PARK 2, AZ
First Contact: Automated machine. Chose operator.
Answering phone: Female.
API: Stated question.
Staff: Sure thing, happy to help you. We don’t have an actual weight restriction because our harnesses can hold cars. I mean, like, tons! Basically he would have to be able to fit into our harnesses. How tall is he?
API: He’s pretty tall, right around 6’3”.
Staff: OK. And how much does he weigh, roughly?
API: He’s right around 250.
Staff: No problem. That should be fine because, you know, basically I would be worried if you said he was 250 pounds and he was like 5’5”. Then the weight would be distributed more widely than what his proportions are now. Does that make sense?
API: No problem, I know what you mean! So for these kind of activities it’s more about weight distribution, it seems?
Staff: Yes, exactly. For our park it is. Our harness’s maximum size is 41 inches at the waist. If you want to measure his waist to make sure he’ll be able to fit in the harness, that would be the best place to start…
API: I can do that. No problem! And so as long as he can fit into the harness and is physically fit enough, then he can do all the courses?
Staff: Absolutely. Just a quick tip however, we have guests sometimes who say they are extremely fit and try the hardest course right off the bat and then end up coming down the blue course, which is the intermediate course. Ha Ha! You know, we let everyone try it, but it’s always good to start small.
API: Hah! Sure thing. Well, thanks so much. I’ll go home and measure his waist to be sure.
Staff: Sounds good. Hope to see you guys soon!
1 Comment
This is an interesting article covering customer service, and potentially a useful assessment of customer service styles and responses. However, it is always easy to be enthusiastic for a guest if they can go on the tour be it because they are under the weight limit or size limit. It is much more difficult to enforce a size or weight rule in a way that is upbeat and enthusiastic. Guests who call for reservations typically want to go, and telling them they can not go is hard for the guest to hear and for the customer service staff to relay. This would have been much more useful if API had consistently adjusted the fictitious guests’ weight to just always be right over or right around the weight limit or waist size limit. That way each customer service agent would be dealing with the same issue, how do you politely let the guest know that they may not be able to go on the tour. That is a customer service challenge. Telling a guest they can go is pretty easy. the way in which this was written many of the customer service agents had the easy job of saying “sure you can go!” – admittedly some did it more enthusiastically than others, but the point of the article seems missed if only some agents are confronted with a guest who is in fact “on the heavier side” according to each courses definition of that statement.