Furious letter writing!

[Ezteq]

Ooh I did it, I wrote and complained!!

I went to see the Dinosaur Encounter at the BIC on saturday with B2, was really looking forward to it, exhibition by the Natural History Museum with robot dinosaurs what could be better?


herpes it seems... the exhibition was total gash and £12 to get in, I was totally pissed, the dinosaurs clunked when moving and one of the baby triceratops' eyes had fallen out On top of that, the "information" boards were about as informative as those freeking toothless wonders they always seem to find and interview whenever there is a disaster somewhere (you know the ones.., "so what happened here sir?" ... *scratch arse* "well, i was jus done havin sex wit ma maw when...")

It was so crap I felt like crying because I expected it to be ace, they damaged dinosaurs reputations by doing this!!! anyway wrote an angry letter and got a reply that put the P in Patronising, saying that well everyone else liked it to up yours basically... so am going to send the emails to the local paper.

don't go its crap!!!!

 

[tris-]

Good on you but a letter where you basically ONLY complain at them wont get you anywhere.

You need to tell them the wheres and whens, what was wrong with it and what you would like in return i.e. refund, cuddly toy etc.

Sounds good though, especially if it will go in the paper

 

[old.Tohtori]

£12 to get in,

I expected it to be ace

Well there's yer problem

 

[Bahumat]

Typingz0r!

Well played forwarding it to the local papers Ez. It's sounding like the Science Museum. Full of things with next to no explanation...utter crap!

 

[Olgaline]

gogo eZ!

good call on forwarding it to the papers,
seems it was a huge succses in Las vegas though ?
same thing or cheap second hand imitation

 

[georgie]

You give em hell, girl.

 

[Ezteq]

hehe actually i didn't only moan i did make (hopefully) constructive criticism and told them where and what elements were lacking, what needed looking at etc etc and me being a dino-buff helped because i could point out where the scale of things was totally wrong and the people were walking away thinking that certain large dinosaurs were only ikkle.

Thanks for the support guys and we shall see if it gets anywhere...even if it doesn't I can sleep well tonight knowing that I unleashed my very own small can of whoop arse on a rip off merchant.

 

[fettoken]

Instead of furious letter writing. Furious masturbation and get over it

 

[Huntingtons]

pix or it didnt happen. to what fettokken said obviously


(and i guess your mail too... just to keep on topic)

 

[fettoken]

pix or it didnt happen. to what fettokken said obviously


(and i guess your mail too... just to keep on topic)

 

[Ezteq]

Ok lol you asked for it, here is the ongoing tooing and froing, no reply from either yet but was out of ffice response from BIC guy when I sent the last reply

comment box filled out to BIC by me:

I have just been to see the Dinosaur Encounter and it was awful I am so
let down! The animatronics were clunky one of the baby triceratops' eyes had gone
funny and the 'information boards' contained only the simplest information about the
animals such as size, diet and era, I learned nothing whatsoever from this and was
not even entertained. The scale replicas of fossils from the NHM had no signs saying
how much smaller than the real ones they were so people thought they were lifesized
and were remarking upon how small Deinonychus is! It was really very boring,
unprofessional and uninformative and to be frank from the publicity I have read
about the exhibition I was lead to expect a lot better. My boyfriend and I are both
rather annoyed to have paid £6 each and the expectation of the visit being longer we
paid for 2hrs parking when it only took 25 minutes to see the whole of this shoddy
exhibition; what an utter disappointment!!


response from BIC:

Dear Miss D'Angeles,



Thank you for your feedback regarding your recent visit to our Dinosaur Encounter
exhibition.



I was very disappointed to read your comments on the Dinosaur Encounter. The
exhibition is produced in conjunction with the Natural History Museum which has a
highly regarded international reputation with regard to the standard of their
exhibits. The exhibition at the BIC is the Natural History Museum's full Dinosaur
Encounter touring exhibition.



The initial response at this stage by customers visiting the exhibition has been
incredibly positive. Likewise, the review by the Daily Echo has quoted that the BIC
'should be at the top of the list'. The received customer feedback forms have
described the exhibition as good or excellent with positive comments also attached.
I believe that this reflects the reasonable price charged for admission. On
balance, we do feel the product is priced fairly and the production is of a high
standard.



Thank you very much for your comments and we hope to welcome you back to the BIC in
the near future.



Yours sincerely


Brian Woolton
Senior Ticketing Supervisor
BIC/Pavilion


Response by me:

Dear Mr Woolton,

I find your response to be highly unsatisfactory and while you may be
disappointed to hear of my comments I am still twelve pounds out of pocket
for paying for a show which I felt was a complete flop.

I am fully aware that the exhibition is in conjunction with the Natural
History Museum, this is why I am so disappointed. I have been to the
museum and am a frequent visitor to their website and online collections
which are all highly professional and informative. As I stated in my
feedback, I felt that Dinosaur Encounter was neither professional nor
informative.

