Busch Gardens Williamsburg Membership Program

[phurst]

The CSR I dealt with on Sunday repeatedly tried to refund me for 4 months of EZ-Pay, and her supervisor had to keep correcting her. Looked like he had been at it all weekend as well Not to mention the fact that she signed me up for four Premier passes when I asked for Unlimited, which involved an actual refund, then a second charge for the correct memberships. I know this is new to them all, and I know many of you have horror stories about park customer service, but I've never had an experience like this, and for the most part, find the customer service at BGW (and SEAS overall) to be head and shoulders above other "regional" parks. They definitely dropped the ball this time though...

 

[Peej1212]

The CSR I dealt with on Sunday repeatedly tried to refund me for 4 months of EZ-Pay, and her supervisor had to keep correcting her. Looked like he had been at it all weekend as well Not to mention the fact that she signed me up for four Premier passes when I asked for Unlimited, which involved an actual refund, then a second charge for the correct memberships. I know this is new to them all, and I know many of you have horror stories about park customer service, but I've never had an experience like this, and for the most part, find the customer service at BGW (and SEAS overall) to be head and shoulders above other "regional" parks. They definitely dropped the ball this time though...

it's possible it's just as confusing to them as it is to us lol. I feel for their csr staff right now lol

 

[Merboy]

The CSR I dealt with on Sunday repeatedly tried to refund me for 4 months of EZ-Pay, and her supervisor had to keep correcting her. Looked like he had been at it all weekend as well Not to mention the fact that she signed me up for four Premier passes when I asked for Unlimited, which involved an actual refund, then a second charge for the correct memberships. I know this is new to them all, and I know many of you have horror stories about park customer service, but I've never had an experience like this, and for the most part, find the customer service at BGW (and SEAS overall) to be head and shoulders above other "regional" parks. They definitely dropped the ball this time though...

I'm baffled the park is so cavalier about these refunds. My company is going through major migrations and roll outs of a new system and it's enormously huge. It affects all aspects of the company. Every eye in the whole of this Fortune 500 company is on this issue. It's been on-going for over a year now and we couldn't be more hyper-aware of money coming in and going out. I don't wish to criticize the park's handling of this transition because it sounds absolutely difficult no matter what way you look at it but I have to say from an outside perspective I'm left somewhat aghast.

Also your cat in your avatar is adorable, please tell us about him/her.

 

[phurst]

Also your cat in your avatar is adorable, please tell us about him/her.

Here you go.
http://parkfans.net/thread-5139.html

 

[Nicole]

I moved the cat post here.

 

[phurst]

Thanks, didn't know that existed

 

[Nicole]

That is what we are here for!

 

[acrossdapark]

I honestly don't think BGW and their marketing department know exactly what's going on. I mean here is part of the problem in sending an email saying you can keep your benefits while trying to sell another product all the while you can't keep the same benefits for example, no more member day previews after this weekend.

 

[Nicole]

That email matches what Marketing has been telling us, since before the Membership Program was rolled out.

My understanding of the benefits distinction is that those with grandfathered passes keep the formal benefits they had as of January 2018. They no longer receive the pop-up perks and the new benefits.

The major problems I have seen was not with Marketing, but with the people switching people over to Memberships.

 

[acrossdapark]

A benefit prior to Jan 2018 and as printed as far back as 2011 in the membership guide, was in fact Member/Pass Holder Preview Days. So that email is factually incorrect in making that statement and confusing to those who may later attempt to enter while pointing to this email.

 

[lazerdoc]

I have made the decision to hang on to my Platinum passes for now. Its just a better deal for my needs for now but I may convert in the future to take advantage of the free friend passes. However...I'm not sure they have everything ironed out yet.

They have been pretty clear that we will lose some of the benefits by keeping the old passes, but according to everything I have read we should still be able to purchase discount tickets just like we could in the past. I have searched and can not find any way to purchase discount passes. It doesnt matter if I am logged in or not, the day pass is the same, full rate. Has anyone else had any luck with this?

My other concern is really based on timing and history. I have never used my pass anywhere except for the two parks in Williamsburg, but we have a trip to Florida planned over spring break. Given the timing of their corporate pass conversion process, what are the chances that our passes will actually work without explanation at BG Tampa and Seaworld Orlando?

 

[whanna]

To be fair to the park: Pass Member Preview Day is not the same as Membership Sneak Peak. They won't have any further Pass Member Preview Day (or Pass Member Extended Ride Time, etc), so they are keeping the benefits (but the benefits aren't continuing). Sure, it's semantics and splitting hairs, but that's legalese.

 

[Nicole]

I have made the decision to hang on to my Platinum passes for now. Its just a better deal for my needs for now but I may convert in the future to take advantage of the free friend passes. However...I'm not sure they have everything ironed out yet.

They have been pretty clear that we will lose some of the benefits by keeping the old passes, but according to everything I have read we should still be able to purchase discount tickets just like we could in the past. I have searched and can not find any way to purchase discount passes. It doesnt matter if I am logged in or not, the day pass is the same, full rate. Has anyone else had any luck with this?

My other concern is really based on timing and history. I have never used my pass anywhere except for the two parks in Williamsburg, but we have a trip to Florida planned over spring break. Given the timing of their corporate pass conversion process, what are the chances that our passes will actually work without explanation at BG Tampa and Seaworld Orlando?

