Rain checks, why not?

^Don't you go just for Dragster though?? :P

JuggaLotus said:

The PointGuru said:

I am with the extremely vocal minority of guest who visit the park each year who are, if nothing else, are mildly disappointed if my favorite ride is closed the day I happened to go to the park.

I keep fixing it for you hoping you'll figure it out on your own.

Try looking at it outside the .005% who are not coaster enthusiast, they just enjoy coasters. It is an overwhelming majority who say almost nothing at all but it is what everyone else thinks. Hope you can get that.

So now you're a mind reader as well?

Your power knows no bounds.

In a world where the laws of physics don't apply, mind reading is most definitely a possibility.

The PointGuru said:

The park is responsible for delivering the service they advertise and that guest expect. Customers have a funny way of deciding on their own what they expect. Merely, flashing a message on a LED sign saying you may not be able to ride this new coaster we have been telling you so much about; but, we will still take your money does not meet the parks responsibility to customers.

No where in CP's advertisement do they guarantee you that you will ride anything. The one thing I dont think you understand is that CP is charging you to enter the park and that is what you are paying for. Once you enter the park you got what you paid for and what you do beyond the gate is up to you and if the weather prohibits that then CP is not responsible. You are paying a gate fee and not a product.
As for a why that you want is becuase of the fact that even tho the coasters may be closed, all of the shops, food locations arcades and shows are opened. Why would CP want to allow you to come into the park at 10am and stay till midnight and then give you a free day just because some of the coasters are not running in the rain. Yeah they may make a couple extra bucks off you if you buy more food or buy another souvenir, but they have lost the $50 allowing you back into the park for an extra day.

Again, I'm not sure if people are not understanding what a rain check is or what. If somebody stayed from 10 AM until midnight they would not get a rain check. A rain check is given as the person is leaving. If a guest comes to the park at 10 AM and it rains at say 1:00 PM or their one and only ride they came for shuts down, they could be given a rain check as the leave the park for the day. If they don't want to leave, they don't have to, they can stay and enjoy the rest of the attractions just no rain check. The park just sets a time limit when rain checks will no longer be issued (say a couple of hours before the park closes). That is why if a single ride shuts down, coupons should be the better option. You are also assuming that the disgruntled guest who paid $50 and not get to tide their favorite ride would want to spend another $50 to come back to the park in hopes that maybe they would be able to ride their favorite ride. That is a big assumption, the rain check makes it more likely that person will return.

There is an implied guarantee in advertisements. Whether there is a guarantee or not, it is the customers expectation.

So now this is what i would do under your rule. I would get to the park at 10 and ride a couple of rides....leave the park and get a handstamp before 1. At 1 when it starts raining leave the park and get my rain check. Later that day when the rain has stopped use my hand stamp to get back into the park for the rest of the night then come to the park the next day for free with my rain check. Which is a reason why CP would not get into the hassle of dealing with rain checks.

Man, now I really wish they did do rain checks because that's ingenious.

But seriously, Steve's explanation is the best yet and there can't be a reasonable rebuttal for it. You know how many enterprising people would be able to pull that off?

Look, Guru (overcompensating much?). We get that you hate Cedar Point's policies. But do you seriously think that no one who has ever worked at the park has ever come up with this stuff? If it made good business sense, you'd think that one of the world's most popular and profitable parks would be run by people who would've come up with it. The park is not run by stupid people.

Sure, someone could do that. Someone is going to figure out a way to scam the system no matter what it is. My point is, why would the park even care? If the person is back in the park there is a chance they are spending more money. If the park was really concerned about your scenario, they would just have the guest pick up their rain check at the exit so the employee knows not to stamp their hand. The bigger problem is why is the guest leaving the park at 1 PM. That makes no sense since according to everyone else there is so many other things to do in the park while everything is closed. Are they going out to eat lunch for a decent meal or because they packed a lunch because food prices are so high in the park. Either way the park is losing money because of bad customer relations, not because of the rain check.

The PointGuru said:
If the park was really concerned about your scenario, they would just have the guest pick up their rain check at the exit so the employee knows not to stamp their hand.

And to get around this one.....I'd exit out one gate (to get handstamped), then come back in the same gate 10 minutes later using my handstamp. And then I could go out a different gate while requesting my rain check.

So, now I'd have a handstamp and a raincheck.

Sparty42 said:
... The park is not run by stupid people.

Now I see the problem. The park was absolutely run by stupid people for a long time. A certain CEO was so arrogant and such a control freak he believed if it wasn't his idea, it wasn't a good one. That CEO was also borderline retarded when it came to major business decisions. That CEO built a great park and made some really good decisions along the way but his anti-customer philosophy is the root of the poor culture of customer relations. Hopefully the new management team will make better decisions and make the park more customer friendly.

Yes, other people have come up with these ideas. I did not come up with them on my own. They are tied and true practices that are used successfully by the majority of businesses in the world.

