Let me start by saying that this will be a long review so you get the full picture, and the ONLY reason that they're getting 2 stars instead of 1 is because the owner's wife was really sweet, even if the suggestions she provided weren't exactly appropriate for 6AM.
My boyfriend booked a hot air balloon ride for me as a surprise for our 3rd anniversary. He booked it three months in advance. He had paid online in advance of the flight, and had the booking confirmation email which told him to call the day before to confirm the flight was still on. It also included what to wear, what to bring, what to expect, etc. Following the instructions included in the email, he called the day before our flight to confirm. No one answered, so he left a message with his name, the number in our party, and his phone number. We never received a call back, so we assumed everything was fine.
We live in West Sacramento, so we got up around 5AM since it was a half hour drive to the location and the booking confirmation told us to arrive no later than 6AM. We arrived right on time. The owner's wife, who's name I can't remember, greeted us and had us both fill out the waiver, which we did with no problem.
After we had all sat in our cars for several minutes, the owner (who's name I also don't remember) came over and abrasively told us all to gather around because "we have a problem, and it might be a big one." All the groups got out of their respective vehicles and gathered in a circle. The owner counted us up, and said, "Okay, there's 8. Great. I guess we don't have a problem." Someone corrected him that there were 9 people, and he counted 8 again. I told him there were nine people, and someone else confirmed that he had been told by the owner's wife there were going to be 9 people plus the pilot.
The owner then told us he was going to read our names off a list, and to raise our hand when he called us. He went through the list and called everyone except me and my boyfriend. At the end of the name calling, he asked if he missed anyone, and I raised my hand. He then very curtly told me that he didn't have us on the list, and he couldn't take us up because it was illegal to take that many people and he had to go because we were behind schedule. He started to address the other group and I said, "But he (meaning my boyfriend) called to confirm." The owner looked at me and said "Lots of people call to confirm" and turned back to the group again. I told him that my boyfriend had also already paid for the flight and we had expected to get in the air.
He then asked if we booked through AD360, which we had no idea what that was and he didn't explain. Thankfully I brought the confirmation email with us. He took one look at it and said, "Yeah, you booked through AD360 and I never got your information. This is the 3rd time this month this has happened. I'm really sorry. They're going to be fired this afternoon. I don't know what else to tell you except they're going to be fired, but we're running behind so I have to get going." Adrenaline 360 (AD360) is a 3rd party company that the Sky Drifters owner HIRED to manage his bookings.
I responded AGAIN that we had already paid for the flight. He said to give him a call and he would get us a refund or put us on another flight, but didn't offer a phone number. I asked if he had a business card so we could call him. He told me AGAIN that he was running late and brushed me off to his wife. I went over to her and explained the situation and asked for a business card. She didn't have one, but gave me their 800 number to put in my phone. She looked at the calendar of available dates and offered us several, all of which were during the week. Given that both of us work during the week, we weren't able to book anything else, and the nearest weekend was several weeks out.
In an effort to make our drive worth it, she suggested several things in the area to do (again, her effort is the only reason there's two stars here), but none of her suggestions were open at 6:30AM (go carts, corn on the cob, wine tasting, etc.). We decided to go home, and after discussing it decided to just get a refund and go with another company. We called after 10AM, which the owner told us to do. When my boyfriend told the owner we wanted a refund, he said "I can't help you since you didn't book through me. You have to contact AD360," and then hung up.
My boyfriend then called AD360, explained what had happened, and requested a refund. He was put on a brief hold, and when the representative came back my boyfriend was told that AD360 had sent our info over to the owner BUT THAT IT WENT TO HIS SPAM FOLDER. Now why would you hire a company to manage your bookings and then not make sure that their emails go to your inbox??? He was so rude to us through the entire affair and we could not be more disappointed. Definitely disappointed given his ratings. We expected better service and definitely won't be back. read more