5-21-03 SFGAm poor customer service

i got off of school at about 2:00 and got to the park at about 2:45. got settled in at about 3:15 after some lunch and parking. hopped in line for raging bull took 30 minutes for the front row. then i headed over to iron wolf took about 15 minutes for front row. then went on over to batman it broke down and i was going to going on the 3rd next train and i was waiting for the front row. with the break down it was about 30 minutes. Then it was about 5:00, so i headed over to superman.

this is where i expireinced poor customer service. After about 50 minutes of waiting for the front row i was on the ride. then as we where into the flying position they said reset train. The ride broke down. After 30 minutes extra they tested the ride and it ws fine. then we got back on and they called reset. So it broke again. Then it was about 7:00 and the park had been closed for an hour and where still waiting to get on. A ride OP came by and said they'd gaurantee us all a ride. Then we got on the ride after they tested it. They called reset again for the 3rd time. And about 5 minutes later. They closed the ride at 7:15 and we were told to leave. And everyone in line was very mad. We talked to a park manager and asked for some sort of compensation. He said go to guest services and they would give us something. So about 25 people went to guest services looking for some kind of compensation after we were told we would get some by a park manager. Then at guest services they refused to give us anything. Usually great america gives u a pass to go to the front of any line or coupons of some sort when they have problems like this. The man at guest services said: The problem was out of thier control. and they are not responsible for it. but when things like this in your park ocur i think they better step up and take responsibility for this. And there was only 25 people at guest services so they wouldn't be losing money by giving us some type of compensation. it really makesd me mad.

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TRoy
SFGA trips: 3
RC counts for 2003
superman: 3
american eagle: 4
batman: 3
raging bull: 4
viper: 1
iron wolf: 2
giant drop: 0
vertical velocity: 0
deja vu: 0(hope it doesnt stay like this)
whizzer: 0
demon: 0

While I can see your point of being frustrated with the situation, the park did not OWE you anything. Rides break down all the time, the ride op personnel gave it their best shot to get you on the ride (to the point of staying over an hour past closing).

You say a "Park Manager" said that GR would give you something...Are you sure it was? Couldn't it have been a ride supervisor?

Also, what was your (and the other 24 people who went with you) tone when you got to GR? Were you all angry and upset and yelling? If so, you won't get anywhere acting belligerent. I have had issues with SFGAm before and when I went there in a calm and composed manner, things went more my way than if I had gone there upset and irate.

Also, as I said above rides go down for unexpected reasons, especially new ones. Should people who go to CP and can't ride TTD because it's closed due to "technical difficulties" get refunds of Front of the line passes? It won't happen even there. Last year at Coastermania, WT was down all day, despite it being their 'new coaster' and being highlighted as one of the rides for ERT. THe park didn't give anyone anything to make up for it (other than moving its' ERT to Mean Streak)...

EDIT: Spelling

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--George H
---Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)
*** This post was edited by redman822 5/22/2003 10:23:24 AM ***

I don't know what SFGAm's policy is, but the Ride Op should have never guaranteed everyone a ride. I believe if you're in the line before closing(6 pm in this case) and the ride is working properly, then you're guaranteed a ride. But, if the ride breaks down, I don't know what happens in that situation. Then with a Park official also saying that you'd get something, that makes even a bigger mess.

Stuff happens. As best I can tell, "u" weren't treated poorly, you just didn't get to ride.

If you plan to continue posting here, you need to spell out words. This is not instant messaging.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"Pray that your country undergoes recovery!" - KMFDM

Wow. I had a much better experiance with GR. We went in 2001 for Fright Fest. It was when Deja Vu was set to open and it didn't open this day. Also there were several rides not operating. We told them we were really disapointed in the park as usually everything is open, and running just fine. We didn't care about the water rides being closed, but we were really disappointed about Deja Vu not up and running and V2 being broken down. Anyway, When we told them this they gave us a free pass to get in the park the next day, it really paid off because we didn't go in there all mad and upset or be buttholes to them. We were nice to them. We got to ride all the coasters including Deja Vu and V2 the next day.

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Nolimits Rocks!
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stoogemanmoe

Miss coastergames.net? Here is a good site.

exactly my point, Stooge. It is the same any time you deal with a customer service rep, if you treat them nicely, they will be more inclined to treat you well. If you come in there all pissed off and giving them all kinds of attitude, they won't go out of their way to help you.

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--George H
---Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)

The park manager told us we would recieve some type of compensation for our inconvienence. Everyone handled the situation in a controlled mannor. The thing that really frustrated me was that we didn't recieve the compensation we we're told that we would get for the rides issues.

