Virginia Balloon Rides

My first ride in a hot air balloon and it was awesome! Mark Nelson is a great pilot and is very concerned with the safety of his passengers. He made sure the weather was right and the views from the sky were incredible. Will definitely book again!

Dear Groupon-Shortly after my purchase I contacted Virginia Balloons, Inc. to make a reservation for Labor Day weekend. I spoke to the proprietor (Mark) whom after I mentioned that I had purchased a Groupon for the balloon ride said that he would make the reservation however discourages Groupon purchases since it's not the best deal for him. I made the reservation for Sunday, September 1st at his Smithfield launch site. I called again to confirm the week before the flight however messages went unanswered. In my voicemail I left the reminder that we were coming from Washington, DC and that it would be a 3 hour ride there so I really wanted to confirm that all was a go. I had booked a hotel to stay in the Smithfield area to prepare for the early launch (booked back in early September) which was too late to cancel so my girlfriend and I took the ride down the day before. Mark finally returned my call the afternoon before the scheduled ride date and mentioned that he had had phone problems for the past several days and when I asked to confirm the reservations he alluded to some balloon mechanical issues then later went on to say that this wasn't a good weekend since he had another booking but that I should try back a few hours later and he will confirm one way or another. I wasn't able to get in touch after calling a couple more time throughout the afternoon and evening. I finally tried once more and reached Mark about 9PM the Saturday before the ride. He said that he would not be able to accommodate us Sunday because of another booking and that he could probably fit us in for Monday. After telling him that we had to go back on Sunday he continued to insist that we confirmed earlier then went on to say that this has been a really rough week for him but took no ownership of the double booking. When we asked him where did we go wrong with this situation he said that this is just a bad time for him. Clearly seeing that the Sunday ride was not an option we asked about rescheduling. He said that we should try to contact him again for October and to send him an email. That email was sent the next day (9/2) and we have not heard back since (today being 9/8). As much as we would have enjoyed the ride this business does not seem to take paying customers seriously. I understand the refund policy limits to seven days after purchase however in light of the situation I would like to request a full refund to my credit card. I have used Groupon several times and have always had a pleasant experience and hope to continue to use since I believe that this experience was quite an exception to the normal service that I am accustomed to.Regards,Marc

Just to reiterate what everyone else has said here in the hopes people will stop buying vouchers and sunset rides...We purchased a voucher in October 2013. Mark Nelson has been stringing me along, scheduling the balloon ride three different times over the course of the last year and a half, canceled the first two and then just stopped returning our calls for the last one. We called four time the day before to confirm and find out where to meet him and he never returned calls. That was September 2014. We've been calling ever since and have not received one call back. We are moving away from the area next month and are out the money paid for the voucher with no resolution.

If I could give 0 or negative stars, I would. This company is a joke.As other reviewers have done, I also bought a Groupon, hoping my husband and I could see the fall foliage from above for our 5th anniversary.A couple of days after buying the Groupon for Virginia Balloons, I called the number on the voucher. A man answered, and I made a reservation for Sun, Oct 20 in the afternoon. He was very, let's say . . . unprofessional. He tried to discourage me from the afternoon flight since the afternoon wind tends to cause him to have to cancel them. (Why offer them in the afternoon then?) I explained that on our days off, we like to sleep in, so we would prefer an afternoon flight anyway. He then proceeded to say that if the flight was cancelled, I should keep trying, and "don't go running to Groupon asking for a refund cuz that just gets annoying".The morning of Oct 20, I called the number as he instructed me to, and the recorded message said that the afternoon flight was cancelled due to wind. A few days later, I called the same number to try to set up another date. The recorded message said to go to their website and fill out the online form, and wait for a confirmation. I did as instructed, but never received a call or email confirmation. A week or two later, I called the number listed again, and this time left a message saying that I had submitted a booking request online, but had not gotten any type of confirmation. I left my info, but never heard back. I called again on Wed, Nov 6, and left another message. I still have not heard back. How am I supposed to trust my life and my husband's in a hot air balloon being controlled by a man who apparently cannot even operate a phone?I just contacted Groupon for a refund. On a related note, I've found that these high-dollar Groupons tend to be a waste. I've had one or two other experiences similar to this one. I don't understand why these companies waste their time trying to drum up business, and then don't follow-through. Groupon needs to do a better job of validating the companies they represent, and holding them accountable. There needs to be a penalty when Groupon has to refund us due to the company not holding up their end of the bargain. Otherwise, this stuff is going to continue to happen. I'm not sure I will do anymore high-dollar Groupons.

