Bought a gift certificate in December as an xmas g...

Bought a gift certificate in December as an xmas gift. We called, made reservations in advance for an 11:00 appointment, arrived early. The upkeep of the RV, Double wide, and shuttle bus on the property are atrocious - I can only hope the gear is in better condition.

We were told to wait for the boss because gift certificates needed a boss to redeem online. Three hours with no running water (One porta-potty and a disgusting water cooler that clearly hadn't been washed in months were the only amenities) later, the boss arrived. At one, the secretary let us know that there was a twelve oclock and another group scheduled before our jump, so it was going to "be a while".

Then the boss proceeded to charge my Paypal account twice for a jump I'd already paid for. Running total : $600.00 for *one* tandem jump. Staff kept blaming Paypal for not understanding how to use their own payment system / over booking. They reversed one of the three charges and sent my jumper packing. Running total : $400.00. When I called earlier, the owner initially refused to refund the second over charge, telling me to wait for Paypal (Paypal will not refund a completed transaction until the merchant refunds it), but agreed to do it. I still have not received a refund as of 3/3/13, and had to open a super fun extreme ... Paypal dispute.

During the landing of a tandem jump, someone is needed to catch the parachute at landing. No such person was made available for my jumper, and his parachute caught the wind and dragged, leaving his instructor with a minor injury. I am thankful my partner was not injured. During the four hour wait, I overheard younger instructors boasting about the dirth of their experience and other customers complaining about the wait, was shown private transactions from other customers (to demonstrate the lack of training the owner had with his payment method), and was treated rudely by rushing, stressed out staff.

If you're looking to spend $469.00 (the total amount my bank account is currently charged/refunded) on one tandem jump without proper safety precautions after a four hour wait in the middle of the desert, this is a great buy. My partner loved the experience itself and the instructor was well trained (again, thankful that he got the experienced instructor because no one was there to catch them), but in the future, we will frequent safer, more professional skydiving schools with secure payment systems, ability to book appointments, and enough staff to cover the activities of the day.