IPG/Delta Force Paintball - anyone with any experience of them?

Mikeinho

jpurdy wrote: »

I agree with concerned_paintballer. Like most other businesses, paintball operators probably aren't making as much money these days. I agree with haggling to try and get a better rate, but a lot of people want everything for free nowadays.

Before you go on and have a rant about how expensive paintballs are, have another read of concerned_paintballers post and think about how much it costs to run a paintball centre. Especially considering they are usually only open on Saturdays (and Sundays for the more successful ones).

I've asked about bringing my own paint before and one of the reasons they said I couldn't was because of safety. There are a lot of different ways to tamper with a paintball, including freezing them overnight. So i'd much rather pay a bit more on the day to use their paintballs, than be shot at with frozen paintballs that would result in a very painful day out.

You seem to be missing the point. The paint is the cheapest part of running this business, but becomes the most expensive part of playing the game.

Therefore, the question is - why don't organisers charge appropriately upfront instead of 'stealth taxing' players once they are at the venue?

This could all be sorted by the business pricing the experience according to the running costs (i.e. higher initial outlay), then letting the customers get on with shooting the bejesus out of each other during the games without worrying about how much they are spending per trigger pull.

The first paintball company to change their business model to something akin to my suggestion would be able to make the same level of profit. The big difference would be that their customers would come away feeling they got value for money instead of feeling like they were just fleeced.

In fact, there could be a case for bigger profits if the paint is kept at a low price, as players would likely turn in to trigger-happy terrors.

Anyway, you're all getting my business consultancy knolwedge for free now, so that's the last I've got to say on the matter until something changes out there.

maximilianh

The reason why paintball is so expensive in the UK is that it is a real business, with very good marketing. The business works with high prices per ball. People spend usually more than they want. Special companies sell tickets on the street and are paid by the ball prices as well. This means that many people are playing paintball, many for the first time and anyone can easily organize a game, even if they're not adults. Buy-your-own paint is not very common, as another result.

I just compared it to Germany, where a paintball-ban has been suggested several times by the government and the sport has a very bad image (after some lost wars, the population has some reservations against anything that looks military). Few people play paintball, but those who do go regularly and join clubs. There is no on-the-street marketing of tickets, no big national companies. Companies are local, memberships and buy-your-own paint is very common. An example site at Stuttgart paintball-pilot.de /spielfeld-baden-wuerttemberg-altdorf-paintstar-arena-altdorf-details_522.html[/url] charges ~18 euros for 500 balls (3.5 cents / ball) and 15 euros for two hours. A membership is 58 euros per month, field paint will then cost 40 euros / 2000 balls (2 cents per ball).

Given that 1) the overall price structure for paintball companies in Germany is certainly very similar to the UK and 2) the German companies do make money from it, I would say that the big paintball companies in the UK are simply better at getting the money out of their players' pockets - by charging 6-10 pence per ball.

Hayze

I'm having problems with them also. It was my daughter's 16th birthday prezzie from my nan. The guy selling sold 30 tickets to my nan for a hundred and fifty quid and assured me and my nan, any other costs would be optional.

I phoned to book the day and was told booking couldn't be completed untill a further three hundred quid was paid for paintballs for on the day. I said that i was happy to buy them on the day but not in advance. I asked for a refund and was told not a chance.

Hayze

Gups wrote: »

Hi. I disagree with Robbos post about large corporations putting people off playing paintball - IPG take paintball into the highstreet and bring the idea of playing paintball to many people who would otherwise not even think of it.

This generates a lot of customers for paintball centres around the country. IPG sell for delta force and many other paintball operators.

I disagree that the tickets are a rip off. It's true that you have to pay £10 after you have bought the tickets but this isn't to activate the ticket, it's for the first 100 paintballs which are then given to you when you arrive at the centre.

If you break down the costs you'll see that a book of 8 tickets = 50, so about £6 per person which gets you entry and all equipment / clothing hire needed to play the game of paintball. Then the first 100 paintballs cost £10 and after this you buy the balls from whichever centre you choose to play at./ Prices vary but for Delta Force this is £5.99 per 100 when you buy a whole box in one go (you can share a box with your friends) or £6.99 if you buy by the bag of 100. These are pretty average rates and cheaper than some other paintball companies.

