Complaint Review: Great American Balloon Company

My wife paid about $1000 (in April 2007)for 6 people to celebrate my 65th birthday with 6 friends and relatives.
The choice of a sunrise flight and the distance from our house required us to get a hotel the night before.
Needless to say, at 8pm Friday night, we learned BY CALLING the recording that the flight was canceled. No explanation was provided on the recording.

Saturday morning we could not understand why it was cancelled since the weather was perfect (on the ground).
Since there is no human to talk to on the weekend, we had no choice but to pay for the hotel and try again.

It took more than 6 weeks before the "captain" finally called ( I had called multiple times and left messages) and said there were winds that caused the cancellation.

We have tried to schedule 6 people 4-5 times since August of 2007 and still have not been able to fly. It is the same story every time, Call the recording and be informed the flight is cancelled. I understand weather cancellations.

I called this April (2009) and was told to call back in May for June flights which I did last week and the first available day is the 4th of July weekend which was not possible for all 6 of us. I tried for a Friday and all were filled till July 17. More will open so the human said they will call me when they get more dates. (Anyone what to bet that I never get a call?).

I have complained to the Better Business Bureau with terrible results, I have written to the "fixit" columns in the Chicago with zero response. Actually filed a complaint with the State of Illinois with no response.

Bottom line is that I expect to loose the money as it is almost impossible to schedule the 6 people.
They did suggest a different location that has a higher "fly" rate, but that will cost hotel rooms for 6-12 people and I refuse to spend the money only to discover at 7:30pm that the flight is canceled.

Attempts to obtain a refund have been a waste of time.
I warn anyone attempting to use Great American Balloon (in the Chicago area) the company does NOT believe in customer service. They require the BUYER to take all of the action. I guess that if they were up front with me back in 2007 and informed me that the cancellation rate was more than 50%, we never would have spent the $1,000. When the Captin called back in 2007, he told me the rate of flights canceled and that he wondered how they stayed in business. (Simple, people pay and loose!)

My only thought is a class action (if more people have experienced the same problem).
All I wanted was a refund of money spent for services NOT rendered!
I am guessing that MANY people have experienced the loss but if the tickets are only $100-$200, the fight is not worth it.
At 6 people for $1000 times the unknown number that have experienced the same, It might be worth fighting them and filing a class action for payment with no service delivered. Even airlines do a better job of handling cancellations.

Bob
Homewood, Illinois
U.S.A.