Joncars05

I think you are right because I got to level 3 last sunday and I only spent $10 in the park, but I am somehow at 50.00% exactly moving towards a 4 star. So I do think the program starts you out at 50% starting at level 3 (atleast that had been my experience so far) to give you the perceived notion that you are closer to the tagert than you really are. Thus making you spend more in the park... CF and those sneaky tricks... tisk tisk

Maybe this will aid you in your understanding. He paid for a pass that came with certain promised benefits. The park did not give him all of the benefits that he paid for when he bought the pass. He feels that, because he paid for those benefits, the park should give him what it promised. Then, when he attempted to get what he paid for, he got the runaround and never received the benefit he purchased. It's pretty simple really. I will never understand why some people have the delusion that the park is entitled to promise people the world, take their money based on those promises, and then disregard those promises at will. Any customer of any business is entitled to 100% of what they pay for and any business that does not deliver what it promises will surely lose customers and profits over time. I can't help but wonder how many folks out there have experienced problems similar to JonCars' and, as a result, will be taking camping trips instead of buying passes next summer. This is about the most simple AND correct way to explain the situation. Not to reiterate the perceived notion that I have taken from this situation, but it seems like that is all CF cares about... ($$$$>>>>Customer Service/Happiness)

I have noticed on this board that when someone has a difference in opinion (especially if it is a negative one about KI) some people on the board will do their best to stick up for KI and say that that person is wrong/crazy/silly/rude/unappreciative/etc... (I understand that you like the park but to be honest Kings Island is nowhere near perfect) To be honest yes the idea of me getting upset about it is rather silly. Yes, I did receive a 50% off FL coupon for "nothing". But I think I am upset with the whole situation because I had to contact 11 different people, Over 2 1/2 weeks to finally get the answer of we have no idea what has happened here is a coupon so you stop asking about it. I think that if you implement a program that is for your most loyal patrons (season pass holders) more than 3 people should know how that program works. (Yes it is a new system, yes they have tweaked it throughout the year) But if someone calls and asks about the program and why it didn't work like it should've (or as advertised) then the person who is answering the phone in that department should be able to answer the question. Maybe that is an unfair assumption. But logically the person who is fielding phone calls about the program should have an idea about how the program and its intricacies operate. Otherwise why even have a phone line for the program when the operator is just reading off the FAQ list on the website. That is just my opinion and why I am upset with the whole situation.

If you read my original post all the way you would not that I have indeed filed a report online through funperks. I received no feedback. To then I went to the park on sunday and filed a paper report with the guest services. Received no contact. So I called the call center and received feedback 6 days later. Secondly, The Facebook thing. I use a different name on Facebook because I work for a school. I received multiple friend request from students asking me to be their friend. I cannot accept those per my contract with the hospital i work for and the school township that I work with. So I changed my name on there so my students cannot find my profile. So you can you please take back you assumption that I changed my name to "troll" the FB website. I made literally two comments and they banned me. They banned me just like they banned anyone else that mentioned SOB during the "roller coaster that shant be named" phase. Trust me my call to customer service was with nothing but respect. Ask anyone on this board who has met me. I am a nice person and would never do anything to disrespect anyone here or otherwise. In fact, I have the person's name and direct number and could post it saying all sort of things about how he handled the situation. But I wouldn't do that. Why? because there is no need to. As for everything else you are right. I said that already. I apologize if i hurt anyone's feelings or made it seem like i am dismissing their ideas. I have gone through every channel to find out an answer and I never received any. So I posted my story here to see if anyone else had experienced the same situation as me. Almost all the advice I have received has been done by me so far. Maybe I should post with more smiley faces that way people know that I am being nice.

