I am really upset about this company. Well the skydiving experience was fantastic itself that's why i gave one star. It was as fun/nervous as expected but what I'm gonna tell you here was the video taping service that I bought. Worst $100+ ever spent and I think I'm gonna dispute it. I don't wanna start with how unprofessional the guy who took my video was - especially comparing to the one who took for my friend. Well I'm assuming you are supposed to catch as much valuable moment as possible since it's the first ever skydiving experience for most of the people who order the video taping. The guy named Kramer didn't pay much attention to me he held the camera in his hand without turning it on most of the time! The most upsetting part wasn't even that. One month after the jump, FOUR calls asking for the tape, I still haven't received ANYTHING. I called and called and called everytime they say they are sending it to me but never received. Oh and I forgot to mention after the jump the guy ( in my case Kramer) should ask me to put my address on the envelope for him to send it. HE FORGOT. Seeing my friend being asked to sign did I know that I was supposed to put mine too....maybe that also led to the missing of my tape. Or he never taped. Overall very upset experience. This is not something you do every weekend. Most of the people only do it once in a lifetime. Avoid this place. Go somewhere else. read more

I went diving with these guys recently. The staff is really enthusiastic and safe. My instructor got me pumped up for the jump, but also made sure I knew what was going on and how to do everything each step of the way. You jump from 14k feet, and the jump goes by really quickly. I had a lot of fun. The waiver they make you sign before you go is pretty unsettling. Still, I had a lot of fun and everything went smoothly at this operation. read more

Just want to point out that this is NOT a review of the actual skydiving place (Skydive Philadelphia), who are really kind and awesome and did a great job. This is a review of Sportations, which is the middleman company that books the skydive. Sportations customer service is terrible. I had to schedule my jump 11 different times (not their fault, just unlucky weather) over the course of a year before I finally jumped. Each time, I had to spend an unreasonable amount of time (anywhere from 5 to 45min) on hold at sportations before anyone would answer the phone. Often, the phone would ring once or twice and then go back on hold... resetting me to the back of the line. After the sportations person eventually answers the phone, all they do is ask you what date you want and then they put you on hold again to call Skydive Philly and check the date. They are just a middleman and you would be better off skipping them and just calling Skydive Philadelphia yourself. The only reason I kept going through sportations was because I had a Groupon that forced me to use them. And speaking of the Groupon, they clearly sell more of them than they have time to handle, both at the Sportations call center (long hold times!) and at the jump location (during peak months, may-september, it's typically 2 months before you can schedule your jump!) Finally I want to point out that the Sportations reps are really inconsistent. Some are really nice and helpful. Others clearly don't care about their customers. One told me she would schedule my jump and then call me back (not the normal routine, but I consented) and then never called. When my groupon was getting close to the expiration date, on the 10th reschedule, the guy was super nice and told me that if it did expire, they could make an exception for me, and not to worry about it. On the 11th reschedule, another guy told me my only option was to jump before the expiration date. I had to push back my vacation to get the jump in on the only available day before my groupon expired. The sportations guy didn't care at all. I would say about half the Sportations reps were acceptable, and half were terrible. My advice: Go to Skydive Philadelphia but don't do it through Sportations! read more

