‘Angry’ woman left out of pocket after cancelled hot air balloon trip not refunded

It was supposed to be a birthday trip for her mum

A woman says she feels “angry” as she is still yet to be refunded for a cancelled hot air balloon experience. Back in June, Michelle Bailey from Huntingdon booked a special trip to have afternoon tea in a hot air balloon for her mum’s birthday.

The event cost Michelle £260 and was booked with Feast Events for August 23. Unbeknownst to Michelle, an email landed in her spam folder on July 27 saying that the trip had been cancelled.

Michelle said: “They [Feast Events] said it was cancelled as they couldn’t agree on the grounds. I just thought, well I’ll get my money back.”

Michelle expected a refund back within two weeks “at the latest”. However, it passed the date of when the event was due to take place, and she still hasn’t received a refund over a month after being told that the event was no longer happening.

Michelle added: “I did a bit of Googling and managed to track down the owner. She said it was taking longer than they first thought and they were working hard to refund everyone.”

Michelle says she has been left out of pocket and had to spend more money to book something else for her mum’s birthday.

“I’m angry,” said Michelle. “This company has taken all of this money off people. I have had people messaging me and some have forked out over £600. I feel upset that it’s not gone ahead. I’ve had to pay more money out to take my mum out. This shouldn’t be allowed to happen.”

Michelle is now trying to get her money back through her bank. A spokesperson for Feast Events said they last contacted Michelle on August 21 with an update on her refund.

The spokesperson said: “We have been operating pop-ups and immersive dining experiences for over six years. It is an incredibly rare occasion for us to cancel an experience. All guests who have been affected by our cancellation have been offered a full refund, with a number of guests opting to transfer to one of our other dining experiences instead.

“Whilst we are currently experiencing a delay due to the volume of refunds that we are processing, many guests have already been successfully refunded. We are devastated not to be proceeding with Feast on Cloud 9 this year. We understand that our guests have suffered from this cancellation and we are working hard to put things right. We sincerely apologise to all guests who had their booking cancelled.”