Refund rage continues to mount against skydiving club based in Kilkenny

Customers who have paid substantial sums of money to skydive here in Kilkenny are continuing to grapple with lighter wallets, deferred dreams and their queries left unanswered.

For many customers, refund requests made to Kilkenny-based Irish Skydiving Club CLG (who are currently engaging in a legal battle with the Irish Aviation Authority) have been ignored.

Ever since the Kilkenny People first reported on this matter in July last year, many more customers who have paid money to the club prior to the suspension of bookings have been getting in touch.

Among them is Tomás Glynn, who reached out claiming that the company has left him more than €500 out of pocket.

“I paid more money just before the skydive for it to be recorded on video, only to receive an email the night before saying that it was cancelled,” he said.

Tomás told the Kilkenny People he was doing the skydive for charity and had to hastily arrange for it to take place at another skydiving club, so as to not let people down.

He further branded the club’s customer relations as a ‘disgrace’, adding that his requests for a refund were ‘ignored’.

Another customer who has reached out since the previous piece is Enda Davey, who told the Kilkenny People that the company has also not responded to his refund requests after his charity skydive was cancelled.

“The whole ordeal has left a sour taste in my mouth,” he said. “I have better things to be doing than constantly refreshing the website for updates and sending emails. I just want to move on.”

The company’s website states that queries are by ‘email only’ and that the company does ‘not operate any phone line’.

It also states that ‘the club is not in a position to offer refunds’ and that it ‘provides private membership and not consumer vouchers’.

An automatic reply from the skydiving company to email queries states that ‘the club office is closed’ and that ‘it is simply not possible to response [sic] to individual queries at this time’.

The email also states that ‘all skydiving flights and bookings for club members is [sic] suspended’ due to ‘ongoing interference by Irish Aviation Authority’.

Members ‘are expected to exercise patience’, the company website states, ‘and allow your club to resolve this issue’.

The company further state that if member support is not forthcoming, the company ‘will have to seek the necessary legal protections under company law to mitigate against becoming insolvent’.

Further to this, it claims that ‘a minority of members have threatened the club with legal action in the Small Claims Court’.

“This is unhelpful and any such action would only serve to guarantee the total failure of the club,” the company states.

Financial statements for 2022 showed that the company was carrying €436,854 in deferred income at the year’s end.

Deferred income is a liability on a company’s balance sheet that represents a prepayment by customers for goods or services that have yet to be delivered.

The same document listed their cash (and cash equivalents) assets at €103,839 at the end of 2022, a drop from €189,867 in the year previous.

Irish Skydiving Club CLG have been reached out to on multiple occasions to comment on the ongoing issues at the club and to provide their perspective.

An attempt was also made in the last week to reach out directly to the company’s listed director, Mr Eoin Nevin.

According to a separate company document accessed by this newspaper, the secretary for the company was recently changed.

A form confirming the change of secretary was signed by the company director back in November.

It remains unknown when the club’s legal battle with the IAA will conclude, what the outcome will be, or what implications that outcome may have for the future of the company, and its customers.