This is the worst worst worst company I have even dealt with!!!! If I could give negative stars, I would!!! I bought skydiving coupons from their groupon offer 11 months ago for the DC skydiving center. The marked expiration date is November 2012. Frustration #1: When I tried to book my skydiving a couple of weeks ago, I found the reservation phone number listed on the groupon ticket was out of service! Frustration #2: So I googled and found the number of Sportation and called them. I was on hold for more than 40 min. I even took a nap while waiting for someone to answer the phone! Frustration #3: Finally someone answered the phone. He said we no longer carry the business with DC skydiving center. I'll be redirected to a Delaware skydiving center 2.5 hrs away from DC. Come on, they breach the agreement in the first place, and should no longer consider this whole thing non-refundable! Any reputable company, even if not accepting returns, should at least offer some compensation for the inconvenience! Frustration #4: Anyway, I wanted to get this thing done, and accepted the location change. Then the guy said they don't accept Groupon tickets for weekend reservations -- the weekends are reserved for full-price purchase! Hey, if this had been stated in the Groupon offer, I won't buy it in the first place. Who would take a day off work for skydiving? Up to this point, I was so disappointed that I decided to call Groupon to get refunded. The Groupon people said the tickets are non-refundable and they will try to contact Sportation to release the limit for weekends. If they don't agree, Groupon will make an exception for me to refund. And it looks like Groupon did their job. The next day I called Sportation, they accepted weekend reservation and could sign me up for the date I want. I thought that was the happy ending of the story, but no no no! Frustration #5: At the end of the reservation process, the staff asked me if I want video taping for the skydiving session. I said I want it, but I have to ask my friend if she wants it, too. I let her call me in ~ 15 min, because I am so tired of being kept on hold for more than half an hour. And of course she never called. So the next day I ended up going through all that waiting again, and finally got the event reserved together with the video taping. Frustration #6: I only received a confirmation email for the video taping, but not the skydiving itself. So I got worried and called Delaware skydiving center to confirm with the reservation. They said they found the paperwork for the video taping reservation and no skydiving reservation! So another 30+ min waiting just to get the confirmation through. Btw, the guy from the skydiving center commented that Sportation is the crappiest company they've dealt with, too! Frustration #7: Then I found out something ridiculous about the price of videotaping. The skydiving center has $110 listed on their website, but I was charged $154.60 by Sportation! They are practically ripping me off all the discount I got from the Groupon deal. So I called Sportation again and asked to cancel the video taping. Of course their answer is it is non-refundable. Well, this is partly my fault not having checked on the price first. But I think most people, frustrated by how long it takes to call Sportation, would prefer to seal the deal asap. Frustration #8: More outrageously, they gave me misleading information when I purchased the videotaping. I did asked them if video taping reservation is necessary, coz I kinda imagine it would just be the tandem diving instructor operating the video recorder. I don't see why reservation is necessary. The staff told me if I don't reserve, there will be no "video person" on site to take the video!! Later I checked with the skydiving center and found out this is totally nonsense. What I guessed was right. I can make decisions about video taping on the site. When I argued about this point, they insisted that they did not say anything wrong! Frustration #9: During my price negotiation, the staff was really rude. He started to complain why I am so fussy about a small overcharge and not enjoy the fun of skydiving. I really don't think a businessman should ever assume a preaching position towards his customer. All this being said, Sportation is 1500% NO NO NO for anyone who wants to have fun! They are just luring you into all kinds of deals and coupons. Later you'll find you do not get a deal at all. You could have saved all the trouble by booking through the skydiving center directly and getting just about the same price. And I guess that DC skydiving center dropped out of their chain due to getting too many false complaints. The Delaware center I am going to is also apparently having enough of them. read more

WOW! What a great experience! I was a little scared at 1st but my instructor made that go away quickly. Great attitude from the staff, and great location to match! I will defiantly be saving up to go again soon! Best bang for the buck I ever spent! If you have not done this, you NEED to! Thanks for the good time Sportations! read more

To my fellow Yelpers, please listen- This place has SCAM written all over it. Learn from my mistake, do yourself a favor, and avoid Sportations like the plague. I purchased a Groupon two months ago. Much to my chagrin, I had to wait two months for a reservation. I book it and waited patiently... Two months go by, and I start to get excited for the jump... I get an email today (Monday) telling me the reservation for Friday was successful and ready to go. I get another email to call the office to confirm. This is when I am told that Friday is fully booked and I now have to wait til mid November. When a company puts a deal on Groupon, a mad rush of sales IS coming. The Sportations rep told me there's been a mad rush lately and that was the reason for the mix up. Really? YOU JUST PUT A DEAL ON GROUPON!!! Of course you're gonna be busy! Cmon!! Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. read more

