Virginia Safari Park

Review: We received a brochure at our school stating prices for schools. When we called to book it, we were told that teachers were not free and that the price was higher per student than the price listed in the brochure. When we called back to discuss the misunderstanding and the possibility of getting the price we had in the brochure they had sent to us, we were told that there were different prices for the summer time. We never received a brochure stating this and when we suggested finding a compromise solution we were told that they were sorry we would be charged the higher prices. We are a pre - school that operates year round for this community and we try hard to make the summer for these children more interesting and exciting since most of them have to be in childcare year round. We were very disappointed in the response of the manager. When I asked to speak with her boss she said that the owners were not around and that they left everything to them to manage. I was not given any option to speak with either another manager or an owner.Desired Settlement: We would love to see some sort of billing compromise and also have the park send out additional brochures when there are two pricing systems. The brochure should also clearly state that there are different prices at different times of the year. It mentions different hours but not prices.

Consumer

Response:

We have not purchased the tickets. We created our brochure and set up our fees based on the Safari Park brochure. We have decided that we must attend because we have advertised this in our brochure and we will be purchasing tickets before we attend on June 27, 2014. The new prices for the summer are $8.95 per student and $15.95 per teacher.

Business

Response:

In response to the consumer complaint (ID: [redacted]) dated June 6, 2014, the Virginia Safari Park would like to take this

opportunity to extend our apology to the consumer regarding the information presented in the School Brochure that was

mailed to over 1,000 area schools in Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina in January 2014. With this apology, our

goal is to further explain the content presented in the School Brochure in hopes of alleviating future confusion.

In review of the brochure, we have identified three key sections, which specified that the published rates were for a time

frame of the year that is representative of the traditional, Virginia school system (i.e., Early August -Early June):

1. Header (large red font below logo; top-center): "See Why Schools Keep Coming Back Year After Year''

2. Footer (medium yellow font; bottom-right): "Booking Now for Spring and Fall 2014"

3. Note in white font below phone number: "Field trips are available Monday-Friday while school is in session."

The consumer stated that they are a year-round pre-school (although they do teach children from 12 months to 10 years).

Material retrieved from the consumer's Website on June 9, 2014 reveals that that time frame scheduled for the Safari Park

field trip is during a time of the year designated as the"2014 Summer Camp", stating that the school, "closes its academic

doors in June, those same doors quickly re-open to welcome campers to a nine-week Summer Camp." Perhaps,

clarification is needed in the consumer's complaint for purposes of accuracy on a"year-round pre-school" versus a time of year known as

"Summer Camp".

Again, the Virginia Safari Park extends an apology to the consumer regarding the confusion of the rates in the School

Brochure. Our company has maintained two separate rates for over ten years: one rate for the traditional school year and

the other rate for summer camps.

Along with this apology and response, we plan to also develop a separate brochure for the Summer Camps, clearly stating

that Summer is not "spring and Fall", as is in the footer of the School Brochure (see item #2 above), which the consumer

unfortunately referenced when publishing their 2014 Summer Camp brochure with the incorrect rates.

Regards,

Virginia Safari Park