The View from The Shard Avis 78

Zia (man with the silly hat) made the whole Shard viewing experience worth while. Without his excellent and knowledgeable talk, The Shard viewing would have been rather flat (no pun intended).

What a super few hours. It was a murky day but we still managed to pick out areas surrounding London. When we went to the bar to order our drink we were greeted by a lovely young lady (Hayley) who looked after us. So nice to see a young lady with great enthusiasm. We also spoke to Chris he was very informative. A very enjoyable few hours enjoyed at The Shard

Excellent day out at the very top, the views were stunning, would definitely recommend to others.

Aweful experience. Long queues. Crowded lifts. Unnecessary security.
Had to take belt off and risk trousers falling down.
Not to be recommended at all.
REALLY BAD

The view from the 69th floor was amazing, although we couldn’t see as far as expected as it was a rainy day and a bit misty. Going up to the sky deck (72nd floor) was vastly different in comparison as it was open-air and felt more like you were very high up. It was a strange feeling but amazing, even went up a 2nd time later. You can stay there as long as you wish, and they do have a bar for drinks, an ice cream cart, and they offer food too. The prices are a bit eye-watering though!

The viewing itself is fantastic however what put me off is the behaviour of the security personnels. I understand that it needs to be an airport style security however things dont necessarily be harsh to a paying customer . People can still be polite and get the things done in a more civilized manner. For example, the person at the gate asked me to get my things off when i asked if even th3 papers are required to be off my pocket , he gave a rude look and "ordered" me to get everything out of my pocket. I mean you can still do your job with a smile or even politeness. I had 3 guests with mw the day i went else i would have taught that over previllaged security a manner lesson.

Honestly, i wouldnt go back or recommend others. We have other high risers from where you can get a decent viewing of London with brilliant staff behaviour.

A bit pricey for what it is if you buy an individual ticket, especially if you get cloudy weather - but definitely worh doing it as part of the London Pass!
The view is amazing and the staff are really lovely. There are plenty of displays that make great photo opportunities and you get the option to get professional photographs for an additional cost.
All in all worth doing at least once if visiting London!

We had booked the View from The Shard as part of my birthday weekend. Unfortunately due to train delays and traffic, we arrived later than expected and had missed our allocated time slot. The gates for the attraction had closed for the evening. I noticed a manager behind gates and explained our situation. The manager, Matt Clifford was very sympathetic and explained that all viewing slots had closed for the evening and that they were getting ready for a private event. However, Matt could see that we were really upset and allowed us to come back just before the event to experience the view. My husband and I were allowed to experience the view by ourselves and all staff were very pleasant, friendly and helpful. We had a truly wonderful experience and witnessed amazing views of London lit up on a clear evening. We were able to take plenty of pictures which felt like a private viewing experience for just the two of us. The staff were amazing and truly accommodating and certainly went above and beyond!

The view from the top of the Shard over London is, of course, exceptional. The experience was enhanced by the presence of an excellent staff guide (Michael M.) who was engaging, amusing and highly informative.

Nice views, terrible service. A blond guy with beard and glasses took a picture of us at the entrance. Later on, when we were going to leave the building they showed us the picture and we decided not to buy it. Well, this guy didn’t seem to be very happy when I told him that we would think about it, in a ver ruthless manners and ver sarcastic, he said: you will find it in the “Think about it section”. Really? Is that the way to treat your clients? This employee is not making any favor on your reputation, Shard. Take measures before other clients decide to rate this low, like me, and suggest everybody to avoid visiting The Shard because there is a clown working there.

Honestly not worth the money. Think the only reason to do it is to see the cityscape and say you’ve done it - but it’s certainly not worth the price. £56 for two people to go up. Quite small and nothing to do up there unless you want to spend £20 a drink. Think you’d get just as good a view from a rooftop bar.

Went up there on a summers evening. It was gorgeous, views as far as the eye can see. Only down side was the price of everything. Expensive for what it is.

Expensive only for a view. OK, I knew that. But they also make pictures. When I wanted to buy one of the picture it was 17 pounds(3 pictures 27 pounds) and they said the whole package was cheaper(The book, keyrings and 3 pictures for 22 pounds) Very strange...but it gets stranger! When I asked for the digital pictures they gave me a scancard. I could scan it at home and get the digital pictures. When I scanned it it turns out that the digital pictures cost another 15 pounds??? Someone is getting really rich over there....they should call it "THE SHARK". The printed pictures are very bad quality aswell! A lot of money for some fake-pictures in bad quality!

Today my daughter in law and myself visited The Shard - 17/06/22. I can only say for a start I recommend anyone visiting London to have this experience its amazing.. But what I really want to say is about the staff - they are amazing, so patient, so friendly so helpful. I cant remember any names and for that I am so sorry but hopefully they will recognise themselves from these comments - the young lady who was scanning everyone in, my daughter in law was having problems with her phone it had locked and wouldn't show the bar codes - she was calm and helpful and offered my daughter in law advice how to access what she needed to do and was so enthusiastic when we managed to get what we wanted for admission - and for the gentleman on the top floor clearing away the glasses and cleaning the tables who informed us which floor was what and was so nice and informative- the gentleman serving drinks on the top floor - so professional, and the young lads on the second from top floor. But we loved the young man who was taking his break (he had a champagne logo apron on from) and was joining us all in the lift going down and he was taking his break - he was so polite and happy an absolutely gem of a bloke.

