Customer Service Is Everything

Hi LinkedIn,

I hope everyone is keeping safe and well. So, I am bit of stickler when it comes to customer service, I believe it is paramount. I also believe that if your staff are happy and well looked after, your customers will be too.

So, it really gets my goat when you experience the epitome of bad customer service. Sadly, we did during our recent trip at Chessington World of Adventures. We paid for an overnight stay to allow us to really make the most of the place, given there’s a zoo and sea life centre there in addition to the rides. And whilst Friday was enjoyable; there were a lot of rides that were closed for the whole day, sadly ones our son would have enjoyed, like the miniature log flume. We also queued for the Gruffalo ride for 20 minutes only to be told when we got to the front it was closing because it had broken down. But we didn’t let that get us down because we had a second day pass, which we bagged for £30, a bargain right??

At 3pm we went off to our hotel to check in, and go swimming which we had booked prior to our arrival, before heading off for dinner in the evening. This unfortunately was where things started going downhill. The Aztec themed restaurant was fun, the speakers belting out music and noise over the top of anyone who wanted to have a conversation was not. The food was just about edible, but I have to say, I have never queued to be seated for a table and be charged for my dinner before I’d even had it. I can see now why they take this approach, because otherwise they would have scores of people refusing to pay because the meat was tough and dry, and everything else was re-heated slop, swimming in grease. Not a single healthy option, and who serves a roast dinner style carvery on a Friday night in summer?!?! If you wanted anything cold you had the choice of some salad leaves and cucumber.

Then there were the queues for drinks. I have no issue queuing, I’m British, and it’s what we do. I do, however, when you’re met by a member of staff who has a face like thunder, and about as much enthusiasm to be behind the bar as Victor Meldrew. I felt guilty being there even asking for a drink even though I was paying handsomely for the privilege! Our evening was salvaged by meeting a lovely couple with two children who our son got on well with, and a lovely conversation whilst they sat and watched a film in the reception area.

After a long fun day, we retired to our bed to get a good night’s sleep in readiness for round 2. Unfortunately said sleep ended at 06.30am, where we were awoken by someone outside the hotel operating a leaf blower…..in the rain. My husband decided it best to video this, which he did, and duly report this to the front desk, which he also did……in person…..at 06.45am. And it was here we had the first taste of the resorts attempt at customer service, with no apology made for the disturbance, and a rather disgruntled manager stating “oh, I’ll go and have a look”. We never heard anything back. 

So up we rose feeling not as refreshed as we had wanted, even less so after a shower with as much pressure as a deflated balloon and as warm as the Atlantic in Winter. Breakfast was nice enough, although again the food was pretty much all geared towards anyone who was hoping for a coronary for their 40th birthday and could eat for 3 people. I dread to think about the amount of waste coming out daily, given the amount of homeless and child poverty we have in the UK.

We were looking forward to Day 2 in the park so off we went feeling smug with our early access at 9am for a whole hour! Sadly, the weather really wasn’t on our side, and the heavens opened (and stayed open) shortly after we got in.

We thought we’d sneak the Vampire ride in early and get it out the way, however when we arrived that was broken, so disappointed we went on the Gruffalo ride we didn’t manage to get on yesterday. That was cute, but not really what us adult adventurers had come for. Sadly, nothing else was open, us realising that this early bird access was restricted to certain rides, which at the time were not working.

So, lets see what is open……bumper cars! With only a 5-minute wait showing on the app (and in truth it being under cover given it was bucketing down), off we went, as I had a score to settle from the day before where my husband and son had really gotten the better of me. Our feet were sodden at this point, as Chessington haven’t yet discovered a great invention called “Drainage”, and small lakes were forming around the park. So, you can imagine our reaction when we got to the bumper cars only to find, it wasn’t even open. So, what now? Off to the arcades, slightly annoyed that whilst undercover we would have to pay for the privilege to play on anything! Seb wanted to try and snatch a toy, even though we know those machines are rigged like so many of the other games which are there to suck the life out of your bank account, we gave him a couple of goes on it. Well, I say a couple, the grabber broke after the first attempt, so we were literally left hanging, as members of staff seemed to be rarer to find than £1 notes.