I think I would fall over dead if I ever heard a park employee say "I'm sorry sir, you are only allowed to buy one Fast Lane pass per visit". I did not say it was as simple as one FL per pass holder. It was a what if question. If FL purchase did count towards the fun perks reward, would it only credit a single FL per pass holder, not that a pass holder could only purchase 1 Fast Lane ticket. This might be something that the park did not consider when they created the reward program. If a Fast Lane purchase did count towards fun perks, they might had assumed a pass holder would buy one ticket rather than buy several in a group and have it credit to his fun perks account. This is if a Fast Lane does count towards the fun perks program. Has a final decision been given to the person in question if this is the case? Has any attempt been to tried to generate some form of "good will" to this person? The final decision I received was "There is no one that can adjust your account and we have no idea why the purchase did not move your progress bar on your FP account. We cannot send you to another person for more information on your issue (which I never really received an explanation for this)." The good will was a single 50% off FL pass. Which is fine I guess. But I ride with my fiance so basically if I want to use this pass I will have to shell out $105 to use it as my fiance would need a FL too. Am I insane or is this just the most backhand "gift" they could've given me. Basically they say sorry we didn't count the $270 you spent it the park. Lets make it better by offering you to spend $105 to put in our pockets next time you visit... Sure he could've given me nothing. In fact the more I think about it I should've just declined it and asked for an answer to my question.

First, let me be clear I was not trying to state that they flagged you, tracked down your purchase, and intentionally did anything to you in this situation because of what happened on FB. But, if I was KIPR reading this thread, as he likely has - It would, limit my desire to get involved and spend any time trying to help at this point Finally, your attitude as Brownttggr says, comes across in the text with comments like "so that's out the window" (people are merely throwing out ideas/potentials) and actions like saying you're willing to get over it but not stopping the posting. A final thought - I don't recall a post where someone discusses leveling up through FL purchases - maybe that's the biggest indication that the system is designed to exclude them. Plus our group used the FL on KIC day and they didn't have a problem with the purchase going through. You were clear the first time. I just explained why I felt you opinion had no affect on the situation. Secondly, I'm sorry if you or anyone else got offended by me saying thats out the window. I really am. I don't have a great way with words so when I said that it was me saying that I have thought of that and/or have done that step and this was the result. I literally said I will probably just give it up, right when you said that I keep going on about it. Not a definite end to the conversation. Here is a question for the board: If the situation was to happen to you and you spent "x" amount of dollars in the park and was told by the park that it would be totaled into you FP account, and it never showed up what would you do? I know some people here have had it happen to them, They are upset but wont do anything about it. I usually like to get answers. I guess I'm a jerk for trying to find out why something didn't work... For that I guess I should apologize. lo siento.

Pretty much spot on. The program has been great so far and this is literally the first hiccup I have experienced so far with it. That is the reason why I have been debating on just giving up and not worrying about it. I'm already at level 3-50% I will probably just give it up and if it the points show up later then good for me. If they dont show up then so be it.

I dont think my response to KIfan1980's question was even close to out of line. I just said that KI wouldn't do that to a customer because if that got out it could be more damaging to find out it treats its customers badly based on an unconnected situation. I just answered his questions in a list and even agreed with him that he was right on some points. But if I was misunderstood and taken for being mean or negative I apologize. I can tell you that the convo with the customer service went fine i just was trying to get THE answer to my question. Text is easily the most misconstrued and worst way to convey or decipher tone. (you and I have even gone through that misunderstanding when I first became a member here ) I think the guy didnt transfer me again because I had talked to a total of 12 people about the situation. (6 at the FP booth, 2 at Guest services, and 4 over the phone) He knew that I wasn't going to get my answer so he gave me a softball prize in hopes that I wouldn't call again. It basically worked because it has been two weeks and a couple of days and I still dont have an answer to my question. But on the positive side I am up a 50% FL pass. So brown you aren't being "an a$$" as you said, you are spot on with your guess as to why I wasn't forwarded to someone else.

Brown, you are exactly right. That is sort of the debate here that is brought up through your response. Why have people answering the phones and trying to give answers on a program that they have no idea how it works? Why can I not be linked to someone who possibly has an answer to my question instead of the cookie cutter "sometimes purchases take a couple of days to register."? But my question then comes in. In the other FP thread there have been instances where people have bought a FL pass and their account has gone up a great degree. A poster here even mentioned that the FL goes towards you FP credit. Now based off of customer experience, plus the admission from the program itself that FL increases your total progress bar on its on FAQ page, one would have the right to expect that if you purchase a FL pass something would happen to their account? Correct? So when a patron buys FL passes only to see later that the purchase itself did not change your status or move their progress bar, does that patron have a right to ask and find out why that purchase, which based off of the above mentioned should have moved their status, did not move their status?

