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Daniel.S313

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I was really annoyed by the staff member letting people in at the swarm only letting the main queue in not even 1 fastrack person. it should at least be half and half if not some fastrack in then main queue which meant queuing normally for ride I would of actually got on it quicker. I got my money back on the swarm fastracks as I wasn't happy but apart from that I had a really great day/night at thorpe

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I was really annoyed by the staff member letting people in at the swarm only letting the main queue in not even 1 fastrack person. it should at least be half and half if not some fastrack in then main queue which meant queuing normally for ride I would of actually got on it quicker. I got my money back on the swarm fastracks as I wasn't happy but apart from that I had a really great day/night at thorpe

You had a great day and yet all you've told us about is the moan.

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I'm sure theres abit of both there to be fair :P

But its like most things really, those who pay more for their airline tickets get onto the air plane faster etc :P

But they don't get to their destination any quicker though, do they? That's what gets me with fast track, I can't think of any equivalent where those paying get their service at such a huge and direct detriment to those who pay less (and lets not forget, have still paid for the service). It sucks, and it will slowly destroy parks as people get pissed off with it and won't come back. Those Merlin profits today will look like poor value in the future. Short termism raises it's head again.

As for the staff, they are being put in an impossible position by the unrealistic sales currently being made, I hope they are giving their managers hell over it.

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Sorry, but that is still not anything like the same thing. The people on the slower train are not going slower BECAUSE of the people paying more on the faster train. If no one bought a ticket for the faster train and everyone bought one for the slower train everyone would still get there when they intended to - at the same time if the fast train was full the slower train would not get there even slower - it would get there just the same regardless. It is the premium service directly CAUSING the poor standard service that is the big problem for me.

Your Amazon parcel isn't slower BECAUSE of the premium service existing, my NHS hospital isn't crap BECAUSE someone has paid another provider more for better, I can still withdraw my cash when I want regardless of anyone with a paid card, no one is pushing passed me regardless of the colour of their plastic!

These aren't the same thing at all. Show me where someone using the premium service will cause me to lose out, and I as the consumer will have no idea that this will be the case until it happens. That shouldn't happen because that is just wrong.

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Obviously the balance has been got wrong again.

In honesty, I have no problems with Fastrack whatsoever IF it is operated properly. However, when it is a case of an unfair balance occurring (which normally favours Fastrack), it is not right and is just not being operated properly. In this case, it seems the balance has shifted to 'unfairly' favour the ordinary queue.

In my opinion, the balance should be around 80:20, maybe 75:25 pushing it, for ordinary queue : Fastrack queue, but that's an uneducated guess really. Regardless, Thorpe seriously need to sort this out - the Fastrack system is just not working efficiently enough to keep main queue guests happy and allow Fastrack users to get what they pay for. What's the use in making money from a system which annoys guests and can potentially discourage them from visiting again, and spending more money?

Of course, in my ideal world Fastrack wouldn't even be around, but it just creates too much money for the park to get rid of it. The least they can do, though, it make it work effectively.

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Obviously the balance has been got wrong again.

In honesty, I have no problems with Fastrack whatsoever IF it is operated properly. However, when it is a case of an unfair balance occurring (which normally favours Fastrack), it is not right and is just not being operated properly. In this case, it seems the balance has shifted to 'unfairly' favour the ordinary queue.

In my opinion, the balance should be around 80:20, maybe 75:25 pushing it, for ordinary queue : Fastrack queue, but that's an uneducated guess really. Regardless, Thorpe seriously need to sort this out - the Fastrack system is just not working efficiently enough to keep main queue guests happy and allow Fastrack users to get what they pay for. What's the use in making money from a system which annoys guests and can potentially discourage them from visiting again, and spending more money?

Of course, in my ideal world Fastrack wouldn't even be around, but it just creates too much money for the park to get rid of it. The least they can do, though, it make it work effectively.

exactly your right there I normally queue in the main queue but I thought as its fright nights its gonna be busy so ill get myself a few fastracks all they need to do especially when theres a big fastrack queue is just to make it 50/50 half main queue and half fastrack then the fastrack queue goes down as does the main queue I only moaned because I was in the main queue for saw alive and saw the person just letting fastrackers on but I as joshc said either get rid of fastrack or just make it work better for everyone

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Ian, how would you feel if you had bought that fastrack, because, you know, you earned the money and all, and yet still had to face the 40 minute fastrack queue because the park decided to get a little greedy. And how do you feel knowing that you are actually adding to the problem along with all the other fastrackers.

