Update: As soon as we posted this review and mentioned Cliff's Amusement Park on our podcast, the Admin for the Park reached out to us. They also made the effort to speak to the employees that were working at the time of our experience and listened to the list of concerns we mentioned during our podcast. Cliff's Amusement Park is working to resolve this issue as soon as possible, and they've made a conscious effort to be very, very clear in their rules/regulations when explaining them to their employees and how employees should respond to Customer Service issues. We will be returning to this park and hope to have the next two Pro Bumper Car League meetups at Cliffs!
We're pretty disappointed by our experience here. We went here earlier this summer for a group picnic and had a blast. Since it's an amusement park, we took a lot of photos and videos, then featured them on our Youtube channel and podcast recommending Cliff's as a go-to location in Albuquerque. In fact, we had such a great time, this was the FIRST place to come to mind when CheapGeek1 (of Youtube) decided to start the local Professional Bumper Car league. Well, we ran into problems right off the bat. We had each member of our Pro Bumper Car club purchase the "Magical Christmas Pass". -We were all under the assumption that a "Christmas Pass" would be good for the 2015 Christmas season. A few of us (okay, two of us) even called Customer Service and ordered our tickets that way, confirming several times over the phone with agents that the passes were "good for Christmas".
When members of our group showed up, we were told by the ticket scanners and ticket guests that these were "single day passes". No where on the website or the information some of us were provided over the phone indicated these were single day passes. For the money, the price of the "Christmas Pass" and the limited amount of open rides made logical sense to us.
Even if these were single day passes, then we'd just be mildly frustrated/upset. We called Customer Service after the Guest Relations desk immediately/rudely/flatly said "No, if you want to go for All of Christmas, you need to buy the 2016 pass for $89"...When we called Customer Service, confirmed our tickets, they put us on hold, and then hung up on one of my team mates. So I called back, gave my ticket info, asked a single question, and was immediately hung up on too. Put some clarity on your website, and train your agents to use better Customer Service than to hang up on people who aren't being rude, raising their voices, or being irate (YET).
Trying to not let any of this experience bother us, we proceeded to the Bumper Cars. Our team rode a couple rounds, when the Bumper Car attendant was pulled aside by some skinny kid and sternly talked to. The Bumper Car attendant then told us we were unable to use cameras at all in Cliffs, and that if we didn't put our cameras away, he wouldn't be able to let us get on the Bumper Cars. What?!??! Nevermind the fact that earlier this year we used a video camera without hassle in the park, on the bumper cars. This kid just told us his supervisor said we weren't allowed to use our cameras at all inside the park! Are you serious? When we asked to talk to the supervisor, the supervisor was nowhere to be found. We were REALLY UPSET at this point. Even though we know our rights when it comes to public attractions and amusement parks, we begrudgingly put our high-end action cameras away. Oh, did I mention these were Action cameras with protective cases? Anyhow, we continued to ride a few rounds, in which other individuals used their smartphones and video cameras to record their bumper car rides, or had family members record their bumper car experiences while physically dangling over the edge of the bumper car attraction (an actual safety hazard). So, it's okay for someone with a simple smartphone (not in a protective case) to dangle over the side of the bumper car attraction and record video, but the moment I break out a camera someone threatens to kick my entire group out of the park?
This treatment of customers and our experiences with in-person and phone customer service will definitely be shared with my travel podcast audience. It would be one thing if it were just me, but for an entire group of lackey, normal, everyday Bumper Car enthusiasts remotely connected to me by a common interest of Amusement parks to be treated badly speaks VOLUMES. read more