This has been the most frustrating company I have never had the displeasure of working with. I scheduled my skydive (after being on hold for over 30 min) and was told they would call me back to confirm the time (am or pm) that I would be jumping. I waited until 4pm the day before I was supposed to jump and called them back. They said I was scheduled to jump at 9am the following day. I arrive at the skydiving place and they say they had never received any billing information from Sportations. She attempted to call them but she could never get through. She told me that I could just pay up front and cancel with Sportations. I paid them up front (which saved me over $100) and had a great time skydiving that day. Two days later I check my bank statement and I see that Sportations charged me. They specifically told me that my card would not be charged until I went skydiving. Since they never sent billing info to the place I went skydiving, there was no reason to charge my card. So for the last 2 days I have been trying to get through. I finally got through today and was on the phone for 45 minutes arguing with different levels of management over a $35 charge to refund my card. I calmly explained that I did not think I should have to pay a fee due to a mistake on their part. After going from manager to manager for almost an hour they finally said they would drop the charge and that I would receive a confirmation email. Still have not received the conformation email. If I do not by the end of the day I will just go to my bank and open an investigation on a fraudulent $431.29 charge on my account. DO NOT GO THROUGH THIS COMPANY!! JUST GO THROUGH THE ACTUAL PLACE YOU WANT TO SKYDIVE. YOU WILL SAVE YOURSELF TIME AND MONEY! read more

-10. I bought a Groupon this past July for a tandem skydive and have been looking forward to it since then. When I called to schedule my skydive with the toll free number, they simply told me that they do not honor that Groupon any more. I asked 'why' like three times and got the same answer. When I called Groupon, they said they were sorry and refunded my money and explained that they could not tell me why, but they canceled their relationship with Sportations altogether. Good, so did I. They can go suck it, unprofessional pieces of SHIT! If their behavior includes shoddy customer service and ripping people off (as mentioned in the other negative review), WHY would anybody feel comfortable trusting them with jumping out of an airplane?!?! Buyer BEWARE!! read more

I wish I could give 0 stars. They changed my appointment at the LAST MINUTE multiple times and then CANCELED. I have had to wait for over 2 months for a refund!! read more

Exactly what should be expected from a company of this sort. Great services and more than helpful in getting you to a local center.

This company offers many adventure activities aside from Skydiving. I bought (2) $130 groupons for hot air balloon rides. The rep on the phone never had any availability and always said they would call back. No calls, ever. No availability, ever. Finally, the groupon expires and no luck. The lady on the phone mentioned the small print at the bottom that says, "By availability Only." What a scam! They supposedly operate 7 days a week and can fit 6 passengers on each balloon. How is it possible that that many people book balloon rides so far in advance that no spots are open? read more

WORST EXPERIENCE EVER I would have given 0 stars if it was possible. First: Sportations is a 3rd party, internet based, scheduling and video taping company. They schedule jumps with 3rd parties and charge significantly more for the experience than if you had gone through the company directly. (more than 2x as much in my case) Second: The customer service is awfull. They almost never answer the phone, and once you complain about something, they stop answering emails too. My complaint: For my "skydive near Minneapolis" I was sent to a site 85 miles away, got there, and wasn't scheduled. The skydive company refused to let me dive because they had no assurance of payment. Long story short, it has been almost a year since my initial purchase, no one is responding to my inquiries, and I am still trying to get my money back. NEVER USE SPORTATIONS read more

Sportations is a scam and Groupon is their affiliate!!! I pre-paid for a skydiving event that was cancelled. Took three months to receive the refund checks. And, when I tried to cash the checks it turned out that the account didn't exist. Now I'm again fighting for my money. The whole issue goes on now for more than 7 months. Still fighting for a refund. They need to shut down and Groupon needs to return our money back.. read more

