Customers of A Great American Balloon Co. complain of multiple cancellations
For its phone number, A Great American Balloon Co. uses digits that spell out the phrase We Do Fly.
Clever enough.
Trouble is, more often than not the hot air balloon company doesn't fly, leaving paying customers grounded for months, sometimes years, waiting for a chance to cash in on their prepaid journeys.
In the past several weeks, three readers have written to What's Your Problem? to complain about the Evanston-based balloon company, which flies out of several spots in the upper Midwest, including Fox River Grove and Plainfield.
In all three cases, the readers or a loved one prepaid $175-$200 for a ride, only to be told repeatedly that weather conditions did not permit flying on their scheduled days.
"I think they're hoping I'll die," said Gloria Byczynski, an Ottawa senior citizen whose children bought her a balloon ride for her birthday three years ago.
Byczynski said she's scheduled a half-dozen flights since August 2006. A Great American Balloon Co. canceled every one of them, citing bad weather.
"I'm even wondering if they have a balloon," Byczynski said. "I've been going around with these guys for quite a while."
So has Bob Ruckoldt of Huntley, who wrote to What's Your Problem? on July 30, one day after his scheduled flight was canceled. It was his fifth cancellation.
Ruckoldt said friends bought him the balloon trip two years ago. He's still waiting for liftoff.
"They tell you it's the upper atmosphere, but it looked like a perfect day," Ruckoldt said. "They keep selling new flights, and the rescheduling just gets further and further away. We figure we probably won't get a flight again this year."
Hank Strunk is equally pessimistic. His children bought him a balloon ride last year for his 75th birthday. He said he's tried repeatedly to book a flight, but each has been canceled.
Frustrated, his daughter, e-mailed What's Your Problem?
"These people are just -- I don't want to curse -- but I feel like they're blank liars," Sue Strunk said. "All they do is take money and then string people along until they are so worn down that they stop calling."
Byczynski and Ruckoldt both said they asked for their money back but have been rebuffed. The balloon company has a no-refund policy.
Almost two weeks ago, the Problem Solver called Ron Lake, manager of A Great American Balloon Co. in Illinois.
Lake said flight cancellations are common in the Midwest, and that less than one-third of scheduled trips actually take off.
While some customers take off on their first scheduled trip, a half-dozen cancellations is pretty standard, he said. One group, he said, had to reschedule 15 times.
"We have to be so careful," Lake said.
The last two summers have been uncharacteristically rainy, further slowing operations, he said. Even so, the company flew about 1,800 people last summer, and it expects to fly a similar number again this year, Lake said.
Asked why he doesn't refund money to dissatisfied customers if their flights have been canceled a half-dozen times, Lake said he has no intention of giving money back.
"We would simply become a bank," he said. "The money [would go] back and forth, back and forth."
Lake promised to move Strunk and Ruckoldt to the top of the list of customers, ensuring they would get on a flight quickly.
"We'll get someone to bird-dog them and get them up as soon as possible," Lake said.
He said the company would call the men if there was a last-minute cancellation, then put them in the air that day.
"Whenever we fly, there's usually two or three people that just don't show up," he said more than a week ago.
Several days later, the company called Strunk -- to schedule a flight in October. Strunk said he complained and was given a new date of Sept. 9.
"I was dumbfounded," Strunk said. "I came to a conclusion. I asked myself if I trust or have confidence in these folks, and the answer is no."
Ruckoldt said he received no calls. He and his wife remain scheduled for a Sept. 17 flight, but he has little confidence it will happen.
"If that gets blown off, the season's over," he said. "It could still go on for a long time."
HAVE A PROBLEM? E-mail your story, providing as many details as possible, to yourproblem@tribune.com or write to What's Your Problem?, Newsroom, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611. Please include your name and a way to contact you. We cannot respond to everyone, but we'll get to as many as we can and publish the results Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
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