Virgin Experience Days Reviews

Name: Virgin Experience Days
Address: Virgin Experience DaysStamford HouseBoston DriveBourne End SL8 5YS, Bourne End
Rating: 3.93

3.9 Rating 2,213 Reviews

73 %

of reviewers recommend Virgin Experience Days

3.9

Based on 2,213 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service
Average Delivery Time	Next Day
On-time Delivery	98%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	100%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	4.1 out of 5

About Virgin Experience Days:

Virgin Experience Days was launched in March 2001 under the name of Virgin Experience. Originally offering experiences to corporate clients as a way of incentivising staff and customers, the company rapidly expanded to bring the Virgin values of quality, innovation, value for money and fun to the consumer experience gift market.
The summer of 2003 was a real milestone for Virgin Experience. In our continual quest to bring the best experiences and unrivalled service, we joined forces with Acorne Sports. Founded in 1988, Acorne Sports is the original experience company and it’s their stamp of approval that confirms our pedigree and ability to deliver unforgettable experiences. Acorne ’s unrivalled reputation, knowledge and relationship with all of the featured centres made them the perfect partners for Virgin Experience, a company dedicated to making sure customers have the very best time. By teaming up, we are able to challenge the way every experience is provided and offer once-in-a-lifetime gifts backed up by friendly service staff with first-hand knowledge.

Visit Website

Phone:

0344 504 0844

Email:

social.media@virginexperiencedays.co.uk

Location:

Virgin Experience DaysStamford HouseBoston DriveBourne End SL8 5YS
Bourne End
SL8 5YS

Write Your review

Tell us how Virgin Experience Days made you happy

Minimum 10 characters

Would you like to add a photos or videos?

Strengthen your review by uploading photos & videos.

Drag files here or browse

(Supported files: jpg, png, mpeg, ogg, mp4 & webm)

What's your name?

Leave this blank if you'd like to publish your review anonymously.

(Optional)

What's your email?

We need your email address to verify that your review is genuine

Please note that we may share your email with the company to verify your order.

Virgin Experience Days 1 star review on 13th October 2022

163

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 1 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“It wasn’t the fault of Virgin but Thoresby Hall are taking bookings for afternoon tea and when you arrive they refuse to serve you unless you have a paper copy of your voucher. They don’t mention this when you book. I argued about it and they produced a laminate card with the words ‘No voucher no problem email it to this address.’ They then printed it. Sadly, while we were eating, several other couples were turned away or forced to pay for their tea and told they could use the voucher next time. Very disappointing experience all around - dirty plate that didn’t get replaced, smallest and least varied afternoon tea I’ve ever had, no refills on tea. Would never go again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Frances, Many thanks for taking the time to leave a review. We're really sorry to hear of the issues you encountered upon arrival at Thoresby Hall. When making a booking, we do advise that you are bound by our suppliers T&Cs and this can sometimes include presenting your voucher on the day. However, we sincerely apologise that you were not informed of this and your overall experience did not live up to the high standards that we would expect for our customers. We really value your feedback and will be sure to pass your comments over to our Quality Assurance Team.

Posted 6 years ago

“Cheese & Wine Tasting. The venue alone should of raised alarm bells. Waited 30 minutes before anyone told us how the experience worked. Cheese - well that was a joke! A few tired tiny pieces of curled cheap supermarket cheese. Revolting. The wine wasnt much better. The whole thing is a con as clearly it’s marketing ploy to get you to buy their hideous and over-priced wine and sign up for emails. We left with 4 other tables and went to the pub. That was the best part.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, thank you for your recent review and we are very sorry to hear of your disappointment following your experience. This is certainly not the experience that we would expect for our customers so we will be sure to pass your comments onto the supplier so that these can be monitored moving forwards.

Posted 6 years ago

“We are Pensioners and the restaurant at Bishopsgate made us feel inferior and uncomfortable it was a gift voucher and was spoilt by Marco Pierre White”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Yvonne, thank you for your recent review and we are very sorry to hear of your disappointment. We can only sincerely apologise that you did feel that you was being treated differently to other guests and we will be sure to pass your comments onto the supplier directly so that these can be monitored moving forwards as this is certainly not what we like to hear.

Posted 6 years ago

“I honestly thought the company had just started out as it was awful from start to finish”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Nat, thank you for your recent review and we are very sorry to hear of this. If you would like to leave your comments so that we are able to look into your query further, please email info@virginexperiencedays.co.uk with the full voucher details and details of your query.