There are two parts to this review. The local skydive facility in Perkasie which is not part of sportations. They get 4 stars. They are easy to reach, answer the phone and answer questions, give helpful advice, and are generally pleasant. On the other hand, there is the middle man (sportations aka 1800skyride) which often sells skydives on groupon or living social. These guys get 1 star for the following reasons. And BTW, don't take my word for it, search the BBB for 1800skyride (they are based out of georgia) and you will see this company gets a C- and has more complaints than expected for a company of its size in its industry. My major problems with sportations is the limited availability they provide you to jump. If you are looking to jump on a weekend in the summer, keep in mind they will be booked for ~2mo from the date you call. Still, that's not a problem once you plan ahead. The problem arises once your jump gets cancelled due to inclement weather (we're talking about clouds, wind, etc, pretty common stuff in the north east/mid-atlantic). Guess what, another 2 months to rebook on the first available weekend. If that jump gets cancelled (which happened to us), well then they no longer have any available jumps for the rest of the season. If you can swing a weekday off, those only get booked for ~1-1.5 mo ahead of time, friday tend to be on the 1.5mo end. So at the end of the day, if you jump goes off without a hitch, it's all good. But if it gets cancelled once or twice, you may well have to wait til next year to jump. They either have a very limited number of spots available or they are selling far more vouchers than the local skydive company can meet. Either way, they are putting profit ahead of customer satisfaction. Other things I didn't like about sportations: When you first call to book your dive, they immediately try to get you to reserve a video package at a limited time, special rate. When I called back 3 weeks later to finally inquire and book the package, the special rate was still running. I could be jaded, but it seems to be there really isn't a special rate, it's just their hard sell (and a bit dishonest). When you do book your dive date with or without your nonrefundable video package, you'd think you would get an email confirming the date. No such luck. Just mark it down yourself. They'll send an email letting you know you bought a video package, but they don't tell you the date. What happens if someone records it wrong? Who knows, but it's a bad business policy not to send a confirmation email in this day and age to confirm and make sure there are no miscommunications. I ultimately had to call/email sportations (1800skyride) two or 3 times before someone left a voicemail confirming the date. Finally, keep in mind that video package is nonrefundable. You have 2 years to use it (or use the funds towards something else), but if you get clouded out twice, like we did (of no fault of our own), they keep your money and you have to wait til next year in hopes of getting something back for your money. Again, you get the point. Things are always tilted towards sportations to come out on top... hardly good customer service. Just do an internet search of 1800skyride (aka sportations)... the google search terms associated with the company will be a warning. Hope that helps someone. read more

This company is ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE. The companies they choose for the actual experience may be fantastic but this company's customer service is the worst I have ever seen. We have attempted to schedule our experience 4 times now. We had to reschedule once because of our own circumstances but they never have availability and never answer their phones or emails, they are ridiculously unhelpful. We planned on diving in two days and when we called to confirm our reservation they had cancelled it without informing us. Absolutely ridiculous. We would have shown up ready to go and been unable to go. Their lack of understanding of their customers, their lack of communication, and lack of ability to function professionally is horrible. Do not use this company unless you want wasted time and headaches. read more

Customer service is TERRIBLE!! 1. Before I bought the hang gliding in Lawton, OK, I called to check if they could look up a specific jump date for a friends birthday and they said no, I had to buy the voucher first before I could inquire about a jump date. 2. I bought the groupon and signed up on Sportations.com and was given a conformation email that said sportations would be in contact with me in the next couple of days to schedule the event. This never happened. 3. I called back over the next few weeks numerous times and each time was on hold for between 20-45 minutes before someone finally picked up. On one occasion, someone picked up, said "hello" and then hung up on me in mid-sentence so I had to start the process over. 4. Each time I called to set up date for the event, I was told that they could not get a hold of the vender and would give me a call back that day as soon as they got a hold of them. This never happened. 5. Finally, 3 days before my friends birthday, I realized nothing was going to get done unless I talked to a manager or supervisor so I called AGAIN and asked to speak to the manager. The woman replied with "I have to let them know what the issue is before I transfer you", so I told her and she then said that she believed she could help and then put me on hold. When she got back on the phone she said that the Lawton, OK site had been cancelled and sorry for not calling back over the past couple of weeks. I asked again to speak to the manager. 6. After talking to the manager, he seemed willing to help and tried to give me other options-- hang gliding in Plano, TX, helicopter ride or flight lesson in Tulsa, OK-- but after explaining that the whole day was planned around this specific event and I booked other things in Lawton, OK because it was my friends birthday and now the entire day was ruined, he then told me that he could refund my money but could not guarantee that I would get it all back because I chose to buy the groupon. 7. I then inquired about the cost of the helicopter flight and flight lesson in Tulsa, because it would be unfair to not refund the full amount so I may as well try to use it, and he could not give me a price quota. 8. After dealing with this nonsense I told him to just refund my money and technically sportations could not honor their promise so if I had to call groupon directly then I would. TERRIBLE TERRIBLE ongoing experience. Not to mention the fact the Lawton, OK hang gliding is still an option on Sportations.com. If you know that vendor no longer exists, then you probably want to take that option down. Just goes to show how much they care. I have not received my money back yet either, so I have a feeling I will be dealing with this company again :( wish me luck. read more