First off, the FB thing is completely unrealated I have a different name on facebook the the one attached to my funperks account, as I do not use my real name on FB. I doubt anyone in Guest Services even uses that FB account. Also I highly doubt a company no matter how much they disagree with a patron would EVER not take their money or do something that would make that person not come back to their park and spend their money in the park. With KI its all about the money, hence the big smoking area debate on the other thread, a 8 year old being designated as an adult, the whole funperks program is designed to milk money from season pass holders who usually wouldn't spend money in the park without incentives... I am 10,000% sure that has absolutely nothing to do with this situation. So thats out the window. Secondly, I didn't use my 50% off coupon for the FL passes. So that is off as well. Thirdly, even if they only counted what my exact card spent on the FL passes (which hasn't happened before because I have split bills for food and gifts in the park without an issue) I still spent $90 and my account didn't budge. But it did move for the smaller purchases and it did move on the next Sunday when I spent money in the park as well. SO that is where my main question/concern went. why did it move for smaller purchases and not for my large purchase... But I will agree with you and I actually mentioned it in my post that I will give up on ever finding out an answer as to what happened with my account. That is apparently what the park services wants and how Kings Island itself treats their customers. They just gave me a cookie cutter answer instead of answering what I wanted to know. They transferred me 3 times. Then the guy tried to argue with me when I was explaining why I was frustrated. He was upset because he couldn't give me an answer and refused to transfer my phone call to someone who knew what they were talking about (even though I requested it 3 times during our convo). Yes I did get a 50%FL pass which is nice (because they could have given me nothing) but in theory that makes the park get at least $105 back on my next visit because I buy a FL at $35 and my fiance would have to buy a full priced on at $70. That is why I think the offer i received for the trouble i went through doesn't equate and that KI is run by a bunch of greedy people that care about money and not your experience in the park. Yeah I said they wasted money on SOB and Crypt... they deleted that post so then I said they could of had 4 awesome ride for the money they wasted and they banned me from writing on their wall... @Markr I went to the Funperks booth both days. The people managing the booth both days were seasonal employees that had no idea what i was asking they sent me over to guest services.

I have visited the park 9 times. That throws the "You havent visited enough" arguement out the window. We can try other ideas though. I'm still trying to figure out whats going on...

Based off of my calculations (what I have previously spent in the park): level one to level two was about 1%=$1 Level 2 to level 3 1%= $1.50-$2 Level 3 to level 4 1%=$2-$3 Now that is just a guess not that i know anything. But my experience for sure is that the more you spend the more rewards or progress you make. That would be the logical guess as they advertise on their funperks website: The more you spend the more you earn... I could be wrong though...

Just trying to clarify as I did not go with a Gold Pass this season, but it appears other people made purchases and you were using your pass to claim rewards for them. Why would you get the rewards for purchases you didn't make anyways? Why would you use your individual all day drink wristband to claim drinks for others that do not have the wristbands? Why does the park encourage this behavior by telling you when you purchase/use them that you can get more than one refill at one time?

@cedarpointer That is what the worker said. I then asked the question as to why my coaster progress bar didnt move for the $270 purchase? His response was he had no idea but the purchase was picked up by my funperks account and should have counted. I asked him if he didnt have the answer could he direct me to someone who does. He basically said that he and no one else in his department could change the status of my account. He then basically what I wanted to get out of this (basically saying I was in it for a free status upgrade or prizes). I said I just want to know why my purchase didnt go through. That is honestly all I want to know. Why did my $270 purchase did not register and where did it go if I got the instant rewards coupons but not anything going towards my progress bar?

Trust me I tried. Ive talked to 3 park representatives. I went through 3 different ways to file my report. Online through the funperks website, one paper form through guest services, and one call through the KI phone number for filing reports and claims. They all gave me the run around when I asked for a member that can actually change my account and not give me blanket answers. The best I got out of it was one 50% off FL pass. Its just disappointing when that you have an issue you can go through different means to get an actual response and most responses i got were scripted responses that didnt answer my question. which was why did my purchase not show up on my fun perks account, especially when i presented my receipts to show what i had spent and when i spent it... frustrating...