Posted 6 years ago

“This was an awful experience. Staff nowhere to be seen on arrival and generally unhelpful. There was sand in the pool. When we mentioned this they denied it initially then said it was probably because the filters have sand in. There were many grotty unkempt areas. To top it all i was given mouldy bread. When this was raised with the staff they asked if i wanted another one (presumably not mouldy). In the end we went out to eat. We had intended a nice relaxing stay but to have to go out to eat didn’t help our relaxation. The whole building was freezing with all guests wrapping themselves in bath robes and towels in an attempt to stay warm. Many were complaining about the whole experience leading to queues at reception. When i spoke with the manager she asked us to send our photos to her. I told her she only has to walk around her establishment to see for herself. We have made a complaint to Shropley Hall. This certainly is not a place Virgin should keep on their books as it’s NOT A NICE VIRGIN EXPERIENCE.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Lynn, thank you for your recent review and we are very sorry to hear of your disappointment following your experience. We welcome all our customers’ feedback, positive or otherwise, and the information received is passed on to our suppliers for their comments. This helps us to improve and maintain the standards of service we would expect for our customers. We can also advise that your comments have been logged onto our in-house database so that our Quality & Performance Manager can monitor these moving forwards. If you would like to make any further comments on your experience, please send an email to info@virginexperiencedays.co.uk Once again, please do accept our sincere apologises.

Posted 6 years ago

“Stale bread, wobble table, 75% of sandwiches meant for a vegetarian were meat or fish”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Gloria, thank you for your recent review. We are very sorry to hear of this, please email into info@virginexperiencedays.co.uk along with all of your details so we are able to look into this further for you.

Posted 6 years ago

“Disappointing”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, thank you for your review. We are very sorry to hear of your disappointment. If you would like to send your full details over to info@virginexperiencedays.co.uk a member of our team will be able to look into this further for you.

Posted 6 years ago

“Got a voucher for Christmas for tea at Metro deco in Brighton. Poor, disinterested service, we seemed to be making the staff tired by being there. We had to ask each time we wanted something. Had booked the gin experience and asked as we sat down for this and was told it would be offered later. We were offered finally when we had finished and asked for a box for uneaten cakes. Too late then, do not want gin after all the sweet things! Place not clean, very tired. Chipped teapot, dirty tired cake server. It is suggested you dress up, we did, yet the rest of the clientele very ordinary, one covered in building dust. No music. Incredibly expensive for something so mediocre.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Elayine, thank you for your recent review and we are very sorry to hear of your disappointment. So that we are able to look into your query further for you, would it be possible for you to send an email to info@virginexperiencedays.co.uk with your voucher details and all details of the date of your experience. We look forward to hearing from you so that we are able to look into this for you.

Posted 6 years ago

“Total rip off. Shard Experience advertised at a theoretical 46% discount, and then you have to pay additional costs for the meal (which is at a restaurant nowhere near the Shard itself) Voucher advises a 3 course meal plus cocktails all inclusive, and then it's a £49 voucher against the a la carte menu (on which a decent steak on it's own is £40)! It would have been cheaper and easier to book it directly.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, thank you for your recent review. With this experience, we do advise that sides are not included in the voucher and they would need to be paid for as an extra on the date of your experience. We can only sincerely apologise if this information was missed. If you are booking for a Friday or Saturday evening, we do recommend booking 48 hours in advance and if you do this any earlier you would be put on the a la carte menu and £49 will be deducted from your bill. Once again, we can only sincerely apologise if all of this information had been missed and we would like to thank you for leaving your comments.

Posted 6 years ago

“After buying a voucher for my husbands birthday. I found it extremely difficult to book as I had various phone numbers. Steam train ride with over night stay. Only certain days too. Although the team were polite. It seems take your money and run. I cancelled my voucher as I was within 14 days cooling off period. It’s a shame and should be made easier. I spent just under a week trying to book this. Never again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, thank you for your recent review and we are very sorry to hear of your disappointment. With our vouchers, we do recommend activating them upon receipt so that you are able to view the booking details and contact numbers for the suppliers. As this is an experience that we do not book here, we provide the contact numbers for the suppliers so you are able to make your booking. We can see that members of our team had assisted you with the activation process so that you was able to make a booking successfully with your voucher. We can only sincerely apologise if the booking process was difficult for yourself when using our vouchers, however we are happy to hear that you was happy with the service when speaking to our members of our team. Thank you again for taking the time to leave your comments.

Posted 6 years ago

“They told me I had been on a helicopter experience - I haven't. I booked a driving experience and they cancelled it after I had booked some expensive accommodation but before the driving took place, so I lost out twice on that one. Avoid at all costs!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Bryan, thank you for your recent review. We are very sorry to hear that our suppliers had claimed for your voucher when no booking had been made. We can see from the notes left on the voucher that a member of our team has been able to resolve this for you. We are very happy to see that this has been resolved so that you are able to move forward with this. Once again, please do accept our sincere apologies and thank you for taking the time to leave a review.

