded by saying that my attitude was "Piss poor", and that "I was digging a hole deeper and deeper." He told me his employee clearly made a mistake when he told me about the $25 cancellation fee. I responded by saying, "As a business owner, you should be responsible for any mistakes your employees make, and I do not feel that I am being treated as a customer should be." He in turn said, "You are making me upset and I am not discussing this any further"
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