Customer Service

Capital Theatres are committed to ensuring every customer has the most enjoyable experience possible.

The staff at Capital Theatres will treat every customer with respect, courtesy and politeness, responding to every customer in a helpful and timely manner while continually upholding our core values.  Our customers include all visitors to any of our venues whether audience members, customers at the café, actors, visiting company staff or any person using one of our function rooms.  

We will

• Continuously review our service to develop and improve our customer experience
• Respond to all feedback in a timely and respectful manner
• Survey our customers regularly to compare how we are performing against our targets.
• Publish our results and address any dips in performance through regular meetings including the Customer Care Team and the Customer Feedback meeting.

At Capital Theatres we are always trying to improve our services, one of the ways we do this is through the use of customer feedback.  We collect this feedback in several different ways:

• We survey customers by email after each of our performances
• We undertake in depth surveys using external market research organisations
• We collect comments from the Customer Services and Box Office teams
• We collect feedback/comments through our comments boxes at each of our venues.
• We collect comments from visiting companies through surveys
• We have an enquiries@capitaltheatres.com email address on our website
• We receive emails, letters and telephone calls from customers and supporters
• We have an internal suggestions@capitaltheatres.com email address for staff
• We monitor social media

This feedback is then brought forward to our Customer Services Feedback team who meet quarterly to identify and address any dips in our performance. In this quarterly meeting (which includes the Chief Executive; Director of Operations; Head of Customer Services; Box Office Manager; Head of Sales and Marketing; Stage Door Supervisor and PA to the Chief Executive) the customer feedback generated through our emailed post show surveys are measured against industry benchmarks. We review the log of customer compliments and complaints and, if necessary, agree on steps for investigation and improvement. We determine if there are any trends and or any resolutions and agree on a plan of action.

Capital Theatres select ten performances throughout the year, spread across each of our venues to conduct an in-depth survey asking customers to rate the various services we provide. This rating is out of 5 stars and we aim to have an overall satisfaction rate of 4.5 stars (90%). 

See below for the most recent results from our latest shows:  

Panto: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Venue: Festival Theatre

Bar Service: 4.6=  92%

Cafe Service: 4.4 = 88%

Box Office Staff: 4.6 = 92%

Customer Service: 4.5 = 90%

Overall Score: 4.6 = 92%

Scottish Ballet: Snow Queen

Venue: Festival Theatre

Bar Service: 4.7 = 94%

Cafe Service: 4.6 = 92%

Box Office Staff: 4.9 = 98%

Customer Service: 4.7 = 94%

Overall Score: 4.6 = 92%

The Gift

Venue: Studio

Bar Service: 4.5=  90%

Box Office Staff: 4.5 = 90%

Customer Service: 4.7 = 94%

Overall Score: 4.9 = 98%

James IV: Queen of the Fight

Venue: Festival Theatre

Bar Service: 4.4=  88%

Cafe Service: 4.4 = 88%

Box Office Staff: 4.4 = 88%

Customer Service: 4.3 = 86%

Overall Score: 4.3 = 86%

At Capital Theatres we understand our performance standards may not be met 100% of the time due to various circumstances. If our standards are not met it is flagged and then brought forward to the Customer Service team meeting and the Customer Feedback Group meeting. At this meeting we will strive for improvement using the customer feedback, comments and survey results, trying to make the customer experience at our venues even better.

See below for a sample of comments that our team have acted on to improve our services & facilities at our venues:

Comment: We noted that many of our customers were understandably nervous about returning back to the theatres after the lockdown.

Action: We ensure our customers feel safe by actively promoting social distancing (when necessary), mask wearing, supplying hand sanitiser all throughout the building and cleaning touch points more regularly throughout the day.

Comment: 'Waiting for the lift at the Festival Theatre can be very tiring if there is a queue, there should be more seats.'

Action: We now provide foldable stools for customers to use while waiting for the lift.

Comment: 'As a wheelchair user I find it hard to use the accessible toilet due to the low height, I believe it should be raised'

Action: We have measured the height of all our accessible toilets and have raised their height to the acceptable level.

Comment: ‘There is not enough seating in the foyer & bar areas at the Festival Theatre.’                               

