Chester Zoo - complaining / refunds? 25 April 2019 at 12:10PM in UK holidays, days out & entertainments 5 replies 1.9K views

Mumoftwo73

Has anyone any experience of complaining about an attraction such as Chester Zoo? Went this week and wasn't impressed. Rang to complain and they were not interested. Our main complaint is that lots of enclosures were empty and we were walking from enclosure to enclosure with nothing to see. I understand animals have their own free will and can hide away but there should be some way of seeing them, i.e. a better vantage point/video links? We travelled 4 hours to basically go for a very long walk and wasted the only money we had for Easter on that one day. Feel robbed. They will not refund and have told me to email. I do not normally complain but have been to other zoos, like Knowsley and an amazing one in France and this was nothing like those. We saw one lioness in the 'Big Cats' area. It was pacing up and down, clearly bored.

sheramber

If it was hot the animals would seek the cool of the shade.

For that reason I visit a zoo in cooler weather.

As a private enterprise they are independent and the only complaint would be if the animals were not being treated correctly.

McKneff

You answered your own question when you said animal hide away of their own free will.

Especially when its hot.

I dont think you can do anything to be honest

Mumoftwo73

Thanks for your replies. Yesterday wasn't hot, in fact it was quite dull for most of the morning then the sun came out but was nothing like the previous two days. I totally agree in that I would want the best for the animals but we paid almost £90 to see animals, and saw mostly empty enclosures. They can hide away but like I said, better viewing platforms for those times or video links to inside the enclosures. Apart from the animals there are snack bars -many. Massive let down for all four of us and costly.

kingfisherblue

Just a point - Knowsley is a safari park, not a zoo.

I agree with others about the animals deciding to keep in the cooler, shaded areas in warm weather. In many cases this may be their sleeping area, which is not visible to the public. However, having been to Chester Zoo on many occasions and in all weathers, I have never been disappointed with the amount of animals to see. Yesterday may have been dull, but it was still very warm - we had thunderstorms in the North West in the late afternoon.


Snack bars in places like this are always expensive. They rely on people spending their money in them. You could have taken a picnic though. There are plenty of seating areas where you can eat.

[Deleted User]

It's a while since I've been. Remember that at Chester Zoo the animals ARE NOT yours! They are OURS! Did you see the signs everywhere referring to 'our animals'. "If You Feed Our Animals You Will Be Asked to Leave", and similar. That's the prevailing memory I came away with from Chester Zoo.