Adventure Balloons Ltd - Hook

Claire W

Received tickets for my birthday - We flew with Richard on Monday 11th October, we got very lucky with the weather and had a lovely smooth flight over West Sussex. Was so lovely to look down and spot wildlife and wave to people below! Couldn’t fault our experience at all.

We were fortunate that we got a flight our first booking just bare in mind that the weather can be unpredictable - a few on our flight had tried to fly 3/4 times ☺️ So worth it in the long run.

Haydn Upstone

Warning: not for anyone who requires a firm fixed schedule. We had an awesome flight on the summer solstice with Justin and team, first time in a hot air balloon and it was just amazing. Being at the mercy of the wind meant we were flying for 90 minutes or so, which we all loved. The views over Buckinghamshire were stunning and worth the wait – we had 2 prior cancellations, I am sure anyone who is flexible and rebooks immediately after each cancellation will get to have a great flight.

Emily Shriver

We had an amazing experience yesterday flying with Justin and his crew, from Tring to Stone. It was both our first time in a hot air balloon (and even though I'm not always the best with heights) we enjoyed every minute of it. I couldn't have wished for a better experience. My partner bought this for my birthday over 2 years ago and it was delayed due to covid. Even though the voucher was only for a year, the company were very helpful and extended the voucher to allow for flights to reopen again and make sure it gave us enough time to book during the flying months when everything reopened. Communication by email was good and we had no problems with this. We felt safe and looked after on the flight, and kept well informed of what to do etc. I've seen on here some reviews about many cancelled bookings but that's the nature of this experience, and people should understand that when booking, you have to be flexible. We only had 1 cancelled flight and the next flight we booked in the same month, May 2022, went ahead.

David Kiely

Had a really enjoyable flight over East Sussex. This was our 3rd attempt so pleased it happened. Professional crew, informative, fun, a hands on experience. Cant fault it. Thanks for our experience 21st August.

Barbara Foley

Extravagant & lovely gift from my brother 5 years ago for a special birthday. Still not managed to get a flight. Every booking cancelled. Some days the weather has been glorious & still appently not good enough to fly. I am sure they cancel if the flight is not full.
If you give a flight as a gift be aware that it is quite hard work to achieve. The small print is hard to comply with & they keep wanting more money to extend the voucher or upgrade. I can't help wondering if the upgraded vouchers are more successful? Very disappointing & certainly not what the gift giver expects or intends.

Tasha Conway

I had this voucher as gift for Christmas 2021. Here's my gripe with this company. You have to have booked 5 times in order to have your voucher extended. They will not refund your money for the experience you've never had. They will offer half back. I don't see how the company can say it is valid for a year when the season of flying is from April to October. The vouchers should be 2 seasons worth in that case that way you get a year of flying season time.

The expectation of having your customers book five times is ridiculous in order to have the voucher extended free of charge. You don't take into consideration that some of your customers work full time and have to book time off of work. Nor do you take into account your customers that have children and have to arrange childcare and pay the cost. Nor do you take into consideration that due to times, days and locations it isn't possible for some of your customers to meet your expectations.

Offering half the money back for the experience we never had is a slap in the face. If a customer hasn't received the goods then you should refund the full amount or extend it until that customer gets the experience that they paid for.

It feels to me your customers don't hold much value to you. Which doesn't make sense considering happy customers recommend the service to friends and family, colleagues, on social media platforms & to neighbours.
Disappointed customers will share the bad experience you have given them and end up leaving negative reviews which isn't a good look for a business.
I feel your customers should be your number one priority but sadly this just isn't the case.

stacey anderson

Absolutely disgusting customer service. People need to be aware that any vouchers purchased prior to Dec 2022 from this company that they have now sold part of their business to Virgin, you only find this out when you go to book. They are not contactable by phone and their email address is not valid, they have not contacted any of their existing customers to advise them. I have tried to obtain a refund as I did not choose to fly with Virgin and I wish to seek alternatives with other companies. They are refusing a full refund and want to charge admin fees, for what? They are no longer offering the service you have paid for and fob you off with ‘their reasons’ which are not valid in my opinion. Buyer beware, read the poor reviews and fly with an alternative comapany.

Hannah Allan

Terrible experience using this company. I tried to book multiple times for flights and even though the weather was perfect for flying they were always cancelled with no warning. I have seen other reviews of people with a similar experience so this is a recurring problem. They are so unhelpful when trying to rebook and even with difficulties regarding covid they would not allow me to extend my voucher without paying an additional 40 pound per person on an already very expensive experience. They said that you can extend the voucher if you book 5 times and all are cancelled but I was not made aware of this. Also, the months that they allow you to book are very limited making it almost impossible to book 5 times within the year allowed. Family members have also tried to use this company with no success. Do not waste your money or time on this company as you will be left disappointed.