Field day trips completely scammed hundreds of UGA students the weekend of September 3rd through September 5th. The following is the email I sent to their customer service team.

“September 6th 2021

To whom it may concern:

This letter is a demand for a full or partial refund of a Field Day event that took place in Charlotte, North Carolina on September 3rd - 5th 2021.

Hello, 

I attended your field day event for the Georgia versus Clemson game in Charlotte, North Carolina and I believe your company owes me an explanation for the deceptive advertising practices demonstrated through various promotions. To begin, I am a 20 year old UGA student and purchased my ticket with a group of 21+ individuals. You can imagine my surprise in learning upon arrival that I would be forced into an entirely different tailgate for underage individuals, leaving me separated from my peers. Undoubtedly, this is deceptive of your company to exclude the details surrounding separate tailgates because in traditional events with 21+ bars, there are wristbands to distinguish the age barrier like your company utilized for the concert on Friday evening. Nevertheless, I did follow your company guidelines and attended the under 21 tailgate to find a desolate space with undercooked hot dogs being served. In case you didn’t know, consuming undercooked hot dogs is known for causing meningitis and blood infection and other flu-like illnesses. This is unacceptable whether it’s 21+ or 18+. I refused to eat the obviously undercooked food that was included in my ticket purchase. As an 18+ attendee, this was an obvious attempt to separate your tailgates by allocating all your resources to the 21+ tailgate and falsely advertising the event description to those who are under the age of 21. According to 2011 US Code Title 15 - Commerce and Trade Chapter 22 - TRADEMARKS (§§ 1051 - 1141n) Subchapter III - GENERAL PROVISIONS (§§ 1111 - 1129) Section 1125 - false descriptions are forbidden.

In addition, I have a separate complaint that is unrelated to my first claim. During the Two Friends concert on Friday night, your security team sought to falsely throw my peer out of the concert because another one of your customers made a false accusation against them. I told security that their accusations against my colleague were false and in fact that same person had shoved me into the fence and had been the cause for the bruises under my arms. I can attach a picture for reference if you are curious regarding the extent of the bruising. Your security team failed to investigate the situation and take necessary precautions ensuring the safety of every customer present.

I have never had such a horrible experience with food, security, and quality tailgating before attending your Field Day event. I look forward to discussing how I will be compensated for your company’s negligence at a Field Day event in Charlotte, North Carolina on September 3-5, 2021.”

On Tuesday September 7th 2021, I was put in direct contact with a customer service representative for Field Day Trips. This representative responded with what I have pasted below. 

“Unfortunately due to the amount of underage drinking that happened (from students passing drinks around) at the Friday night event, the City of Charlotte took away one of our permits and FORCED us to separate the tailgate from of +21 and under 21s. We found out about this the morning of the tailgate. We tried all we could do to keep you together but it was matter of either a separated tailgate or no tailgate at all. We were just as upset as the students.
The separation had nothing to do with us, and everything to do with the city of Charlotte. We are sorry you did not enjoy your experience as we would have liked. Unfortunately we are unable to provide you with any compensation or refund for this experience. We greatly appreciate your feedback and hope to see you at one of our events in the future.”

In response I told the representative the following:

”I understand the separation was not your company's fault, however, I feel as though it would of been appropriate to notify under 21 attendees about this incident and offer a refund for the probable amount each person would pay for the Saturday tailgate. You have to understand the outrage I felt when I walked into an environment with barely any music playing, undercooked hotdogs, and upset and angry student fans as well. This was not at all what was advertised to me when I was promised an environment in which I could hangout with my peers. I don't even drink, I just wanted to be able to dance with my friends until the game started which I was not allowed to. I am extremely unhappy with your company and will be sure to never book with y'all again. Traditionally it is appropriate of a company to refund attendees if something unexpected were to happen that completely changes the promises made by your company. I barely have any money to begin with and it is incredibly disappointing you won't refund me for what you neglected to provide me with.”

In addition, other students who were scammed by this company have left negative reviews on their instagram @itsfieldday, please see their most recent post for reference. I cannot speak personally for the experience provided in the 21+ tailgate but from the instagram comments I have been led to believe there was undercooked hot dogs from the comment “literally got food poisoning from the hotdogs at the tailgate.” Please comment below if you can explicitly detail the experience you faced within the 21+ tailgate.

Field Day Trips owes its customers a partial refund for its company’s negligence and poor management tactics. It is extremely immoral of a company to take advantage of college students seeking to have fun during a football weekend. Please sign this petition to raise awareness for what this company did to its customers and at the bare minimum I hope other college kids who are looking at Field Day for future events now know that this company will rip them off.