This is a long story so I made a new topic. This is a funperks complaint. Let me mention that I haven’t had a problem with the program until now. In fact it is actually a great program that allows KI to make a profit while giving a pass holder some exclusive perks for spending money in the park. It’s a “win/win” for both parties (although its more of a win for the park) Anyways some people will like it some people wont read it and take it for what it is... On KIC Day at KI I and other people bought a 6 pack of FL passes. I was stoked about buying the passes mainly because It was the first time I used FL in the park. The other reason why I was pumped was because it was going to bump up my funperks account a bunch! We purchased the FL passes in groups of 2 so three separate purchases were made at $90 a piece. The total was placed on one receipt and the lady asked if we had a gold pass. I was the only one that had one so I used my gold pass for the purchase. I got 10 instant reward tickets and I was pumped because it was a total of $270 (which basically doubled what I have spent in the park so far this year ~$180-$200). The receipts were small rewards discounted coneys, popcorn, dino alive ticket, free cotton candy. I got two of each coupon. So I spent about $20 in the park throughout the day for food and other stuff and we left the park. I was excited to go see what level I was at. (I remember someone mentioned that they went from a level 1 to a level 3, or something of that nature, by buying 2 FL passes). Sunday night I got home looked up my account and only moved up around 18% for the entire day. I thought nothing of it because I know sometimes it takes a few days or a week for things to enter into the system. But I filed a report on Monday anyways just to cover my base just in case it didn’t post. It said I would get a response in 72 hours from my online form I submitted. I never heard anything back from KI or its representatives for the entire week. My next visit was the following Sunday for the Coasterquest event. I went straight to the park office in front and asked to file another report since my first one hadn’t been answered. I filed a paper report and they said they would send it to their manager and they would get back to me on Monday. I received a call on Monday asking for more details (I gave them my statements and receipts on what I spent in the park that day) then they said the standard “we will contact you within 72 hours” spiel… I didn’t get a response for 6 days. They called me on the 6th day saying that they couldn’t change my account because the bonus was the instant rewards coupons and that was it. This is where it got interesting… I mentioned to the KI employee who called me why couldn’t they change my account he said that the instant rewards were the prize for that purchase. I countered with I have had purchases with instant rewards that have counted towards my “roller coaster progress bar” (Mainly meals and gifts). He said he couldn’t answer as to why the FL purchase didn’t count towards my progress bar. I then countered with the $20 purchases that I made that same day added to my account but the main FL purchases did not. He said he is not sure why those purchases counted and my FL passes did not. This is where I countered with do you even know how the program works. He responded with yes purchases in the park are counted towards you funperks account and your star status. If you make a purchase in the park it should show up. I asked him then why my FL passes didn’t add up he said he wasn’t sure again and that he could do nothing about changing my status. So I asked if I could speak to someone else. He told me no one could change my status so he won’t connect me with anyone else. This is where I got frustrated. I told him, I entered a complaint and you called me back basically 2 weeks later just to tell me nothing could be done. When I asked for an explanation of the program you explain the program as I know it to be yet when I make a purchase and it doesn’t show up you can’t explain why it hasn’t shown up. Then when I present a receipt showing the purchase date, time, and amount nothing can be done by anyone in the park to adjust my account for the amount spent? The operator got upset with me and said that I was arguing with him and I told him that I was not arguing I was discussing the situation there is a difference. He said that we had been talking on the phone for 15 minutes (which it was 10min) and he hadn’t given me a straight answer. I was rather frustrated and concerned that I still didn’t have a straight answer from anyone (after filing 3 reports, one online, one in the park on paper, and one over the phone) and it was looking like I would never get one. So I asked him if they cannot adjust my account for the $270 what can I do about the situation? He followed up with that he could tell I was frustrated and so he said what can I do to make your next visit more positive. (Basically shutting down the conversation and avoiding the heart of the issue and my main question which was “What happened to my $270 FL purchase and why did it not show up on my funperks account? Especially when my other smaller purchases I made on that day and the next Sunday did show up on my funperks account. This was the goal of why I called. I really just want to know why it didn’t show up. ). He offered a half off a FL purchase and after deliberating for a while I took it. The call ended without him apologizing for the situation at all. I would’ve taken an I’m sorry that you are experiencing this. Instead he just offered me something in hopes that I would take it and shut up about the whole situation. I shouldn’t have taken the offer but I could see he wasn’t going to offer me anymore help nor transfer me to someone who had an idea of what they were talking about. Some notes I have about the situation: I still haven't seen an adjustment to my FP account (I don't plan on seeing any) I never received an apology nor an explanation as to why the FL purchase never showed up on my account. I understand that this is a new program and that KI wants the inner workings of the program to be a secret but why not inform the people who are manning the phones and answering questions about the program know how the program actually works. The operator couldn’t give me a direct answer as to why my $270 purchase did not make a dent on my progress bar for the funperks program. I figured as a paying customer who has spent money on a program that is supposed to take into effect how much you spend in the park, I have the right to know exactly why when I doubled my spending in the park why it wasn’t reflected on my funperks account. But again, I doubt KI cares about my experience or opinion but what should I expect from a CF park. I do appreciate the offer for the hassle but it still is sort of a backhanded offer in my opinion. Sure I got 50% off a FL which is about $35 and sure I could’ve received nothing at all but to offer me a “reward” that makes me spend more money in the park shows me that how a customer feels and customer service aimed at that person is second to the all mighty dollar. It such a shame that bigger parks still don’t care if an individual has a good experience or not, just as long as they can milk some more money out of the person that is their bottom line. KI please take a note from HW… start listening to your customers because without us you wouldn’t be in business…

