Mary R.
Yelp
This review is for the Frida exhibit at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.
From the second I decided to purchase tickets until the second I decided not to go, this was a bad experience. I tried for two days to purchase my tickets online but continued to have issues with the online ticket pay. I could not create an account (and I had never purchased tickets before) and when I was prompted to try logging in, I tried to log in with what I thought would be my login details had I ever bought tickets... but no, I kept being told that I had the wrong log in info. Finally, this Monday I called to buy tickets over the phone. I was greeted by Patrick, who was kind enough, and asked had I bought tickets before, I said "no", but felt promoted to tell him about my online experience in case this might be of significance to him. He brushed it off by saying "yeah, the system is sometimes weird like that". Ummmm okay, carry on! So, I purchase 4 tickets and I'm asked if I want to have them emailed to me or waiting at the door, and I asked for them to be emailed. By later that night I never received my tickets, so I called the next day (yesterday) and left a message with my name, Patrick's name, my issue and my email address so that I might receive my tickets. No return call. Today I gave them until 3:45pm to get back to me and they never did, so I called again. Instead of leaving a voice mail, I waited on hold for several minutes until Patrick answered me, and I was able to tell him why I was calling. He said that he did not show my tickets having been purchased. I told him that he was the one who ran my card, to which he later replied that he doesn't think it was him. I reminded him of my unusual email that he had commented on when I purchased the tickets and then he remembered me! He did not have the email on file though, rather, they seemed to have my personal email on file... The one I was trying to make an account with! but no tickets. He asked me to look at my bank account and be sure the funds were released. So I did while he was on the phone, yup. $100 to the College of DuPage. So, he asks if he can call me back. of course! When he called back he said that they don't have any tickets on file and that there isn't much else to do, but that I can go in with my party tomorrow at ANY TIME, and they will have passes for me, but that I should call my bank and reverse payment. I confirm that he is recommending that I contact my bank and reverse payment, in which he confirms. This prompts me to ask if I will have to PURCHASE these PASSES that will be waiting for me to enter the exhibit whenever I decide to go. "Well yes" he says. So I ask to speak to a manager.
The manager, Jim, gets on the phone. I ask him to confirm that after I have spent all of my time, (calling multiple times, waiting for a return call that never came and now I am being told to contact my bank to reverse charges) that I am to PAY AGAIN tomorrow, which Patrick did not say upon his return call. But instead made it sound an awful lot like they were displaying great customer service and allowing me in the exhibit at whatever time I show up (as though my issue were ever with the TIME, so this was silly) and that my PASSES would be waiting, NOT that I would have to pay again. Jim confirms that I will have to pay again because they do not have tickets in their system for me. RIIIIIIGHT.
So, here is my beef... I was calm, understanding and cordial, even after never having a return call and giving them a day and a half to do so. At this point I have been on the phone several time and at no fault of mine (yet there is a $100 charge on my account to the College of Dupage) somehow they were not paid and there are no tickets and I have to deal with my bank to stop or reverse payment. There is no way that my card will be reimbursed by tomorrow, and yet they want to charge me again at the door, and didn't even have the curtesy to TELL ME this, I would not have known until I showed up tomorrow to collect my "passes". I don't know if there is a difference between tickets and passes, but it sure seemed as though there was an attempt to temper me and my inconvenience... yet... there was no tempering. I am PISSED. This customer service SUCJKED. If I had not called back AGAIN today, I would have had to have dealt with this at the door, with two children on my hip because they never returned the voice mail I left yesterday. Then at the end of my time with Patrick, I was led to believe that they actually HELPED me, and were executing an olive branch for my inconvenience. Thank goodness I confirmed what I believed to be the real case, and then got on the phone with the manager.
I can not post this review without selecting at least one star, if this weren't the case, they'd get nothing.
Thumbs down, guys, thumbs down.