Frustrating Six Flags Over Texas Guest Relations
Six Flags Over Texas: This is an open letter complaint based upon my experience with dealing with Six Flags' Over Texas location and a very unpleasant experience that occurred whle attending the park. Has anyone ever tried to email a complaint to Six Flags?
Six Flags Representative:
Saturday, July 31 was a lovely day in Arlington, Texas. The sky was clear and the sun was in full glory beating down upon the Six Flags Over Texas theme park. The visit was filled with enjoyable encounters with park personnel, fantastic fun drawn from the many entertainment options available, and memorable moments with family and friends. With the exception of the sultry, Texas heat, Saturday was a wonderful day to visit Six Flags.
As the day progressed, the late evening sunset was certainly welcomed, although it also meant the end to our excursion was near. We decided to head back to try for one last ride - the Batman ride. We left from the area of the Papa John's pizza store heading back easterly on the north side of the marked roadway. As we approached a small, standalone popcorn shop, near the edge of the roadway, we noticed that it was packed and had a lengthy line of folks looking to refill there mugs one more time. As we began to move around the crowd, we got blocked by the line of people and an oncoming rush of yellow shirts, yelling "move" and "Hurry up" as well as "get out of the way”. As they approached, we were now trapped between them and the patrons in front of us, and the line now paralyzed behind us. As they approached, pushing a dolly with a spool of rope, they clipped the rope onto some hooks attached to a large steel trash receptacle directly behind me. Now, till this point all was fine, but, one overzealous employee must have thought the many customers - now bottlenecked and trapped in front of this small shop - weren't moving fast enough. The group pushing the cart was constantly yelling for everyone to "hurry up", but we had nowhere to go. The one employee clipping the ropes, appearing agitated, looked directly at a small child - who was trying to squeeze behind the trashcan between it and a steel barricade - and forcibly shoved the trashcan (which was already protruding into the "roadway" area) moving it a good 8 inches + back into this child and trapping him between the trashcan and the barricade. I immediately chastised this employee as he shoved the trashcan and a couple other employees also said something that I do not recall because of my reaction to his behavior. There was another gentleman that in a deservedly harsh tone redirected that employee immediately. They then continued stringing the rope. My irritation with the event demanded that I complain about this employee, so I pursued the workers asking for his name and his supervisor. An employee pushing the cart pointed the supervisor out and called him over to me. This happened to be the man that had earlier barked at the employee for the matter. I asked him if he saw what happened and if he was going to deal with that. He replied affirmatively and said he had spoken with him about it and apologized in what I would call a very sincere manner. I left the matter alone and saw no need to pursue the issue further, hence, no names were retrieved; although, I believe that with deliberate and reasonable follow-up one would be able to determine those involved. I did not know the child, am unaware if he was injured and do not know the location of his parents when this occurred. As a parent, I would be hard pressed to restrain myself had someone done this to my child and felt it was important for this issue to be taken up with that employee! My family and I continued towards the Batman ride from there.
Upon arrival at Batman, my family stood in line for the ride and I took a moment to have a cigarette, so I went to the designated smoking area by Mr. Freeze. It so happened that the employees were laying rope to make the route for the Saturday night parade which was to start at my location. Prior to the beginning of the parade, I saw the offending employee returning to this location giving hi-fives to several other employees and I came to the conclusion that a strong enough impression had not been made upon this young man. I decided at that point to speak with a higher level of management to follow-up and insure that this employee did understand the importance of guest relations, not to mention the fact that he committed an assault upon this child as defined by Texas law. As we exited the park, I stopped by Guest Relations to speak with management which continued the torment of making a complaint.
At guest relations, I spoke to a young woman and told her that I wanted to speak to the park manager that was on duty. Granted, I am unaware of the park’s managerial hierarchy, but I find it difficult to believe that there would not be a central individual charged with overseeing lower levels of management and park employees. She asked what it was concerning and I told her it was concerning a park employee’s assault on a child. She went to the back and returned with a business card and said that I needed to contact this person. I told her I was not interested in speaking to some PR individual at corporate, but wanted to address it with someone at the park, at the moment. A long line was now formed and the crowd was thick, so I didn’t want to tie up the line or air dirty laundry in front of everybody so I thanked her and began to leave. Having second thoughts, I wanted to confirm what I believed that she had told me, so I got permission from the next person in line and asked her clearly “So you’re telling me that there is no one person in charge of this park at night.” She told me that she needed more information about the incident so she could determine to whom to direct me. I found this to be completely disingenuous and felt I was being manipulated so I declined. I was astounded when I left to find that two other employees, when asked, did not know who was in charge of the entire park at night.
This level of either deliberate misdirection or ignorance and incompetence by Guest Relations furthered my resolve to find someone who can insure that children who attend the park will not be treated, directly or indirectly if possible, in a similar manner in the future. I am writing this in the hopes that it will fall upon not so deaf ears. I am not interested in some disinterested P.R. person contacting me nor am seeking anything but localized resolution to this issue. I have included enough information that anyone serious enough about resolving the issue will be able to do so and thus have no desire to speak with a representative at this point. I already gave Six Flags that opportunity and you declined. I will post this on every open forum, newslist, blog, twitter, facebook, and myspace account that I can find available. If you want it removed or an addendum added, then you may respond to me verifying the matter has been addressed.
Thank you for your attention to this matter,
From steve lee
Posted August 8, 2010 at 3:27 PM
tl; dr
Kidding. I'd recommend cutting most of the flowery language about what a wonderful day you had prior to the event. You're making a serious complaint. There's no need to stoke anyone's ego.
Why, All guest relations/customer service will do is try to stroke the consumers'. Here's the proof.
Response from Six Flags Over Texas Guest Relations. Personally, I don't think they took the time to actually read the complaint, but per my word... Here is their response.
Mr. Ritter –
Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding your visit to Six Flags Over Texas on July 31, 2010. We are dedicated to providing a fun filled day that goes beyond your expectations. On behalf of the entire Management Team, I sincerely apologize that we did not meet that goal and hope that you will not allow this experience to diminish your impression of our park.
All of our team members are trained to provide each and every guest with a memorable and exciting day at Six Flags and I am disappointed to hear that you encountered more than one team member that was disrespectful and made your visit to our park unpleasant. Learning that some of them have not been upholding our standards concerns me, and I assure you that we will take the steps necessary to correct those problems as you provided enough information in your comments so that we can research who was working both areas that night.
It is upsetting that team members would intentionally shove child out of the way; and, then ‘high-five’ each other after the incident. I have personally contacted the supervisor over that area and he is looking into this issue. Please be assured that this incident will not be taking lightly and all team members determined to be involved will be immediately corrected.
In regards to the employees not knowing who was in charge of the park, there is a specific on-call hierarchy which Guest Relations representatives must follow. Mid-level area managers are responsible for issues within their immediate area and upper Park Management has a rotating schedule to handle any issues that the mid-level management cannot resolve. In order for the Guest Relations representative to try to resolve your issue effectively, they would have needed to know more information regarding the incident to determine which manager in charge to contact. Going on the information noted in your comments, it does not appear that enough initial information was obtained by the representative to handle your concern; and, I sincerely apologize for this and the inconvenience it may have caused. We are currently looking into who was working that evening and correct this issue accordingly.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to write. It is only with your input that we can build a lasting friendship with you and your family.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any additional concerns.
Have a Six Flags Day!
Tammy Montgomery
GSR Supervisor
Phone: 817-640-8900, ext. 3139
Fax: 817-607-6237
Email: tmontgomery@sftp.com
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