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

Mags6365

I was told the only other payment would be if my son and his friends wanted more paintballs and lunch. Could not believe it when my son had to pay nearly £100 to book. Spent two days on the phone and am writing to their Wimbledon address to complain. My point was....why would I spend £70 on a gift if I knew the person receiving the gift had to fork out £100 to experience it? Girl said they would have to put "secret shoppers" out there to see what the sale 'boys' were actually telling people. Mind you she also said the classic " did you not read the small print" and " you had a seven day cooling off period to change your mind". Disgusted. I'm not easily taken in by sales nonsense but I asked all the right questions and was falsely sold this gift. My friend works for trading standards and I will be informing her.

inforapennyinfora

Really wish I'd had the opportunity to read up on this before being taking in at a local mall. I rate myself as pretty good at avoiding rip-offs, and I should have recognised red flags (like the offer made to my wife changed to double the price, and first paintballs went up from $15 to $25, when I arrived 15min later). Still, I interrupted the fast talker to ask my questions and go back and clarify things... and I thought I understood and purchased an expensive pack to cover the next year and up to 30 entries. Even when I initialled that "first 100balls must be purchased" I didn't spot "at time of booking" and I'd been told verbally "when you go in".
Now going through some of the hassles that I read about in this forum... and time spent on phone trying to setup booking.
- this is not "birthday party" friendly, because you need to know numbers and you can't alter that
- children all need photo-id (some simply don't have any !), this was not in the booklet and not mentioned in the sales pitch (and I don't think on their website ? Not that I've seen anyway)
- parents need to fill in a registration form (will include in party invite)
- payment for booking (on top of pack of tickets already purchased) has to be done over the phone with credit card details because online booking only pencils a date and they call you back
- website and pack refer to session times, which might vary ? but there is normally only one session starting in the morning.
- first 100 painballs per person is NZD25, but when you go to pay that it becomes NZD26 including 4% credit card fee, and they don't offer any alternative way to pay. (That wasn't on the price sticker on my glossy package card, so I don't think legal to compel buyer to use one payment method and then surprised them with a handling fee ?)
- if one of your players can't make it, the first 100 paintballs that you purchased and own will be confiscated from you (because they say it is not transferrable)... I don't think that is legal in this country, if someone can advise please let me know.
- if any player arrives late for the briefing there will be a penalty fee (OR they can't come in and you forfeit their ticket and paintball purchase)
- you do have 10day refund option here in New Zealand, but there will be an administration fee taken off (not sure how much)
I think I can reduce cost of painballs by not doing a full day.... So by the time we get to the end of first event (and factoring in possible abandonment of the rest of the pack if I can't afford a few hundred paintballs per entry ticket) I will have spent half a grand on this half day party event. I'll update after the first visit incase any more surprises on the day (the "don't spill balls on the ground" tip in here might save me another $100 ?).

el_goat

I think you'd have to be a bit naive to think that it's only going to cost you about £10 to go paintballing for a day. I suppose kids could be drawn into that way of thinking but surely not the adults among you?

If IPG are actually suggesting that the tickets they sell cover the cost of the day then obviously that is serious and the relevant authorities should come down on them, however I suspect they are assuming that people would surely not expect the relatively low entry price to include everything.

I went paintballing for the first time recently at Delta Force in Coventry and really enjoyed it. I went through about 900 balls although I reckon I lost between 50 and 100 as the hopper lid seemed to come open very easily and a few would fly out - I suppose I should have asked for another one as no-one else seemed to have this problem.

The first few games I was quite economical with the balls, but once I started to have some success in hitting people I didn't even think about how many I was using, could have been in excess 200 in a couple of the unlimited respawn games. There were some people choosing to sit out the odd game to limit the number of balls they were buying, which does seem a bit silly seeing as you are supposed to be doing it to enjoy yourself but I suppose if you are a student or something then spending getting on for £100 on this kind of thing may seem a bit excessive. I expected to spend about £100 but in reality I think I spent between £70-£80.

I landed on this forum post after searching whether I could take my own paintballs as they are obviously massively cheaper when ordered off the internet - although reading the replies I can see exactly why they don't. It doesn't cost a lot to get into a centre, and really the only way they can possibly make any money is through the sale of the balls. There are at least ten staff on, they provide the guns, helmets and overalls, there are obviously other running costs for the centre, and these places are huge - presumably the land has either been bought by them or is rented at a pretty high price and some of the "sets" they have won't have been cheap to construct. With this in mind the few pence they are making on each paint ball has to go a long way. The health and safety 'excuse' is also a fair one to be honest - a frozen paintball could do some serious damage, particularly when taking the odd shot at point blank range.

