Kew Gardens Reviews 187

Superworm
Dear Kew. How underwhelming
Firstly we were asked to book Superworm tickets to take part in the activities, which we did. When we got tho the trail no one was checking tickets. Then we understood why. There was no interaction for the children even signs saying do not touch! One of the stations was closed today. There was no trail to follow on paper ticking of sightings or activities. The staff Guarding’ the displays did not interact at all. No info to impart, no connection with the visitors at all. Yes it was free and the models were excellent, but Kew, you are better than this.

I wanted to take out a Family Membership (2 adults), so I downloaded their Membership Terms and Conditions to have look. One of the attractions of a Family(2 adults) membership, as touted by Kew Gardens, is that it allows two family guests and up to 4 children/grandchildren to accompany you for free.

After perusing their terms and conditions, I was confused about their definition of guests and children. This is what they say in clause 1.2(a):

Family members and guests are defined as living in the same household. Kew may ask for
evidence of a family relationship, such as ID and may refuse entry if a family relationship
cannot be verified.

This is bizarre! This means your guest has to be a family relation and be living with you. And does it also mean the grandchildren have to be part of your household? And what kind of ID could one produce to show family relationship, and they are part of your household?

Looking at their membership FAQ you see this:

"A family guest is a member of your family or your partner."

Children are "either your children or grandchildren".

Ipso facto, if one's taking adult guests and kids, one has to have IDs etc to show family relationship of all, evidence of living at the same address, evidence that the grandchildren are yours and not that of the Duke of Normandy's. And how do you prove family relationship if the wife is not using the husband's surname or if the couple are living together but not married? And how does one prove the kids are your grandchildren--they may all have different surnames. And what happens if these grandchildren don't live with you? Absurd!

I am surprised Kew Gardens' management put out such a confusing set of terms and conditions out there without giving it a thorough review and appraising the implications of a perplexing set of rules.

Kew Gardens was hugely crowded today when we visited with family, to the point where it was a very stressful experience to take our children to the large outdoor playground. The treetop walk was absolutely unregulated with how many people were allowed to go up, no member of staff in sight anywhere. When we got to the top the structure was actually swaying, which was terrifying. I had to descend with two of our children, as our little girl was sobbing with fright, but my husband went all the way around and said that it was wobbling the whole way. Kew, is this normal that the structure would be wobbling about like that, with no members of staff in attendance???

Worst customer experience with a wheelchair bound guest made to sit out in the cold for 30 minutes as they re checked all her pre booked tickets and passes. Outrageous behaviour by the Door guard demanding original membership card not stated by pre booked team on phone or inT&Cs and only at gate We had Digital copy of card but not good enough. Terrible distressing and ruined our visit.

As a member of Kew Gardens I think this year is ridiculous how the organisers working
I have refused to ge in to the orchids show and had to go back to tiger Kew to get a ticket .
As on the Kew to get in seen people missing their timing to get in and been refused to get acces to the show .
Or going back to the Kew to change their entrance to the afternoon if any availability .

Very poor .

J.C.

Bought day tickets weeks ago for Xmas for my husband as he is a head gardener for a private estate and always wanted to visit. Arrived at the gate today to find out they are closed even though the website says opened and our tickets are for today! Disgusted and upset as we drove all the way from York and incurred many costs including an overnight stay and congestion charges!

Never buy the refund protection total scam!
Due to being ill I am unable to attend after having bought tickets months in advance for the christmas at Kew event, they're asking me to go to the GP to get a certificate to get a refund, and refund would only be for one person not the whole group!
Absolutely ridiculous! They offload the "insurance" to a third party company so they can absolve themselves of the responsibility for it being so bad.
This is frankly frankly predatory behaviour on their behalf.
Take my advice and never get refund protection.

I have paid for ticket refund protection for Christmas at Kew as I booked months in advance and have just discovered it is completely misleading as you can only obtain a refund if you have a medical certificate or have been called to military service or your house has been burgled. For innocent customers thinking they will have the option to cancel by paying this it's a scam. I am surprised that such a reputable organisation allows customers to be mislead and treated in this way. Will not be returning.

The 2022 lights are completely underwhelming. I don’t know what previous years were like as this was my first Christmas Kew experience.
I can only describe it as a few LEDS and a bit of Christmas music. The crowds shuffled along, only interested in taking selfies and stuffing their faces.
The trail had so many food stalls that it was all about how much food they could sell you rather than wow-ing you with any lights.
The whole experience was pathetic really. I walked round the trail in an hour and would have asked for a refund if I could find someone to help me!
FYI My neighbour’s house lights for Diwali are more impressive than Kew.

No point in paying for refund insurance as you have to have your emergency at least 72 hours before to qualify. If the kids get sick the day before you can kiss goodbye to all the money you’ve spent. Hidden well away in the small print.