The reference above about the Delta Force wakefield centre only having 2 zones - this is very outdated (2006) and the wakefield centre now has 7 game zones.

Delta Force have been running paintball games for over 10 years now and open new centres every year - currently 24 centres in Ireland Scotland Wales and England and new centres opening this year in Ireland, England and Australia. A measure of a company's success is it's growth and success is built upon customer satisfaction / repeat business. Bear this in mind when you choose your paintball games provider if 'soopasplats' only have one centre and have done for years, you have to wonder why they haven't grown or been as successful as Delta Force has. :rolleyes:

:mad:
The only reason delta force are so successful is that they are dishonestly selling tickets and lying about what comes with the tickets and what the tickets are for. No wonder they are minted.

I'd be very interested to see exactly how many people complete their bookings once they find out the extra and unmentioned charges.

FatVonD

OP, I did *exactly* the same as you last August. I eventually managed to sell mine on eBay (as suggested by IPG.) I still can't believe that someone actually bought them as I even listed them with 'what the others won't tell you' in the header. Somebody bought them and seemed quite happy with them (they left positive feedback.)

The tickets do represent a bit of a saving if you're an adult and you plan to use all of them but definitely not against child prices.

You can pay 34.99 per child for an inclusive package direct from Delta Force with 500 paint balls and lunch included, that's what I'd always done before. My son has played a couple times at Delta Force (Cobham) and I was quite impressed with the organisation but my dealings with IPG have left a bad taste in my mouth by association and has put me off ever doing it again.

FatVonD

vlad12 wrote: »

The guy selling it on the street sold me 20 tickets for $80 dollars and told me that you get 1000 free paint balls for every 10 tickets. And now I found out that he lied and I actually don't get any free paint balls.

You do but what they don't tell you is that you can't take them all at once, ie you can't go only 4 times and use 500 each time which was what I'd based my calculations on. You can only have 100 with each ticket AND THEY WILL ONLY BE GIVEN TO YOU AT THE START OF ONE OF THE LATER GAMES. So you are paying the inflated price of 10 pounds for the first 100 and then you either sit there doing nothing waiting for your 100 free paintballs or you buy enough in the intervening games at the usual price (my son and his friend typically use around 500/600 each visit.)

Personally, if I'd not managed to sell mine on ebay, the next time I'd seen IPG set up in the town centre I'd have stood there yelling the small print to anyone tempted to buy until they refunded my money (I'm tempted to still do it anyway, please take note newly registered defenders of IPG )

Incidentally, the week I finally managed to sell mine on ebay Delta Force themselves were selling the same tickets for 99p.

1stunna

i agree with drain boy. i was convinced to buy 20 tickets at the price of 10 for 60 pounds without telling me about the extra charge of 9.99 on paintballs before buying and signing. i am going to report their case to the UKPBA before taking any legal actions against them. they think obviously think hiding the 9.99 in the little print at the back of the ticket, deceiving people and making them look stupid is fun. well its time i show them that some of us know our rights. on the day of payment. i was not told by the sales man that
there was an Exclusion clause. he said to me that my signature was was to validate payments and tickets. he never asked me to read the clause or agree to it buy signing.

in contract law ,exclusion clause can be said to be effective if all parties away of this and notice must be given about terms and condition. which wasn't in my case.

stratfordwife

they took £20 off my son in the street and hoped i would pay the rest. my son is only 12 and was with his friend and they didnt ask to see a parent. when i rand it was some kid saying he was working from home and that if i ring a few days later he would give me my money back... yeah right.he didnt even give me an address. Is it not against some kinda law to sell a contract to a 12 year old? they told me it wasnt because he really wanted to do it. idiots

Nile

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bluenoseam

With paintball a lot of it is how you approach the game - most people will not be able to resist the urge to go all James Bond & pull the trigger as fast as their fingers can get it! When i bought them though i must have been lucky and got the full detail there and then so knew exactly what i was in for, i've been both a local indie & to Delta Force and to be honest it was hardly any difference in price.

I do agree that they should have rules against selling to u18's - if for nothing else other than safety reasons, i know 13 year olds are capable of taking the hits, but not all of them!

But it is not a cheap activity, if you can control yourself you CAN get away with being more economic, but it's still going to cost you a fair amount of cash!