Strange SFAM security encounter.

[ajinaz]

Warning! Long-winded tale ahead. Turn back if you are easily bored!

I just finished talking with my brother back east and my first thought was that the new SFMM culture must not be corporate-wide. It makes me appreciate the changes at MM even more.

 

And now the story.

 

My brother was at an event in Bethesda with the family and decided to renew their 6 passes on the way home. This was on the 13th so the park wasn't open yet. He turned left into the park entrance from the median left turn lane (there are 2 lanes there). When he made the turn there was nobody beside him. He headed down the drive which almost immediately becomes one lane due to cone placement. As he headed into the single lane he heard a horn behind him and saw a Ford Ranger with a smashed in front end right on his bumper. He quickly pulled to the left and stopped to let the guy by. Instead the guy pulled up to his passenger side, lowered the window and started cussing him out. "What the #$%# is your problem &^*%$#$?" was one of the string of expletives. This is all happening with my brother's kids in the car. (7-14 years old)

My brother lost his temper and told him that from the looks of his truck it seems he runs into things all the time.

This made the guy really mad and he told my brother that he might as well turn around right there because he "wasn't coming into my @#$%@#$% park today!" The guy then pulls up to the parking kiosk and stops his truck and gets out. My brother is right behind him. As the guy is getting out he puts on these black fingerless gloves and tells the guy at the parking kiosk not to let my brother in. My brother asks to talk to his boss and the parking guy tells him that the guy in the truck is his boss today! My brother asks to speak to the person in charge of the park. At that point the truck guys says, "Until the park opens I am in charge of this entire park!" My brother tells the guy that he owes his wife and kids an apology for acting that way and the guy now denies cussing him out!

My brother left and called customer relations the next morning. The lady was quite appalled by the story and gave him the numbers to public relations and the real head of security. (It turns out that the truck guy may have been embellishing the story)

My brother called both numbers and left a message and a short explanation. No calls were returned. He then wrote a letter to both departments. No response at all. So last week he gathered up all of the season passes he and the family had accumulated over the last 7 years (over 30) and mailed them to SFAM with another letter explaining that he would never set foot in a Six Flags again.

My brother is a theme park nut (compared to me). He buys passes to Cedar Fair, SF, and BG every year and spends literally thousands and thousands of dollars at Six Flags parks each summer.

I'm sure that if this had happened at the new MM he would have received some kind of response even if they didn't believe the story. To let that kind of money be lost because of a loose cannon in security is just amazing to me.

[ginzo]

Why deal with the park at all? Your brother should take this up with Six Flags corporate. He should also file BBB complaints and do every other annoying thing he can think of.

 

BTW, that security idiot sounds like mall ninja.

[signal]

I may be wrong, but I think that letters sometimes take a long time to get replies for, especially with huge companies like Six Flags. I think he will get replied to, and the situation will change for him.

[packfanlv]

I visited 10 Six Flags parks last year and SFAM is by far the worst. It seems like corporate has just forgotten about this park. The staff was rude and the park seemed quite run down. This honestly doesn't surprise me given what I saw there last year. I guess the small parks like SFAM are flying under the radar right now with all of the focus going into fixing their trademark properties.

[Zero One]

Start sending an EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb): http://consumerist.com/consumer/complaint-letters/how-to-launch-an-executive-email-carpet-bomb-259713.php

 

You should also submit that story to the above website, a huge consumer advocacy blog. You're sure to get a response when it gets posted there.

 

 

Whatever you do, don't let it die until you are satisfied.

[bdstrom]

Wow, just wow. If I were you or your brother, I would not let this parking security get away with this. If you've called public relations and the real head of security and they have not responded, I would call customer relations again.

 

Also there is plenty of places on the Internet where you can put in your review (i.e. Look up SFAm in Google Map and there's an option to leave your comment/review). Just spread the words if Six Flags are not taking responsibility in this case.

[CoasterLover]

There is no excuse for how the guard acted, however this whole situation begs the question as to what your brother was trying to accomplish there in the first place. I mean, as you noted, the park was not yet open for the season, and most parks (including SFA) only have limited times before the park opens for the season when they will process season passes. If your brother is such an avid enthusiast, I'm fairly certain he would have realized that as well. So why even bother trying to go into the park in the first place?

