The Weiner Brothers VP Tour: TOTAL RIP OFF

I am a former guide and I know a good tour when I see one, the WB tour
is not one of them. According to the official Warner website: "the WB
tour is the best kept secret in Hollywood and every day is different
you might see your favorite star or actual filming of that favorite TV
show or film." Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact the
tour is structured only to lure guests into cheap exhibits, and induce
guest back to the store and spend more.

You WILL NOT SEE ANY CELEBRITIES ON THIS TOUR!!!! And if one happens
to accidently stumble in front of your cart, rest assured you will not
meet them, you WILL not have a photo taken with them.

Guests are promised a behind the scenes look at a working studio in
progress.... We had strict instructions not to let guests walk away
from either the carts or if walking to take photos for security
reasons. In no way are guests permitted on active shooting areas to
include sound stages or other areas of the studio where active filming
was to take place. No photos: guests could only take photos in certain
designated areas and only under the supervision of a guide, mostly the
back lot area and only when their was no active filming. Absolutely no
photography of sound stages or the front lot or of any talent.

The real issue is that do people really want to do a cheap photo by an
old stunt car in a humid garage or see the workings of a real studio?
One small area of the transportation department was separated in an
old garage via plastic/vinyl white tent like structure, the cheapest
material they could find to make this tourist display. You could also
hear the garage crew working on vehicles and sometimes smell exhaust
fumes from the neighboring garage area.

Not only did the tour exhibits have ventilation problems but the
studio museum air conditioner had been on the blink for the past month
and would work in the morning but would go out in the afternoon. This
was to prove a huge mistake as several guests have passed out in the
hot exhibits. Many older guest who have trouble walking are not
allowed to sit in the cart unattneded and have to leave the tour, no
refund is offered.

The studio had the idea of setting up a photo display with the old
Dukes of Hazard General Lee stunt car. We were told to bring the
guests back to the gift shop and influence them to buy the cheesy
photos and other merchandise at inflated prices. The amount of time
wasted trying to get guests to spend more money in the store, as
opposed to spending time in the few interesting studio departments you
can still visit is not worth the price of the tour.

My introduction to the studio process and tour was to typify my
experience with the studio in question: massive disorganization and
corporate cost cutting measures that helped the disorganized and
dishonest sometimes to almost comic levels. My experience was so
overwhelmingly negative at this particular studio that I thought I
would start blog about my experiences.

See these links:

http://theweinerbrothersvptour.blogspot.com/
http://www.savingmike.com/

I offer this site in recognition of the observation that we have
become, to a depressing degree, a society geared to the sound bite,
and that many individuals have lost the ability, if indeed they ever
possessed it, to read material lengthier than photo captions. If you
take nothing else from this site, I hope it will be the following
information, which may save you from making an ill-advised, and no
doubt costly, mistake.

Recent sources that have worked the summer 07 season and been
dismissed have outlined an interesting series of events.

Run Weiner run! "THEY HAVE TAKEN AWAY ALL COMPUTERS FROM THE TOUR
DEPARTMENT!" It seems that the employee rights have been curtailed
more then increased at Weiner's by denying employee's the use of
computers for Internet and job related duties. The computers that used
to be in the tour department (except those used by the manager or at
the ticket counter) have been removed because the guides were
obsessive about watching for updates on the Weiner blog or constantly
tuning into the blog. The blog created such a stir, that people were
checking it constantly... This computer section was a row of eight
terminals by the tour management office and an outside desk for the
manager of retail. I guess they just couldn't' bare to see their tiny
empire crumble before their eyes. The guides used the computers to
watch the Internet, a more useful aspect of the computers was the
Excel program they used to fill in the guide reports. So the reports
are simply done by hand now and are watched by managament as they are
filled in and then corrected.

"Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not
to give it." - Agatha Christie

Rumor has it that several senior guides were recently terminated by
studio management. You mean after all that rah, rah, about power house
studio, and all that flak about how wrong I am, they end up firing the
dynamic duo? Rob and Tony: the price of loyalty, what? You could
always post your story to the blog and go to Yahoo, Tripadvisaor or
Eopinion and tell the public how the tour really operates. The excuse
for the firings is that the studio wanted to get rid of part-time
employee's. The real reason for terminating guides or anyone at
Weiner's is that they do not want to pay benefits or raises, anyone
who has been employed over a year job is in grave danger. Good luck
Rob and Tony, you will need it.

Much tension exists between the guides and management as the union is
keeping a close eye on the department. I hope a seniority system is
now in place and guide hiring and retention is based on ability and
not looks. I also hope they raise pay and observe fair lunch and break
rules. I wonder if I can get a refund for my dues?

The Weiner Bros. studio propaganda department is in full swing with
the current director and manager of the department planting many
positive reviews even one from Burbank. In a Yahoo review section at
this web address:http://travel.yahoo.com/p-reviews-2812783-prod-
travelguide-action-read-ratings_and_reviews-i

The reviews run like a tour brochure, the planted reviews were placed
to counter a host of real negative reviews and boost the tour. It is
no surprise instead of fixing the problems with management and a bad
tour, they simply continue to stick their head in the sand and in fact
crack down within the department. On November 18, 2007 they have
planted yet another false glowing reviewing entitled "Great Tour!"
This seems to be an expanded review that was taken from a prior
positive rating with the same title from 3.20.07. The prior review
although shorter has almost identical basic content as the November
posting, i.e. everything is great except the museum which is average
but you only spend a short time there so it is OK.
Since I have posted the Yahoo link several people posted long,
insightful, valid, truthful reviews of their tour experience from
actual guests and not the management of the department. I wish they
had posted this material to my blogs, that is what the blogs are for,
do not be afraid to voice your First Amendment rights.

I have posted one of the reviews to the comments section of the blog
as it is long.

Here are some sections in brief:
Go to Universal or NBC instead!

We just took the Weiner Bros tour yesterday because I had family in
town and wanted them to have a good time. I myself am a local here.
The 42.00 tour was disappointing to say the least and I would not
recommend it. I have to admit, I am shocked at the positive reviews I
read, the people must be rich and don't care about money or are
desperate for Hollywood. You don't get to see any shows being filmed
and certainly not any stars, but I think what was disappointing the
most was the fact we wasted so much time driving around looking at the
outside of the sound stage buildings, though we were told what shows
were filmed in there, what is exciting about staring at the outside of
a building?

Almost every place the guide took us, she informed us we were not
supposed to be there, but she would be a "rebel" and take us anyway!
If we weren't supposed to see the sets for shows, what were we
supposed to be seeing? Their big claim to fame is the Weiner water
tower, not near as much fun as taking Barham off of the 101 and
getting close to the Hollywood sign.

At the end of our tour, our last stop was the Weiner museum, where we
were told we had 8 minutes to view it. You couldn't possilbly see
anything in 8 minutes much less read any thing about it. She kept
telling us we would have to "come back" to be able to take more time
in the museum, well we felt we had paid for that privelege THIS TIME,
why would we give them another 42.00 at another time? It's overpriced,
boring and over rated. Go to NBC for the 8.00 tour and see the set of
the Tonight Show and Access Hollywood. Go to Universal and see Jaws,
King Kong, actual movie sets, special affects and all day attractions.
You will get more for the 50.00 you spend there as opposed to the
42.00 you pay at Weiner.

"Overall, our experience was terrible. The unfortunate thing is that
the experience is still ongoing. The golf cart that we were assignmend
to wasn't safe mechanically. It would jerk backwards and forwards
every time the driver started to move. My guests and I questioned
whether the cart was in safe working order but the guide said it was
the worst cart ever but we'd go ahead anyway. We should have insisted
on getting on another cart because we got terrible whiplash. In
addition, the speaker system wasn't working so those of us towards
the back half of the cart couldn't hear a thing of what the guide was
saying. The guide didn't seem to care much at all about her job and if
she was trained well for her job, it certainly didn't show.