I happened to observe on an ALMOST DAILY experience, Kinzel interacting with guests on the midway. He was quite often over by the patio area near the Challenge Park arcade chatting with people about their experience.

campfreak06 said:

And to get around this one.....I'd exit out one gate (to get handstamped), then come back in the same gate 10 minutes later using my handstamp. And then I could go out a different gate while requesting my rain check.

So, now I'd have a handstamp and a raincheck.

Sounds like an awful lot of work; but I guess someone will try anything. Rats, I guess that foils the whole plan... unless the park only had these blue lamp things at the exits to check and see if a hand had been stamped. If the park really cared or worried that much about someone trying that hard to scheme there way back into the park so the can spend more money, I guess they could just check for hand stamps before giving the rain check.

campfreak06 said:
I happened to observe on an ALMOST DAILY experience, Kinzel interacting with guests on the midway...

Yes, I know he did. I was one of the people he chatted with at least a decade ago. I didn't realize who he was at the time. Just some guy in a tie with a park name tag. I mentioned the ridiculous price of the food. He gave me his best politically correct answer in an somewhat condescending tone and said something to the effect of "they are always looking at their price structures (blah, blah, blah) we are not changing and don't care what you think (blah, blah, blah), but come back and give us more money (blah, blah, blah)". At least that is what I heard. Bad customer relations, enough said.

I think you're just upset he didn't give you a free, lifetime pass, food voucher for life with unlimited rainchecks. ;)

Pointguru, your points are really struggling to support a legitimate reason for rainchecks. No offense man, but you're fighting a battle you've already lost. Your points are desperately lost in this discussion. Rainchecks will never be implemented and that's that. There's no proof that they would do anything except temporarily quell an irate guest who's upset that they made a trip to a park during a storm or bad mechanical day and couldn't ride what they wanted to. Even if they did return (being that they can make it again since some can't), the chances that them returning would yield a noticeable return in revenue (via food or merch) is insanely low.

This entitlement mentality really needs to end. They DONT owe you anything outside of what they ALREADY give you.

Before I comment, I'd just like to revisit this quickly, just to clear something up:

Top Thrill 182 said:

Firstly, part of the reason scalpers have so much "power" when it comes to sporting events is the fact that the event in question is often sold out. Thus, when there are no more tickets to be had, the scalper can name his price. This is not the case with the Point, though. The park rarely (if ever) stops selling tickets, so a scalper wouldn't be able to charge more than the park does at the gate. So yes, reselling would be possible, but it wouldn't be quite as dramatic the scalping we see for limited capacity professional sporting events, concerts, etc.

Scalpers do not exclusively work sold out shows. Yes, this is when you'll see the most of them, but if there is money to be made, you can be sure that they'd be there, unless a security force is there to enforce a perimeter (part of what I do.)

These guys are just out to make a buck, so no matter if the event is sold out, or there are thousands of tickets available, they'll still be there, because many of them get their tickets at a discounted price. They'll sell them at a mark-up from the gate price, and people will pay just because they really don't know any better. Not to mention that some of them will lie.

That being said, the idea of a raincheck is definitely sound, I'll give you that. Making customers happy is a fantastic idea, and is the backbone of Cedar Fair's (and all other customer service companies) business philosophy.

HOWEVER, as many of our cohorts have mentioned, the logistics behind implementing a raincheck program is extremely complicated. Consider the opportunity cost of this. If the park is concentrating on planning, testing, and implementing this program (when the current program is extremely successful, mind you), then they can't focus on other pressing matters, like the many unhappy guests that they deal with on a daily basis. At the end of the day, the park is only using the tried and true business philosophy, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Since the guest received an imaginary rain check for free a scalper could buy the rain check for, let's say, $15 and sell for $25. Guest with the rain check makes money, scalper makes money and the purchaser of the rain check saves money off the gate price. Win for everyone except CP, which was cheated out of an admission.

Same as coupons. Employees can distribute front of the line coupons to their friends. Don't want that.

I found the perfect solution we are going to end this thread!

TRAVEL INSURANCE!!!!! You should buy travel insurance for any and every time you leave your house. For maybe $6 you can have your trip insured so as you will be reimbursed by a 3rd party in which you payed for this service. If your vacation is somewhat not thrilling enough you can take your claim to them. They in turn will reimburse you for you loses if you have a claim.

I wish I would have had travel insurance when I booked a house on the ocean 10 months in advance. Thanks Irene. Lost 3 days and could have been reimbursed for a genuine claim. If..... wait for it.... I would have bought TRAVEL INSURANCE. Its cheap.

Guru, where are you getting that the park is losing money? And can you really read the minds of the millions of people that walk through the gates on a yearly basis? I guarantee the "bad PR" and "poor customer relations" is just a figment of your imagination based on your poor experiences due to unrealistic and exaggerated expectations.

Just admit that you had a terrible experience and you're just throwing a hissy fit all over PointBuzz just to get your point across.

And you wanna know a secret? Nobody cares.

Great idea, just make sure that $6 convenience fee is charged if travel insurance is purchased online! :)