Posted 6 years ago

“very disappointing waste of a day and 2 nights in a hotel could of done the same in the local farmers field in the car never mind in a 4x4”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Anne, thank you for your recent review and we are very sorry to hear of your disappointment. If you would like to leave your feedback, please email into info@virginexperiencedays.co.uk and a member of our team will be able to look into this further for you and assist you with this. Once again, thank you for taking the time to leave a review.

Posted 6 years ago

“I’m surprised so many people find these experiences so good. We received a gift card as a present, the whole process of exchanging the voucher for an experience takes so long and involves numerous e-mails being sent which gives you a new code for the next stage. We found it really frustrating and would not buy anyone a gift voucher as it isn’t a gift it is nightmare.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, thank you for your recent review and we are very sorry to hear of your disappointment. As this is a Gift Card that you was purchased, you would need to use this as your form of payment on our Virgin Experience Days website so you are able to purchase an experience for a specific experience. Once you receive this voucher, you would then make a booking directly with the supplier in order to fulfil your experience day. This is the way the Gift Card would work and we can only sincerely apologise for any disappointment and inconvenience caused. Once again, thank you for taking the time to leave a review.

Posted 6 years ago

“Car Chase Heros: Horrendously overpriced tosh! The day starts with a 45 minute outdoor queue for no other reason than to try and up sell you a load of stuff that, should have wanted it in the first place, you would have already purchased. The whole experience consists of constant attempts to further part you with your cash. This establishment has to be at the epicentre of rip off Britain. My advice is to save you money and buy a fun car of your own!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, thank you for your recent review. We are very sorry to hear that the day you had taken your experience on, included a lot of up-selling from our suppliers who run this experience. This is not something that we do like to hear of and we will be sure to have your comments logged onto our in-house database so that our Quality & Performance Manager can monitor these moving forwards. We do hope that you did get to take your experience on the day and we do hope that you did enjoy the experience. Once again, thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback in regards to your recent experience.

Posted 6 years ago

“Not an experience I would bother to do again”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi there, thank you for your recent review. We are very sorry to hear to hear of this. If you would like to leave your feedback, please send an email to info@virginexperiencedays.co.uk along with your voucher details and a member of our team will be able to look into this further for you.

Posted 6 years ago

“I bought 2 x hot air balloon tickets as a gift two years ago for my Dad, which have expired time and time again due to cancelled flights and towards the latter part of the second year due to retirement of one of the pilots. My Dad was told to call back in the New Year when the post might have been filled. We did not feel that this was an urgent requirement considering the delays experienced up to now. During this time his mother passed away. When we called back we were told the tickets had expired. I find this very upsetting that we have now lost the tickets at a distressing family time when we have waited patiently for this service during the last 2 years during major patches in service. We were given the option to buy back the tickets at a reduced price but I feel no confidence that the service will be provided during the new time period. As a result I have lost absolute faith in Virgin Experience Days and will not purchase further gifts from this site. I'm very disappointed for my Dad and upset that this can be allowed to happen considering the patience shown during the patches in service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Leanda, thank you for your recent review and we are very sorry to hear of your disappointment. Please send an email into info@virginexperiencedays.co.uk along with your Virgin Experience Days voucher details and a member of our team will be able to look into your query further for you.

Posted 6 years ago

“Horrendous , the worst experience!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Good afternoon, thank you for your recent review. We are really sorry to hear that you did not enjoy the experience you had when using one of our vouchers. To enable us to look into this further, please could you email through your full complaint and the voucher details held to info@virginexperiencedays.co.uk and we will then be able to fully investigate this for you. Thank you again for taking the time to leave a review.

