Chichester Watersports — Attraction in Chichester

Poorly organised and even worse customer service should you dare to raise your dissatisfaction!!.....

I arrived with my partner, my 13 year old son and his friend, with the anticipation of an hours fun kayaking. The receptionist was very polite and helpful, but very busy. We were told to go outside to get our buoyancy jackets and would be shown where the kayaks were, but when we went outside there was nobody there to offer any help, so we asked around and eventually, (Once we started selecting a buoyancy vest ourselves) a member of staff came to assist. We asked where we should go for the Kayaks and were told to go down to the shore and left, where the kayaks would be ready. We went down and only 2 single kayaks were there and nobody to offer any assistance. I asked around and was told by another customer that it's difficult to get anyone and he and his group were just left to sort the kayaks out themselves, so we proceeded to sort out a couple of single kayaks from the shed/container. We got ourselves out on the water and tried to enjoy the remaining 40 minutes of the hour we paid for. Unfortunately the most I could handle was about 30 minutes, as they provide no seats or back support for the kayaks, and the time that would be wasted coming back in, just to try and find someone to help would have chewed up all remaining time. Even my partner who has no back problems at all found them very uncomfortable to the point of mildly painful after about 30 minutes..... My son and his friend gave up and decided to swim instead. When we collected our bag from reception I asked if I could leave some feedback/complaint and was referred by the nice receptionist to another lady who appeared to be considered senior in some way (I did not take her name unfortunately). I proceeded to explain my experience and at a the point I mentioned about the buoyancy jackets I also happened to mention that there was what appeared to be a staff room where many of the staff were sitting eating and drinking, but nobody outside to help, at which point the lady said, 'Can I stop you there, if they were in the staff room then it's because they are on their break. They are allowed a break'.... I never said they were not, it was just and observation. I continued to try and explain that in my opinion it's not good that there was little to no assistance, even though we were with children, and that they provide no information that there are no seats for the kayaks, and zero back support, something I said they should at least carry a disclaimer for to advise it's unsuitable for anyone with any form of back pain at all. Unfortunately this lady had no intention on listening, just purely making excuses, such as, 'Well we are very busy as you can see' She then snapped at me asking, 'What is it you want, a free kayaking session?', to which I said, no, I just want someone to take my concerns seriously without making excuses. This is the point at which she decided to demand I leave the premises!.... Unbelievably poor customer service!.... I would rather travel the extra distance to other kayak centres where I know they care about the customers. A waste of £60 (£15 per Kayak), when we could have travelled a little further, hired a kayak for less, received better customer service, and actually enjoyed ourselves,.

The only point she did seem to agree upon without an excuse was that we shouldn't have had to take the kayaks from the hut/container ourselves

We also witnessed many others experiencing difficulty finding assistance while we were there too.

I must make clear that I have not tried any other activities at this centre, this is purely a review of my experience kayaking there, but after such and experience I cannot see why anyone would...

We paid £30 for 2 of us to go on the inflatables on the lake. Which they enjoyed but were not told that the main attraction (largest slide) was not available. This was a disappointment and we should have been informed. Still the the 2 on the inflatables enjoyed themselves.

However, 2 of us watched and went to the bar which had 2 beers on tap, and advertised bottled beer. When buying the 1st drink we were told there was only Peroni available. Still, underterred we went with that. We were enjoying the sunshine thinking what a great venue it was on a sunny day. However, when we went to get another beer and we’re told the Peroni was off. The girl behind the bar said she didn’t know how to change the keg. We asked if there was anyone else that could do so, or suggested she check the 2nd bar upstairs and she said ok she would. She came back saying no. No beer.

For a bar that advertises several types of beer we were slightly confused at this. We questioned politely if there was really no one to change a keg. At which point a man appeared and we were told he would change the keg. 10 minutes later we had to ask again as to what the score was and were told by the man there was no beer on premises but there might be in a minute and we were left as he walked away. Very cryptic.....We were left hanging. Another 10 minutes later (its 30 minutes since we first tried to order a drink) we went to investigate. The young blond girl in reception said in a very impatient voice “yes, ok my dad has gone to get you some”. This was news to us. We thanked her for this and said it’s just a bit odd that all. The blond girl then became very rude and said “what do you want us to do? It’s Friday. We don’t advertise we have beer.” Which was a strange thing to say because the board advertises several beers and why does the fact that it’s a Friday evening matter. Surely that’s when you should have beers in. She was extremely aggressive and huffed past saying “what do you want us to do?”. This led to a heated discussion about their complete lack of customer service. Needless to say we will never return.

We are not big drinkers. It wasn’t about the beer it was the total apathy and lack of effort from the staff. They really made no effort to apologise or keep us informed during the half an hour we were waiting. We never did get a drink.

In the customer service industry, customers are normally pacified if they are told what’s happening or apologised to. We were just left hanging so we kept having to ask. On the last time of asking we were met with such total lack of care and it felt like we were hassling when all we wanted was a simple drink! We were attacked for asking what was happening and made to feel that asking for a beer from a bar was an unreasonable request.

This smacks of a business that makes so much money from the inflatables attraction they don’t care about customer service. The garden furniture outside is shabby and the staff have no idea how to deliver a customer experience.

Any people who have written reviews above 3 stars must have had a very lucky experience as it sounds like it's totally hit and miss as to the experience you'll get...

To be honest, was a little disappointed. Had passed the place on the A27 many times so when daughter said she wanted a Paddle board I figured go there and try it out first as it looked a decent lake.

Although it has a main building its a little sparse, no actual toilets other than a couple of portaloo's which we choose NOT to use.

Truck containers as storage and appears a bit scruffy.

Cafe is on site, which is open but not the indoor seating area, there is outside seating but only a few tables.

Equipment is well used and the large inflatable course is not the one on advert leaflets and worth noting to get to that involves a fair old swim to and from.

Felt invisible to staff and its very busy and feels disorganised.

Our girls did the paddle boarding, given little info so one was struggling and going in circles, they both ended up blown across Lake to the bushes.

One fell off and lost her paddle, lucky her friend noticed and went back as staff never saw her stuck.

Girls ended up getting changed sandwiched between hedgerow and my open pick up truck doors as could not see a changing area or staff to ask as so busy.

Maybe this is the norm, but will try another place in future.

Price wise seems to be...