The guide took a corner too sharply and ran up the curb into the
garden. She stopped and asked if anyone was hurt. My friends told her
that I was hurt because I'd had my elbow slammed into the arm rest
with the sudden stop going up the curb. Despite knowing this the
guide kept driving and crashed into a concrete barrier. My friend and
I
were both hurt with whiplash and contusions.

She recommended we be taken offsite to the hospital for treatment at
their occupational health unit. We were told that all expenses would
be covered by Warner Bros. We waited for the taxi that they paid for
and we went to the hospital. Following receiving treatment at he
hospital we finally got to go home. After all what should have been a
fun day of sightseeing was a six hour nightmare. Fast forward three
months to October and we received a medical bill from the hospital
for $180. I called the VIP Tour Manager to ask why it wasn't taken
care
of and I was told it would be paid by the insurance company right
away.
Fast forward another two weeks and I received the exact same medical
bill this time saying that I was late with payment. I called the VIP
Tour Manager again and I was told that it would be paid the same day,
that if the insurance company hadn't paid it by the afternoon then it
would be paid on the office credit card.

Fast forward to the following day and I received a call from a very,
very rude insurance agent asking me if I'd paid for the hospital
bill. I immediately called the VIP Tour Manager to find out what was
going
on. No returned call as yet. So nearly four months later I am still
dealing with this nightmare and I wish I had never chosen to take my
visitors to the Warmer Bros tour. As far as what you see on the tour,
I tend to agree with some of the negative reviews. You don't get to
see any stars or inside any of the working studios. You just get to
drive around and see the outdoor sets (fronts of houses, street
scenes etc). We also saw the Museum which consisted of costumes from
different shows, it wasn't very big and didn't take more than ten
minutes to see. All in all, I'd say take your money elsewhere."

If you have a complaint, you might want to also write to the studio
president and let him know what is going on with the tour department
and studio, please send correspondence to:

Alan F. Horn President and COO, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Warner Brothers Studios
4000 Warner Boulevard
Burbank, CA. 91522

Did they turn you down for a job ?


"mrmajestic66" wrote in message
...

I am a former guide and I know a good tour when I see one, the WB tour
is not one of them. According to the official Warner website: "the WB
tour is the best kept secret in Hollywood and every day is different
you might see your favorite star or actual filming of that favorite TV
show or film." Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact the
tour is structured only to lure guests into cheap exhibits, and induce
guest back to the store and spend more.

You WILL NOT SEE ANY CELEBRITIES ON THIS TOUR!!!! And if one happens
to accidently stumble in front of your cart, rest assured you will not
meet them, you WILL not have a photo taken with them.

Guests are promised a behind the scenes look at a working studio in
progress.... We had strict instructions not to let guests walk away
from either the carts or if walking to take photos for security
reasons. In no way are guests permitted on active shooting areas to
include sound stages or other areas of the studio where active filming
was to take place. No photos: guests could only take photos in certain
designated areas and only under the supervision of a guide, mostly the
back lot area and only when their was no active filming. Absolutely no
photography of sound stages or the front lot or of any talent.

The real issue is that do people really want to do a cheap photo by an
old stunt car in a humid garage or see the workings of a real studio?
One small area of the transportation department was separated in an
old garage via plastic/vinyl white tent like structure, the cheapest
material they could find to make this tourist display. You could also
hear the garage crew working on vehicles and sometimes smell exhaust
fumes from the neighboring garage area.

Not only did the tour exhibits have ventilation problems but the
studio museum air conditioner had been on the blink for the past month
and would work in the morning but would go out in the afternoon. This
was to prove a huge mistake as several guests have passed out in the
hot exhibits. Many older guest who have trouble walking are not
allowed to sit in the cart unattneded and have to leave the tour, no
refund is offered.

The studio had the idea of setting up a photo display with the old
Dukes of Hazard General Lee stunt car. We were told to bring the
guests back to the gift shop and influence them to buy the cheesy
photos and other merchandise at inflated prices. The amount of time
wasted trying to get guests to spend more money in the store, as
opposed to spending time in the few interesting studio departments you
can still visit is not worth the price of the tour.