Action: We have put more free-standing seats across every level at the Festival Theatre

Comment: ‘It would be nice if wine came in different glass sizes, rather than only measure one measure.’  (King’s Theatre)  

Action: We have swapped over all our glassware at the King’s Theatre, allowing us to serve wine in three different sizes.

Comment: ‘It would be nice to offer a vegan alternative to ice cream at the theatre’ 

Action: We now offer a selection of sorbets across both the Festival and King's Theatres.

Over time we have identified that the King’s Theatre is regularly not meeting our performance standards and is under-performing compared to our other venues. It is receiving comparatively negative comments about the venue and the facilities on our in-depth surveys. As a result, Capital Theatres have committed to a redevelopment project for the King’s Theatre which will include a complete overhaul of the facilities within the building targeting its main areas of weakness.

We take great care to ensure that we provide all our services efficiently, courteously and to the highest standards.  We like to receive all positive and negative feedback and we understand customers can be dissatisfied with certain areas of our service, possibly requiring a complaint.  If at any time during your visit to any of our venues you would wish to complain, contact any member of staff, we empower our staff to resolve customer complaints as quickly and as advantageously to both parties as possible.  If your issue cannot be immediately resolved by the staff or duty manager, your details and complaint will be logged and then handed over to be investigated and resolved by the relevant department. 

Responses or investigations into complaints may be handled by:

• Head/Deputy Head of Customer Services
• Box Office Manager
• Marketing and Communications teams
• Development Manager

Depending on the nature of the comments/complaint, these people may take advice from Director of Operations, Director of Development or Chief Executive as appropriate.

Any responses will also be copied to PA to the Chief Executive and Administration Assistant for logging. The log is to identify trends and does not contain personal data.

It is our aim to make a first response within 24 hours (within the working week) and a more detailed response (if one is required) within 5 days.

The hierarchy of responses will include:

1. Where possible we will deal with any issues there and then, ideally face to face, at the time it arises.
2. Online we will comment/respond as appropriate and/or request a direct message from the customer so that we can have a conversation in person.
3. We will get in touch by telephone call as soon as possible to:
   1. Resolve the issue
   2. Find out more information about the issue
4. Email a response
5. Written response

Resolution

1. If we have made an error, or if the issue is under our direct control, we will assume a generosity of spirit, hold our hand up, apologise and make a proportionate response. We will ask how customers would like us to resolve the situation. It is always our aim to meet or exceed customer expectations.
2. If the problem is outwith our direct control then we will offer an explanation and seek to offer alternatives to try to meet or exceed customer expectations.
3. If customers did not enjoy a production then we will take comments on board which may influence future programming decisions.

We log all relevant correspondence, subject to data protection protocols, and securely dispose of material after 12 months.

If you would like to get in contact with Capital Theatres regarding our service/services, full contact information can be found on the ‘Contact Us’ page.

Alternatively see below for contact information and our standards for correspondence & timeliness.

Telephone

• We will answer the telephone in a polite and professional manner and aim to pick up calls to box office within 3 minutes and calls to direct lines in the organisation within 20 seconds.
• Our box office telephone lines are open Monday to Saturday 11am to 6pm. The box office operates a queuing system and you will be informed throughout your call of your position in the queue.
• Our main switchboard number is 0131 662 1112 and is manned Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 6pm.
• If we are unable to answer any queries, we will either transfer you to someone who can or take your details and give an estimated timescale of when someone will respond.
• We aim to reply to answerphone messages as soon as possible, which is on average within 2 hours, or on the same working day.
• Box Office call wait times and drop off rates are monitored daily and where possible staffing altered to meet demand. Reporting is done on a monthly basis.

Email and Written Correspondence

• An enquiry form can be found on our website on the ‘Contact Us’ page.
• The ‘Contact Us’ page on our website also contains a list of the main departments and contact details – telephone and email addresses – for these.
• Feedback forms can also be found at the Box Offices of all our venues. We check for forms every morning.
• We aim to acknowledge all emails within 2 working days and provide a full response in 5 working days.
• We aim to provide a full response to all written correspondence in 5 working days.

Social Media

• We monitor our social media pages Monday to Friday 10am-6pm.
• Where possible, users are informed via an automatic message of the hours our social media accounts are monitored.

Our current response rate on Facebook is 100% within 15 minutes (17/07/2019).