Zoo outing many animals missing, can I get a refund?

camNolliesMUMMY

Me, dh n 2 kids went to our nearest zoo which three years ago was a great day out!!

As it was the boys bdays they decided on a trip to the zoo as a family using their bday money as due to lack of funds we can hardly ever afford to go out.

For them to both be in tears we are extremely annoyed and would like a refund.
We also bumped into friends of ours who also were annoyed to say the least and said was not worth the money and would have rather of taken their daughter to a soft play and had a meal with the amount it cost. Other people who were walking by we're saying it was disappointed they were.

£45 it cost for us to be done in not even an hour n half when before was an all day outing.

My sons were looking forward to seeing the leopards, penguins what a glass wall for you to watch them swimming, they were not visible due to the water being dark green!!! One penguin on the side then jumped in so was no longer visible. small monkeys more than half were missing etc for them to not even be visible to look at.
Sea lions were gone also.

The day was just a big flop and our eldest was so upset he didn't get too see what he wanted to see leopards, sea lion, giraffe and meerkats.

The train he wanted to go on was not being manned!

Girraffes had also been moved to another zoo.

Where do I stand on trying to get the money refunded to take them to a better zoo? This was their money and I'm gutted for them.

I wrote a complaint but all I got was excuses and told us to go back another time. Not offering us to go back free of charge but to pay again!!!

I'd appreciate any responses to help me with this so I can claim the money back and make up for this ruined day out which is a rare occasion for us to afford to go out as a family.

camNolliesMUMMY

I'd like to add if the animal was inside half of them had the shutters or doors closed so visitors could not look.

Basically we paid £45 to look at emu zebra elephant n a couple of monkeys. The leopards weren't out.

redpete

Which zoo is it?

camNolliesMUMMY

Twycross zoo tbh just looked on trip advisor and a good fee saying the same as me

marywooyeah

I went to a zoo once where they only had one animal. It was shitzu.

but seriously though - did you have a look at their website before you went? It may have said on there that some of the animals weren't there anymore eg you mentioned that the giraffes have moved.

I would definetly complain,s but check their website first in case they say that some of the things you are unhappy with are clear on the website. For that kind of price you should expect a full day out and if you make it clear that you and the kids were very unhappy, point out about the doors to animals being shut etc they could offer you a partial refund.

Chuck in some bad reviews on tripadvisor and similar sites too to warn others.

let us know how you get on xx

marywooyeah

camNolliesMUMMY wrote: »

Twycross zoo tbh just looked on trip advisor and a good fee saying the same as me

aah we went there last year for a disco and dinosaur evening. It was £5 each from 5pm to 9pm for the event and we saw the whole zoo in about two hours. I remember saying to my husband that I was glad we hadn't paid full price otherwise I would have felt ripped off.

we had the same thing in some of the animal houses where you couldn't see animals due to closed shutters etc.

I'd definetly complain x

camNolliesMUMMY

It didn't say they had been moved it had just a list of animals.

Because we'd been before we expected it to be as good.

Only saw one meerkat too and it was a nice day. Busy day last bank holiday Monday.
I wrote the complaint in the car on the way home via email on my iPhone and only got a response today!!

barbarawright

The website doesn't mention giraffes so it would have been reasonable to assume they don't have any. Was there anything actually listed on the website that you didn't get to see? If that isn't the case, I wouldn't have thought you were likely to get a refund

MoneyMate

Not the same since Molly left, Bring back the Chimps Tea party.
I used to work there in their Catering Dept no end of problems.
Could be such a nice Zoo, needs the management to consider the "Customer" more.

force_ten

I dont think you have much chance of getting your money back

you should have gone to customer services during the day and made a complaint at the time of your visit

let us know how you get on

camNolliesMUMMY

Well I've received an email telling us we have a free return to the zoo and a ranger escort for the day, we just have to let them know when we want to go and they will arrange it for us.