Attraction Tickets Direct - 1.5 hour phone wait times?

[Nimbus]

BTW, I'm sure people have seen this, but this was posted by ATD on another thread:

"Dear Dibbers

Firstly, please accept our apologies if you were stuck in a call queue yesterday afternoon / evening. We were open and had all available staff taking calls but received an unprecedented number. We will be open from 9am again this morning and all staff and managers will be available to take calls.

It is correct that Discovery Cove Only low season non-swim tickets start at £23. Prices for swim tickets and for mid and high season are obviously higher. However, this is an offer for customers who have already booked a 3 Park (for the price of 2) SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica Ticket. The Discovery Cove Only ticket isn't on our site and won't be for that reason.

We are sorry if there was any confusion initially about the offer. One of our outbound sales team wasn't clear about the terms of the offer and unfortunately sold some Discovery Cove Only tickets to existing customers without the qualifying 3 Park SeaWorld Tickets on their booking. With the offer launching on a Friday before a bank holiday, the usual checks and management were not in the office to ensure that the correct terms were being abided by.

Anyone who has booked a Discovery Cove Only ticket without a 3 Park SeaWorld Parks ticket doesn't need to do anything. Tickets will be valid.

Best Wishes,
Attraction Tickets Direct "

[Nimbus]

As the above says, this "deal" was only supposed to be aimed at those existing customers who already had 2018 3-Park Seaworld/BuschGardens/Aquatica tickets and invited them to upgrade to add a day at Discovery Cove (non-swim, low-season) for an extra £23 on top of the price they'd already paid for SW/BG/AQ tickets.

If you already have a 3-Park SW/BG/AQ ticket then it only costs an extra £22 per person to swap this ticket for a Discovery Cove non-swim low-season ticket. On ATD's website the SW/BG/AQ ticket normally costs £104, a Low-season Non-Swim Discovery Cove ticket normally costs £126, so the difference in price is £22.

So, if you want to upgrade you could try contacting ATD and asking them to swap tickets.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Bayshore

@sammykitten - well, guy I spoke to today says you're lying, that's it's just not possible. They don't have that on their system.

Won't quote his name (yet! ) but you'd have to laugh.

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I’m on hold to them at the moment and have been told that I’m first in the queue for the last 10 minutes. I pressed option 3 for existing hotel bookings, so presume it’s a different message depending on the line.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Bayshore

@sammykitten - well, guy I spoke to today says you're lying, that's it's just not possible. They don't have that on their system.

Won't quote his name (yet! ) but you'd have to laugh.

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I think you said on another thread that you're in the ROI? Did you use the contact number on ATD's Irish site which connects to the Dublin office or the UK phone number which connects to the London office? It's just that maybe the two offices have different phone systems. The London one might provide an indication of your position in the queue whereas the Dublin one doesn't. This might explain people's different experiences. Just a thought?

Or, as mentioned above, it might be different depending on the line you choose?

[Bayshore]

I asked if the system were different in UK and ROI and he told me that it's not possible on either system. Everybody here is apparently making it up.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Bayshore

I asked if the system were different in UK and ROI and he told me that it's not possible on either system. Everybody here is apparently making it up.

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Ah, okay. It does sound like he's "mistaken".

Although I'm not sure what the phone system has to do with anything? Would it have improved things if the system told you were Nth in the queue but it still took 1.5hrs to get through to them?

[Bayshore]

I suppose, I may have made the decision to hang up and try later.

Also, he told me that I had the option of a voicemail or call back, which I didn't.

Other ridiculous thing he said was that I should have rang the agents direct numbers, not the number advertised on their home page. Where I would have found these direct numbers, I don't know.

[Andybear]

Originally Posted by Bayshore

Tell us that so, or offer to call us back.

53 mins on hold now and still haven't spoken to anybody.

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Surely common sense should tell you that a lot of people don't work bank holidays! Why should travel companies be any different?

[Bayshore]

Andybear - I don't EXPECT any company to open at the weekend but if they advertise that they are open, I don't find 1.5 hours waiting or cutting me off before answering acceptable. I obviously have a higher level of expectation that you do though.

Anyway, it's old news now.

[Andybear]

Originally Posted by Bayshore

Andybear - I don't EXPECT any company to open at the weekend but if they advertise that they are open, I don't find 1.5 hours waiting or cutting me off before answering acceptable. I obviously have a higher level of expectation that you do though.

Anyway, it's old news now.

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I do have a high level of expectation which is why I never buy tickets from ATD. I know too many people who've been disappointed with them over the years (not just Orlando, other places too).