Yes I know the TR is really, really, really late but I have been backed up at work so I finally have been able to write a quick one up. The day started with my fiancé (Jessi) and I leaving Indianapolis around 8am. We stopped to get breakfast but the restaurant was a bit slow so we ended up getting off schedule. We arrived in the parking lot at 10:20. We met up with everyone (ohiocolts, dudecoasterman, jcgoble3, original, pkiboy, and others) waiting for the whole of our group to come up. Jessi and I arrived after most people had their fast lanes purchased so we grouped with a couple of other people to get the FL discount at the booth. After we purchased our FL passes the group headed towards DT for the first group ride of the day. It was about a 3 cycle wait (which probably was the longest wait of the day) for our turn. DT is one of the two rides at KI I still get nervous for( WS is the other one… Yes I said WS…). After the ride the group headed towards AE. This is where I actually felt bad using the FL pass. The majority of people waiting in line for this ride were kids. I heard someone say “but mom why do they get to skip the line?” Their mom had to explain that it was a perk of the park and they got to cut because they paid more money than they did. I’m not trying to start anything but that is what I heard and me being a nicer guy I really didn’t like what I was doing. But we hopped on the ride. Rode it once and went on throughout the park. We hit Racer and FOF next both enjoyable rides. Next was our wait for Firehawk. FH was a nice ride as we (Jessi and I) haven’t been able to ride it often this year. It was a fun ride nothing spectacular but it was satisfying. After this the group decided to go ride WindSeeker. Jessi and I ended up skipping out on that and went to eat at Skyline near the entrance of the park. While we were cooling off. The main group ended up catching up with us at Skyline. We waited for the group to order their food and hung out and talked over our food. The main group sort of split up after we were done with our meals. The people that joined us were Alek, aka dudecoasterman, his mother, and Lucas, aka ohiocolts. We headed to Eiffel Tower. The queue line was packed but we had the FL so we got in on the first elevator. We headed up and stayed for about 5-8 minutes. We got some good views of the park. The wind was blowing rather hard up high and you could feel the tower sway a bit. It was a nice breeze to cool off though. After ET we headed towards The Beast. We waited about 10 minutes to hop on The Beast. We decided to start using our FL a bit so we rode again as soon as we got off. Next we went to Diamondback. Alek, Alek’s mom, Lucas, Jessi, and I decided to marathon Diamondback. Jessi and I rode 7 times in a row. Alek and Lucas rode maybe 6 times and headed off before we were done. So the group split again and it was just Jessi and I for a while. Since I left my phone in the car I couldn’t call the group to get a location. So we banked on running into someone during the day. After that, most of the day was a blur (seeing as I am writing this exactly 2 weeks later). Jessi and I rode Vortex, Firehawk, Boo Blasters (which I got a good gun and scored 2340 point during our ride), we ate dinner, took a break, and watched Ed Alonzo’s magic show. This was the first time I watched the show and I was surprised. It was a pretty funny show. The tricks were very entertaining and the child helper section of the show was awesome as well. The only complaint that I do have is that I would have to agree with some of the other reviewers that said the dancers were a bit skanky. I don’t think the actual dancing was suggestive but the fact that the girls came out dressed in cop outfits some with their cleavage showing and all of them with short shorts on. I don’t have kids and I am 25 but I still think their dress was a bit too much for a “family” show. Like I said I thought the dancing itself was appropriate. After we left the show, Original tapped me on the shoulder as we walked towards the Action Zone. We walked and talked for a bit and ended up running up to Invertigo together. We talked a bit and she mentioned that she rode the ride earlier that day and her younger "half brother" (in quotes because I don't know if he is truly her half brother) Andrew had not been on it. So we made it a point to sit facing each other so we could see Andrew’s reaction to the ride. Going up the lift hill you could tell Andrew was a bit scared but as so as the ride let go and we made it through our first run he and Original were both having a blast. The return run was great and as the ride was over we parted ways. Jessi and I headed for DT and the FD stopped for a snack and a break. We made our final ride run starting front to back, hitting FD, AE, FH, FOF, Vortex, BLSC, DB, and saving the final ride for The Beast. We ended up leaving the park around 1130pm. Headed back to our hotel and slept getting ready to go to the Cincinnati Reds game during the next day. Notes: I hate to say it but FL is worth every penny. On one of the busiest Saturdays of the year, Jessi and I managed to get in 32 rides with the inclusion of a total of, not riding our first ride until around 11 am, 3 hours of break/eating time, and another 45-55 minutes for the Ed Alonzo show. Wait times ranged from 12 minutes to a walk on, with the average probably being a one to two train wait. It was absolutely great meeting everyone at the park. Alek and Lucas you guys are awesome. We had a great time hanging with you both for the little bit we did during the middle of the day. Again it will be great to meet up with everyone again if we have something during the Haunt. Ride Count: DB: 10 FH:3 FOF: 3 DT: 3 Beast: 3 Vortex: 2 AE: 2 Inv: 2 Racer: 1 FD:1 BLSC: 1 BB: 1