By this point, our patience was wearing thin. It was pelting down, no rides running (or ones we wanted to go on), and to top it off, no restaurants or cafés open to shelter in and get a hot drink, even if said drink required a second mortgage to afford. People were literally hiding under any shelter they could find or going to the only place that was properly undercover which was the Sea Life Centre, which you could get round in 10 minutes. It was a really poor experience for us, so it was time to complain.

It was at this point I witnessed the biggest collection of “slopey shoulders” I have ever come across. Not one single person we spoke to said they could help, the enquiry office at the front of the park said they only deal with ticket enquiries, so off to the hotel we went since we’d booked another swimming session at 11am anyway, only to be told they can only deal with hotel issues, we’d have to speak to client services in the park which is by the Magic Castle.

I can assure you we felt no “magic” at this point. So, we asked to speak to the hotel manager regarding our unscheduled wake up call. The manager we were advised was “really busy” but did manage to have the time to tell his deputy that he did investigate it, and as he couldn’t hear anything considered the matter closed. We re-played the video to the deputy, who clearly could hear the noise, and just shrugged her shoulders and said, yes but he’s told me he didn’t hear anything, so there’s nothing I can do. We asked to speak to him again, and again were fobbed off that his workload was simply too heavy to come and speak to us. I believe the correct term for this strategy is called “hiding” also see “passing the buck” and “dodging a bullet”. So, in essence, despite evidence to the contrary we were being told they didn’t believe us and weren’t prepared to do anything to rectify our complaint. By this point, the reception was filling up with people who oddly had the same red faces we did, with one couple also complaining about paying for early access, having driven two hours to get there for 9am entry, only to find nothing open. When they requested at the park to get their tickets honoured for another day, they agreed, however said the hotel booking would not be, and therefore they would have to re-book and pay full price for another stay!

I couldn’t believe my ears. We were tired, wet through and decided to head home. The £30 bargain we thought we had bagged in fact was probably the biggest rip off of the century…….we got one go on the Gruffalo ride. But the ending of this could have been so different had there been a better approach to customer service. Dealing with downs as well as ups is inevitable when it comes to customer service, and I tend to remember places or companies that have swiftly dealt with a complaint and resolved it satisfactorily. That have basically got their act together.

The people at Chessington not only seemed not to care, but they also had no enthusiasm to be there and delight their guests and give them the wonderful experience and adventure that they advertise, but that said guests have also paid handsomely for. You get better by listening to complaints, learning from them and doing better next time, which sadly they seem to have no interest in doing. So, here are my top 5 customer service tips, in particular, when it comes to dealing with complaints.

• Listen. You have two ears and one mouth for a reason, and if a customer has a complaint, have the decency to listen to it in full before making any judgement.
• Know Your Place. If a customer asks to speak to a manager or the overall person in charge, make sure they do. People make complaints for them to be heard and rectified, and if you are not in a position to manage that and authorise any form of compensation, involve the people that are, the complaint will not only be dealt with quicker and to a more satisfactory outcome, you’ll also save yourself a whole load of ear bashing.
• R.E.S.P.E.C.T. This works both ways, and I for one believe if you are given respect, you give it back. Customers complaining are not nuisances, or a “type” of person, they are bringing to your attention unsatisfactory experiences which it is part of your job to either communicate to the people who can deal with it, or manage it where the client leaves satisfied it has been dealt with.
• Straighten Those Shoulders. Regardless of whether you yourself are directly involved in a customer complaint, ALWAYS be helpful. Simply removing yourself from the situation because “sorry love that’s not in my job description” shows a complete lack of empathy, care, or value towards the customer.
• Turn That Frown Upside Down. Just because a customer is complaining, it doesn’t mean bye bye. In fact, complaints are an opportunity to show off your ability to understand and problem solve. It’s an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive, which in the age of social media could save you a whole load of online heart ache. I would recommend asking the client what can be done to resolve this to their satisfaction, and if reasonable, make it happen, turn their frown upside down, and keep them a customer! In Chessington's case they may want to go and have a lil’ read of TripAdvisor….oh, and Facebook……errr and maybe Twitter, and Instagram.

The point is your customers are everything, therefore so is customer service. They aren’t always right, but then neither are you, and if the complaint is genuine and you’ve under-delivered, fix it, otherwise you really are in the wrong business.