My introduction to the studio process and tour was to typify my
experience with the studio in question: massive disorganization and
corporate cost cutting measures that helped the disorganized and
dishonest sometimes to almost comic levels. My experience was so
overwhelmingly negative at this particular studio that I thought I
would start blog about my experiences.

See these links:

http://theweinerbrothersvptour.blogspot.com/
http://www.savingmike.com/

I offer this site in recognition of the observation that we have
become, to a depressing degree, a society geared to the sound bite,
and that many individuals have lost the ability, if indeed they ever
possessed it, to read material lengthier than photo captions. If you
take nothing else from this site, I hope it will be the following
information, which may save you from making an ill-advised, and no
doubt costly, mistake.

Recent sources that have worked the summer 07 season and been
dismissed have outlined an interesting series of events.

Run Weiner run! "THEY HAVE TAKEN AWAY ALL COMPUTERS FROM THE TOUR
DEPARTMENT!" It seems that the employee rights have been curtailed
more then increased at Weiner's by denying employee's the use of
computers for Internet and job related duties. The computers that used
to be in the tour department (except those used by the manager or at
the ticket counter) have been removed because the guides were
obsessive about watching for updates on the Weiner blog or constantly
tuning into the blog. The blog created such a stir, that people were
checking it constantly... This computer section was a row of eight
terminals by the tour management office and an outside desk for the
manager of retail. I guess they just couldn't' bare to see their tiny
empire crumble before their eyes. The guides used the computers to
watch the Internet, a more useful aspect of the computers was the
Excel program they used to fill in the guide reports. So the reports
are simply done by hand now and are watched by managament as they are
filled in and then corrected.

"Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not
to give it." - Agatha Christie

Rumor has it that several senior guides were recently terminated by
studio management. You mean after all that rah, rah, about power house
studio, and all that flak about how wrong I am, they end up firing the
dynamic duo? Rob and Tony: the price of loyalty, what? You could
always post your story to the blog and go to Yahoo, Tripadvisaor or
Eopinion and tell the public how the tour really operates. The excuse
for the firings is that the studio wanted to get rid of part-time
employee's. The real reason for terminating guides or anyone at
Weiner's is that they do not want to pay benefits or raises, anyone
who has been employed over a year job is in grave danger. Good luck
Rob and Tony, you will need it.

Much tension exists between the guides and management as the union is
keeping a close eye on the department. I hope a seniority system is
now in place and guide hiring and retention is based on ability and
not looks. I also hope they raise pay and observe fair lunch and break
rules. I wonder if I can get a refund for my dues?

The Weiner Bros. studio propaganda department is in full swing with
the current director and manager of the department planting many
positive reviews even one from Burbank. In a Yahoo review section at
this web address:http://travel.yahoo.com/p-reviews-2812783-prod-
travelguide-action-read-ratings_and_reviews-i

The reviews run like a tour brochure, the planted reviews were placed
to counter a host of real negative reviews and boost the tour. It is
no surprise instead of fixing the problems with management and a bad
tour, they simply continue to stick their head in the sand and in fact
crack down within the department. On November 18, 2007 they have
planted yet another false glowing reviewing entitled "Great Tour!"
This seems to be an expanded review that was taken from a prior
positive rating with the same title from 3.20.07. The prior review
although shorter has almost identical basic content as the November
posting, i.e. everything is great except the museum which is average
but you only spend a short time there so it is OK.
Since I have posted the Yahoo link several people posted long,
insightful, valid, truthful reviews of their tour experience from
actual guests and not the management of the department. I wish they
had posted this material to my blogs, that is what the blogs are for,
do not be afraid to voice your First Amendment rights.

I have posted one of the reviews to the comments section of the blog
as it is long.

Here are some sections in brief:
Go to Universal or NBC instead!