I took a very important lady in my life on a date to The Shard.

Booking the tickets was easy and all the staff were polite and friendly.

At the top, the view was amazing. There was a photographer at the top who spotted we were a couple and to my surprise- a grand piano which I was allowed to play to serenade my special lady! Romance definitely is alive and well at the top of rhe Shard.

We were both then surprised to find there a tour of the view where every building worth viewing was explained. Our tour guide with long blond fizzy hair was funny and even entertained my date’s question about there being another basquel bridge in the Isle of Dogs other than Tower Bridge.

We both had a great experience.

Thank you to all who made our day special.

I ordered gift cards never received paid extra secure delivery no response avoid this company

I found the experience of booking a visit to the Shard View and the actual visit polar opposite’s. The booking experience is less customer focused. I found the staff for the actual visit to be more customer focused, nice and pleasant. But, I found ringing customer services when you have an issue with your booking really poor, I don’t blame the customer service person you speak to, but more the processes, which are very rigid and inflexible. It’s like the booking is taken care of by a shoddy back street operation, who just need you to buy tickets, because once you brought tickets they can wash you hands of you and the visit is taken care of by professionals that take pride in the customer’s experience.

However, writing the above, I think visiting the Shard in Summer May bring it’s own problems, which are not customer service related. I visited on the 19th Feb 2022, when the weather wasn’t too brilliant, but there were still quite a few people there. I think the problem is, the Shard limits the amount of people that can visit the Shard at any time (15 minute intervals), but rely on people leaving to ensure people numbers are contained. But, what I found is people that found the best spots lingering there (much longer than the 15 minutes entry intervals), which I don’t blame them, but that meant people that came later, didn’t get as good as an experience. Luckily the top floor was empty due to the poor weather, which meant the place where you took pictures wasn’t that very busy, but on a summer’s day I can imagine you’d need to queue for a bit at that spot.

I don’t understand why the Shard doesn’t limit the amount of time people can spend there and thus ensuring the best spots are not taken for extended periods. You could do this by having it written on their website what the maximum stay is (I didn’t find anything about maximum stay on their website). Give people necklaces with a certain color when they entry and if they don’t leave after an a certain time politely ask them. That why you can ensure what the maximum number of people is at any one time and also the best views are not taken for extended times.

I know the Shard likes the experience to be unique and special by offering a drink, but it doesn’t work if there is a mass of people there. It is a shame because the views are definitely the best in London, just the overall experience just match the views.

My advice would be the following, hope when you book you never need to call customer services because that will leave a sour taste (although that may be harder than you think, because I found when I used the website - theviewfromtheshard.com - it was glitchy) and if you book make sure you book early and are the first people there to get the best out of the visit.

Finally, this bit I may be wrong but I doubt it, when walking around i noticed tables with reserve written on them, which I’m guessing are for the people that paid extra; they are dotted around where else one else walks to get views, so if your expecting a private area with other people that paid extra for tables, nope it’s the same place as everyone else. I was considering paying extra for the reserved tables but luckily I didn’t, because I would have been disappointed. I think the Shard should have given the people that paid extra for reserved tables their own private areas. Also, not all the reserved tables are by the window view some are on the back wall, so you won’t be getting a better view when seated then someone that paid less, your just paying to have a seat. For, this final paragraph, if I am wrong about the reserved tables, someone from the Shard let me know and I will happily delete this paragraph, but I doubt it, because I don’t understand why else these tables would have reserved written on them.

Terrible customer service with conflicting advice.

We booked to go in October as part of a trip to London but unfortunately we both came down with covid so couldn’t go.

I initially emailed asking for advice in terms of rebooking given we didn’t know when we could reschedule our trip to London. I received an automated response stating they had a backlog so couldn’t respond in a timely manner (fair enough). So I phoned and was told I would have to claim through the ticket plan insurance. I then initiated the ticket plan claim.

However, I then actually received a response to my initial email that contradicted what I was told on the phone. I was told that instead of claiming on the ticket plan, they had kept my details on file and once we had rebooked our trip, I simply needed to reply to the email with a preferred date and time. Great! I cancelled the ticket plan claim.

Roll on a few months and we’ve rebooked our trip, so I followed the instructions on the email, replying with a date and time as to when we’d like to go.

I then received a response, ignoring the email response that I had quoted, stating that I could not rebook and needed to make a ticket plan claim. I reminded them that I had it in writing that I could.

The response to this was nothing short of unprofessional calling out that the member of staff who told me this had received a telling off for doing so and that I must make a ticket plan claim.

Out of the many venues, experiences, etc that we’ve had to rebook, this has been by far the worst company to deal with.

I will be reinstating the ticket plan claim but I will not be rebooking to go there as I dread to think what their customer service on site will be like given their online/phone customer service.

I bought a view from the shard with buyagift voucher, didn't use as didn't travel to London from the North. Been unable to get refund as the shard said buyagift had to request refund. They apparently have and not had a response in over a month, except to say my voucher was redeemed. Absolute rubbish. Do not give them your money