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Report: #1349184

Complaint Review: Sugar Mountain Resort, Inc - Banner Elk North Carolina

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  • Reported By: Ashley — HILTON HEAD ISLAND South Carolina USA
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  • Sugar Mountain Resort, Inc 1009 Sugar Mountain Dr Banner Elk, North Carolina USA

Sugar Mountain Resort, Inc AKA Ski Sugar AKA Sugar Mountain Ski & s****.>

*Author of original report: Clearly you work for the resort...

*General Comment: Cant....

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Sugar Mountain Ski resort did not warn us or anyone of hazardous conditions on the slope resulting in injury and destroyed clothing items. On Monday, 12/26/16 my boyfriend and I went to Sugar Mountain Resort, Inc to ski. We brought our own equipment and paid $112 for 2 half day lift tickets. The conditions didn't seem ideal but since we're experienced and the resort was open for business, we assumed everything would be fine.

On our very first run of the day, my boyfriend went down Gunther's Run. He is an experienced skier with 15 years on the slopes under his belt. He was not even half way down Gunther's Run when he hit one of the many large ROCKS that was protruding from the snow in the MIDDLE of the trail. There was not any caution sign, tape or warnings of this boulder sticking out of the snow nor were we warned of these hazardous conditions when we purchased the tickets. The rock obviously caught him off guard catching one of his skis and throwing him into free-fall down the mountain. He slid a good distance on purely dirt and rock since the sides of the trail did not have any snow on them. None of these areas were roped off to prevent skiers from hitting them. I had chosen a different trail for our first run and so I was waiting at the bottom for him. I looked up to see him slowly walking over to me clearly in pain and distress wearing a completely ripped coat, carrying his skis with mud all down his backside. He had cuts all down his spine and ruined his $200 down ski jacket. I have photos of his coat and back. Later that day, he expressed that his chest and lungs hurt. He finally went to the doctors on 1/4/17 because it still hurt to breath. Luckily, he didn't break anything.

We immediately went to the Resort Administrative office on 12/26 to request a refund since we only did one run and did not want to risk doing another in those conditions. We also wanted to express our concerns about the lack of safety precautions taken that day. The ladies at the desk had us fill out a complaint form assuring us over and over that the General Manager Gunther "takes these very seriously and reads each and every one personally" and also thanking us for being so calm.

We returned home the next day only to find a letter in the mail from "customer service" telling us that "a skier should know his own abilities and limitations", that the conditions had a base of "10"-35" on their slopes (false!) and that there is a "no refund policy". I've since called the Admin offices on 12/28, 1/4/17, 1/9/17 and 1/10/17 in an attempt to speak with the General Manager. I've left messages every time except for on 12/28 when one of his assistants informed me that "the General Manager has a policy of only speaking to customers via email, not over the phone so you can write him an email".

I've emailed him on 12/29/16 and 1/4/17 and have never received a response in any form aside from the one original letter that we received from "customer service". I then took to social media in an attempt to get a response from the resort. Come to find out that another customer was at the Resort the same day as we were and he too went to the Admin office after one run to demand a refund because the conditions were so bad. They refunded him his money! He said it was probably because he made a scene which we did not do and so we weren't refunded. I had even asked the ladies that day if there was someone else that I could speak with besides the GM in order to be refunded and they told me "no, the GM has to handle all refunds". This was clearly untrue since they refunded another customer.

This morning 1/11 I finally received a return phone call for the first time from a resort Admin (still not the GM) and she's threatening me! I have the voicemail saved. She said that if I call anymore they will consider it harassment and will pursue legal action. All we want is a refund of $112 since we received no value that day. Instead of speaking with us and apologizing, Sugar Mountain avoids us and acts as if we've done something wrong. We are so upset, offended and disgusted by this business. 

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 01/11/2017 01:06 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/sugar-mountain-resort-inc/banner-elk-north-carolina-28604/sugar-mountain-resort-inc-aka-ski-sugar-aka-sugar-mountain-ski-snowboard-horrible-cust-1349184. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
1Author
1Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#2 Author of original report

Clearly you work for the resort...

AUTHOR: - ()

POSTED: Wednesday, January 11, 2017

It's not just my account; my significant other and two additional adults in our party were there to witness the entire incident on 12/26. In addition, our receipt as well as the complaint that we filled out in the Admin office are both time stamped showing that we hadn't been at the resort long. Just long enough after we purchased our lift tickets to go get a locker, use the restrooms, put our equipment on, walk to the lift, ride up the lift, ski down, take our ski's back off, go to the front desk who told us we had to go upstairs to the Admin office. Furthermore, since one doesn't expect a rock to be sticking out of the middle of a ski trail, he wasn't exactly on the lookout when he hit it. Not sure where you ski but we typically ski on snow, not rocks. What's more, the issue is that their "no refund policy" must be debatable since another customer reached out to me to inform me that he had a similar experience as us on the same exact day, went to the Sugar Mountain Admin office to complain and THEY DID REFUND HIM HIS MONEY. He said he made a scene and so they basically refunded him to shut him up.

We tried handling it like the professional adults that we are and clearly that did not get us anywhere so now, yes I will continue to air my grievances because what they did is WRONG and DANGEROUS. Check out some of their reviews on Yelp to see that it's not just us that they've mistreated. I'm assuming you must work for or know someone who works for Sugar Mountain Resort to be defending them so passionately. Too bad you can't see this from our perspective. 

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#1 General Comment

Cant....

AUTHOR: Tyg - (USA)

POSTED: Wednesday, January 11, 2017

 They cant be held responsible for the changing conditions. When they opened that day they measured and it was as they reported. As the day goes on with other people skiing AND the weather warming up its going to change how the slope runs. I find it hard to believe that your partner that supposedly has 15 years experience on the slopes wouldnt see a ROCK!!! Either way its ALWAYS at your own risk!!! This is the risk YOU TAKE when YOU go skiing. SOmetimes the snow is nice and firm sometimes its NOT!!! As for your refund, we ONLY have your word that events played out as YOU have described. YOU present ZERO proof to back up your claims of WHEN you left. YOU could have been there FAR longer then YOU report and That is why your refund was declined.

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