VRTP Membership Changes

[Brad2912]

Just got an email about changes to memberships.

price is DOUBLING per month and fright nights access has been removed 

what the actual f**k

[Park Addict 93]

Why do you feel entitled to pay $144 a year including fright night. Sure it sucks for those that are used to it but the park is not sustainable at that pass pricing.

[Brad2912]

1 hour ago, Park Addict 93 said:

Why do you feel entitled to pay $144 a year including fright night. Sure it sucks for those that are used to it but the park is not sustainable at that pass pricing.

Why do I feel entitled? 
 

no one would have an issue with a price increase, but a 100% price increase for less than you previously got isn’t justifiable in any way. 

Edited May 17, 2023 by rappa
Do not Swear AT other members

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

18 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

Just got an email about changes to memberships.

price is DOUBLING per month and fright nights access has been removed 

what the actual f**k

I haven't received anything, but it was inevitable the price would increase eventually.

Doubling the price, and removing Fright Nights is probably intended to push the remaining members into the One Pass.

2 minutes ago, Park Addict 93 said:

Why do you feel entitled to pay $144 a year including fright night. Sure it sucks for those that are used to it but the park is not sustainable at that pass pricing.

The inclusions are now no different to the OnePass (the memberships will get WC, Spooky Nights and Carnivale instead of the Fright Nights admission), but it will cost $61 more than a locals pass for the privilege of being a loyal, long standing payer - even through covid - albeit pay by the month rather than in 4 afterpay instalments.

 

 

Honestly, I've almost never used my Fright Night ticket, and sort of kept the village pass active because the set and forget monthly fee was easy to leave in place, despite not visiting that regularly (maybe 2-3 times a year). 

Given that the pass is no different (just more expensive) than the one pass, this change will be the end of my constant membership. We just picked up a B3GOF pass at Dreamworld, so I guess we're not paying anything to Village for at least the next 12 months.

 

[aaronm]

The party was fun while it lasted but was never guaranteed to last forever. Clearly they want everyone to move over to a One Pass instead, this is a bizarre way of doing it though. 

The messaging is also weird: "There has been a change in the Debit Success underlying payment and software terms and conditions with Village Roadshow Theme Parks, and as such your terms and conditions will also be amended from 1 July 2023." Is this reasoning supposed to justify the changes? If so I don't see the logic.

While customer service has never been VRTP's strength, a better way to shift members over to a pass would have been to tell them the program was ending and offer a discounted new One Pass as an incentive.

The lack of Fright Nights inclusion doesn't really bother me, the mazes aren't of a high standard and now that the Ultimate Terror Tour is no more it's an event I don't mind missing out on. Coming from Melbourne, Singapore's Horror Nights is much more attractive (and not all that much more expensive these days).

Edited May 17, 2023 by aaronm

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

7 minutes ago, aaronm said:

While customer service has never been VRTP's strength, a better way to shift members over to a pass would have been to tell them the program was ending and offer a discounted new One Pass as an incentive.

Village are showing once again that they prefer the stick over the carrot.

[Brad2912]

I expected FN would go soon and be replaced with spooky nights 

i expected a price increase 

but 100% increase is pure greed 

[westical]

Seems to be a $30 discount (renewal price) on the Locals One Pass via the link. 
 

https://themeparks.com.au/Membership-updates

Edited May 17, 2023 by westical

[Guest 239]

Looks like they're trying to wring the cloth of any additional revenue they can get before EOFY.

Edited May 17, 2023 by Guest 239

[Park Addict 93]

52 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

Why do I feel entitled? 

f**k off mate

no one would have an issue with a price increase, but a 100% price increase for less than you previously got isn’t justifiable in any way. 

35 minutes ago, Brad2912 said:

 

I expected FN would go soon and be replaced with spooky nights 

i expected a price increase 

but 100% increase is pure greed 

 

I think double is too much and clearly intended to push people onto a One Pass and they are offering the renewal discount in an effort to further entice.

This isn’t the first instance of the parks being greedy nor will it be the last.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

18 minutes ago, Guest 239 said:

Looks like they're trying to wring the cloth if any additional revenue they can get before EOFY.

With changes taking place from 1 July and a discounted one pass, that does seem likely.

Thanks @westical for picking that up.

[Brad2912]

34 minutes ago, westical said:

Seems to be a $30 discount (renewal price) on the Locals One Pass via the link. 
 

https://themeparks.com.au/Membership-updates

Good pickup - you’d think they’d make an effort to point towards this as a “peace offering” rather than it just sitting there and easy to skip over as it looks like an ad. 

[New display name]

And then they doubled the prices during a financial crisis.   😂

[Jules C]

Tell me about it.

have held pass since they brought it out in 2010/11.

now being asked to pay $24/month. (interstate)

$288 a year? Oh hell no

[themagician]

[westical]

Better answer than “our T&Cs changed”. 

[New display name]

43 minutes ago, themagician said:

Went to MW the other day and the only rides open for me to ride was BW & SE.

[Brad2912]

Anyone else able to point to another entertainment venue that’s increased its pricing by 100% ??

 

if they’d put the prices up say 25%, I don’t think many people would have worried. 

[Park Addict 93]

Could always be worse! We could be in 2007 where a 3 Park Pass with no events is $300.

I think it’s a bit cheap of them to not give the normal renewal bonuses ($50 outback, $50 Animal Advemtures ect) considering they all require an additional spend.

[REGIE]

The price increase definitely hurts, but when compared to other venue’s annual prices it’s always been pretty cheap in a way.  There’s a small waterslide tower in Ballina with 2 slides. And the annual pass costs $300 there!     So it sucks but it would be justifiable I guess if they kept the fright nights pass included. That would be a nice extra.      
 