It's almost like its a "get in and let them suffer attitude" and I hate the way people now seem convinced that it is the only way to enjoy the day. I would love to do an experiment and see what would happen to queues if fastrack was not sold for that day because at the moment its all happiness for a minority and misery for the majority.

The sad thing is with even Europa Park getting a fastrack system, it looks the days of just being able to queue and ride with no troubles are long gone. :(

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Ian, how would you feel if you had bought that fastrack, because, you know, you earned the money and all, and yet still had to face the 40 minute fastrack queue because the park decided to get a little greedy. And how do you feel knowing that you are actually adding to the problem along with all the other fastrackers.

I think this is where fastrack is miss sold, waiting in a 40 min fastrack queue is still better than waiting in a 2 hour main queue.

I do agree the system has it's flaws but I think the way it's grown, people visit the parks and expect to have to buy them without even looking at the queues which makes it so popular

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I think this is where fastrack is miss sold, waiting in a 40 min fastrack queue is still better than waiting in a 2 hour main queue.

I do agree the system has it's flaws but I think the way it's grown, people visit the parks and expect to have to buy them without even looking at the queues which makes it so popular

-I doubt the queue would even be 2 hours if it wasn't for the overselling of fastrack.

- I don't think thats a good thing Marc.

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They are exactly the same thing:

Really they are not, with the possible exception of the banking one. I'm saying the problem is with the premium service directly causing the poor standard service, not that the premium service exists as an option.

I cannot travel on the faster train if I have not bought an upgraded ticket even though my ticket fares will have funded the investment to make HS1. I have partly paid for HS1's construction and operation without actually being allowed to use it.

No one buying a premium ticket will make the other train slower. Fact. That is the direct comparison and it doesn't fit. The subsidy system and whole train set up in this country is a scandalous farce, but it has nothing in direct comparison to this. I buy a ticket knowing my train arrives at 14.00hrs, I don't sit on the train for and extra 45mins because after I bought my ticket a coachload bought premium tickets. I don't know how else to word it , it is simply not the same.

If courier companies sent all parcels at the same speed it is likely that all the slower parcels will travel faster, there have been incidents where on tracking my Amazon package is sat in a depot 10 miles down the road for 3 days.

I see what you are saying here, but there are clearly defined different layers of service. The standard service is advertised within a reasonable fixed timeframe which they generally stick to. The fast service is both prohibitively expensive and itself able to pay for the extra resources needed to deliver so quickly. The postal service does not have a fixed throughput (obviously they do ultimately, but they operate nowhere near it) like a rollercoaster, they can adjust their rounds and hours as demand.

The hospital resources (operating theatres, wards, etc) are at a fixed number. If myself and a paying customer were to join the queue for an operation at the same time, the paying customer (and many other paying customers) would be pushed in ahead thus increasing my waiting time.

HSBC's preferred service means that members of staff in the store and on the phone will serve me before any normal customers as I am paying for the service.

Another example O2 priority moments and other similar services "Get tickets to thousands of gigs & events across the UK up to 48 hours before general release." http://www.o2priority.co.uk/Tickets. This means that as a paying o2 customer I get access to certain events that could sell out within those 48 hours before anybody else. Those people are less likely to get those tickets, thus I have reduced their experience.

I go to Gatwick airport with my family, we have all bought tickets to get on the plane along with everyone else. I get to the gate and find that all the priority boarding passengers (those who've paid an extra £10) get let on to the plane first to choose their seats. I then board to plane to find no groups of seats left, myself and daughter have to sit in one place and my partner and son have to sit in another. The people who paid got to go on first and choose their seats, thus limiting my selection (our basic ticket price was the same).

Note I still agree with you in your main point, I think it is often oversold, but blame can be shared around to other parks (both in the UK and abroad).If it came down to it and I could pay to choose my seat on the plane to ensure I sat with my friends / family I would. And if Thorpe Park / Gardaland (as I did) was so busy normal queues would adversely impact my day I would also be prepared to pay the extra. I work hard to earn my money I will make the most enjoyment out of it.