Posted 6 years ago

“BEWARE ! OF Virgin Experience Days/fivestardays BEWARE ! OF Virgin Experience Days/fivestardays During the past week iv had the most horrendously bad service from Virgin Experience Days/fivestardays I am totally unhappy with the way they have treated me. They are using their refund deadline, to avoid refunding me as would be reasonable and fair in the circumstances of my complaints etc. The following is an example of my complaints, they just come back with bland brush off replies..... When I first purchased the experience it was technical, laborious worrying etc. but I needed to deal with it in order to be in time for my brother’s birthday. He then thanked me for it, but asked if I would get it refunded, as it was too much grief to deal with, what with all the register this, activate that, then find a code to give the restaurant etc. etc. etc., his head was spinning, and he could not take the risk that he’d make a mistake only to turn up with his wife and be turned away as many have when you start looking them up. I then had to apologise and give him the cash instead. It was all very embarrassing, costly, and inconvenient to say the least. they wouldn’t refund me, so I Reluctantly had to go through a Massive palaver to get it exchanged to my daughter in law for her birthday. I’ve just received it, and although I am Very Unhappy about her having to validate, book qrcode etc. etc. when its supposed to be a nice present that doesn’t give her any grief, but they forced me to accept that. The big problem is that she is going to end up being Very confused and disappointed with it even if it was correct, even with all its inconvenient rules and instructions, but it is Stupid as it asks her to click here on a piece of paper!. You imagine receiving this as a present, you think you will just go to the restaurant and hand over the voucher, but oh no you’ve got to go through all the work first, but that said, she will read as far as the 12th line and think what the hell am I supposed to do regarding where it says “please click here to activate your voucher” I DO NOT WANT HER TO BE CONFUSED OR TO THINK WHY THE HELL HAVE YOU GIVEN ME A LOAD OF AGRO WORKING OUT AND A LOAD OF UNCERTAINTY AND EXTRA WORK FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also people complain of 2nd rate service being made to feel second class with second class treatment all voucher holders pushed to 2nd class seats etc, staff saying theyv never heard od virgin exp or fivestar etc! THEY STILL REFUSE TO REFUND ME JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN. THEY SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Good afternoon Paul, thank you for your recent review. We are sorry to hear that you and your relatives have experienced problems when using or redeeming with one of the vouchers held with us. We are an experience day voucher provider, and whilst we do provide the vouchers for the experiences, we do not make the bookings in house and the redemption/booking processes of the vouchers do vary with each supplier. Whilst we have not been provided with your voucher details on this occasion, it does seem that the voucher you have purchased is one that does need to be activated through our website and then also redeemed with a third party supplier in order to gain a QR code that the restaurant themselves do recognise. This is due to the restaurant not recognising our direct voucher, however once the QR code is received after activation, this is accepted by themselves and can be scanned by staff on the day of the experience when attending. We do advise of all of this information, and do aim to make the booking and redemption process as transparent as possible, upon activation of the vouchers to ensure that the correct procedure can be followed for the voucher held and therefore eliminates any confusion when trying to redeem. We do advise on the voucher itself to ensure you do visit our website in order to view these booking instructions, and then all booking information will be provided to the recipient. The link provided when the voucher has been sent through via email which does advise to click in order to activate, cannot be amended to advise otherwise when the voucher and the relevant information is printed and we do apologise if this has been misleading. We do apologise again for any confusion that has been caused by the procedures in place by the supplier of this experience, and if any confusion does arise when redeeming the voucher, please do ensure you call through to our team and we will be more than happy to help. Thank you again for taking the time and leaving a review on this occasion.

Posted 6 years ago

“over the last few days, iv had the worst, blase, bland, rude, unhelpful arrogant customer servicenot that iv Ever had. virgin and their mates fivestardays.com have messed me about badly. I am in a rush now but suffice to say be Very careful before buying from them, as your wife husband or whoever will not thank you/will be annoyed with you for sending them a load of grief that they have to go through to get the present. I will post here the more detailed grief iv had soon. I did tell them I was going to tell everyone I could on all platforms but they robotically just trotted out we only have a 14 day return ignoring the fact that they have sent me a voucher that confuses the reader and expects me to give that to my daughter in law as a birthday present not to mention id already given it to my brother who gave it back to me cos its too much agro hed rather just go and pay with cash or card and swerve all the work uncertainty and agro that is entailed in these vouchers THEY ARE JUST PURE WORK AGRO AND UNCERTAINTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I.E. THE ONE THEY SENT FOR MY DAUGHTER IN LAWS BIRTHDAY SAID CLICK HERE ON IT! HOW CAN YOU CLICK PAPER???????????????????????????????????”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Good afternoon Paul, thank you for your recent review. We are sorry to hear that you are disappointed with the service received when calling through to our team. We have looked into this for you and we can see that our team have been there to assist you and ensure that the use of the voucher held is as easy as we endeavour to make it. We can see that you did have to leave the chat facility when you were speaking with the team, and therefore this could not be fully explained, we do apologise if this did leave you disappointed. We can then see that you have since been liaising with one of our team in regards to the voucher, and it is in our best interest to ensure the use of the voucher held is as smooth as possible for the recipient. Due to the nature of the voucher held, this does have to be activated and then a new code for use at the restaurant does have to be sent through by a third party supplier as the voucher you currently hold is not recognised as payment. This is explained in full with instructions on how to receive this at point of activation, and the link to enable this to be activated is on the voucher itself. We do apologise again that you do feel this way, and it is with regret we cannot refund the voucher due to it being exchanged previously and being outside of the policy for a refund we do hold. Thank you once again for leaving your feedback on this occasion.

Posted 6 years ago

“We had a “Cocktail and Cabaret” via virgin experiences - the cocktail turned out to be a glass of Prosecco, we (along with everyone else with vouchers it seemed) were given seats with no view of the show. Also we were told to get there at 7:30pm when the show didn’t start until 9pm - it felt like we were made to get there early to spend money on the extortionate drinks (£34 for 2 G&Ts)!! Honestly was very very disappointed as I had high hopes for this but we left halfway through”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Virgin Experience Days is rated 3.9 based on 2,213 reviews