Called Sportations directly to schedule the sky diving event (should be simple enough). Sportations informed me the sky diving place around D.C. was NO LONGER affiliated with Sportations and would not honor the coupon, o.k. I asked for a refund for the money because they couldn't honor the Groupon. The lady then informed me that this was not possible but there were three options. Option 1. go to Laurel, DE to use the coupon (2+ hours further then original location). We were already planning to drive 2.5 hours to D.C. to use the Groupon, so another 2 hours sounded very BAD. Options 2-3) pay a additional $150-200 per person for 2 places closer to us. I said I want to talk to your manager these options are all bad and NOT EQUAL. I talked to the manager and she pretty much made it clear THEY WOULD NOT REFUND me the money and made it sound like this was my fault. She said this was my fault and I should have booked sooner. I pointed out that where I lived was pretty far from Laurel, DE. At which point she informed me it was 200 miles from my location of Charlottesville, VA (this is what her fancy mapping program told her that Sportations IT company specially created), which she said she could drive in 2 hours!!! I was really pissed off at this point because realistically driving it would take 4.5 hours (google maps)! At which point I made it clear we still had 2 months left on the coupon and NONE of these options were EQUAL at all. She started getting rude with me and made it clear she would not give back the money. At this point I figured it was better to end the conversation before I became a rude customer, so I said goodbye and called up Groupon. Groupon apologized and said they would refund the money. The company Sportations is really BAD!!!! Never again! read more

Shawna A., I had a similar problem and called Groupon. The issue was not with Sportations, but with the third party booking company. They did switch their booking company and Groupon issued me a new voucher with updated phone number. I'm not sure why the Groupon representative told you that; in fact, I just saw a new deal with them in the past few months. I am booked for next month without problem. read more

I am with the previous posters on this company. They should be reported to the BBB.I ordered the same Groupon in Dec of 2011 and have been trying to schedule something with this company since March of 2011 with no luck. Im talking about 30 un-answered calls/emails. Groupon should be responsible for this sham as well. read more

Do not use Sportations to schedule your skydive or any other adventure at that matter! I have started the process to get a refund in July 2012 and just found out last week that they denied my refund under false information. They changed the locations of the dive and I would have had to travel amost 3-4 hours for the new location. I spent hours and hours on the phone going in circles because all of the reps that I spoke with could not make any decisions. Everytime I was told that they would have their manager contact me to find out that their manager had NO authority. Horrible company, horrible service! Stay away from Sportations. I am currently working through the BBB in order to resolve my issue that has been going on since July. read more

My Groupon hot balloon ride isn't even valid until May 1, 2013. I gave this to my daughter for her Chistmas gift and we have been looking forward to it for months. When I called today to see if there were any dates not available, I was told that as of the end of 2012 they no longer accept these vouchers. They didn't even offer to credit the $310 towards a product. Call Groupon was what I was told to do. I have never had a Groupon On not accepted by the issuing company. Even after Groupon gives me my money back I can't afford the additional $300 it will cost me for the rides. On principal alone I won't ever use this company. read more

My wife purchased a Groupon for me to skydive at Sportations in Perkasie for my birthday, and when I called to redeem the Groupon, they said they no longer accept Groupons. They instructed me to call Groupon and ask for a refund. When I asked if they could still honor the price if I booked directly with them, they did offer a discount but even still, the price was $90 HIGHER than what we had paid to Groupon. What a joke. read more

