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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Aaaagh! Madame Tussuards and tickets they won't refund

19 replies

jenniferjane21 · 27/04/2017 20:35

So I spent a couple of days in London over the Easter holidays with the 3DC. I bought tickets to take them to Madame Tussuards. (£120 for the four of us - ouch!). Tussuards do a big offer where you can buy tickets for a second London attraction for a reduced price, so I thought we'd go on the London Eye too and make the most of our time there.

The tickets clearly say to book a slot for the Eye when you arrive at Madame Tussuards, but when we arrived at the specified time we were waved straight in through a door and joined a queue inside the building. This queue went in to the first exhibition room and no-one had asked us if we wanted to book for the Eye. We barely saw a member of staff. I was a bit bemused but assumed we would see where to book the slot somewhere during our visit, but it never happened. Once outside Madame Tussuards we decided to make our way over to the Eye. We arrived there mid afternoon and were told that all the slots were sold out for the day. Cue much disappointment. I explained to staff that we were going home the next day and we do not live near London, so were not able to book for another day. The member of staff apologised and assured me the money would be refunded if I went to the website and explained what had happened with dates and times.

Except that when I went on the website, I was told that Tussuards do not offer refunds as the tickets are valid for 90 days and I am expected to be able to use the tickets during that time. No matter that I live nowhere near London, am not planning to go back within the next 90 days and they are not offering to pay travel and accommodation, apparently.

Wtf?

I am so cross about the principle of this, more than the money. So I am not able to use the tickets through no fault of my own, but rather due to their poor admin systems and yet they do not apologise or refund? I am embarrassed for anyone who is visiting our capital from overseas and who ends up in this situation. By definition Madame Tussuards and the London Eye are tourist attractions, so people buying the tickets will mostly be tourists and if they are not able to use the tickets on the days they are in London, saying that the tickets are valid for 90 days is not going to be much use!!

Rant over!

OP posts:

ThisIsStartingToBoreMe · 27/04/2017 20:39

YABU you should have booked when you got to MTs like they said. So what if no-one at MTs told you! That's not their job, it's yours

elessar · 27/04/2017 20:43

Well it does say on the ticket engine (prior to purchase) that you must pick up your tickets from MTs before you visit the London Eye and that the London Eye is subject to capacity on the day. You purchased the tickets on this basis and as such I don't see why you feel entitled to a refund - you should have made sure to book your slot early in the day and certainly before you left MTs.

I can see why you feel hard done by but it does clearly state this on the website.

Original poster

jenniferjane21 · 27/04/2017 21:09

Yes, I fully understood when I went to Madame Tussuards I needed to book the Eye slot while I was there.

Yet, despite being aware of this and looking for a desk to go to or person to speak to about it, at no point throughout the visit did I see a desk / person/ anything.
I'm still a bit bemused as to how it can be such a big offer and yet so difficult to implement when you are at Tussuards. They have to take some responsibility for that.

This booking process may be legal, but it does not feel moral. Surely the second attraction should be booked for the same day as the first at the time of purchase?
Otherwise this situation could happen thousands of times and London staff just shrug and say "Sorry, second attraction is fully booked today. That's your problem. No refund". It's a scam.

My impression is that that is why it was so hard to find anywhere to book the Eye when at Madame Tussuards; the Eye had sold out much earlier in the day and everyone was lying low.

OP posts:

WonkoTheSane42 · 27/04/2017 21:16

It's Tussauds.

UnicornMadeOfPinkGlitter · 27/04/2017 21:21

The desk is as you go in. Do as you were being ushered in then was your chance to say i need to book my London eye tickets please. They then would have moved you over to the desk/counter. Then let you in after sorting the London eye.

There are hundreds of staff about in tussauds so why did you not ask one of them?

NoSquirrels · 27/04/2017 21:25

You couldn't find one member of staff in the whole of Tussauds? Really? No gift shop hawkers, no door people, no one at all?

pasturesgreen · 27/04/2017 21:30

It was your responsibility to speak up as you were about to enter Madame Tussauds.