Run, don't walk, away from this company: Let me add one more voice to those below. I purchased a Groupon in Nov 2013 to schedule a balloon ride for our anniversary this month. I've spoken to Mark Nelson numerous times over the last four months to schedule our trip; at his request, I've followed up with e-mails. All I've asked for is a simple e-mail confirmation that I'm on the schedule so I could continue with planning the weekend; I've never gotten a thing--just excuse after excuse and delay after delay from the times we've spoken on the phone. Today I Googled the phone number to make one last attempt; I happened across these reviews, and knew it was hopeless to expect anything accurate, true, or customer-focused from Virginia Balloons. I immediately contacted Groupon and asked for a refund ... I'll go relax on NC's Outer Banks for our anniversary, rather than continue my extremely frustrating experience with this firm.

My wife purchased a groupon for a "SUNRISE" balloon ride for our anniversary. She called him like asked the night before at 830PM to find out what time we had to meet Mark. She called and was told that we needed to be in Surry at 0545 the next morning. We live in Norfolk, so we left our house at 0430 to make sure we were there at 0545. We arrive and Mark is in the parking lot. He asked us to park across the street, and as we were walking back across the road we here him cussing at his assistant while trying to get the burner on the basket. We thought that we were the only ones on the ride that morning, but after the sun was well up, the other couple that was scheduled on the ride showed up about 0630. SO MUCH FOR A "SUNRISE" ride. During the 45 minutes we were waiting on the other couple to arrive, we had to listen to Mark do nothing but complain about the county of Surry for not granting him a permit to fly. He also proceeded to convince us of us complete disregard of the county ordinances etc etc. He also repeatedly told us he was going to have to stop at the store and get the CHAMPAGNE that he was supposed to have for the mimosas on the flight. (we didn't really care about the champagne, just to further note his lack of preparedness)So, the other couple shows up, of course telling us they hoped they didnt keep us waiting too long, to my thought of, "well you know what time you should have been here at 0545, so you know exactly how long you kept us waiting". However, to avoid an issue a thousand feet up, and the potential for ejecting someone out of the basket, I just saved it for my yelp review.So we get in the van, and drive to a winery property close by for our deployment. We arrive, and Mark and assistant unload the balloon, and basket. Then, Mark asks me and the other male passenger to hold the balloon while he inflates it with cold air via a fan. So, as Mark is standing there admiring his balloon being blown up and smoking his cigarette, the other guy and I are holding this balloon.So the balloon gets blown up and we all hop in the basket and lift off, and Mark's assistant takes off in the van trying to follow us. The balloon ride was pretty amazing. It was my wife and my first ride, and was truly a unique experience. I guess about as close as you can get to just standing in thin air. However what goes up must come down. We came down in a field in behind someone's trailer. Mark asks me to hop out of the basket and pull the balloon to the road. (the "road" he was talking about, was about a half mile away). Once he realized that this was not going to work, he decided to just set the balloon down. Once touched down, Mark disconnects the lead on the top of the balloon, and asks me to pull the balloon to the ground. This is when we learn two things... 1.) he has no ability to track the balloon from the van, and 2.) he nor his assistant have cell phone reception, so we are somewhat stranded in the field hoping that his assistant will figure out where we are. After about 15 minutes Mark decided to walk up the road to see if he can see his assistant driving by. Mark and his assistant finally return with the van about 45 minutes later. Once Mark got the trailer in position, he got out the bag for the balloon and then proceeded to watch his assistant fold the the entire balloon. Once folded, he then asked myself and the other customer to help load the balloon in the bag. Of course after getting the balloon in the bag, we had to help him get the basket and balloon on the trailer. After all of this, he then asks if we want to get some breakfast with him in Wakefield, to which we replied that we needed to get back to our car so we could get home. We were only about 10 minutes from where our car was, however Mark managed to get lost and take another 40 minutes to get us back to our car. Once back at the car we were getting ready to exit the van and Mark was looking at me as if he was waiting for his tip. Although I had many tips for him, I just exited the van thanking him for the ride, and left.This balloon ride was such a thoughtful gift from my wife, and I truly enjoyed the ride. I just wish that Mark had been more professional in every aspect of his business including personal Hygiene. Also, if you are going to sell a "balloon experience" where you participate as part of the launch and recovery crew, state so during the purchase. If you are expecting to just show up and have a nice leisurely ride, do not use Virginia Balloons.Tips for anyone considering a balloon ride.1.) find out if you are the only couple traveling2.) if you are expecting a sunrise or sunset balloon ride, ask what will happen if other travelers are late3.) find out if there is a ground crew to launch and recover the balloon. as 4.) find out if they have a method of tracking the balloon, for not only expedience of return, but also safety, what if the balloon lands out of view of vehicles.

