I agree with the RRR comments. I actually braved the thing twice in 2010 as I couldn't believe that it could be that rough and I had just got a dodgy car/ride the first time round! How wrong I was. I am looking forward to finding out how The Smiler compares when I get to ride it next month considering the amount of inversions it has!
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The Smiler - General Discussion
- Thread starter Scott
- Start date
Ben
TS Founding Member
- Favourite Ride
- Your Dad
Smiler Status Update:
Ride: CLOSED
AT.Com: No mention
AT Facebook:No Status update
AT Twitter: No Tweets
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You'd have thought with a Facebook page reaching 1.3Million, a Twitter account with 66 Thousand followers and a Website that gets millions of visitors a year they would advise guests on their newest attraction being unavailable.
Id imagine a large majority of guests are going to Alton Towers for the specific reason of riding the Smiler. Knowing it is closed and not informing people is just bad customer service. Whichever part of Marketing is running the social media and web side of Alton Towers needs to be more honest.
I think it just shows contempt for guests and a deceitful way to promote any product, never mind one which relies on Customer Service.
Ride: CLOSED
AT.Com: No mention
AT Facebook:No Status update
AT Twitter: No Tweets
--
You'd have thought with a Facebook page reaching 1.3Million, a Twitter account with 66 Thousand followers and a Website that gets millions of visitors a year they would advise guests on their newest attraction being unavailable.
Id imagine a large majority of guests are going to Alton Towers for the specific reason of riding the Smiler. Knowing it is closed and not informing people is just bad customer service. Whichever part of Marketing is running the social media and web side of Alton Towers needs to be more honest.
I think it just shows contempt for guests and a deceitful way to promote any product, never mind one which relies on Customer Service.
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
They should at least have the courtesy to say that it's closed on their website. Or a simple Tweet/FB status saying that they're sorry but it won't be open today. It's not hard to do and it is surely basic customer service. You can be almost certain that the reason they aren't doing this is because they don't want to publicise that it's closed, and in turn put people off visiting.
ImUrNemeis
TS Member
It's pretty ridiculous that a ride which is pretty much a eurofighter, has had so much downtime!
It just shows that Merlin doesn't care about its visitors that come through the gates, by not announcing anything on its website or FB or Twitter page. How long does a simple post or tweet take? Or how much effort, for that matter?
AT, get this beast open ASAP! Hopefully before the 2nd and 3rd of August!
It just shows that Merlin doesn't care about its visitors that come through the gates, by not announcing anything on its website or FB or Twitter page. How long does a simple post or tweet take? Or how much effort, for that matter?
AT, get this beast open ASAP! Hopefully before the 2nd and 3rd of August!
TheMan
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- NemiLerVion
AstroDan said:
Fobbing customers off is the one way to guarantee that is exactly what they will get.
They still have not grasped that being open, honest, and fair to your customers will benefit you in the LONG TERM, because they retain their trust in your brand.
"We are very sorry to announce, that The Smiler is experiencing technical difficulties once more. It is quite normal that a world record breaking coaster such as The Smiler, may require a little bedding in initially. We thank you for your patience, and rest assured it will be open once again for all budding advocates ASAP!
In the meantime, stay tuned to all the Alton Towers social media channels for further updates and more!"
There, 2 minutes that took me.
Will they give me a job as their social media guy? Their social media is dire.
LiamC
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Hex
AstroDan said:
Which will ultimately be their biggest downfall.
Their want and need for guests is ultimately going to lead to more negative press. Guests turn up, see that the resorts new star attraction isn't running, feel let down and as such turn to social media outlets to vent their anger. Word of mouth is the strongest form of feedback, you just need to look at Tripadvisor for that.
It's a shame that Merlin are so short sighted towards this issue. In the end their handling of this is going to lead to bad press as it is
Ben
TS Founding Member
- Favourite Ride
- Your Dad
Surely a little 'The Smiler will not be operating on 1/8/13 due to unforseen circumstances' - it doesnt even need detail.
Just treating your paying gusts with some respect, acknowledge they are coming to ride this and if they cant they will probably save their trip for another day. And being impressed with an open, customer service focused theme park will return again.
Its a much better gamble than lying to your customers and hoping they pay to come back another day to go on the ride.
Alton Towers have no grasp of Customer Service anymore. They just see each opportunity to get money, sod the reputation, experience and guest happiness. Money is the end goal.
Just treating your paying gusts with some respect, acknowledge they are coming to ride this and if they cant they will probably save their trip for another day. And being impressed with an open, customer service focused theme park will return again.
Its a much better gamble than lying to your customers and hoping they pay to come back another day to go on the ride.
Alton Towers have no grasp of Customer Service anymore. They just see each opportunity to get money, sod the reputation, experience and guest happiness. Money is the end goal.
davey_will1980
TS Member
The lack of any information is starting to feel a little ominous, normally by now we've got a reasonable guess / info from someone within the park as to why a ride is experiencing some down time, really hoping that it isn't a major problem, especially hoping that the post ,on TT I think it was, that someone had overheard a staff member commenting that the same bolt has gone again is inaccurate.
Rob
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
TheMan said:
All they need to do is something like that. It's not hard, and being honest is always best. My brother is planning on going to Towers tomorrow with his friends. It will probably be the only time he goes this year and I want him to go when The Smiler is open so he can get on. I've had to tell him I've no idea if it will be open or not, just that it's been closed for two days now. It's just poor. Then again Towers/Merlin and good communication aren't things that go hand in hand. It's one of the major things that I feel needs addressing.
Scott
Former TS Team Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
They just need to stick a message back on the homepage, bring back the FAQ and post it on Facebook and Twitter.
They did it when the opening was delayed and they can do it again now. They won't though because they are clearly (this season moreso than others recently) putting profit way before guest satisfaction.
Cracking work from Towers... [/sarcasm]
They did it when the opening was delayed and they can do it again now. They won't though because they are clearly (this season moreso than others recently) putting profit way before guest satisfaction.
Cracking work from Towers... [/sarcasm]
Croftybaby
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
I doubt it's been running long enough since the last downtime for a nut to manage to work loose. :twirly:
As above really, I don't know what they are thinking, the smiler website has massive letters saying 'NOW OPEN' The news ticker is probably the easiest way of simply updating the site but they seem to be refusing to use it.
I think the fact that they continue to have a presence on social media, answering queries (only the ones that result in more business) is a further insult to guests planning a trip to ride the new coaster.
I can think of only 2 reasons why they might do this.
1. They have had enough of people moaning about it reliability so don't want to give further ammo publicly.
2. They think they may get MORE business because people will have to come back after finding out the ride is closed.
Stick a news ticker up, then at least people can't comment on it so publicly!
As above really, I don't know what they are thinking, the smiler website has massive letters saying 'NOW OPEN' The news ticker is probably the easiest way of simply updating the site but they seem to be refusing to use it.
I think the fact that they continue to have a presence on social media, answering queries (only the ones that result in more business) is a further insult to guests planning a trip to ride the new coaster.
I can think of only 2 reasons why they might do this.
1. They have had enough of people moaning about it reliability so don't want to give further ammo publicly.
2. They think they may get MORE business because people will have to come back after finding out the ride is closed.
Stick a news ticker up, then at least people can't comment on it so publicly!