...private hospitals often have their own resources and use nhs ones when they would otherwise be closed (not to say the private/public healthcare thing isn't another scandalous mess, but thats another matter)....I certainly don't have a separate queue for certain card holders at my HSBC, maybe it happens on the phone....02 stuff is a brand loyalty perk mostly originating in 02 operating some arenas, there is nothing wrong with that - you have a free choice of mobile operators and the perks each bring....the plane one is perfect example of how to offer a premium service - you are all getting there at the same time regardless but some can pay for extra comfort or convenience en route. nothing wrong with that. You can't rearrange the seats on a plane, some people will have to sit on their own, people don't end up on their own BECAUSE of others paying - it will happen anyway.

Please don't interpret my views as some sort of anti capitalist thing. I myself am frankly quite well off in the scheme of things and I'll often pay for the premium service or product where available. I have never paid for fast track and hopefully never will. I wouldn't enjoy my ride knowing that in doing so I had made someone else have a worse day, guess that is just the way I am. Even if elements of this do happen elsewhere they certainly don't happen in such stark circumstances - it is an absolutely disgusting spectacle watching all the rich people in one line walk past all the poor people in another right next to it, who will all be waiting indefinitely as more and more people pay up. The poor people, remember, have all already paid for their day out which is heavily advertised as a one price for all access and not cheap And this at a place that is supposed to be full of fun and escapism.

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Really they are not, with the possible exception of the banking one. I'm saying the problem is with the premium service directly causing the poor standard service, not that the premium service exists as an option.

An example of this can be seen at airports where they offer security fastrack, if the fastrack queue is busy they will push more of them through so they are waiting less time, resulting is less scanners being available for those in the normal queue making it longer.

I too dont really agree with it, but its a problem in most things it seems now.

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An example of this can be seen at airports where they offer security fastrack, if the fastrack queue is busy they will push more of them through so they are waiting less time, resulting is less scanners being available for those in the normal queue making it longer.

I too dont really agree with it, but its a problem in most things it seems now.

The plane will still wait for you if you've checked in, you just get less time buying overpriced alcohol. This isn't like a theme park where (especially in the UK) you get such limited time to get on any of the bigger rides.

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But the point is those who have paid more for a premium service will get priority over those who havent, and those who havent service may be affected by those who have because to the company the one with the more cash are more important.

This is a circle. I know this. But your example of the aeroplane and airport security is not the same thing as fastracking other people four times with an extreme package. Neither is over-selling your fastrack to the detrimental effects of all guests. Not just the 75% stuck in your main queueline.

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I was given a free fasttrack for any ride I wanted yesterday; Stealth broke down yet again whilst I was in the queue. I chose to use it on Saw and it had a 90 minute queue. I only waited about 15 minutes though. The people who buy fasttrack obviously get what they pay for as the queues are well, fast. I do think the balance is unfair though. Having said that, I only really feel the full effect fasttrack is having in the E10 queue. Every time I've been on it since last year has meant a 2 hour wait first which I put down to fasttrack users!

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I fully support priority passes, if you have been in a queue and a ride has a technical error and you have been waiting for a length of time, or have been wronged by the park then having a priority pass to make up the lost time is fully acceptable.

As for Fasttracks, its all about the money, money, money and the park is basically sticking their fingers up at other guests. It plays into the selfish side of people, those who have a little extra cash to have some fun make everyone else suffer. It is wrong in every way, Merlin making money by selling MY time. The number of times I have heard people saying they had to get Fasttracks so they got the most out of their day, but in fact they are making the entire situation worse.

Virtual queuing or first come first on the ride is the most fair way. I don't mind if there is a 1 hour queue if everyone waits 1 hour, but for that queue to be increased by greedy selfish people who can't wait is not on.

I don't think everyone will agree with this.

  • I'm in the group who believe you have already paid and should not have to pay extra on top. There should not be a first and second class service. Everyone should be treated equal.
  • There are people who are happy to pay over the odd to have their experience improved at the expense of others
  • And the park is happy to cash in on basically doing nothing
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