That being said, there was at least one lad there at the same time as me who had brought his own gun (massively more powerful than the standard issued guns - I still have the bruises) and his paint ball casings were blue whereas the ones sold on the day were red (both contained blue paint though) so I'm assuming they let him in with his own balls as well. It did look like some expensive kit he had so maybe if he's down there every week then they might not mind as much.

I can't compare Delta Force to any others as this was the first and only time I've been. It is pretty expensive, but then again it's not really any more than a few rounds of golf at an average course, it's certainly not a rip off and I very much doubt Delta Force are raking it in.

It all seemed pretty well organised, the team sizes were about right, everyone seemed to be following the rules of each game and the marshalls were very switched on to the odd person who was hit but decided to carry on regardless - to be fair, despite some shots being quite painful, you can get hit and not notice it depending on where you are hit. (I found the fingers, despite wearing gloves, was the worst. I took one in the neck which wasn't pleasant, and took about ten rounds on my left arm from the guy who brought his own gun which is still slightly tender!).

I do think the day is a bit long though, they tell you to get there for 9.15 so we rushed there promptly, yet people were still signing in towards 10am. We'd been there well over an hour before we actually started a game. There were gaps in between games to come back and clean your helmet/buy more paintballs etc which seemed slightly too long and the lunch break was well over an hour as well, apparently they ordered a load of pizzas which were late in turning up so we had to wait for that and then for the people who had order them to eat them! Personally I would have preferred a much more intense 3 or 4 hour session with shorter breaks and obviously no need for a lunch break, although I suppose with these places generally only open one day a week they have to maximise the potential to earn money...which again I must emphasis must be a difficult thing to do.

There will be people who turn up at these things, buy 200 balls and try to make them last the whole day, I suppose it is possible to do but I doubt it would be very enjoyable.

Oh, one final point for anyone going to Coventry, you basically leave the road and drive down a narrow track for several miles. It's not properly paved and your car will make some weird noises as you go over it! Inevitably you'll get someone coming the other way and you'll have to drive onto a field to let them past, and you'll probably catch up to someone who is driving at literally 1mph because of the surface so it will take you ages! No idea how they get on with this in the cooler/wetter months as a lot of cars will no doubt get stuck. If your car is your pride and joy then I'd get someone else to drive there!

SpooSpanna

How I wish I had read this thread a few months back before we got sucked into buying 2 x voucher packs (1 foreach of my sons) for their birthdays. We were at Bluewater shopping center during the summer and got caught during a moment of weakness thinking that wecould pay for both parties up front whilst we had some spare cash and not haveto worry about additional costs later. Just called to book the first of these parties in a couple of weeks and have just been told that I have to buy 100 paintballs per person to reserve space (there are 12 attending the party so £120!!) Not happy at all as was told by the salesman that everything was covered other than the cost for additional paintballs (tell those attending to bring money for this)and lunch. Now I feel I have been scammed :mad:

Pineapplechunk

my sons have just recieved their christmas present from their grandparents for this IPG paintballing. they paid £60 from a seller at Tesco for 10 tickets. my dad now feels rather foolish at all the extra costs involved for us. for those of you defending IPG and calling people 'naive' maybe you should train your sellers in to leaving vulnerable pensioners off their 'hit list' my dad is 77 years old and to him £60 is alot of money. you should be ashamed of yourselves. the seller also told him that he could split the tickets so the boys could have two seperate events with their own friends. this proved to be false....shock! And before the defenders say it, it is passed the 7 day period!

MrBurnsy

I have purchased tickets on 2 occasions now from IPG sellers on my local high street and both times have worked out that it saved me money, not lost me money.

I agree with previous posters that anyone thinking they can go paintballing for a full day for £10 all in, is living in cloud cuckoo land! I mean seriously people, what planet are you on??

I bought 10 tickets for £60 (thats £6 per person without any paintballs) BUT they chucked another 10x 'free' tickets' in on both occasions as their closing sale ploy, as well as offering 100x 'free' paintballs per person playing on the day for 'the big afternoon games'. All fine.

It was also explained that we would need to pay - as clearly shown in the T&Cs on the back (do you people have eyes?!) - £9.99 per person AT THE POINT OF BOOKING for the first 100 balls, and either £6.99 or £7.99 after that depending on bulk - i.e if we were buying a box of 1000 or separate 100s. Fine, and again pretty clearly stated in the T&Cs. I had to sign all of this and if I hadn't understood what I was signing then I WOULDN'T HAVE SIGNED IT! Its not rocket science.