For KI, they are just tearing down SoB for future expansion. They are not going directly into building a new ride. IF that were the case, Im sure they would put a webcam in, Why does that make a difference? Kings Island doesn't want to highlight a $25,000,000+ mistake... They would rather focus on/highlight the positive news of the prospect of the construction of a $15,000,000+ new ride. (just a guess of mine, not saying I know what is going to be built there.)

That is the first post from Don that I have seen go 30 minutes without everyone drooling all over it and liking it...

I love the elevator lift on pilgrim's plunge. I usually ask if there are first timers on the ride then freak out when the boat tips as it passes the other lift coming down. (I know pretty mean but hey its funny) I too agree that Raven is overrated. Its a fun ride but its so short. If I was a kid first riding roller coasters I'd probably think it was the best thing ever. But other than the turn over the water and the ride after the fifth drop its just okay to me. The airtime in the back though is pretty good. Glad to see the Voyage claim another #1 spot on a coaster fan's best of list. I still find it incredible that the ride can pack so much punch throughout the entire ride. World class stuff. Overall nice trip report. I'm glad you had a good time. HW is my favorite park and Voyage is my #1 coaster on my list. Next time if wildebeest is open, you should ride it. It is awesome and now that mammoth is built everyone goes to that ride instead of wildebeest.

Pretty good! I like the video a lot and it seems like you had a good time shooting it.

Great TR! That day was pretty fun. Our Invertigo ride was really fun. Especially seeing Andrew's face throughout the ride! HAHA. I'm glad you had a good time and it was very nice meeting you.

Oh Really!?!?!

I think that they DO NOT allow you to combine the 50% off with a group offer. So that means the 50% off is for the full $60 price and the other people will have to find more people to get the deeper discount on FL passes.

I'm gonna tell your mom that you said that young man... Haha