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View Full Version : My poor customer service story: (long)



Doug W Swanson
11-27-2010, 10:08 AM
Hey all,

Just thought I would pass along my story of poor customer service.

Last summer we decided to take the kids to the Wisconsin Dells for some fun over Thanksgiving Break. We had 2 nights booked at the Wilderness Resort last weekend and were anticipating a lot of fun in their 3 indoor water parks. Our plan was to leave Sunday morning and return on Tuesday. On the Saturday before we were going to leave, I checked out the Wilderness website and found out that one of their water parks (the Wild West, it's also their largest park!) is open limited hours during the off season.
Since it's about a 4 hour drive to the Dells from St Paul, MN we had hoped to get on the road by 9am so we could spend some time in that particular park. Well were delayed a bit because I had Fire Dept call and the freezing rain overnight made the roads super icy.

We did the best we could and made it to the Wilderness at 2:20pm. After checking in, we had less than 30 minutes to spend at the Wild West. The Wilderness website had boasted about bumper boats and a few water slides in the Wild West. We walked in to find that the bumper boats weren't free. They were $4/ride. There was nothing about this on the website.

The kids were a little disappointed but we moved on to the other rides. We went on one family slide together and then decided we had time for one more ride.

My daughter and I grabbed a double tube and climbed the stairs to go on the 'Black Hole'. We waited in line for about 5 minutes when 3 girls got in line behind us. They noticed we had a double tube and told us that we needed single tubes (now we had gone on a similar ride in SoDak over the summer and you could use single or double tubes).

Knowing it was close to closing time, we hurried down to change tubes. At the bottom of the stairs there was a chain across the entrance. Just then a supervisor walked by. I explained that I grabbed the wrong tube and needed to grab 2 single tubes. I also explained we had been in line for 5 minutes and that this was our only chance to go on this ride.
He didn't seem to care. His response: "It doesn't matter. I'm going to blow the closing whistle now."

I was dumbfounded.....

After climbing over the chain (we were still on the ride side of the chain), my daughter and I met up with my wife and son and walked back to our room.

I was pretty steamed. This was our only chance to go on 'The Black Hole' because that park didn't open again until after our departure.

We talked it over as a family. My wife called the hotel manager and explained the situation. All they would say was 'We'll check into it."

Not once did they say "What can we do to make it better".

We then looked into the Kalahari Resort (about a mile down the road) and found that they had rooms available. It was a little more expensive but we decided it was worth it.

So we moved from the Wilderness Resort to the Kalahari Resort and had a great time.

This was our first and last stay at the Wilderness Resort but our second of many stays at the Kalahari.

Isn't there a theory that if you receive good customer you'll tell 5 people but if you receive poor customer service, you'll tell 50 people (or something like that!)?

Thanks for reading my rant!

Scott Shepherd
11-27-2010, 11:04 AM
Sorry for your poor customer experience, but you did the right thing and voted with your wallet and left.

I don't know how many people you tell about it, but I know Honda did a survey some time ago and at that time, it said that if you had a bad experience, you would tell 9 people.

With the internet today, my guess is that's probably more like 900 people.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why businesses don't do more to resolve issues. In most of the cases, people aren't asking for things that would really cost them much, if anything, and it would turn an unhappy customer into a happy customer.

I had my experience with best buy (let's NOT make this a BB thread again), and it's been about 10 years or more now. So over what would have cost them probably $25, they threw away my business for the rest of my life. What's the value on that? If these managers had a brain in their head, they'd realize that trade off. I can give $25, $50, or even $100 into this and get a lifelong customer that will spend thousands and thousands of dollars and tell all their family, friends, and co workers about us, or I can flush them down the toilet and let them say bad things about us for the rest of their life.

I don't get it.

Pat Germain
11-27-2010, 11:23 AM
That is a major bummer, Doug. It's especially disconcerting when we are trying to do something special for our families and lousy customer service prevents it. Good on you for shaking the dust from that place off your feet and moving elsewhere.

People give me a hard time for being such a "Disney-Head". But one of the primary reasons I'm a Disney fan is they will almost always do the right thing to accommodate their guests. (Yes, some people have Disney horror stories, but they truly are the exception rather than the rule.)

And poor customer service has become so common, I truly appreciate it when I receive outstanding service. I stayed at a Hyatt Place hotel last week in Austin. I had never stayed at a Hyatt place before. The staff were so very helpful, friendly and courteous, I look forward to staying there again. (As a side note, I mentioned to the desk clerk that I'm a woodworker as I was admiring the all the trim work in the lobby. The hotel Chief Engineer happened to standing nearby. He took me on a tour of some renovations he was working on and asked for my advice about finishes. I though that was pretty cool. :) )

As I described in another thread, I hired a plumbing contractor for a simple job last week. The young lady who took my calls, arranged the initial job survey, scheduled the job and the inspector was simply outstanding. And I'm going to send her a card expressing my gratitude. She earned future work for her employer and many a positive recommendation for my local friends and coworkers.

Jim Koepke
11-27-2010, 12:50 PM
Isn't there a theory that if you receive good customer you'll tell 5 people but if you receive poor customer service, you'll tell 50 people (or something like that!)?

Well, it looks like the view count on this thread is already more than 50.

When a business makes customers feel unwanted, they will end up reaping what they sow.

jtk

Dan Karachio
11-27-2010, 4:55 PM
Doug, that is depressing that you and your child couldn't have some fun. Imagine a similar scenario in a hospital cafeteria where some witless worker tells a mother and child in a wheelchair with an IV that it's too bad, the cafeteria closed 1 minute ago. I saw this and was about to say something, but this mother was tough and told the little twit in no uncertain terms that her child was getting his pizza and that was it. He backed down. No matter what or where we should never accept this kind of service. As with natural selection we can use our dollars and complaints to make sure the clueless idiots and shoddy businesses die out.

Chuck Wintle
11-27-2010, 5:27 PM
Doug,

You did the right thing by changing venues. Let your wallet do the talking. poor customer service is usually the fault of management...they need to buck up and do a better job...in my opinion.

Shawn Christ
11-27-2010, 6:23 PM
Doug, sorry your trip got off to a bad start but I'm glad to hear it ended well. We took our kids to the Wilderness about a year ago and although we didn't have the poor experience you did we weren't overly impressed either. We thought we would try the Kalahari on our next trip. Based on your "review" it sounds like that would be a good choice.

Gary Hodgin
11-27-2010, 6:34 PM
Sad to hear of your experience. It's a real bummer to have something like that happen, but glad to hear it ended on a higher note. I doubt I ever get up that way, but if I do I'll stir clear of the Wilderness Resort.

Doug W Swanson
11-28-2010, 9:10 AM
Thanks for the replies.

We had heard good things about the Wilderness from some friends so we were looking forward to the mini vacation. I still can't believe how that one guy acted. Just rude...

Shawn,
The Kalahari is nice. We've been there twice and had good experiences both times. There is enough variety in the waterpark to keep everyone happy. It's also nice that there are a few different restaurants on site so you don't have to leave if you don't want to. The theme park was also a big hit with my kids. Indoor go-carts, laser tag, mini golf, etc. The Kalahari pretty much has everything you need....

Thanks again for listening!