“I'm a huge Jane Austen fan and I flew in from Malaysia to London & then drove about 2 hours from Portsmouth. My bad for visiting the Roman Baths first, because I only realized at 2.30pm that the Jane Austen Centre's last visiting time is 60 minutes before they close (at 4pm). By the time the Introduction completed, it was already 3.30pm, which means my husband and I rushed through the entire visit and had about 5 minutes before the gift store closed.
At the gift store, the lady at the counter kept saying, "We close in 10 minutes", "We close in 5 minutes"; "We close in 3 minutes". I mean, seriously? That's how you treat your customers? We were there to spend some money, not just look at the souvenirs. In the end I did hurriedly buy somethings for about 50 pounds. I would have spent more there if I had the time, but unfortunately, the lady at the store was very eager to kick us out of the Jane Austen Center.
On top of that, there were several items I was eyeing to buy when I got there 1)I'm the Real Mr. Darcy T-Shirt 2)Darcy's Proposal Mug 3) Darcy's Proposal Pillow Covers - all these were not in the store and I was advised that I could get it in the online store. Well you see, I got on a 14 hour flight to get there. I really want to get these souvenirs from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, not on an online gift shop which will ship it to my country. I can do that anytime. I want my visit to be special. If you do not have these items in your gift shop, why not state it on your website and give your customers an option to purchase and pick these items up during their visit?
I was really disappointed after my visit. I wanted more pictures. I wanted more time to read the articles on the wall. I wanted to just sit there and bask in the glory of being there, but it was all rush rush rush. And I really wanted more time at the gift shop.
With the currency exchange 11 pounds = MYR60; 50 Pounds = MYR275. That's a lot of money. Can you imagine spending 60 pounds for an entrance fee to visit a place and then another 275 pounds on gifts and then the lady at the cashier treats you so poorly? How would you feel like after a trip like that? That's how I felt like.”
