More Express...

As you may have noticed in my last post, I was a bit perturbed by our family experience on the Polar Express. It was disappointing to say the least. The last post was my letter to a Jon Schlegel who is the VP and GM of Rail Events, Inc. They license each of the railroads to do the Polar Express and are responsible for making sure it is a quality event. The Polar Express brand is owned by Warner Brothers. Following is the email that I received from Jon on Monday afternoon.

Dear Mrs. Leek,
Thank you for contacting me regarding your unpleasant experience on The Polar Express at the Mt. Hood Railroad. I am sorry to hear it was such a disappointment. Our company, Rail Events Inc., licenses this event on behalf of Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Inc. It is our responsibility to ensure our host railroads are portraying the event in a quality manner. One of our company representatives will be in Hood River tomorrow night, Tuesday, December 8, 2009 to ride and conduct an event evaluation.

I just returned from visiting four events in the Midwest and East Coast and will tell you that they were all wonderful events! I am disheartened to hear your accounts but do appreciate your detailed explanations as it will help us rectify the situation. I am copying Michelle Marquart, the General Manager of the Mt. Hood Railroad. Perhaps you already sent this to the railroad but I want to make sure your comments are addressed. I assure you we will follow up with the railroad.

As the parent of a 10 year old boy who still believes in Santa, I understand how awful this must have been for you and your 8 year old daughter. My apologies go out to you, your daughter and your entire group.

Please do not hesitate to contact me again if there is anything else you want to share with me. My information is listed below.

Kind Regards,
Jon Schlegel
Vice President & General Manager
Rail Events Inc.

I thought it was a nice first step. He was right, I had sent an email to the Mount Hood Railroad (MHRR) but hadn't heard back from them. There is a form you fill out and it goes to what I assume is a general mail box.

I had also cc'd the Mayor and City Manager of Hood River. Both of whom wrote back. They both said that they were not affiliated with the MHRR but were sorry that we had a poor time. Then they both took the time to give me good ideas of fun things to do in the future. I was grateful.

Next I got an email from a woman who works at Nora's Table in Hood River. When I mentioned this to my friend Annette she told me, "Oh, that is the best restaurant in town!" I am really looking forward to going there on our next trip. Apparently my letter / email has been flying all over Hood River to the business owners. This is good. While I know the MHRR isn't affiliated with Hood River it is where they do business and it's important for the right hand to know what the left hand is doing. Hood River is so cute this time of year and they are working hard to be successful it seems a shame to have one entity failing the entire group.

I received an email from Michelle Marquart, the GM of MHRR asking me to call her. I called her in the early afternoon on Tuesday and we talked for about 20 minutes. She apologised again and again. She assured me that they were working hard to make the experience better. She had flown people out to experience other Polar Expresses. They were to come back and report on their experience and come up with a plan to improve their Polar Express. Next there were people flying in from Chicago to address some of the issues. All in all, there was action going on. She offered me my money back and tickets for next year. She promised that the experience will "knock my socks off." I accepted but I told her I couldn't promise we'd ride again next year. There are some very raw nerves about this right now. I did tell her if we did ride next year that I would report back on the experience honestly. I really want to give them a good review but there is a lot of work to do.

I also sent my letter to a few people at Warner Brothers. It was hard to figure out who was who on the web site but apparently I got at least one of the people right. Here is the reply I got from Warner Brothers....

Dear Mrs. Leek,

Thank you for your note and for alerting us about your experience. I am sorry to hear that it did not meet your expectations...to say the least. I am pleased that Jon from Rail Events responded quickly and I have asked the appropriate individuals within our organization to also follow-up with him.

Again, thank you for taking the time to let us know.

Regards,
Barry

Barry R. Ziehl
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Public Relations and Marketing
Warner Bros. Consumer Products

He responded within a couple hours of my email. I thought that was great. I wrote him back and said that Jon had contacted the MHRR and we were working it out.

So that is what is happening with the Polar Express. I am impressed that so many people hopped to action. I felt cheated and like MHRR and all the entities involved just wanted my money. I am now softened and feel like they are trying hard to make this right. That even a big corporation does care about the experience of our collective children. There is a lot of training and money that go into a quality experience. You can't have management on every train so sometimes things digress. That has obviously happened on the MHRR. By all accounts of what is happening now I would say it will get better. It needs to. It needs to improve for the MHRR, for Rail Events, Inc, for Warner Brothers but ultimately for our children. They are so full of magic and wonder this time of year. It's a shame that Sophia lost her belief in such an abrupt way. I really don't want that to happen to another kid, at least not while you are supposed to be sharing in the fantasy. And now I believe that all the corporate entities involved want a positive experience for our kids too. Sometimes it just takes a bit of a reality check to get things back on track (so to speak).

Thank you to all the people in Hood River who sent me emails and well wishes. I want Hood River to succeed. If you haven't been out there for the holiday season you should go. It's really festive. I look forward to revisiting the Hood River Hotel and Nora's Table on my next trip among many others.

Thank you to the people at Warner Brothers, Rail Events, Inc. and MHRR who are trying to make this right. It really is for the benefit of everyone who works with the experience and the riders who want a fantasy. As I stated earlier. I want this to succeed. This is a fun fantasy and if done right could be a great family tradition. Time will tell.