I know the free tickets will not be available until opening day; the same may be true for discounted tickets.

I have never had any problem using a Platinum Pass in Florida, even within days of initial purchase.  I do wonder, however, if there will initial issues with the new Memberships.

 

[----------------------]

I got the new membership. Had an issue using it without getting the pass activated first. I went to SeaWorld Orlando with the voucher to get it printed. Did not scan at kiosk, so I just waited in line to talk to a rep and got the hard card while I was at it. This was the morning of a trip to Tampa, and I wanted to make sure that it was ready to scan when we got to BGT, so I didn't actually try to scan in at Sea World. Get down to Tampa and the pass didn't scan. Had a supervisor at the turnstiles come over and check it out.

At this point she disappeared with my pass in hand for about 10 minutes while I was waiting at the gate. She comes back ,tells me that I need a platnium pass to get in for free at that park and that I will need to purchase a ticket. I insist that the premier membership is the same as platnium as far as that goes and she holds her ground. At this point I started to look up the page on the website as proof, as I do this she dissappears again. After another 10 or so minutes, she comes back, claiming to have called Williamsburg to clear things up. She says it should be ok, pass still didn't scan, but I was let into the park.

To be clear, there is a line that states that these passes must be activated at BGW/WCUSA prior to visiting the other parks. They do have the ability to get them activated remotely however and I think that what happened in my case was that I got them printed at Sea World, but not activated. The new naming scheme simply complicated the matter.

Other notes:
-I've still been getting the prefferred parking down here
-I have not tried to do ride again, but I rarely do anyway, and it would really depend on the person checking the pass. I wouldn't get your hopes up on this benefit.
-reserved seating has been ok, but once again, the new naming standard might raise questions

 

[Zachary]

It's absurd that you had to deal with that much trouble when simply trying to utilize your expensive new Premier Membership for one of its most core uses. Not surprised, but it is certainly disheartening.

-I have not tried to do ride again, but I rarely do anyway, and it would really depend on the person checking the pass. I wouldn't get your hopes up on this benefit.

I'm certainly not saying it will go smoothly, but we were expressly told that we are entitled to this benefit as long as it is offered at the Florida SEAS parks. I worry people like us will have to be the trailblazers that educate the other SEAS parks about the benefits they have to offer us though.

 

[WDWRLD]

I have made the decision to hang on to my Platinum passes for now. Its just a better deal for my needs for now but I may convert in the future to take advantage of the free friend passes. However...I'm not sure they have everything ironed out yet.

They have been pretty clear that we will lose some of the benefits by keeping the old passes, but according to everything I have read we should still be able to purchase discount tickets just like we could in the past. I have searched and can not find any way to purchase discount passes. It doesnt matter if I am logged in or not, the day pass is the same, full rate. Has anyone else had any luck with this?

My other concern is really based on timing and history. I have never used my pass anywhere except for the two parks in Williamsburg, but we have a trip to Florida planned over spring break. Given the timing of their corporate pass conversion process, what are the chances that our passes will actually  work without explanation at BG Tampa and Seaworld Orlando?

I have never once had a issue with using my pass at Seaworld, in fact I get free preferred parking every time with it and not one hiccup.

 

[Zimmy]

Must not be happening to other people then

 

[WDWRLD]

To be fair to the park: Pass Member Preview Day is not the same as Membership Sneak Peak. They won't have any further Pass Member Preview Day (or Pass Member Extended Ride Time, etc), so they are keeping the benefits (but the benefits aren't continuing). Sure, it's semantics and splitting hairs, but that's legalese.

Thats like halfway through the season changing the name of the refillable mug program "free refills on fountain drinks" to "free refills of soda pop" and saying we dont have fountain drinks anymore but now we have soda pop but your cup is only for fountain drinks.

Anyway, who remembers how the pass holder preview day started? Back in the day the park ran normal operations for a single day the weekend before for new team members to get used to the job and running the rides ect. After a few years of this they decided to let pass holders in with the known fact that things will run slowly, open and close randomly, and to be patient with the team members. It was a fun way for the pass holders to get in a day of fun and a learning experience for BGW. Busch also made some money in the process since they were paying employees anyway.

 

[Unagi]

My other concern is really based on timing and history. I have never used my pass anywhere except for the two parks in Williamsburg, but we have a trip to Florida planned over spring break. Given the timing of their corporate pass conversion process, what are the chances that our passes will actually  work without explanation at BG Tampa and Seaworld Orlando?

I've been using my BGW Platinum Pass every year for 17 years at the Florida SEAS Parks (most recently in November and January) and I've never had an issue with it at any of the gates. Now do have your ID ready once you approach the parking and main gates as they will most likely ask to see it to confirm your identity on the pass.

 

[Shane]

I'm not surprised that you had issues honestly but at the same time, it's not like the new memberships are actually a different product on a different platform. They may be "memberships" on paper and in advertising, but from SEAS computer system's point of view they are just like any of the other season passes that the chain sells at any of their parks. The Premier Membership should in theory look like a Platinum Pass to SEAS computers and just happens to have the text "Premier" printed on the face of it.

I had hoped that the new membership program was a sign that they were moving the passes over to their new website platform, but it appears that the new memberships still use the old platform and they just iFrame the old system into the new site design.