Its 9.18am and already we have had 4 phone calls asking us our weather policy, below I will explain to you how we work with regards to the weather and your booking. We recently posted about our August cancellations due to wind speeds and gusts being over the HSE limits, and a week or so later we have to do something about the rain – in August !
CAN YOU HIRE WHEN ITS PREDICTED RAIN?
Its fine for our inflatables to be rained on, as long as you keep them up! – All our equipment, including extension leads, blowers and adaptors are ALL IP Rated (Waterproof) – the odd shower throughout the day is fine, simply wipe the inflatable dry with an old bath towel – however, you really wont get any use of an inflatable if its raining all day, all you will get is muddy, wet and be at risk of accidental slips (on or even off) the inflatable, thus deeming it UNSAFE.
No parent will thank you if their child slips on a wet inflatable and goes skull to skull with another child, or slips off the step and both legs go off in opposite directions, and you wouldn’t be best pleased if your children could only but look at the inflatable and not go on it due to a pool of water forming as deep as the baths they so often try their hardest to avoid….
You then have to think about the surrounding area, will the grass turn into mud if there are children on and off the castle, will that create mud on the castles (thus causing you a £50 cleaning bill!), and worse still will the party guests all end up covered in mud and water.
For safety’s sake you should cancel your bouncy castle if you fear that the rain will be too much for the day, like we say, the odd shower is fine, but constant rain will cause you endless problems and issues, and to pay for something that you cant use is something us Brits do not like to do too often.
You will not have to pay for the hire of the bouncy castle, you may lose your deposit/booking fee, but this is not because we are pure evil, this is because we have reserved this inflatable for YOU, and not someone who is booking it for a hall, or indoor venue, this has been reserved and up until now you cannot use it , this is no more our fault than it is yours, none of us choose the weather, however, we could of, quite rightly, served someone else with the bouncy castle/inflatables you reserved.
“WHAT SHALL I DO?” You ask…
Quite simply unless its predicted storms we are unlikely to cancel, we may ring you the day before, or even on the day (NOTE TO SOME: PLEASE ANSWER YOUR PHONE – Why give us a number you dont answer?) and in some cases may send a mass text message – we WILL cancel when the wind speeds or gusts predictions exceed 24mph, but will always call that on the eve before your hire. So if your calling to ask us if we want your money or not the answer is obviously YES we do, but YOU need to make the decision to cancel if you feel :-
- You wont get any use from the inflatable
- There are areas which will get dirty when wet
- The users will injure themselves by slipping over (on and off of the inflatable)
So before you ring us just ask yourself, what you would like to do, are you prepared for not using the inflatable? Are you prepared for any injuries? Are you prepared to pay a cleaning bill? And finally “Is it worth it?”
ARE THERE OTHER OPTIONS FOR WHEN ITS RAINING?
Yes, but unfortunately not ones we can offer, for example you may be able to get last minute Hall Hire, or you could change the venue to a soft play centre, amusement arcade, or even a public house with childrens area, maybe a trip to the local cinema or bowling alley.
