Good Customer Service at Six Flags?
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It is hard to believe, but I just recently had a great customer service experience with a Six Flags park. Everyone bashes the Six Flags chain for bad customer service and only tells the bad. Today I will tell one of the good stories.
I called to purchase my season passes for Six Flags St Louis. As some of you may already know, I am checking out SFStl for the first time this year to see a new park and also to get a slightly cheaper season pass rate than my home park of SFGAm. The basic season pass price for SFStl is around 66 dollars without tax much cheaper than the 92 bucks SFGAm wants.
Anyhoo, the lady I talked to on the phone must have been the nicest person I have ever talked to when calling a theme park for tix. This includes CP and all the Florida parks. She gave me a lot of helpful hints on the park seeing it was to be my first time there. Also, because I do not live in the area of the park, my season pass price got knocked down to 45 bucks without tax!! After tax I paid around 50 bucks for each season pass! She also warned us that purchasing a parking pass at SFStl would not be a good idea because SFGAm would not accept it most likely.
Just thought I would pass on a GOOD story about the Six Flags chain of parks.
Cheers,
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Bob Hansen
Bolliger/Mabillard for President/VP 2004
I have been to 3 SF parks in my life, (SFGAm, SFStl, SFOG) and I found all of them to be very acceptable for friendly employees. I am very curious to check out SFWOA to see if all the negativity is warranted.
Just remember, if you have a bad experience at 1 SF park, that doesnt automatically mean that the rest of them are the same way. As far as I am concerned that is stereotyping.
Glad you had a pleasant experience Bob.
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"The Peoples Elbow" or "The Spinaroonie?. Cant decide which is the most electrifying move in sports entertainment!!! LOL
....haven't been to the other 2 parks mentioned, but I have spent a *bit* of time here praising SFoG for their friendly helpful employees...
Basically, if the MANAGERS of the park set a good example, I think the employees will naturally follow....and at Viper's closing, the "shirts" at SFoG couldn't have been more friendly if they worked at HW....;)
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Any resemblance between this post and humor is purely coincidental. No robots were harmed in the filming of this episode...The sarcasm filter default has been left ON for your enjoyment.
*** This post was edited by blinkboy14 on 4/17/2002. ***
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-Bob (formerly Coaster Jedi)
Knott's Berry Farm Cuba ~South Park
"Your proctologist called, he found your head!" ~Jerry "The King" Lawler
I've been to three SF park (SFGAm, SFKK, SFoG), and have received reasonable customer sevice at all.
SFoG and SFKK did an excellent job handling my season pass issues this year. I bought my pass at SFoG, but they were having problems with their processing center on opening day. I was able to get an even exchange the folowing weekend at SFKK without a hitch.
Customer service generaly doesn't make that much of a difference to me at a park, though. As long as I'm not treated rudely, it's all good. I don't need to be told to "have a nice day" over and over again. But I don't like to helped when I'm shopping either. I'm a "leave me alone until I need something" type. :)
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"He's blazin' away like the stars in the universe.." A. Vega + M. Rev "Ghostrider"
Customer service generaly doesn't make that much of a difference to me at a park, though. As long as I'm not treated rudely, it's all good. I don't need to be told to "have a nice day" over and over again. But I don't like to helped when I'm shopping either. I'm a "leave me alone until I need something" type.
I am big on customer service. I am usually the first to complain when it is bad and on the other side of the coin I am usually the first to praise when it is good. I often ask to see a manager at a restaurant if my service was exceptionally good and let them know they are doing something right.
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Bob Hansen
Bolliger/Mabillard for President/VP 2004
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The word "definitely" is definitely the most misspelled word on the buzz.
Can't say enough good about CP's CS though.
All parks aren't bad, it's just that apparently some are exceptionally poor. SFWoA and SFA come to mind. However, I found SFGAm and SFGAdv to be relatively outstanding.
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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"
Someone stated earlier that it is the beginning of the season. Take a trip to SFWoA in may and compare the guest service you get when you visit to later in the season. For the last two seasons, in May and early June, the employees at SFWoA were very friendly and enthusiastic about their new jobs. Guest service tends to go down hill unfortunately after that. I know this season will be a lot better.
*** This post was edited by LTLWcbYbe on 4/17/2002. ***
I'm not dissing any of the SFMM employees on this site, but I have never received decent customer service there. In fact, my friends and I expect bad service. We just recently went in January and Deja Vu was closed at opening (no sign being posted at the ticket booths). When we walked up to the employees at the entrance and asked if it might possibly open for the day (we were considering leaving if there was no chance of it opening) the person just looked at us and shrugged his shoulders.
Now I know that they probably get asked that question thousands of times, but you could at least answer with a spoken word. If they ever want to compete with Disney and Knott's on overall customer satisfaction, some big improvements need to be made.
-Adam
Intamin Fan said:
Out of the two days I've been at SFA this year, I thought the employees have been very good, and courteous. But I'm worried that things will change once things get more crowded and crowds get rougher. Time will tell.
