Alton Towers Guest Services

[henry96]

Feel free to delete if there's another topic but I couldn't find it. :P
Well I'm very impressed with the guest services at the Towers. After going to Thorpe Park guest services when Saw was down nearly all day they simply said 'we can't help that and it's not our problem' even though I had travelled 3 hours to ride it. They weren't exactly eager to help.

The other day, however at Alton, thirteen was down all day so although I had ridden before, my friends hadn't and weren't happy so we decided to go to guest services expecting well, not much really. However after filling out a form they were happy to quickly hand over three vouchers to come back for £10 each and gave us a slip entitling all three of us to four priority passes on rides of our choice for next time we visit!

Was really pleased with this because we were thinking of a bounce back ticket but this is much better Really shows how great the staff our there!

[BSwiss]

I have to agree about Thorpe Park. I have only been once as I live a long distance away. Going primarily to go on Stealth and Saw I was obviously gutted that I didn't manage to get on either due to 2 hour queues and Stealth's continual breaking. We bought fast tracks for 6 of us for Stealth for £24. Obviously it broke again and the staff tried to replace those with the cheaper fast tracks tickets worth £18.

I've worked in a hotel which at times shares parallels with theme parks and the guest services aspect and we were always told that to breed loyalty in times of aversion we should over-compensate not under-compensate. When you take and jumper with a small stain back to the shops to change it, you don't accept a replacement if its got dog turd smeared on it.

The ride operators themselves were friendly and approachable but there is just a problem intrinsically with the way they are forced to handle these situations and I think how the park is run.

I was very excited to go and organised the trip for me and my friends, but I wouldn't do it again. That's losing the park upwards of £150 a visit due to issues that could easily be avoided.

[henry96]

Yeah, I'm always disappointed at Thorpe. The rides are great but the general experience is miles off.

[TB2]

I think it can be a hit and miss to be honest.

Like two years ago, we got stuck on Detonator for 15 minutes during Thrill Chill. Now when we got off instead of being given fastracks we were given free tickets to come back again another day. Now I don't really understand the logic in it, it was a nice gesture but it wasn't really that uncomfortable and seemed over the top.

And yet on other occasions when we have a genuine complaint like once I went in to complain that they had Stealth, Colossus and Rumba down and yet still overselling fastrack (we're talking all fastrack and main queues full), all they could say was sorry and there was nothing they could do. It's almost like the parks don't have a proper system in place. Obviously both situations were different but being a bit more consistent wouldn't go amiss.

[James6]

I have always been extremely impressed with Alton's customer service, but I've still not received a reply to a letter that was sent almost a month ago now. Shocked to be honest, it's the kind of service I expect from Thorpe...

[Vik]

Alton Towers Guest Services are normally quite good, and given some of the abuse they no doubt suffer throughout the day, the staff still manage to be very polite. Though I too am still waiting for a reply to a complaint where I requested a written reply. That was over a month a go, which is quite poor, considering it was the member of staff who suggested I have a written reply.

[henry96]

Guess I wouldn't know about that then- never written in. I had the same situation. Stealth, Saw and Slammer closed most of the day, had ultimate fast track so when they did open, went there and the fast track queue for Saw was 30 minutes. They really have a problem with overselling. Barely even a 'sorry' for all that either. Even priority passes for another day would be well received but they just shrugged off the complaint.