National Gallery Reviews 

Visiting The National Gallery Van Gogh Exibition was excellent. It was busy, but I never felt rushed or crowded and I got good close views of all the paintings/drawings. Staff were very supportive: my friend was immediately offered a folding carry-chair when she needed to rest. The cafe served a good lunch, the shop had lots of good products. A free and unexpected paper catalogue was probably better than the audio guide which would not work on my phone. The stars of the show were the 61 Van Gogh paintings and drawings. WOW! Thank you to the National Gallery Team for a 5* day out.

Thoroughly enjoyed the Van Gogh, Poets & Lovers exhibit. Timings for entry worked really well and ensured it wasn't crowded and we could view each art work comfortably. Very well staged too. Took 90minutes to view all the paintings. I'd recommend it.

A brilliant exhibition of Van Gogh pictures let down by massive queues for pre booked tickets. Paying £24 each with a timed ticket at 4 pm, getting into the exhibition an hour later, then being told they are closing it 45 minutes later. Sped through, too many visitors and ignorant and rude staff.
Member of the Tate and V and A, I won’t be coming back to this place.

I had a customer service problem with a refund. Contact with the NG was proving difficult to get a response. As of today I am totally happy with the response by the customer services manager and prompt refund

Impossible to contact. Tried to change time on timed entry tickets (for which I had an order confirmation, but no e-tickets were ever sent). Website says that is possible to arrange by calling a number or emailing them. I called 6 times over the course of a week, emailed them and used the contact form, but no response at all.

Is this really as good as a once-great institution can manage?

I'm also dissatisfied about customer/shop service.

My husband received a Van Gogh catalogue which has been bound incorrectly, with the cover wrong way up. I emailed them and received the automated "high level of enquiries" response. 3 days later I have heard nothing. I sent another email asking them to escalate, as it is a complaint rather than a general enquiry, and again immediately received the same automated response.

I have tried ringing them at various times, to be told to email Hello@Nat.... I tried ringing the shop, asked to be put through to a colleague, only to be told to email Hello@Nat... again. Just going round in circles.

Customers deserve an attentive response when their £35 purchase is glaringly faulty. Does nobody look at their list of incoming emails, to prioritise between complaints and casual enquiries?

National Gallery, if you are reading this, please check out order number 5001522.

Hopefully I can update my review with a positive outcome.

15/10/24 Update - Have finally been able to speak to National Gallery, and hope to publish a positive outcome soon

09/11/24 Update - At last the matter is resolved, someone did eventually answer the phone, and I have received another copy of the catalogue, this time correctly bound. Thank you National Gallery, and also Wiley the publishers, who were also willing to send one if I had no luck with National Gallery.

Impossible to contact - The people running the NG have no idea any more how to run a national institution or, for example, how to be available to people who might wish to make eg a large donation. Unbelievable and presumptuous, too.

Was thinking about becoming a member but then realised that even as a member you have to book and if the event is fully booked you cannot get a ticket. I think priority booking is available to members in advance of the public but being spontaneous is part of what being a member is all about. While I am here, a question to all galleries - ever thought about banning mobile phones. Sick of seeing people go round taking photos of everything. Where people would never ask you to move so they can get a better look they have no hesitation to tell you to do so to get a photo.

As a member, attended the Van Gogh exhibition at 10 am this morning. Large queues outside the NG, at both entrances.
Why can the NG not open up at 9.30 so visitors can get a coffee etc in the cafe and go to the cloakroom before the exhibition opens at 10?
I also agree with other customers' comments about travel cases. The NG really should take the time to review its policy here, which lacks coherency and consistency.

To The National, please improve your purchase procedure. According to me, I was not signed up, so I tried repeatedly to create an account using a nice long password that obeyed all your conditions, and was told repeatedly that it did not comply. It did. So I shortened it and was told that the email I'd used already had an account - from ages ago or poor processing of the above wasn't clear. Fortunately I have an alternative email and used that, and the shorter password and it finally worked. What a faff!
Nigel Root

From a logistical point of view very easy to get to being a short walk from charing cross station, I have visited many times and whilst some of the other comments here may stand up over diabolical queuing and iffy customer service I genuinely have not encountered perhaps by virtue of visiting at quieter times. The gallery itself needs no hard sell there are paintings galore from the world's finest and best of all it's free !

The queueing system to enter is confusing, there are no clear signs as to where to queue. The security guards also seem to let people use the priority queue at random when they have not pre-booked tickets, with no rhyme or reason as to why they choose specific people. I was with someone using a walking aid at the main stair entrance who was not allowed to use the priority queue, yet a young couple were allowed to pass through, then a group of teenagers. Perhaps there needs to be a rethink as to how the main stair entrance is used, or at least a more systematic approach than just allowing security to give priority to the people they like the look of.

We were refused entry because we had a travel case. Security guard said they stopped allowing cases a year ago. No explanation given and no other options then to abandon our luggage to be able to enter. I am sure the gallery is lovely and have been previously and enjoyed it but very unfriendly security guard and poor experience this time.

Want to give a shout-out to the staff in the NPG's shop, especially to Beth, an assistant manager, for great customer service, backed up by really good merchandise

Always an example as to how to run a Museum

On December 1st, I ordered several items from the National Gallery online shop. Two items duly arrived a few days later and then nothing. I sent two emails, the first on December 15th and the second December 21st, inquiring as to what was happening with my order. Neither was answered and I began 'phoning, after a couple of days finally getting through to someone who promised the missing items would be sent right away using DHL. This was very early January and two weeks later still nothing has arrived.

A fantastic place to spend an entire day, there's so much to see, if anything you could easily spend two days looking around no problem, a pleasure

I purchased few items from National Gallery online shop and it took about a week and half to receive it. The Three of mug cups were already damaged in the poorly packed box when I opened it, so I sent an email about the damaged items with photos and didn't get any reply for two weeks. I tried to call the numbers on the website at all different times countless, no one answered. The worst online purchasing experience ever.

Went to the National Gallery today, had a small case, but was not told by security that I couldn’t go in with it, once inside I had nothing but hassle about my case from the staff, maybe they should train their security staff a bit better, disgraceful.

Fabulous experience. So much great work there. Any person can enjoy that experience.