Do your research and see if you can find a cheaper way to paintball at a decent site that isn't just an empty field with a few hay-bales sitting in it. I doubt you can. The sites I have played at (delta force) in Crawley & Upminster were great. Yes they were busy and there was some waiting around, but go find an excursion day out where there is not some element of that.

All in all you are looking at about £35-£50 per person for a long day out. If you think thats a crazy rip-off then fair enough. Go for a walk, visit the park or maybe do something else free and available.

Why are there so many people out there who act like children and expect everything to be presented to them as a free-bee or expect to pay under the odds for an experience. Read documents presented to you and educate yourself about the subject matter and stop whinging so much. Please.

ehearne

It isn't delta force that is the scam it is the fraudulent company Britannia Paintball Ltd used by groupon who call you up asking for £10 deposit per person but when you follow this up they refuse to give you the money back despite clearly labelling on the voucher that it is fully refundable.

They tried to tell me I had to call before 10am on the day of the booking and insisted that they had told me this in a telephone conversation but they couldn't send me the clip as their IT department was away.

Absolute scam never use this company, I am £100 down as I booked for my boyfriend and 9 friends.!

ehearne

I have found Groupon very good until I recently encountered a scam with them of which I will be informing them today.
Do not use HORIZON PAINTBALL or BRITANNIA PAINTBALL (the name they give to the people they have scammed).
I recently bought a voucher on Groupon for paintballing and the lady at Horizon paintball told me I needed to pay a £10 deposit for each player that I would get back on the day should they all turn up. I told her this was a lot of money for me but she ensured me she would write a note on my file to ensure I got it back quickly and safely.
I called up on the day as a courtesy to see how they would refund the money and they told me I have to put my request in before 10am that day and I was no longer entitled to my deposits back. I had no idea where this had come from I was never told so she said she would check the phone recordings.
Ann North, manager, called back about 1 minute later (a complete insult as there was clearly no time to listen to any recordings) and confirmed that I was told this rule. When I asked her to send me the clip she said she couldn't as her IT department were away. I didn't realise scammers had IT departments!
Even if this clip was somehow real that is my money, why would there be a time limit on when I can receive it? I was even crying at one point and Ann North was cold as ice, cleary dealing with upset people on a daily basis and following the same routine. My Groupon voucher says simply, 'Deposit of £10 is required, deposit is fully refundable' which I ready to her but she was almost enjoying my anguish replying that she was a 'stickler for the rules' and they rules are I had to call before 10am.
Who are HORIZON/ BRITANNIA PAINTBALL? They all had South African accents however my money was taken from Hong Kong and they had no intention of giving it back, they don't own any paintball sites they just do bookings and steal peoples deposits for themselves.
Please help me boycott this company with no integrity or moral compass. They owe me £100 so lord know how much they owe to Britain in total.

Henryover

Here's what they do !
They were at the entrance to a Super Market, offering discounted tickets to go Paint Balling. My Son's Birthday was close and I explained we had a budget of £100 for an event. The guy said that was easily achievable because he would discount 10 tickets that were normally £30 each to £6 each and throw in 1000 paint balls. He pressured me to pay there and then. It was good I didn't. Here's why! When you 'Carefully' check out their site the ticket (£60) are just for entrance, not much else. You have to pay nearly £10 each for each Child for 100 paint balls, that's £100 for 1 game. They give you 1000 free paint balls after your eleventh game!
Can you imagine how pressured you would be if you had loads of kids turn up and didn't realise this?

No_refund

I visited theCrawley Centre on Saturday, 20 December 14 and was very disappointed with the service I received.

When I booked using my groupon offer, I paid a £140 deposit for my 14 players, which I was told I could either exchange for balls (on the day ), or call before 10 am on the day, to get a full refund. I did the figures and worked out that it was cheaper to buy the balls on the day.

When I arrived at Crawley i called centre manager Ann North and she said she would call back during the day to clarify the numbers. I then paid for 3000 balls for my players. I was told that according to my voucher I was entitled to an additional 200 paint balls per player: 100 at the start of the day and then an additional 100 at the end of game 5.

I queried this - I said according to my Groupon I only get 100 balls and asked if he could phone up The Call Centre and check. The manager said he didn't need to as he had an email confirming that I was entitled to 200 balls per player.

The next day i spoke to centre manager told me that as I had used the 200 balls per player I was not entitled to a refund.

I feel that I was tricked into using these balls - at every stage I did as you asked and attempted to correct things, but the staff just refused to comply.

The call centre manager said should have been firmer.
So I lost out to the tune of £140.