Fort Worth Zoological Park / Fort Worth, Texas fortworthzoo.com

Fort Worth Zoological Park / Fort Worth, Texas fortworthzoo.com

&#160 TERRIBLE TREATMENT AT TICKET BOOTH

My husband and I had decided to visit the Forth Worth Zoological Park in Forth Worth, TX on Saturday February 26, 2005. The weather was a little rainy and a bit chilly but after calling the park ahead of time, we were assured by the receptionist that at least half the animals would be out and about. So, we printed out directions and took on the 50 minute/26 mile drive to the heart of Fort Worth. When we arrived the young man that handed us our tickets told us CLEARLY: " just to let you know, we are giving refunds and rain checks FOR THE DAY" due to the inclimate weather and if the animals were not out. We agreed (and would not have bought tickets otherwise), took our tickets and proceeded to venture through the zoo.

After only about 15 minutes of walking, it began to rain a little harder and my husband was very disappointed that there were hardly ANY animals out with the exception of the ones that were captive behind indoor habitats that were prepared for the apes and reptiles. We trotted back to the ticket booths were we were anxious to get our refund. When we returned to the exact same guy that gave us our tickets, his (assuming) female manager (blond hair/shoulder length/kind of butch) had gotten somewhat irate with us and shoved our tickets back to us saying that there were NO refunds and NO rain checks.

She proceeded by saying that it was raining when we arrived and the weather was going to be like this all day and we should have known that the animals wouldn't have been out and about. We argued back that the young man she was defending had NOT said that. The young man said " I said that we were NOT giving refunds and rain checks!" This was clearly an excuse he was using to get out of being suspended or written up because I would have done so for false information given to customers. His manager then pointed to a sign on the glass that said NO refunds or RAIN CHECKS for bad weather...HE SHOULD HAVE POINTED THAT OUT IN THE BEGINNING! After throwing us narrow eyes and grinding teeth we took our tickets and went back inside the park (we were upset, but didn't want to make that long trip all for nothing).

The young man glared at us and shook his head as if we were out of line when we walked passed him. Not once did we raise our voice in any manner whatsoever. We were highly disappointed that we drove 26 miles in the rain for the most undoubtedly WORST ZOO EXPERIENCE EVER. Not only were the employee's liars and con-artists, but they were also rude and angry/bitter people, they don't have a very wide selection of animals and when we did go back inside the park 3/4 of the animals that they did have were so depressed and inactive that they seem almost inanimate because of the small, almost cubical, habitat that was "created" for them.

I don't know what the employee's problems are either. Maybe they aren't getting paid enough or given the respect that they deserve by their managers. But there is no excuse whatsoever to have that type of an attitude with any customer at any time, whether they drove 25 miles or 25 meters. I would NEVER recommend this zoological park to anyone, NOT EVEN MY ENEMIES! I would recommend, however, the Little Rock Zoo in Little Rock, AR. The animals are almost always out and you are even able to pet and feed the giraffes! I will make sure that everyone I know is aware of the awful treatment we were given at this Zoo. And we will not be going back there again. I hope you all at the Forth Worth Zoo are satisfied that you have lost yet another customer. Thank you for your time.

Disappointed and Disturbed, K.Williams Click this link to e-mail the above consumer: Email User Consumer