Second Part of Initial Balloon Adventure Description - Plus an additional update after speaking with the GM (who hung up on my fiancee):(FROM PART I) "AFTER THE CRASH- It was painfully clear to all of us that the pilot's FIRST and ONLY real concern was HIS BALLOON. That might be acceptable in a business where he rents it to somebody, but he is part of a SERVICE industry, not just BALLOON." .....- The reason M was ordered to drag the balloon after a crash landing was so that the balloon didn't get caught in the forestry. Even after I jumped out and helped move the basket, we were ALL ordered to work to make sure the balloon fabric didn't get caught in the 'sticker bush.'- The pilot took off w/in 10 minutes of the land to "get help." We were not communicated with until I CALLED HIM AN HOUR later to get a status update.- The most FRUSTRATING part of this whole situation was the realization that WE the PAYING CUSTOMERS/PASSENGERS were not a part of his concern. With a van and a truck as part of the 'crew' I DEMAND TO KNOW why we were not taken out of the situation and brought back to our cars/the launch site to enjoy the rest of the CHAMPAGNE package that had been purchased.- We could've easily been found and taken back to a rescue car instead of being left there for TWO HOURS with ZERO INFORMATION wondering how long it would be until we're back to civilization.- It angers me that the rest of our day was hijacked because he needed us to help him pack up his balloon.Lift Off: 7amFlight Time: 30min?Grounded by: well before 7:59a.m.DESIRED: I will await your decision on how to refund/compensate us on this disaster-strewn flight that was supposed to be a two-person flight with champagne and proposal. Instead, we were forced to take a flight with 4 passengers, a crash landing into a forest, a pilot who took off for hours without attempting to communicate TO us and whose OBVIOUS main concern was the salvaging of his balloon, NOT the passengers who were paying him/you, NO PROPOSAL, NO real APOLOGY from the pilot or crew, NO CHAMPAGNE (as paid for as part of the package) and the loss of HALF THE DAY. It's a pretty sad day when the people you encounter randomly in search of help and who DID rescue us were more concerned with us than the person we met hours before and contracted for the service. And, thank you to Duck, Bonnie, and Phil for the rescue and hospitality!**** 7/13/11 Conversation - the GM knew nothing of our disaster from almost a full 30 days ago. (Perhaps because they gave the customer 2 wrong email addresses for the Manager...)The GM repeatedly told us that VA Balloon Rides has "met their criteria" via refunding the difference between the PRIVATE (aka ENGAGEMENT) package for the two of us and the SHARED package.- He also stated that the reason the pilot was so cautious about his balloon ($65k value, as described by the pilot) was because it was his LIVELIHOOD. Is it only odd to me that people in the SERVICE INDUSTRY are stating to the client that their main concern is with the balloon and NOT the customers/human beings? THEY DO LOVE TO QUOTE THEIR WAIVERS. Waivers don't cover negligence on your part!-- Both men at VA Balloon Rides have been RUDE, LIED to us, and have repeatedly tried to tell us that we were being uncooperative when they were trying to tell us what a MAGICAL adventure we had. The only decent person at this company has been the Sales Rep who was - of course - HORRIFIED to hear that her engagement couple rode with two other complete strangers in a basket CLEARLY not big enough to propose "privately" to someone with the others around. (There was no point when any of the passengers were NOT touching someone else in the basket.)The GM has assured me that this crash landing and stranding ARE NOT "faulty service" and therefore they will not refund us our money. NOR did the GM have any interest in that THEIR SUBCONTRACTOR / employee/company rep LIED to my fiancee to book the package with the other couple.The head of Customer Service/GM also hung up on my fiancee at the end of the call because he had XYZ people outside his office.Irony: While on hold the music/ad: "...experience a tranquil ride like you've never experienced before." HA! Again, we are ALL okay with the adventure part of the landing, but this company is TERRIBLE on Customer Service and other potential customers NEED TO KNOW.BUYER BEWARE! DO NOT FLY WITH MARK NELSON BECAUSE YOU WILL BE TREATED LIKE DIRT IF ANYTHING GOES AWRY.

