20 Minute Dambusters Helicopter Experience with Cream Tea for Two

We received a Red Letter 2 night away gift from my son Christmas 2022 valued at £179.99. We have tried to book several hotels since then to fit in with our jobs all with no luck.Either they don’t accept vouchers anymore , are far cheaper by booking directly with hotel or didn’t put themselves on the website etc. My son complained after a year of trying and got the voucher date extended and upgraded to £235 to use on anything we like.We then tried again to use Christmas 23-24 and still got nowhere so tried using it for meals out whilst away in hotel we paid ourselves and it was same again.Resurants only accepting Sun -Thurs( whilst we can only go weekends!). So finally,after 2 years,we decided on a helicopter ride at Buxton -Dambusters with cream tea July 16th 2025. As was only a ten minute ride with cream tea for £235 voucher we upgraded and paid extra £80 to extend it to 20 minutes flight-so now £315.We were really looking forward to , only for them to cancel it Friday 11th. No explanation either.So I rang Adventures001, waiting 40mins to be answered. I was told it was a “technical” problem and we have to rebook. My partner asked how they choose who gets picked and was told they go on whether people have been postponed before! I asked to get a refund as , after 2 years we are very fed up with the whole situation, only to be told we are locked in and cannot get a refund until we have been postponed 3 times!!!! The next available date was September 26th( which we have booked) but if postponed again it would be next year 2026, before can book a 3rd time due to flight months. So all in all we could be almost 3 years from original date gift was given.Its a joke! My son said he would never give one again and neither would we.We shouldn’t gave to wait 3 bookings to get a refund especially as if you’re weight changes ( which over that period is very easy), they refuse you and you do not get refund or a rebook. Yet they can just cancel and keep your money for over a year!!

The ground crew were friendly and made us feel safe. The helicopter trip was fantastic, we had a perfect day and the views were stunning. A really great experience. We had paid for a cream tea after the trip, to round off the day. We had to ask about the cream tea as nothing was mentioned, with staff concentrating on selling the welcome photos they’d taken. When we did speak to someone they looked a little sheepish, but we were instructed to go to the pub and they would sort it. In the pub we were told that ‘we don’t do them’ and ‘you can have a cake and coffee and we’ll just see what cake we’ve got left’. We left, disappointed. This really took the shine off what should have been a great day (and which was a birthday present). We certainly didn’t get what we paid for, and staff seemed largely unconcerned (although they were very happy we bought the photo).