And always remember, that your attitude matters a lot too. If you're nasty to an employee, it'll make things worse in the longrun. Trust me, I've worked in customer service, and a nice, patient customer will always get treated better than an angry, mean customer.
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The word "definitely" is definitely the most misspelled word on the buzz.
I could not say this better myself.I work in the produce department of a well known regional grocery/variety store chain in Portland,Oregon.If a customer is polite and reasonable,I will do everything I can to satisfy them,in the event they purchased bad produce or were overcharged on an item.I once had a customer who would not buy cantalopes unless I was on duty as she claimed when I picked them out for her,they were always perfect.
On the other hand,there are some customers who have developed a history of being rude,obnoxious,and unreasonably demanding.Funny how when these people are spotted in the store,something in the stock room requires my immediate attention.
Just remember the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would want others to do unto you.
Murphys'(or corporate)Golden Rule:He who has the gold makes the rules.
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I can fix anything.....where is the duct tape?
To be fair, when discussing this topic for Six Flags or any other chain it should be debated on a per park basis, not on a corporate basis.
There are so many variables that affect employee services and training at the various parks. For instance, b/c Cedar Point has housing available, their employees tend to be older (above 18) than a park like SFWoA. The area a park is in is also a factor. Even amongst the Cedar Fair parks the employees from an urban area may walk in with different attitudes than employees from a suburban/rural area.
I would agree that there are some Six Flags parks that do it better than others, and I think that is true for Paramount and Cedar Fair too.
I have yet to have a bad trip at a Six Flags park. Use the CoasterBuzz search engine with keywords "RobCoasting" and "TR" and you're sure to find reports of exeptional visits to all their parks from SFStL, to TGE, SFA, SFGAd, SFWoA, SFNE, SFoG, SFKK, etc. In my most recent SFA TR, I said something to the effect of, "If you go INTO the park expecting a bad time, then karma or something will most likely bring you what you are expecting."
Well, that's all I got..
Having only been to one Six Flags park (SFWoA), I can honestly say that the customer service as a whole was marginal. I have been a manager of the service industry for many a year and I seem to want to blame it on the management style. The first thing I noticed was that as you are buying your tickets at the front gate you see notes on the walls threatening the employees of disciplinary action if this or that is not done. Not only should these notes not be visable to the public, this form of management is not condusive of high moral, especially in youth in seasonal jobs.
After talking to other employees(ride ops and food service), it seemed that that is the philosophy that runs all the personnel at the park. Motivation by intimidation. It does create an employee that knows his or her job, but does not improve or motivate customer service skills. Most of the people I talked to found that most of the employees are good friendly people, just not happy while at work.
In my perfect world this makes perfect sense about the concerns with basic customer communications between employees and the customers. I do hope that this changes soon as the park grows.
I will be going to SFKK this weekend and can not wait to see how thier help is treated and how they respond to patron interaction.
Big words sound so professional....don't ya think?
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Behold the Power of Cheese
chris said:
I don't need to be told to "have a nice day" over and over again.
Have a nice day! :)
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Off with the trims!
My fellow Americans; Let's Roll!
Woodencoaster.com
"I'm not dissing any of the SFMM employees on this site, but I have never received decent customer service there. In fact, my friends and I expect bad service. We just recently went in January and Deja Vu was closed at opening (no sign being posted at the ticket booths). When we walked up to the employees at the entrance and asked if it might possibly open for the day (we were considering leaving if there was no chance of it opening) the person just looked at us and shrugged his shoulders."
They're not given that information. It's a waste of time to ask people standing at a ride enterance if a ride will open. They are placed there to keep people from entering the queue, that's it, they aren't given any other information. I frankly don't blame them for shrugging their shoulders, how the heck are they suppose to know? The last thing the park wants is for them to be guessing, then having angry cust showing up looking for the ride to open when it's not.
If that's the worst you have to say about SFMM's customer service, I can see how enthusiasts blow things way out of perportion to make a point. That's not a very good one frankly.
*** This post was edited by DWeaver on 4/17/2002. ***
Six Flags Worlds of Adventure is the only park were I find that employees arent to friendly with customer service compaired to other 6Flags parks. I did enjoy 6Flags Great America and St. Louis was outstanding with there service.
Chitown, hope to see you at Great America on June 4th if you can make it .
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Valleyair Security 2002! 8Years Working at Valleyfair !
*** This post was edited by The Beast on 4/17/2002. ***
chris said:
I'm a "leave me alone until I need something" type.
Amen, there. Can't go into a store anymore without having sixteen salespeople jumping all over me...Is it rude to wear a sign that says: "IF and WHEN I need a salesperson, I'll be sure and find YOU"...probably so...;)
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Any resemblance between this post and humor is purely coincidental. No robots were harmed in the filming of this episode...The sarcasm filter default has been left ON for your enjoyment.
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