 

Additionally, I know for a fact that there was a sign outside the park before opening day indicating when the park would be opening for the season and when early season pass processing days were, so even if he had not previously known that the park was open or that season pass processing was only limited hours, he certainly could have seen that as soon as he got to the front gate. As such, if he purposefully continued on with this knowledge, he was technically trespassing.

 

Once again, I am not claiming that this is an excuse for how the guard acted, and I certainly agree that an apology was and still is in order, but you have to remember that SFA really is a sub-urban park (unlike Great Adventure or even SFMM for that matter where you have to drive a decent distance to find any large urban area) and I'm sure they have to deal with a fair share of people trying to sneak into the park and cause mischief over the offseason. Not saying your brother would fit the image of someone who would try such a thing, but it's at least something to ponder.

 

I highly agree with "signal" that I believe your brother will eventually hear from the park. Again, there is no excuse for how that individual guard acted, howver I think to assume that he would receive a response in two weeks or less during one of the busiest times of the year for ANY theme park customer service department is a bit unfair.

[Jew]

^^It is important to note that #1 is:

 

1. Exhaust normal channels

Have you called customer service? Asked for a supervisor? Hung up and tried again? Give regular customer service a chance to fix the problem before you go nuclear.

 

Has your brother followed up at all? It's unfair to assume that NOTHING is being done just because he hasn't heard back from them. Nothing is as simple as "we got a complaint from a guest. You're fired!"

[BeemerBoy]

There is no excuse for how the guard acted.

You should've stopped right there.

 

I don't care what his brother's motives were, NOTHING warrented the treatment he received. In fact, I might have actually called the cops about road rage and harrassment like this....especially with children onboard.

[Jew]

^I can tell you from experience that there is usually two sides to every story. We're only getting his brothers side of the story. Not that it makes what the gaurd allegedly did right by any means (you should NEVER cuss at a guest, even if they did something to provoke), but it would be interesting to hear what SF/the gaurd had to say. The vague statement "my brother lost his temper" makes me wonder just a little bit.

 

Don't get me wrong...this story could very well be true and should be dealt with by SF accordingly. I just wonder if there is more to the story.

[BeemerBoy]

^ Yeah, true about the "two sides" thing. I was guessing he lost his temper after the reality set in that his kids were with him, but I could certainly be missing something, as you said.

[ajinaz]

There is no excuse for how the guard acted, however this whole situation begs the question as to what your brother was trying to accomplish there in the first place.

He had stopped there to activate his six passes.

[ajinaz]

^ Yeah, true about the "two sides" thing. I was guessing he lost his temper after the reality set in that his kids were with him, but I could certainly be missing something, as you said.

 

Yes, you are right about why he lost his temper. It's not like he hasn't heard cuss words before but in front of the kids was uncalled for. I actually think that "losing his temper" is a bit of a strong description on my part. I think he was just trying to let the guy know he wasn't impressed with his actions so he put down his obvious poor driving skills.

One thing that he did tell me was that every second this was happening he was very aware that he was most likely being filmed, so he was going out of his way to be calm and respectful. He did ask the lady he talked to to pull the tape of the incident if there was one.

[mcjaco]

One thing that he did tell me was that every second this was happening he was very aware that he was most likely being filmed, so he was going out of his way to be calm and respectful. He did ask the lady he talked to to pull the tape of the incident if there was one.

 

This always amuses me greatly. When I handled claims for airports, everyone thought that there were video cameras taking footage of every square inch of the airport, and that the airports kept the footage indefinitely. Not the case people. Only high interest areas are filmed, and if nothing happens one day, the record over it the next.

 

I highly doubt he was being filmed.

[sfne2005]

^ Yeah, true about the "two sides" thing. I was guessing he lost his temper after the reality set in that his kids were with him, but I could certainly be missing something, as you said.

 

There is actually three sides to every story. Accuser's side, accused side and the truth.

[ajinaz]

There is actually three sides to every story. Accuser's side, accused side and the truth.

 

You are 100% correct. The reason for the OP was my surprise in SFAM's apparently not wanting to know all the sides. Many people have suggested that not enough time has passed for a response so I'll let you all know if one ever comes. If one never comes, I guess that the silence will speak volumes about the park.