I’m sad to write a poor review about Kew Gardens as the gardens are beautiful and I would like to support it. However, I bought tickets for Kew lights last winter which was unfortunately cancelled due to covid. I was promised a refund and followed up with an email as suggested. However it is now a year later, and I have written multiple emails and called customer services on multiple occasions and still have not been issued a refund. I have even asked whether I can use the credit to book tickets for this year and have been told that this is ‘impossible’. The majority of my emails have been left unanswered and when calling I am either told that they can only deal with this via email or am told that they can do nothing else… they are doing their best. The tickets cost over £50 and I have given up hope that I will ever receive a refund. As a member of Kew Gardens this is very disappointing!

Oh dear, oh dear, what an overpriced and poorly set up event that Mexican night was. I expect much more from Kew Gardens. Previous events have been well prepared, carefully thought through and reasonable priced. Kew, what are you doing putting an event on like the Mexican night with over priced food, drinks and mediocre entertainment. A very lack lustre event. I will not be booking any other events until you come back to focusing on quality and value for money. Comparisons of farmers putting tinsel and fake snow in a barn and over charging families for a Christmas Grotto experience. Come on Kew, you can do better than this!

Lively gardens as usual and delightful Mexican band but sadly the Mexican food street was a disgrace! Ask to see what you will be paying for!

The gardens are amazing and what a fabulous day out walking around and seeing everything. We booked afternoon tea at the Botanical restaurant to end our day. Well what an awful experience that was!! Freezing cold sandwiches on stale bread, selection of yukky tasting cakes and I'm sure one of them was a Mr Kipling chocolate slice. Scones were nice but very very small. Paid £35.50 each and it must only have cost about £5 to put together. I wanted to ask for a refund as it was that awful... don't bother with the cream tea people and if you want a glass of prosecco it'll be £9.50 on top of the ridiculous £35.50.

I want to give the Gardens itself 5 stars as we had a lovely day exploring but the cafe we visited had appalling service.
The lady behind the counter at the family kitchen cafe was beyond rude to me that I was in shock. I was polite and I did absolutely nothing to justify the way she acted towards me. It made me feel awful.
The cost of the coffee was a shock and then it was not very warm as they did not use a thermometer to check the milk temperature and they free poured the syrup and it was way too sweet we did not finish the coffee. I would have asked for them to be made again in any other circumstances but I just could not bare to speak to her again.
I know it’s only one interaction but it does matter and it does count especially as we never normally treat ourselves to coffee when out and about.

Very disappointed when we walked to the Pavilion Restaurant to find out that the menu was vegan/vegetarian. Why not a menu to suit all tastes?? Needless to say the place was empty!
It was a long walk back to the Orangery and this was very busy and very expensive.

Beware if you visit with a voucher such as Virgin Experience. I received a voucher for my Birthday for entry to the gardens and Afternoon Tea at the Botanic Brasserie and visited on Wednesday 24th August. The phone and wifi signal is so poor there that the voucher would not download. I had a screenshot of the Afternoon Tea confirmation, and the email including the order reference number but not the actual voucher. Therefore we had to pay over £40 to enter. We went straight to the Botanic Brasserie to check the reservation for Afternoon Tea. No reservation. The young lady there did book us in for our chosen time however. When we returned for our tea, initially the manager said he would accept the screenshot of the confirmation, but then later changed his mind and said he needed to see the voucher, so again we paid. While we were eating we spoke to the couple on the next table who told us to go to the top of the Pagoda for phone signal (you have to pay to go to the top). It is a beautiful place but the day was ruined by trying to download the voucher. I did get signal at the bottom of the Pagoda and got my money refunded in the Brasserie and at the gate, but it leaves you feeling miffed. Screenshot or print off your voucher before you go! Lesson learned.

Fantastic day out and loved the brasserie. 5 stars!

Our children gave us a joined membership ( they bought a voucher online). Immediately after the festivities we had some renovation done to the house and the paperwork got misplaced. We looked for months but couldn't find it. We wrote to headoffice we went in person to the membership office at Kew but all they could say was: the voucher is not refundable it is clear on our terms and conditions.
We also showed them the email with the order number. It's outrageous that they have such a system. They should be able to trace the order number to check that the membership hasn't been activated.
Our advice is DO NOT BUY MEMBERSHIP ONLINE if something goes wrong your receipt etc is worth nothing.

The woman on admissions was rude and nasty. She would not give me and my friend separate change, she told us to sort it out ourselves and gave us a 5 pound note. She would not give us a map each, she said we would have to share it. I think that paying £17.50 each should mean we each have our own map.
There are very few toilets and the queues were long. The toilets were dirty and smelly and the floors were disgusting.
The signposting was dreadful and we wasted a lot of time trying to find the various attractions, which were spread over a huge area and it was exhausting traipsing around in circles.
There were very few benches around, and none in the shade.
The only thing Kew management was interested in was advertising the eating places. Very sad for people who had gone to see the exhibits and were not interested in the food.
At least Kew Gardens is no longer on my bucket list and I will be more than happy to never set foot in the awful place again.