Activity Superstore - 'experiences'

snodge182

I'm leaving my review in multiple places to help others when they decide to purchase or not:

I was very excited when my brother bought me an experience to fly in a helicopter (8 min flight plus fizz), for my birthday.
However, when I tried to activate it they required the original receipt to activate. Fortunately, he still had the receipt and dug it out (but if he didn't then effectively that would have been the gift down the drain).

Anyway, fast forward through 2021 and with all the covid issues and hardships trying to stabilise mental health etc (like most people), I was unable to use the voucher.

It came to December when the voucher was due to expire (I thought it was due to expire mid December), so I logged on and found it had expired!
I quickly looked into similar examples on Google with companies like this and they all said the companies normally still honour it in 'good faith', but with a small administration fee. I thought no problem, I'm sure they will be able to help me and I'm happy to pay a fee, especially as on the front page of the experience voucher they state:
"At Activity Superstore we take your health and safety, as well as your enjoyment, really seriously. We think that we do this to higher standards then anyone else in our industry."

I contacted customer support and after waiting a few days they got back to me, simply saying the voucher is expired and is void.
I was so shocked as I thought surely they would understand that the situation over the past year hasn't exactly been normal, that they would let me pay them more money just to extend the voucher slightly. I was wrong, they simply didn't want to know.
Now that I think of it more, I realise that the voucher has been paid for and they haven't had to return anything in return for it, they profit 100%. Even if I was to pay 150% they weren't interested.

In the end, after another email to customer support suggesting that I was happy to pay the fee, just so that I could use my birthday gift and explaining my situation and health haven't been good over the past year. They replied that it's a couple days over the expiry date and that they weren't willing to do anything for me.

I therefore rate my experience with this company as 0 stars if I could. From our perspective, a voucher for an experience was paid for, and we never got to use it. Customer service who don't care about their statement that they take 'health, safety and enjoyment really seriously'

Avoid.

oldlordy

I had the same bad experience with these people. I was given a gift voucher for a birthday present of an undisclosed value and had choices of what I could use it on. When I tried to get the activation code they said they needed the receipt or proof of purchase with a bank statement. There was no way I was going to ask my friend how much he'd spent so I complained and eventually they gave me a code. 

Avoid this mob like the plague.
I've also used buy a gift and had no problem whatsoever so worth considering if you need a gift for someone.

sheramber

 snodge182 said:

I'm leaving my review in multiple places to help others when they decide to purchase or not:

I was very excited when my brother bought me an experience to fly in a helicopter (8 min flight plus fizz), for my birthday.
However, when I tried to activate it they required the original receipt to activate. Fortunately, he still had the receipt and dug it out (but if he didn't then effectively that would have been the gift down the drain).

Anyway, fast forward through 2021 and with all the covid issues and hardships trying to stabilise mental health etc (like most people), I was unable to use the voucher.

It came to December when the voucher was due to expire (I thought it was due to expire mid December), so I logged on and found it had expired!
I quickly looked into similar examples on Google with companies like this and they all said the companies normally still honour it in 'good faith', but with a small administration fee. I thought no problem, I'm sure they will be able to help me and I'm happy to pay a fee, especially as on the front page of the experience voucher they state:
"At Activity Superstore we take your health and safety, as well as your enjoyment, really seriously. We think that we do this to higher standards then anyone else in our industry."

I contacted customer support and after waiting a few days they got back to me, simply saying the voucher is expired and is void.
I was so shocked as I thought surely they would understand that the situation over the past year hasn't exactly been normal, that they would let me pay them more money just to extend the voucher slightly. I was wrong, they simply didn't want to know.
Now that I think of it more, I realise that the voucher has been paid for and they haven't had to return anything in return for it, they profit 100%. Even if I was to pay 150% they weren't interested.

In the end, after another email to customer support suggesting that I was happy to pay the fee, just so that I could use my birthday gift and explaining my situation and health haven't been good over the past year. They replied that it's a couple days over the expiry date and that they weren't willing to do anything for me.

I therefore rate my experience with this company as 0 stars if I could. From our perspective, a voucher for an experience was paid for, and we never got to use it. Customer service who don't care about their statement that they take 'health, safety and enjoyment really seriously'

Avoid.

From the terms and Conditions 

If you are unable to use your Voucher within the validity period, the Voucher can be extended for a period of up to six months (excluding promotional vouchers). A Voucher can only be extended once and must be done while the voucher is valid. A £20 administration fee is payable if you choose to extend your validity. Extended or Exchanged Vouchers cannot be refunded.

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Unfortunately, you did not ask for an exchange until after the voucher had expired.

In FAQ it also states the need for the original receipt or copy of bank statement to prove purchase.

oldlordy

“In FAQ it also states the need for the original receipt or copy of bank statement to prove purchase”

So people getting gift vouchers are expected to find out the value of the voucher before they can use it.
that’s exactly why I won’t use this company!