I am glad to hear that you have had positive feedback from other visitors,
however, I was not speaking for everyone when I made my complaint I was
writing on behalf of myself and my partner. If it had been just one of us
who felt that the exhibition was a complete rip off then I would put it
down to personal taste, but it was both of us who felt completely
hoodwinked by the experience.

Need I remind you that at Christmas there were actually some positive
comments regarding the ‘Lapland in the New Forrest’ park, I hope this
illustrates the point that even though some people may be happy with the
exhibition you are putting on this does not mean that everyone is.

As I said in my earlier correspondence, the animatronics were shoddy and
the scenery was really very poor but this would have been forgivable if
the information provided had been interesting, enjoyable and did not look
like something hastily thrown together by an uninformed amateur.

I do not feel that charge was fair, I do not feel as if I got my moneys
worth; for you twelve pounds might be nothing but for a lot of people
(especially in the current economy) the idea of throwing money away on
something that you did not enjoy and expected much more from is really
very upsetting.

I am interested to hear that the Echo has stated that this exhibit should
make the BIC top of the list and shall be writing to them including copies
of these emails to show them that not everyone thinks this, and that maybe
people with low incomes and large families who are likely to be very
disappointed should steer clear; especially when there are other
attractions in the local area which offer so much more either for free or
much cheaper than this exhibition.

Additionally, I should be very pleased if you would send this to the
people who put this exhibit together to let them know that not everyone
thinks this very poor production reflects well upon what is otherwise such
a splendid museum.

Yours sincerely,

Amber D'Angeles


letter to local paper:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Please find attached the response I got from the BIC when I wrote to
complain about its summer show 'Dinosaur Encounter' which is produced in
conjunction with the Natural History Museum.

I went to see this on Saturday August First with my Partner and was really
looking forward to it. I am a Dinosaur enthusiast and was expecting great
things from this exhibition.

What we actually got was charged six pounds each for entry to a show that
included very shoddy animatronics (the mechanisms that allowed the feet to
slide back and forward were uncovered, one of the baby triceratops eyes
had either fallen out or was so badly made it looked a bit frightening and
the juvenile T-Rex actually clunked when it moved).

I could have lived with this if the rest of the exhibition had been
informative and enjoyable but it was terrible; the information boards in
front of each of the exhibits contained only minimum information that was
not informative at all, there was no indication of what scale the exhibits
were made to either (In one of the replica fossil cases there was a model
about one and a half foot long of the arm and shoulder joints of the
Dinosaur Deinonychus, which in reality was about eleven foot long and
known as Terrible Claw) there was no indication that this was a scaled
down version and I actually heard a Grandfather telling his grandchildren
that these were tiny little things!

This, in my opinion is far worse than just being uninformative it is
misinformative and I hoped I had expressed my upset at this when I wrote
to the BIC, the response I received basically told me that other people
had enjoyed it, they are sorry I did not but that is that, I reminded them
that some people actually enjoyed the ‘Lapland in the New Forrest’ park at
Christmas to counter this argument and as yet have received no reply.

For some people it might be feasible to throw twelve pounds away and not
feel ripped off; for me however, (I am a student and work part time) and I
am sure for many other people who have small children that were looking
forward to seeing this exhibition, this was not the case and now not only
am I angry and upset about this very poor show and that I wasted my money
on it I am also very upset at having been given such a dismal dismissal by
the BIC.

I would like to think that the feedback I provided was actually useful and
that they would have been interested to know that the Dinosaurs were not
functioning properly and that the information was not up to scratch and
even that the displays needed to have labels telling people that they are
not to scale to avoid confusion, but I received no such indication that my
comments had even been considered.

I now feel thoroughly cheated and am hoping that if you will publish
something in The Echo about how this exhibit is misrepresenting certain
facts and not providing others then the BIC will look into bucking its
ideas up and not daring to try and fob the public off with such poor shows
in the future. Additionally I feel that the whole ‘Dinosaur Encounter…in
conjunction with the NHM’ should be looked into because I find it very
suspicious that such a shoddy show should have anything to do with this
museum.

Sincerely,

A D'Angeles

 

[old.Tohtori]

Like i said earlier; 12£ does not warrant quality.

Should have to see the exhibit myself to judge it completely, but i think the exhibition is a flop to your personal taste 'cause you're a dino-buff extraordinaire. I mean serious dino knowledge and an exhibit designed for the majority do not mix.

You don't write furious letters to the cinema if they waste my time with some crap-missile from hollywood, do you?

 

[Bahumat]

Woo go kick ass Ezteq! Keep us updated please.

 

[Ch3tan]

I dunno Ez, the letters seem very confrontational.

 

[tris-]

Youve also make the mistake of not actually telling them what you want. If youre just writing to moan it wont do much, if youre writing for a purpose they are likely to follow it up with something. i.e. you want a refund, a free pen, a keyring etc.

