9/24/2016

Whanganui rocks!

If you have seen my photoblog, you'll know we recently spent the day in Whanganui, about an hour and a half drive from the house.

When we got there, it seemed that two of the main reasons for going were not going to happen. We wanted to visit the Durie Hill tunnel and elevator, just for fun but it was closed. We found out later that it was a temporary thing but they could have done better with communication.

The other thing was to see St Paul's church and take pictures. We showed up at 2pm like the website said. As it turns out their website is rubbish and, if it weren't for other visitors who had gone to the information center to 'book' a tour, I wouldn't have gotten in.

This is part of their website with a CAMERA icon next to the words '1 hour'.  In my literal mind, it meant that you had an hour to take photos. I snapped one photo and then was informed that photos have never been allowed, so I paid $10 to hear an hour of Maori history.

We saw other things, so the trip wasn't a complete waste of time, but I was far from a happy camper about the church.

I didn't want to launch a public complaint, so the next day I wrote a message to the 'Visit Whanganui' Facebook page, explaining very calmly the problems we had.

A few hours later, I got a great response thanking me for 'fantastic feedback'. They seems genuinely glad that I let them know there were problems. They said to give them a bit of  time to talk amongst themselves and they will get back to me.

I am absolutely impressed.

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Edit: About 3 weeks later, I heard from the 'Visit Whanganui' FB page. They told me that the site has been updated and those in charge of the public attractions will be providing the FB page information on closures. Nicely done, Whanganui.

2 comments:

Amy said...

I haven't been there, but I have relatives that live there, the other half was there for 2 weeks for work - must visit there myself.

Anita Johnson said...

I'm smiling here.....glad you got to get into the church. I'm confused by some websites. If you have one, keep it up. If you don't...get rid of it. I looked at a local pizza place online and then called it on my phone. I ordered the special on their online webpage....but the person answering the phone said they don't use the online website. What? Then why do they have it. Oh, technology.