We just took the Weiner Bros tour yesterday because I had family in
town and wanted them to have a good time. I myself am a local here.
The 42.00 tour was disappointing to say the least and I would not
recommend it. I have to admit, I am shocked at the positive reviews I
read, the people must be rich and don't care about money or are
desperate for Hollywood. You don't get to see any shows being filmed
and certainly not any stars, but I think what was disappointing the
most was the fact we wasted so much time driving around looking at the
outside of the sound stage buildings, though we were told what shows
were filmed in there, what is exciting about staring at the outside of
a building?

Almost every place the guide took us, she informed us we were not
supposed to be there, but she would be a "rebel" and take us anyway!
If we weren't supposed to see the sets for shows, what were we
supposed to be seeing? Their big claim to fame is the Weiner water
tower, not near as much fun as taking Barham off of the 101 and
getting close to the Hollywood sign.

At the end of our tour, our last stop was the Weiner museum, where we
were told we had 8 minutes to view it. You couldn't possilbly see
anything in 8 minutes much less read any thing about it. She kept
telling us we would have to "come back" to be able to take more time
in the museum, well we felt we had paid for that privelege THIS TIME,
why would we give them another 42.00 at another time? It's overpriced,
boring and over rated. Go to NBC for the 8.00 tour and see the set of
the Tonight Show and Access Hollywood. Go to Universal and see Jaws,
King Kong, actual movie sets, special affects and all day attractions.
You will get more for the 50.00 you spend there as opposed to the
42.00 you pay at Weiner.

"Overall, our experience was terrible. The unfortunate thing is that
the experience is still ongoing. The golf cart that we were assignmend
to wasn't safe mechanically. It would jerk backwards and forwards
every time the driver started to move. My guests and I questioned
whether the cart was in safe working order but the guide said it was
the worst cart ever but we'd go ahead anyway. We should have insisted
on getting on another cart because we got terrible whiplash. In
addition, the speaker system wasn't working so those of us towards
the back half of the cart couldn't hear a thing of what the guide was
saying. The guide didn't seem to care much at all about her job and if
she was trained well for her job, it certainly didn't show.

The guide took a corner too sharply and ran up the curb into the
garden. She stopped and asked if anyone was hurt. My friends told her
that I was hurt because I'd had my elbow slammed into the arm rest
with the sudden stop going up the curb. Despite knowing this the
guide kept driving and crashed into a concrete barrier. My friend and
I
were both hurt with whiplash and contusions.

She recommended we be taken offsite to the hospital for treatment at
their occupational health unit. We were told that all expenses would
be covered by Warner Bros. We waited for the taxi that they paid for
and we went to the hospital. Following receiving treatment at he
hospital we finally got to go home. After all what should have been a
fun day of sightseeing was a six hour nightmare. Fast forward three
months to October and we received a medical bill from the hospital
for $180. I called the VIP Tour Manager to ask why it wasn't taken
care
of and I was told it would be paid by the insurance company right
away.
Fast forward another two weeks and I received the exact same medical
bill this time saying that I was late with payment. I called the VIP
Tour Manager again and I was told that it would be paid the same day,
that if the insurance company hadn't paid it by the afternoon then it
would be paid on the office credit card.

Fast forward to the following day and I received a call from a very,
very rude insurance agent asking me if I'd paid for the hospital
bill. I immediately called the VIP Tour Manager to find out what was
going
on. No returned call as yet. So nearly four months later I am still
dealing with this nightmare and I wish I had never chosen to take my
visitors to the Warmer Bros tour. As far as what you see on the tour,
I tend to agree with some of the negative reviews. You don't get to
see any stars or inside any of the working studios. You just get to
drive around and see the outdoor sets (fronts of houses, street
scenes etc). We also saw the Museum which consisted of costumes from
different shows, it wasn't very big and didn't take more than ten
minutes to see. All in all, I'd say take your money elsewhere."

If you have a complaint, you might want to also write to the studio
president and let him know what is going on with the tour department
and studio, please send correspondence to:

Alan F. Horn President and COO, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Warner Brothers Studios
4000 Warner Boulevard
Burbank, CA. 91522