My stepmom surprised my toddler with tickets for Messy Madness, and we had heard lots of great things about it and were SO excited. I had a question before the event and contacted them via Facebook. They were quick to respond, answered my question helpfully, and the Saturday night before the event at 4:51pm they responded, "See you tomorrow :)" after I thanked them for their reply.
So Sunday morning, we gathered all our spare clothes and towels to clean up and got my mom and sister in the car with us and drove the 30 minutes across town to Kids Klubhouse where it was being hosted. We arrived with 10 minutes to spare and there were no cars out front, no lights on inside. We hoped for the best and walked up, but alas the door was locked. I immediately contacted my stepmom to see if she had gotten a cancellation notice, then checked the event online while I waited for her reply. Apparently our 10am class was cancelled, as was the 8am class advertised for earlier that day.
Come to find out, they emailed out a cancellation notice at 8:45pm the night prior, giving barely a 12 hour notice before the event was supposed to start, due to "lack of ticket sales." My stepmom's in Indiana, so they sent it at midnight her time, and it went to her junk mail (which obviously they couldn't control, but maybe if they'd given more than a half day's notice, she would have checked her junk mail).
My stepmom emailed them about what happened and was told, "As you were the only attendees the owner advised me to cancel, refund and replace the tickets for another date. I emailed you as soon as it was cancelled and updated the event on Facebook and Eventbrite to state cancelled just in case." Umm.. if they did all that, why couldn't they update the ONE attendee (me) who had messaged them just a few hours prior via Facebook?!
What they did right in this situation: Immediately refunded my stepmom without her having to ask, and issued free replacement tickets should we choose to sign my daughter back up for Messy Madness. But .... I really don't think I feel like checking their event page over and over leading up to the event to make sure they don't cancel last minute on us again, especially after we reserved our morning and coordinated with family to go to the original event. If we do decide to redeem the free tickets, I'll be sure not to tell my daughter in advance so I don't potentially set her up for another disappointment if they do cancel again. read more