Bough groupon sport stations. Originally was going to do ride in Richmond but then found out there was someone in Williamsburg thatmdidmridesmand this was closer. Dealing with Sportstation was a nightmare, nearly impossiblemtomget live person online. Finally get M. Nelson's name and company name and told to call to finish seething up ride date. I call and we set a date 3 weeks away, I call to cram night before as instructed and due to weather it gets rescheduled. Again another date another 3-4"weeks away this time is set, again, called off due to weather.,,each time it is up to client to call, each time he has no record of who you are, how many in your party, where you are coming from...totally unprofessional, really, he could buy a notebook at the dollar store. Finally 3rd attempt day arrives, weather,l looks good and this,time he calls me to complain of some mechanical problem,or paint got on basket or something, telling me way too information that in all honesty is not my problem. He explains he's willing to pay his associate to take us on ride and he will be pick up runner but then continues to practically beg howmhw would hate tto do this blah blah blah, it will cost money....me being the nice person that I am agree to to reschedule yet again. He wants to reschedule another month out but we set a date for two weeks later. Again, I'm told to call night before, I do, and gain told to call him day of flight. The day before he answers phone, the day of flight he never does.So at this point weather still looks good, I left 2 phone numbers on his voice mail. Three and half hour later we arrive at flight site and call him again and he says he tried calling. He may or may not have called one number (certtainly didnt try more than once)'and for sure he certainly didn't call my cell I had with me the whole time.At this point I want a refund, he refuses to see his lack of business sense, thatnhe should be making the calls and not make client chase him, he is totally disorganized.From you tube bit I saw and above complaint, ride itself looked mediocre. He is only intersted in taking bookings and getting money and then putting you off long enough so season to fly will be over.m shame on KAO campground for associating with him, puts a black mark on their company.I'm putting stop payment on credit card, services not rendered.

I purchased the Groupon for this flight in May and immediately called and made reservation with MARK. My plan was to surprise my girlfriend with a balloon ride and ask her to marry me. Mark at the time was very helpful and accommodating. He even cut me a deal to do a PRIVATE flight during the week for half the price. Sounds awesome right??Well the day (June 14) finally came that we were supposed to fly and unfortunately the weather was not very good (not Mark's fault but it happens). We were rescheduled two separate times because of the weather. After the second rescheduling Mark started telling me that he wasn't making any money on the flight for us because of the deal he cut with me in May. It became harder and harder to get a hold of him and it seemed like he canceled the next 2 flights "because of weather", which is ridiculous because the weather report said sunny skies and lower winds, but he is the professional balloon flyer so in no way do I want us to be in any danger so no big deal....so I call and call with no return... FINALLY he calls me back to do yet another reschedule and we had two choices: a PRIVATE flight Monday, July 1st at 6 am or a PRIVATE flight Sunday July 7th at 6 am, both planned to be located within 1 hour driving of Virginia Beach (as always). I chose July 7th because there was no way either of us was getting off of work to meet the Monday date. He tells me that he is doing me a huge favor by flying us that day because he is taking his son on vacation and he is going to postpone leaving a few hours to help me out (again he reminded me that he was not making any money on this flight be he was going to do it for me anyway).On Saturday July 6th Mark calls me and wanted to make sure that I was still planning on meeting him on Sunday for our flight. I told him definitely and we were very excited. He proceeds to tell me he is at a balloon rally in Lexington, VA (what happened to this magical vacation you were supposedly taking your son on), which is 4+ hours away and that he can squeeze us in on a flight with two other couples. NOT THE DEAL WE MADE!!! I ask him very calmly why things have changed. He begins to get very frustrated and starts yelling at me, screaming that is not his fault that I did not understand him because he said he was going to be in Lexington (NOT TRUE AT ALL). He tells me that I was belittling him and he did not have to take it, cussed at me a few times and hung the phone up. My sister was sitting next to me the entire time and was in more shock than I was. I repeatedly tried calling him back throughout the day with no response and even sent him a text message. Saying "Mark can you please give me a call when you get this message, thanks"...his response was "Go get your money back we are done...". So after one month of this back and forth, one month of delaying getting engaged, one month of telling my girlfriend to be ready so we can go to a special event ( I never told her about the balloon), he screws me over and doesn't even have the maturity to pick up the phone and explain himself.This man's insane unprofessionalism is unparalleled. He clearly does not know how run his business, is extremely unorganized, and is an all around scumbag. I am very happy at this point that we did not fly with him because IF I CAN'T TRUST A MAN TO CALL ME BACK ON THE PHONE LIKE AN ADULT, HOW CAN I TRUST HIM TO FLY ME 1000 FT IN THE AIR? He made me sick to my stomach over this entire thing and I hope to god no one else has to deal with such catty, petty, immature behavior like I did. Thought it was a good deal on Groupon but I guess you get what you pay for....STAY AWAY STAY AWAY STAY AWAY