I can't see why you'd think you may be entitled to travel and accommodation expenses.

elessar · 27/04/2017 21:46

It's not a scam. The Eye has a limited number of slots in a day - you went over the Easter holidays and didn't turn up until mid afternoon... pretty naive to assume there would still be spaces available. You can still use the tickets, you just are choosing not to return to London within 3 months - that's your own decision.

Even if you couldn't figure out how to do it on entrance to the attraction, you should have made sure to find someone and ask before you left.

tinglyfing · 27/04/2017 22:13

Yabu. It was up to you to ask a member of staff at mt, where to book your tickets.
Sorry, but I just don't believe that there were absolutely no staff around for you to find this out. It's tough titties I'm afraid.

MathsFiend · 27/04/2017 22:52

Similar happened to me, but at shriek which is beside the eye. No-one to speak to at shrek to book it. Came out, to find I had to stand in a huge queue just to book a time slot for the eye, at which point there would then be another huge queue. Ended up buying the fast pass upgrades- if I hadn't, i'm sure we'd have missed all the time slots. It's really shit. Don't know why you can't book your time slot at the same time you book your time slot for the other attraction online.

stella23 · 27/04/2017 23:28

There are literally no staff at tussards, I ended up getting in for free once, I was queuing and was waved through thinking there was another queue somewhere and ended up inside.

NotStoppedAllDay · 28/04/2017 01:17

It's just as you go in.... you can't miss it!

Yabu. It's entirely your fault and I can see why they are refusing accom/travel!

NotStoppedAllDay · 28/04/2017 01:18

Don't know why people are surprised at having to queue either!

harderandharder2breathe · 28/04/2017 07:22

Yabu

Why didn't you ask the person who waved you through? And really, no staff? At s busy tourist attraction at Easter?

It's common sense that tourist attractions are busy in school holidays so you can't show up to the London eye mid afternoon and expect much (not a londoner, nor do I spend any time there, I just have a smidgen of sense).

You're the one choosing not to go back.

Of course they shouldn't pay your accommodation and travel costs! Why on earth would they?!

It's your fault. It's not the end of the world. Admit it to yourself, stop blaming everyone else, and get over it.

Chloe84 · 28/04/2017 08:46

Yes, I would have asked any member of staff. It would be a bit passive not to.

Original poster

jenniferjane21 · 28/04/2017 11:43

Well, have spoken to Trading Standards and they understand that the terms and conditions of refund are unfair, so will be taking it up with Tussuards.

As for there not being a member of staff to speak to, how many of you have actually been there recently? PP who was at Shrek, all part of the same London offers scheme, has it exactly right - nowhere to book.
Yes, I know it seems unbelievable, but there we are. There were huge crowds outside and staff in tabards milling around. It was one of those staff who waved me over to a door where I went in and joined the queue on the stairs. I can believe people can get in for free, it would be easy. But I guess that's all a side issue; the point is even if I had found where to book for the Eye (anyone on here know?) I would still have been told that it was fully booked for that day. And that's not on for all the thousands of visitors from all over the world.

OP posts:

unfortunateevents · 28/04/2017 11:54

the point is even if I had found where to book for the Eye (anyone on here know?) I would still have been told that it was fully booked for that day - no you wouldn't, because assuming you spent a couple of hours at Tussauds, then had to make your way to the London Eye (and probably stopped for lunch in the meantime) you would have been booking the Eye hours before you turned up there mid-afternoon so there would have been availability!

I can't believe that, knowing you needed to pre-book beforehand, you left Tussauds without doing so. You say yourself there were staff in tabards, just because one of them ushered you into a line didn't mean you couldn't ask them where you need to go to book or go back afterwards to ask them at the end of the visit, if you couldn't find anyone else (which I find unbelievable - no staff in the gift shop at all, or selling you tat at the exit?)

AndNowItIsSeven · 28/04/2017 11:57

If you were told it was fully booked that day , very unlikely then they would have take the tickets back.

unfortunateevents · 28/04/2017 12:02

Just had a look at the website, it clearly says that the tickets are valid for 90 days and that the Eye is subject to availability on the day.

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