We have family in from Israel. A 16 year old girl and a 12 year old girl. I have a 9 year old boy and a 12 year old boy. We lined up Thursday with the trillion other people who went, and when we got to the front, we were advised to take the Junior course. No room Thursday, naturally. So I jumped on my phone to make reservations for Friday. 4:00 Junior Course. Available! Yay!
Come back the next day at the appointed time. Lady who has clearly been dealing with way too many annoying people for several days takes our waiver, takes our money and sends us up the hill. The kids get their equipment on, we get to the red-rope-of-no-refunds and then go to see the junior course. It was basically a playground jungle gym. Very disappointed upset kids (especially the 16 year old who could bump her head on the course if she walked under it).
We asked if we could upgrade. No. We asked if we could buy new tickets. No. Too late. The attendant sympathized and called the supervisor but the supervisor apparently said no. (Incidentally, the attendant, and almost everybody else actually on the course, were very nice, although were afraid for the jobs if they tried to go any further.)
Refunds? No. Once you "pass the red rope," which is before you see the course (or even get the safety bulletins) it's no refunds. So the kids went on the relatively lame junior course, since, after all, we'd paid for it.
Well, okay, so afterward we went to complain. Supervisor argued. "But all the stuff online says what the differences are. You should have read all of it. It's your responsibility."
Well, quite frankly, I wasn't planning on filing some sort of legal action. It is was it is. Policies are what they are. I just wanted some vague customer service given that we weren't terribly happy. Instead, I was cross-examined and advised that they were going to check the video tape from yesterday to see whether the person who advised us saw all of the kids and their heights, etc., since, obviously, we must have been lying when we said we were advised to take the junior course. Not, "Gee we're sorry you were disappointed. These are the policies, though. Here's a suggestion/complaint form."
No, we got, "You're lying. I'm checking the video."
That actually made me angry. We walked into the office and were supposedly getting the manager's name and a complaint form. My voice was too loud, so the manager (who still hasn't, at this point, given me his name) asked us to exit the building as we are being disruptive, where he will give us his name and his supervisors name, etc.
When we exit the building, he called for the sheriff on duty and advised that he was engaged in an "altercation" with some people and requested that the sheriff arrive. At this point, incidentally, I was sitting on the bench outside. Hardly an altercation. But okay, I'll wait for the sheriff. Sheriff, who was busy doing much more important things, ends up being summoned to the outside of the building, and since he was doing more important things, it took him a little while to get there, while we, and our guests, wasted more time.
At which point the sheriff asked what was going on and was advised by the manager that an overweight 45 year old guy sitting on a bench, his wife, and a bunch of kids were intimidating him. The sheriff kind of rolled his eyes at this point, instructed the manager to give us his name, and told us to talk to the county parks department, which, basically, was what we were trying to do the whole time. The only way to get the manager's name was to have the sheriff write it down and hand it to us.
So, in summary:
(1) Don't do the junior course if you're over 7.
(2) The county, which, I assume, outsources the operation of the park, should advise the operator that customer management policies must be reviewed. For one, upgrades should be permitted from Junior to Senior by payment of the increase in price. Reading the description of the courses really does not at all indicate the difference between the two courses, and you really need to see them to understand.
(3) The managers at the Treetop Adventure Course need significant lessons in managing customer service and expectations. Quite frankly, I would have been surprised if he had the authority to provide refunds or coupons or something to immediately compensate us for dissatisfaction (though I think he probably should have that authority). However, arguing with the customer and telling them that they are at fault, and advising them that their story is going to be checked out by "review of the tape," which escalated the situation, is precisely the wrong thing to do. Calling the sheriff was kind of pathetic also, really. But at the end of the day, fix the damn customer service. read more