In February of 2013, Michael Purdy (aka Michael Edwin) of Baja PPG (and Paragliding MX) offered a 2 for 1 special for attendance @ one of his flying clinics in La Salina, MX. I reserved a spot in his April (18-21, 2013) "Powered Paragliding - to - Paragliding" clinic for myself and a friend for a total fee of $990. Michael asked that I send him the full amount as a deposit and, as I had by that time known Michael for almost 10 years and he had helped me obtain my PPG2 pilot's rating in the past, I sent who I considered to be a friend the full amount with little worry.
A week or so prior to our intended clinic, I received a call from Michael asking that we postpone until a later date - his reason being that three (3) of the five (5) students booked for this clinic had "backed out" and he just couldn't afford to run the clinic for just two (2) students. My local friend and I had planned this trip long in advance, had freed our schedules to attend, and were very excited about the upcoming weekend. I wanted to give Michael Purdy the benefit of the doubt and agreed to accommodate his request, spoke with my friend, and quickly re-scheduled the clinic for September 2013. Though Michael reassured me (still in April, 2013) that "You and T____ are 100% in for the September clinic. Looking forward to it!", it very soon became clear that Michael's business was in some distress and it was increasingly difficult to get a definitive clinic date from him. When I conceded that this whole thing was probably not going to happen and just requested a refund of my pre-paid fee, he agreed, saying that "A full refund is certainly in order. We need to figure out a repayment schedule for you beginning in June that I can live up to. Please work with me to make a payback schedule we can both live with." and even offered that "You will each get a free clinic credit and VIP treatment that will make you blush! If you have trouble with the existing schedule we can make something work for you."
As April became May and I heard progressively worse stories about Michael's situation and inquired as to when he thought he could repay my clinic fee. On 5/26/13, I received the following from Michael "I will be selling paragliding.mx and you can be sure that your pre-paid visit will be included. I anticipate finalizing the details by July 27. " And on 7/19/13 I received the following "At this moment I have zero income and zero cash. I'm working on a couple of different options to remedy this urgent situation. I am certain you will be paid." By 8/4/13 my emails to Michael began bouncing back with the following disclaimer "Baja PPG is no longer in business due to severe and erroneous online attacks..." I have never been able to contact Michael since and have, of course, never received my refund for the pre-paid clinic fee.
As a business owner myself for over 10 years, I understand and appreciate the ephemeral nature of small business economics. But honesty, integrity, good service and value have always been my business' cornerstones and are what people return for and what makes the best advertising. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to realize that Michael apparently does not subscribe to the same philosophy and has never made an attempt to either re-pay me or, at a minimum, apologize for abdication of his fiscal responsibility. I see that I am not alone and, by this statement, wanted to show camaraderie with my fellow "victims" and state my displeasure with the whole situation for the record.
Baja PPG Reviews
In February of 2013, Michael Purdy (aka Michael Edwin) of Baja PPG (and Paragliding MX) offered a 2 for 1 special for attendance @ one of his flying clinics in La Salina, MX. I reserved a spot in his April (18-21, 2013) "Powered Paragliding - to - Paragliding" clinic for myself and a friend for a total fee of $990. Michael asked that I send him the full amount as a deposit and, as I had by that time known Michael for almost 10 years and he had helped me obtain my PPG2 pilot's rating in the past, I sent who I considered to be a friend the full amount with little worry.
A week or so prior to our intended clinic, I received a call from Michael asking that we postpone until a later date - his reason being that three (3) of the five (5) students booked for this clinic had "backed out" and he just couldn't afford to run the clinic for just two (2) students. My local friend and I had planned this trip long in advance, had freed our schedules to attend, and were very excited about the upcoming weekend. I wanted to give Michael Purdy the benefit of the doubt and agreed to accommodate his request, spoke with my friend, and quickly re-scheduled the clinic for September 2013. Though Michael reassured me (still in April, 2013) that "You and T____ are 100% in for the September clinic. Looking forward to it!", it very soon became clear that Michael's business was in some distress and it was increasingly difficult to get a definitive clinic date from him. When I conceded that this whole thing was probably not going to happen and just requested a refund of my pre-paid fee, he agreed, saying that "A full refund is certainly in order. We need to figure out a repayment schedule for you beginning in June that I can live up to. Please work with me to make a payback schedule we can both live with." and even offered that "You will each get a free clinic credit and VIP treatment that will make you blush! If you have trouble with the existing schedule we can make something work for you."
As April became May and I heard progressively worse stories about Michael's situation and inquired as to when he thought he could repay my clinic fee. On 5/26/13, I received the following from Michael "I will be selling paragliding.mx and you can be sure that your pre-paid visit will be included. I anticipate finalizing the details by July 27. " And on 7/19/13 I received the following "At this moment I have zero income and zero cash. I'm working on a couple of different options to remedy this urgent situation. I am certain you will be paid." By 8/4/13 my emails to Michael began bouncing back with the following disclaimer "Baja PPG is no longer in business due to severe and erroneous online attacks..." I have never been able to contact Michael since and have, of course, never received my refund for the pre-paid clinic fee.
As a business owner myself for over 10 years, I understand and appreciate the ephemeral nature of small business economics. But honesty, integrity, good service and value have always been my business' cornerstones and are what people return for and what makes the best advertising. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to realize that Michael apparently does not subscribe to the same philosophy and has never made an attempt to either re-pay me or, at a minimum, apologize for abdication of his fiscal responsibility. I see that I am not alone and, by this statement, wanted to show camaraderie with my fellow "victims" and state my displeasure with the whole situation for the record.