I purchased an exclusive sunset ride (with champagne) through a third party agency that booked me with Virginia Balloons Rides (Mark Nelson). The ride was scheduled for August 31, 2014. I took a snippet out (see below) from the e-mail confirmation:Location:VIRGINIA BALLOONS (SMITHFIELD)Address: Smithfield, VA.Main Contact: Mark NelsonMain Phone: 757-849-2366Email Address: [email protected]/Date: 8/31/2014 @ SunsetShared Balloon Ride(2)I sent the following e-mail (including my reservation e-mail) to owner Mark Nelson the Tuesday prior to our flight:Mark, Good morning. My fiancé and I have a reservation for a hot air balloon ride this coming Sunday at sunset. I was curious to see what the address is where we will be meeting you? Also, is there was anything else we need to bring or have with us for the ride? Thank you and we look forward to Sunday!I received absolute no response whatsoever. I didn't think anything of it at the time and thought he would get back to me before the weekend. Well I was wrong. I ended up calling him 11:08 Friday morning and left a voicemail stating who I was, asked where and when we were meeting, etc. Again, no response whatsoever. At this point I'm getting a bit nervous because we had been planning this for a very long time and it was the only weekend my fiancé had available. I am active duty military and I am gone quite often so it's very difficult to find a weekend where we are both free. Fast forward to Saturday evening. I sent an e-mail at 6:46 PM asking if we were still on because up to this point I had no confirmation from Mark. He simply replied with "yes". After exchanging a few e-mails (it felt like pulling teeth explaining what we had booked) and telling him again that it was an exclusive sunset ride , he told me that we were meeting at 6:00 AM the next morning?! At this point I'm completely caught off guard. It's now 10:28 PM on Saturday night and you want us to meet at 6:00 AM which over an hour away for us and you are just now telling me this? In addition, we clearly have a SUNSET ride reserved including champagne after, which I paid extra for. At 10:33 PM he tells me to call him. When I called, he tried explaining that going at sunset the next day wasn't an option. He kept making excuse after excuse. First he told me "prevailing winds from New Jersey were coming in Sunday". Okay fine, I can't necessarily argue with the weather because that's out of our control but at the same time I started to gather that he was just trying to pull a fast one on us so he didn't have to take us up. He said he didn't want to go in the afternoon because "he would have to pay his crew $100 to show up". He also stated, and I quote: "I don't want to take up your afternoon and I don't want to take up mine". At this point I can tell he clearly doesn't want to even go and actually started pushing for a Monday ride! I then calmly stated that I paid extra for an exclusive sunset right with champagne. He then stated that he doesn't do champagne anymore and that wouldn't be an option. I told him I wasn't budging and that if we were to go in the morning then I would have to call the third party agency and get some of my money refunded because I wasn't getting what I had paid for. With a nasty and catty attitude, he said: "Well I don't want you to call them (third party agency) and bitch about me not giving you the champagne". At this point I was starting to lose my patience. We had planned for weeks and weeks to go on Sunday afternoon. He then stated: "You know what, I'm about to cancel this whole f*&#ing thing". He then stated that I was "supposed to call him prior to the flight". Hmmm, what about the e-mail I sent on Tuesday, the call and voice mail I left on Friday morning, and e-mail at 6:46 PM Saturday night? He knew I called his bluff and his response was "well I am busy". So now it's my fault his is extremely unorganized, too busy, and doesn't want to do his job? After that he hung up on me! I had never felt so disrespected and jerked around as a customer. It was clear he had no intention of going up Sunday and was trying to make excuses as why he couldn't make it happen. If you are too "busy" then maybe you shouldn't own your own business or maybe you should hire someone! The fact that he continually argued with me when the hot air balloon ride had been scheduled for weeks! It's not like it was a surprise to him. After the dust settled, I was glad I didn't take my fiancé on the ride. From the other reviews I have read on here, it would have been a horrible experience! Moral of the story, Mark Nelson is a very unprofessional, rude, belittling, and disrespectful business owner. Customers beware!