ComplaintsforSundance Balloons

• Initial Complaint

  05/08/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Come fly Ottawa, they cancel ALL the flights. Canceled 3x times over the last few weeks for morning flights. Today’s weather in Ottawa. Clear sky, visibility for miles, sunny, wind 7km it’s beautiful!!!! = Canceled due to damp ground. It has not rained in 48 hours… really starting to lose hope with this company. Quebec Ballons are flying today just accros the Ottawa River. Can’t contact or reach anyone. We drove from 4 hours away again last night and came in late for this morning flight, we have done this 3x separate times. Very discouraging. Yes we keep a close eye on the weather before we come all the way down and every time the weather has been favourable. We understand and agree the safety and danger of the weather conditions but today is really uncalled for. We can’t wait until 11pm to leave our home and drive 4.5 hours in the night to make it to the field for 5:30am, there is just not enough time. I’ve been taking pictures of the sky all morning it’s beautiful.

  Business response

  23/08/2023

  We are so sorry to hear of your flight cancelations and do understand it is frustrating when scheduled plans don't work out. In checking your records, your 3 flights have been cancelled for reasons such as rain, thunderstorms, wet fields and visibility. These are all valid cancelation reasons as all of these factors can impede the safety and quality of a flight. Just prior to 11pm the night before our morning flights, the pilot gathers weather and wind forecasts from various sources and makes an informed decision on whether or not he/she will be able to fly. We have a Flight Line telephone recording set up that is updated by the pilot at 11pm the night before the morning flights, so passengers are able to call and hear the information about the morning flight. For these flights, the message would have informed the passengers that it was cancelled, thereby letting passengers know they do not have to make the drive. If you do not have this number, you can find it in the information package that accompanied the original purchase, in the scheduling confirmations and on our website under the Flight Info tab.

  I do see you are rescheduled for Sept 3rd in an evening flight and certainly hope this flight goes ahead for you. For the evening flights, call the Flight Line number just after 2:15pm for the message from the pilot (the number to call is *************. If 2:15pm does not give you enough travel time to get to Ottawa for flight meeting time (could be meeting between 4:30pm and 5:30pm in early Sept), then you may have to start driving and then pull over somewhere safe at 2:15 to call. If at that point the flight is called on, then proceed to Ottawa; if it is cancelled you can return home. This may not be ideal for you, which may be why you were originally trying morning flights. Our office will be open at 11am that Sunday, so, if needed, ask one of our staff members if they can contact the pilot to to see if it is possible to get an earlier update for you since you have a long drive. This might help with your driving plans. I am unable to give you the pilot's contact information, for privacy reasons. 

  Our balloons are piloted by experienced, licensed pilots and each pilot makes his/her informed decision to fly or not to fly. Although we all hate to have to cancel a flight, our priority is the safety of our passengers, staff and even the equipment. We do hope that we are able to get you safely in the air very soon so you can enjoy your hot air balloon experience.

  If we can help you further, please call our office to discuss with a staff member. Our office is open 7 days a week and can be reached at ************. 

• Initial Complaint

  28/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Over 10 years ago I paid for 2 flight tickets with Sundance and year after year we get multiple cancelations due to "poor flying conditions" and I'm absolutely fed up with trying and they get to walk away with over $300. It's a complete scam and they know what they are doing. This should be shut down, look at everyone else in the same situation. I want my money back but they will not under any circumstance offer a refund.

  Business response

  19/06/2023

  We are sorry to hear of Ms. ********* experience thus far with adverse weather conditions on the dates that she has scheduled.  The tickets purchased were not purchased over 10 years ago as she mentioned however, we can confirm that they were purchased quite some time ago.  Ms. ******** purchased her tickets through a 3rd party ticket seller and not directly from our company therefore we are not able issue a refund. Over the years, we have been accommodating to Ms. ******** by continuing to extend the validity of her tickets although there have been many years that she has not contacted us nor scheduled any flight dates.  Ms. ******** has not attempted to schedule a flight with us since 2021 although we have contacted her directly multiple times to encourage rebooking. Hot air ballooning is a completely weather dependent sport and unfortunately we must cancel some flights due to poor weather conditions making it unsafe to fly.  We schedule flights 7 days a week and have once again extended the validity of Ms. ********* vouchers with us so that she is able to reschedule for a date that is convenient for her. It is our hope that Ms. ******** reschedules her flight with us and is able to experience flying with us. We understand that cancellations can be frustrating but, safety is our top priority. If Ms. ******** does not wish to schedule with us this season, her vouchers remain transferable if she would like to give them to somebody else. 

  Customer response

  20/06/2023

  
  Complaint: 20114006
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I strongly believe this is a tactic to get people to abandon money. I would like to see statistics of how many people purchase tickets vs how many people actually fly. I believe this business to be fraudulent in nature and I would like a refund. 

  I wasted a lot of booked hotels and reserved weekends which changed plans over and over for months and years trying to actually get a flight that went through. One trip was even a 4 hour drive to Ottawa, a stay in a hotel, just to be canceled again, completely wasting my money and time. This is repeating.

  Just because the tickets were purchased through Groupon does not excuse you from refunding me my money.

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ********

• Initial Complaint

  14/06/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  We have $1000 in the hands of these people at "Sundance Balloons" already for two years. And very likely for many more years to come. I want them to disclose the total amount they owe to people for cancelled flights at this point in time. I expect this amount to be considerable. ******** ******** ***** ******* ************ ***** **** * **** ** ***** *** ******

• Initial Complaint

  16/08/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We paid 577.5 CAD for the Sundance Any date- Anytime hot balloon vouchers. I don't remember how many times we booked and every time our flight got canceled. This year we've already booked for 5 times and haven't been on our hot balloon ride so far! When I asked for refund, they keep replying "Our vouchers are non-refundable which is explained at purchase", which is imparity clause to consumers. Yes, they did mention that. What they didn't mention is consumers may not go for hot balloon ride for years! for dozens of times booking! Why don't consumers have right to ask for refund for service they paid for and never used? * ******* ********** *** *** ************ *** * ***** ** *** *** *** **** ****** *** **** **** ******** ** ******** ******** ***** *** **** ****** *** ****** ******** *** ******* *** ***** ******* ***** *** *** *** ********* **** ***** *********** *** *********** This act of deceiving consumers has to be stopped and they should run business under supervision.

  Business response

  25/08/2021

  We understand and apologize for the frustration this customer has experienced with weather cancellations however, we cannot fly unless it is safe to do so. Not only is the non-refundable policy explained prior to purchase but, we also explain the weather dependency of hot air balloon flights. It is explained that if a flight is cancelled due to unsafe weather conditions, the passengers contact us to reschedule. Although the vouchers are non-refundable, they are transferable anywhere that we fly as well as to different people should they wish to give/sell them to somebody else. We certainly are not deceiving anyone and are very upfront with all policies and procedures. In addition to verbally explaining these procedures, they are also followed up in writing in the information package that was emailed. Previously we have also reached out to these customers to encourage scheduling as they had not booked into any dates. I believe it is also important to note that the screenshots provided of negative reviews were posted in 2016. The majority of our customers are able to experience great weather and fly with us on their first or second attempt. Others do experience a few more weather cancellations but, we assure everyone that our pilot and crew members are watching the weather forecasts and are flying whenever the weather permits. We would encourage this customer to contact our office to reschedule. 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