 

6 hours ago, aaronm said:

While customer service has never been VRTP's strength

They could improve but I have felt lately it’s been good.  I can send them an email and in less than 12 hours I get a response . That’s decent customer service if you ask me.  In park service is always a bit vague but all the staff working in customer service have all been friendly in my recent visits.

 

(Edit. Photo of said Ballina water slides. They are fun slide’s actually)

Edited May 17, 2023 by REGIE

[aaronm]

1 hour ago, REGIE said:

They could improve but I have felt lately it’s been good.  I can send them an email and in less than 12 hours I get a response . That’s decent customer service if you ask me.

I have always received a response to feedback from VRTP, but it's generally been in the "thanks for the feedback, here are some excuses" format. I doubt they ever actually take anything on board and make changes based on what they hear from park guests.

[joz]

8 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

loyal

See here's the thing with this (and I've seen this spoken about with Memberships before, so excuse that the following rant doesn't quite line up with your comment): I have a membership with Jetts gym. I got it about 10 years ago and pay around half of what it costs to go now. I wouldn't for a second describe myself as loyal, I keep it because it's cheap and sometimes it rains for weeks at time and I need to stay active. If they said 'We're changing it so that you now pay slightly less than someone who signs up today, but there are cheaper plans than that you can get", I wouldn't jump onto workout forums and complain, I've been on a good deal for years, and I know full well I only keep it to take advantage of the fact I got a deal when I signed up. If i couldn't be bothered to see if there was a cheaper way of doing things, that also wouldn't make me loyal. Of course everyone on here with VRTP is in the same boat. I also have a similar situation with Telstra where I'm still on some plan that is much cheaper than what you can get now. When they change it, that'll mean I'll have a look and see if there are plans that are better. I'll lament that it I'm sad I have to pay more now, but know I got a good deal for an unreasonably long time. Not act like they need to offer me a better deal than what they're giving me because I've been signed on with them for so long.

 

Guess what? Passes aren't cheap anymore. They've nearly tripled in price since memberships started. The parks are still packed, the peak periods are longer than they've been, and you've been getting a deal the whole time. I hope all people on memberships can adjust to paying close to what everyone else pays. If not, well fair enough. I'm sure they've run the numbers and know that paying the normal price won't be for everyone, and many will drop out, and have decided that is OK, it's worth taking an attendance hit of the people who pay the least.

 

Ultimately, I think the reason I don't care is this: Your complaint shouldn't be that they're doubling the price now and bringing it in line with their other prices, your complaint should be that they haven't raised them in 10 years, which has made it difficult for you to manage your expectations.

1 hour ago, REGIE said:

There’s a small waterslide tower in Ballina with 2 slides. And the annual pass costs $300 there

Just quoted this because I think the outrage committee probably needs to reflect on what things cost.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

6 hours ago, joz said:

If they said 'We're changing it so that you now pay slightly less than someone who signs up today, but there are cheaper plans than that you can get", I wouldn't jump onto workout forums and complain, I've been on a good deal for years, and I know full well I only keep it to take advantage of the fact I got a deal when I signed up.

Bear in mind when memberships were offered, they were a MORE expensive option than the standard pass, rather than a 'good deal'. When you take into account the buy three get one offers on the VIP pass, the memberships were sometimes more than $65 a year more than the VIP \ OnePass.

Despite the T&Cs still referencing it, the in park discounts and offers haven't been around in years, so realistically it's been a pay-by-the-month premium pass with Fright Nights included for years (which, remember, used to be included in the VIP for far less). Those same T&Cs continue to say that the Elite level passes get lifetime access to Wet N Wild Sydney, despite that park not existing now for 6 years.

You don't consider it brand loyalty to continue paying and renewing your pass or membership, fine. I do. Annual passes have an expiry date, and you have to choose to renew each year. Many folk let them expire until they're ready to visit again, and others switch parks each year, so only buying village every 2 years. A membership was a guaranteed auto-renewal. In my opinion it was a no-brainer for them to continue a non-expiring option (and I think the only reason they did was the difficulties with DebitSuccess, which is a loss for them). 

I feel they've let the memberships stagnate out of apathy - not knowing what to do with them. If they'd made small increases over time, most folk probably would have been ok with that, especially seeing the onepass increases, but in this case its the boiled frog scenario - they've dropped members into boiling water, and the retention rate is going to be close to zero. 

Maybe that's what they want, so they can finally shut down the program, but it seems to me someone willing to sign up to an ongoing commitment with no expiry date is the kind of person i'd want to keep on the books - especially when they were prepared on sign up to pay a lot more than average. 

6 hours ago, joz said:

Just quoted this because I think the outrage committee probably needs to reflect on what things cost.

Its supply and demand though, isn't it? You can charge that to a bunch of teenagers in ballina who can't drive to the gold coast for the weekend, and parents locally are happy to pay that to drop the kids off at the pool for the weekend and get them out of the house.

The GC offering is a lot more competitive.

[New display name]

I pay for a pass for my wife who hasn't been in years, just incase she wants to go.  I also know a few people who pay for the pass and never go.  All village are doing is forcing these types of people to cancel their passes for good.

[Park Addict 93]

3 minutes ago, New display name said:

I pay for a pass for my wife who hasn't been in years, just incase she wants to go.  I also know a few people who pay for the pass and never go.  All village are doing is forcing these types of people to cancel their passes for good.

I have a friend that’s similar, may go a couple of times a year if that.

I have no doubt VRTP have analysed membership pass usage closely and are well aware of the % of users that do not make frequent use of their pass.

Considering the backlash I somewhat feel they would have been better off just terminating the membership program and offering the discounted One Pass rates. Possibly their agreement with DebitSuccess doesn’t allow this, no idea.