Interesting take on GL policy

Too many frowns at Geauga Lake

At first glance, it looks the lady has a legit gripe. Of course, this is only one side of the story. The PD writer is pretty hard on GL.

---

but the sign she showed us was far from the ticket booth where we paid, and it didn't list the water park or some other rides as being closed.

---

It's one thing when a few rides are closed, especially because of maintenance or weather. But if the entire water park is closed, and guests aren't informed of that before entering, that's a different story.

I also think the writer was biased. He made it sound like the manager's were harsh and rude, when they probably kindly explained the situation. Also, are the admisson prices the same from when it was owned by Six Flags? I doubt they changed it, but ya never know. I just look at this situation like this: If you get coupons to a local grocery store, and it changes to a different company, can you still use the coupons there? Same thing, just a larger financial scale.

-Eagle- *** Edited 7/11/2004 10:52:24 PM UTC by sean_s_eagle***

Yeah, I agree with you Sean S., I really didn't think that CF had to redeem those free tickets. The park is clearly no longer Six Flags which it says clearly on the ticket. Also, it would be next to impossible to print and put in the map all the rides that are closed every day. Most rides probably get found that they need to be closed during the pre-opening matienance. It would be impossible to print that many add ins in that short of a time. Finally, I'm sure they had a good reason to shut down the waterpark, maybe they found a diesese in it or something. As I'm sure GL had a good reason to close every ride they closed that day.

Yeah, the author sure interpreted a lot from a couple of paragraphs, and that's lame. The author wasn't there, and doesn't know what's going on or what managers said.

What do you expect from the Vain Pleader? It sucks having only one paper on town.

Maybe I missed it, but I couldn't find a link on the GL web site stating attraction status. Of course a simple phone call could have confirmed what was open and running and what wasn't, and avoided the whole situation. I learned a long time ago that you never assume anything if you can help it. *** Edited 7/12/2004 12:25:00 AM UTC by Dutchman***

Does Cedar Fair set aside a budget for comp admissions? Seems to me that the benefit of such a program would far outweigh the cost. I'm talking about something seperate from the free admission tickets--something seperate that they could actually measure and track. The result would be the same--free entry into the park.

MrScott

I work at Geauga Lake, and I am not aware of any day, after Memorial Day, when the entire water park was closed, except for bad weather.

While I can barely remember yesterday, let alone June 7th, I am fairly sure that the water park was open that day, though at that time, the hours for it would be 11am-7pm.

So I am not sure what she means by the water park being closed. If she arrived at the park at 10, and left by 11, yes it was closed. It is always closed for that one hour.

Anyway, this is just clarification about my recollections of the water park status, and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Geauga Lake Family Amusement Park, Cedar Fair, LP, and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates, or of their employees.

-Sam

I would not be too quick to shoot down the answer from the Plain Dealer. When the whole uprising regarding the Read To Succeed Program was raised I said early on that the park should be proactive and just swallow it this year. I guessed (and it appears that I was right) that the negative publicity would far outweigh any loss the freebies would entail.

That happened in May. Here we are in mid-July and the issue is still an issue. It never should have come to this.

I am a big fan of Cedar Point but I have seen many areas that could be improved upon. One big one is that the Administrative folks don't empower the mid and lower level staff folks to make decisions. I could cite tons of examples where I had a guest complain about something and I was told to be firm and not give away the house. So, of course, I would hold the company line and the guest would become more and more upset...eventually demanding to speak to my superior. That person would toe the party line, making the guests get hotter still. Then, my boss's boss would get involved and tell me to go ahead and discount or give a freebie.

In the rare occurence that my boss's boss would hold firm the guest would write a letter to the CEO and it would get kicked back to us to offer a discount for next year or something like that.

So, what good did that all do? None. If I had been given the authority to use my judgement and try to pacify the guest I would have likely succeeded at a cost significantly less than the outcome. But, as the guest got more and more upset there was going to be a higher price to make them happy.

I don't know if the park was right or wrong in the case cited in the paper but I do know that there is room for improvement. All that requires is for the big guy to loosen the reins.

There's one thing I leared while working in various places (both as a manager and as just a regular worker).....Customer service costs money, but the benefits far outweigh the cost.

I used to work at a video store (Family Video for those of you that know the place) and it was good. All the employees had the power to do whatever it takes to make a customer happy. There were plenty of times where I would wipe out a 5 dollar late fee because they said they returned them only a few minutes late or they brought their other movies back on time but missed that one. It didn't matter because as long as the customer was happy, they continued to do buisness with us (not to mention FV has better prices than just about anywhere)

It would be nice if CP would adopt this stance because it would prevent un-necessary headaches to the customer. Obviously a resort host (or whatever the bottom level desk-clerk at say breakers would be called) shouldn't be able to give a free weekend stay for 4 with admission away, but why not be able to offer the customer a free starlight or a pass good at any CF park for one days admission.

Anyway my thoughts on the situation

Before people jump on me, let me say that I don't think each and every employee all the way down to a red tag should be empowered. That wasn't what I was getting at. But, I certainly think anyone in a full time position should be given some parameters to work with.

The one thing I do now since I have been empowered to make decisions is that I often ask the employee who is dealing with an unhappy guest to give me suggestions on what a fair resolution would be. Then, I let that employee go back out and fix the situation. That gives the employee some sense of accomplishment right there.

I can't prove it but I would bet money that the decision to not accept those "free Six Flags passes" came right from the top and it was really bungled.

I have to say... I was there 3 days in a row for CoasterCon and I only finally noticed the sign on the last day. It is off to the side in a bush and I could see how people could miss it.

Family Video, hmmm.... sounds familiar. That could have been my 5 dollar late fee! Just joking, I've only heard of the place. Anyway's, even from what I said earlier, I agree with ya Chief Wahoo. If the worker's were given leeway, is that how you spell it, then they'd be able to solve the problem right there and then, insted of having it go all the way up to the top managers and stuff.

-Eagle-

I could see the family showing up in T-storms, 50+ mph winds, and Tornadoe warnings and wondering why all of the rides are closed, asking for refunds. *** Edited 7/18/2004 3:45:57 AM UTC by Topthrill420***

"I could see the family showing up in T-storms...." Yeah, I see what you mean. I think if they let employees use their common sense( as long as they have some) to solve problems with guests, the situation could come out alright.

And, when a customer has to go through an employee, then their supervisor and then their supervisor's manager, they are probably so mad that they want to leave and question whether or not they will come back. Now, how did that solve anything?