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TRoy
SFGA trips: 2
RC counts for 2003
superman: 3
american eagle: 4
batman: 2
raging bull: 2
viper: 1
iron wolf: 1
giant drop: 0
vertical velocity: 0
deja vu: 0(hope it doesnt stay like this)
whizzer: 0
demon: 0

Hey Jeff, I was treated poorly. I was told I'd recieve something and they didn't compensate me in anyway. It'd be a lot different if "you" were in my shoes pal.

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TRoy
SFGA trips: 3
RC counts for 2003
superman: 3
american eagle: 4
batman: 3
raging bull: 3
viper: 1
iron wolf: 2
giant drop: 0
vertical velocity: 0
deja vu: 0(hope it doesnt stay like this)
whizzer: 0
demon: 0

If I were you, I'd camp out in front of the gates until I got some satisfaction. I'd get a longer signature, too.

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http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~bnoble/
*** This post was edited by Brian Noble 5/22/2003 5:39:45 PM ***

Your signature is about 11 lines over the limit. The maximum is 3. Read the TOS.

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Shockwave @ SFGAm R.I.P 1988-2002
Top 5 Coasters at SFGAm 1)S:UF 2)RB 3) DV 4)V2 5)Viper
Total number of coasters ridden=43

See, this is why parents have to learn the word "No" and teach it to their children.

"Daddy, can I have..."

"No."

"But I--"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"But..."

(Receives the Flaming Eyeball Beam of Death)

"Never mind."

Tell me you paid full price to enter the park. Tell me you didn't squat down to a picnic lunch to share laughs (and a few loud obscenities) with your friends, which saved you money other people were shelling out for food. Tell me somebody in the group didn't slap Tweety Bird in the back of the neck. Please.

Nobody owes you jack ba-diddly squat. You had a less-than-perfect day, not a catastrophic one. The guy told you to go to guest services just so you'd go away; frankly, I can't blame him. Your sense of entitlement is almost stomach-churning. No one has to bow and scrape for you--you had enough discounts to begin with.

-CO

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The CPlaya 100--6 days, 9 parks, 47 coasters, 2037 miles and a winner.....LoCoSuMo.

If a manager of the park says you'll be compensated then you deserve to be compensated.
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TRoy

Who said I had any discounts at all?

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TRoy

Man, lay off the guy. If an employee of the park (especially one in a supervisory position) promises that Guest Services will give the customers some sort of compensation, than sfga26 has a right to feel angered. Especially if this is the case with 25 other customers. That is a communication break down and is an example of poor customer service.

CoastaPlaya said:
"The guy told you to go to guest services just so you'd go away; frankly, I can't blame him. Your sense of entitlement is almost stomach-churning. No one has to bow and scrape for you--you had enough discounts to begin with."

Maybe I'm alone on this, but having a member of staff lie to you simply because "they don't want to deal with it" is a poor excuse. People understand rides break down. I can understand if he waited in line, the ride broke down and then Guest Services simply said, "Well, break downs happen and we do our best." Then I can totally understand the bashing on this guy for demanding compensation. That would have been perfectly acceptable. But having all of these things happen sequentially is not acceptable:
1.) Ride breaks down. Ride-op promises ride will be back up and everyone waiting will get a ride.
2.) Ride breaks down for the night, and a supervisor/manager promises everyone to take their issue to Guest Services and they will receive compensation.
3.) They take their issue to Guest Services as instructed, and they are told they are out of luck. 25 people go home angry because of two false promises.

Having a ride-op promise everyone a ride is not such a big deal, but coupled with the fact that a supervisor/manager promised 25 customers the situation will be dealt with and then it isn't as they were told is a big deal. Most of you guys are all assuming this guy has a season pass, and he probably does (judging by his screen name), so he will be back. He will get more rides on Superman and have better days at the park. But what about those 25 other people? What if this was their only visit to the park and they paid the 40 dollar admission fee? Are they just plain out of luck because two staff members (with one being in a position of authority) gave false promises? SFGAm is my home park, and most of the time they do a good job with customer service. However, even if I am the only one in this thread who believes this, I can understand how he would be angry.
*** This post was edited by StealthNet 5/22/2003 9:49:48 PM ***

But is could also be a case of selective hearing, StealthNet. It's entirely plausible that the "manager" might have said he couldn't give them anything and that they need to go to Guest Relations.

I have heard supervisors say that to many patrons, but if you notice, in the way I phrased it, it is NOT a promise to give ANYTHING...but if you are only barely listening to the content, it might sound as if he HAD promised something.

But, as always, YMMV.

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--George H
---Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)

I believe that you were not treated poorly. They tried to do all that they could do for you.