 

[Ezteq]

I don't actually want anything, I would like my money back but I am pointing out that the exhibition is lame and I expect better from the Natural history museum (which itself is free and freeking kicks arse, so the fact that they make a shite touring thing and charge for it is pretty stupid)

It is a bit confrontational but ...



this is dinosaurs... they fucked it up; that makes it personal!

 

[Edmond]

Is this the same show that is on at the O2 today, i think that one is called 'Walking With Dinosaures' if so, a friend of mine has taken his 4yr old to see it, I didnt say anything to him about your experience Ez, but i'd be interested to know what he thinks of it

 

[Ezteq]

No its called Dinosaur Encounter, the walking with dinosaurs looks freeking awesome. I watched a dvd about how they made the animatronics for that show and was blown away...then looked up on their website about how much tickets cost and was blown even further but tbh if they did a show near to me I'd be in like flerkin flynn!

 

[tris-]

If you wanted your money back, you probably should of said it in the first place. Sounds like im stating the obvious or something, but part of one of the modules in my degree was about how to write a proper letter of complaint! If you want to complain then thats one thing, but just moaning is something else altogether There is more to complaining than you think.

 

[fettoken]

From experience, you should never write a letter but rather call or speak with them in person. Tell them how disappointed you are and how they have wasted your precious time, if they wont comply, try to threaten them with going to the newspaper and telling everyone how shite they are, that usually works too.

You have to sound serious, not whiny. Point out the facts, but don't flame them.

 

[Ezteq]

Ah no it is better to write a letter because then you have a record of what you said and how they reply...also, I really don't think I was whining in that I was pointing out what was crap and why it was crap.

 

[old.Tohtori]

You were a bit whiney.

Also next time you'll know not to expect supa-quality with that cash.

 

[Ch3tan]

Why not toht? £6 each is a fair price for a museum or educational exhibit in this country.

 

[Urgluf]

ezteq, when you say B2. I'm pretty sure you mean your boyfriend. but what does B2 actually stand for? ive always wondered

 

[tris-]

Ah no it is better to write a letter because then you have a record of what you said and how they reply...also, I really don't think I was whining in that I was pointing out what was crap and why it was crap.

You have sent it to a newspaper though, sounds like a good old fashioned moan to me

 

[old.Tohtori]

Why not toht? £6 each is a fair price for a museum or educational exhibit in this country.

For a specialized exhibition that is not year round.

Fair != quality.

You pay for quality, or you take the shoddy exhibition.

Or don't go to shoddy ones if you're a dinonut.

 

[Ch3tan]

you misunderstand my use of the word fair. I did not say it was a fair price for low quality.

 

[old.Tohtori]

you misunderstand my use of the word fair. I did not say it was a fair price for low quality.

I did not say low quality, but it does not mean quality either. It means standard.

Limited exhibition, 12£ or so tickets, what does one expect? 3d dinos that look like they bite your nipples off and make you a sammich?

What does a movie ticket cost in the UK? 8£? 10£?

The only low quality here was in EQs mind, she's a hardcore dino fan, anything except a t-rex oiling her back on the tour would be "low grade"

In short; i feel it's a whole lot of hoopla for nothing; too high expectations, thinking that cost validates high quality. End of really.

 

[Ezteq]

ezteq, when you say B2. I'm pretty sure you mean your boyfriend. but what does B2 actually stand for? ive always wondered

B2 = BunnyTwo, twas his scout when we were playing daoc...aaah the good old days!

I thought I was more annoyed/pissed off than whiney...obviously the teeth grinding and furious eyebrow beetling didn't come through on the email.

Oh and museums in this country are free unless they are privately run.

 

[Calaen]

Well within your rights Ez, I had the unfotunate pleasure of giong to edingburgh zoo at the weekend. Fortunately for me my friend gets cheap tickets to parks because he works for the CSA and they have a family discount sceheme or something.

We got the tickets for £6 each a little less for kids. Had my friend of paid full price the cost would have been £42.50 for his family plus an extra £25-30 for myself and my wife.

The exhibitions were crap, the animals looked sick of their lives (the ones that we actually had the pleasure of seeing btw), The Tigers (again the one who's tail we could see from behind a massive bush)and a Great eagle were crammed in a shitty little enclosure, while some shitty painted dogs, whad a big massive open area to erm lie asleep in.

They advertised a penguin parade all day long at the zoo so we went expecting march of the fucking penguins, what actually happened was 4 penguins came out of the enclosure and walked around a path before being ushered back into their enclosure an enclosure where the rest of the penguins just stood huddled together under some sprinklers to keep cool.

It was a fucking shambles, and even though I got a massive discount I felt really hard done by the quality of the zoo.

As for the cost = high quality why should it not? You can go to alot of places for free around the uk that have superb demonstrations for adults and kids alike, by paying for something you are expecting something a bit better, than what you would get if it was free.