I'd give this site zero stars if I were able. I used Sportations for a different excursion. A group balloon ride for me and my wife. Our flight was canceled due to weather and I have not been able to get in touch with ANYONE to reschedule or receive a refund. This was almost a year ago and still no flight and no refund. Surprisingly when you try to write a review on the web site it just disappears. I've posted three times and the site still says "be the first to review". I attempted to reach out to the balloon group as well and they have been zero help. After speaking to me as if it was my fault that no one got back to me I was told someone would be in touch. Still no response and no answer at the business' number. Stay away from Sportations and High on You Balooning in Allentown PA. Several hundred dollars down the drain. read more

This place is awful - AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS! I bought an online deal for my boyfriend and I in March 2011. I was rescheduled 4 times due to the weather. Since the online deal was for one year only, they extended the deal to allow you to jump until June 2012. However, the extension was for weekdays only. I live about 4 hours away and am not willing to take a day off work to go sky diving. So I was told that since my boyfriend would be out of town for two months and not return after June, we could use our online deal towards the full price of a jump. I was not happy about this since it defeats the purpose of a discounted deal, but I figured I would otherwise be out of the money completely. When I called to rebook upon his return, they told us this was not their policy. Since it is now July, they told me I was out of nearly $300. What a waste - a scam. They should be ashamed of how they run business. I would never go there or recommend a place with such lousy personalities. They should recognize that this is a service that goes off recommendations. read more

I bought a groupon last summer for my husband as a birthday gift. When we tried to schedule in the fall, they were booked and told us to call back in 2013. When we tried to schedule last month, I was informed they no longer honor groupon and that they had ended their business relationship with Groupon in November. When I asked them why they would not honor the groupon that I had purchased during a time when they clearly had a business relationship, I was told that they were unaware of the details why. The person I spoke to refused to put me on the phone with someone who could provide answers. Sportations handled this whole situation in an unprofessional manner and my family is very disappointed with their conduct. The woman I talked to was very rude to me and I informed them that when my husband and family do participate in future adventures, it will be through one of their competitors. read more

The Sportations i talked to said they are located in Georgia. I would give 0 stars or less. I had a bad experience with this company! I would not recommend them at all. They left me on hold for 30 minutes at a time. Nobody would assist me. The several employees that I spoke with did not have the access or ability to do anything other than leave a message for the always nonexistent manager. The employees have limited knowledge and ability to help. There is never a manager available. They always told me that they are not there, at a meeting, on a break. No manager ever contacted me and it went over a months time period. I keep calling and there is still no help. The prices with this company are very high. Over the phone, I was given a price $165 higher than what they showed online. This is a company that works with other companies (i didn't know that until after). They took $150 from me and there was nothing to show for it. They said that they don't even see an account for me. Very bad service; I do NOT recommend this company! I'm not a person that complains but this company was and is just wrong. Interestingly enough, just before i posted this review a manager called me and told me my purchase would go through their website. At this point, I don't want to deal with this company at all. This is a NASTY COMPANY! There was lots of miss communication due to the unaware employees. In the end, the manager "Steven" was making it seem as though I was trying to steal from them. He did not seem to have patience or understanding. After almost 5 weeks and many long phone calls later, that is the response i get. DISGUSTING! read more

Worst Company I have ever dealt with. Would get ZERO stars if possible. Called and booked a hot air ballon ride with sportations over a week ago. They said I would receive a conformation email in 2 days. Over a week goes by and of course no email. So I call back and have to wait on hold for half an hour. When I finally get to talk to someone they look up my reservation and tell me the person I talked to before put notes in about my reservation but NEVER actually booked it and of course that day is now filled and they can't take me. Wouldn't you know my backup date is also full. So I ask for a refund. They tell me they can put a refund request in and IF its approved they'll send me a check. WHAT BS. I paid with a credit card simply put the money back on the card. Simple as that. They say the request will take up to 5 days to process. MORE BS. Still waiting to here back from them. AVOID THEM THEY ARE HORRIBLE TO DEAL WITH. VERY RUDE CUSTOMER SERVICE TOLD ME I COULD NOT SPEAK WITH A MANAGER AND HUNG UP ON ME!!!!! read more