Party Planners beware!!!!
I took my daughter and 16 of her friends for a birthday party, and sadly the experience did not go as planned!
Starting from initial booking, I was called back a week later to be told the party room was double booked because someone "forgot to put the other party in the book", so the original time I was told could no longer be honored. Ok, fine, we made the new time work.
I was told that anyone who STEPPED FOOT into the party room would be charged as a party attendant. This included parents who were simply coming to pick their children up after the movie (during pizza and cake) and parents who independently paid for their own tickets and concessions (which I had a total of 7 do on their own)
Our party attendant was super nice and I felt as though she was overwhelmed. I was told she would be in the theater at all times of the movie, but that was not the case. One of the children did not receive her popcorn/drink pack at the beginning, and I had to give her mine because I did not want to leave the children in the theater unattended to go find her.
Children were meant to have a choice of soda with their popcorn, but the packs were prepared before our arrival and they all received water instead. I was told they would get soda during the pizza, and that the water was easier to prepare ahead of time. At the moment, this did not bother me, but it becomes relevant later on in the story.
As far as the movie itself went, everything was fine. No complaints there.
Movie ended at 4:25 pm, and pizza was meant to begin at 4:30pm. Despite the pizzeria being right next door to the theater, it was late and did not arrive for another 20/25 minutes.
When the party was booked, over the phone, I was asked for an approximate number of attendees. I said 21. I was told I would be called a few days in advance for the final headcount. I was not contacted. Again, this is relevant information.
4 parents stayed after the movie, as they were all carpooling to bring the children home after the pizza and cake. As directed when I booked, these parents DID NOT enter the party room. They sat on folding chairs in the hallway waiting for their children. They did not partake in pizza, beverages, or cupcakes.
3 pizzas were ordered for my party. There was not enough pizza for each child to have a second slice, despite seconds being offered to them. I was not told how many slices per child were included in the price, but I will admit that I also did not ask, so I supposed that is on me. However, I assumed 2 slices per attendee was the norm.
When it was time to "settle up", the attendant informed me that her boss was requiring that she charge me for the 4 adults that had stayed behind to pick up their children. Remember, these 4 adults had already paid for their own ticket to the movies! And also bought their own popcorn and their own drinks. Not to mention, extra snacks and drinks for their kids! The theater had already made money on them!
At this point, I was embarrassed, and annoyed that I was missing time with my daughter's party. I explained that these parents had paid for their own admission, and that it was crazy to think I would pay AGAIN for their tickets, and the snack boxes they did not receive or the pizza they did not receive. There wasn't even enough pizza for the children there, let alone to give to the adults! I did not want to argue with the attendant, as I knew it was not her fault, and I requested to speak with her manager.
She returns and tells me he will meet with me, but he would not come back to the party room, and wanted to meet with me in the front. Forcing me to LEAVE my child and her friend's unattended. At this point, I meet the manager, Nick, who basically is telling me all the reasons why he is within his right to charge me for the extra people. He was aware that the parents paid for themselves. Aware that they did not enter the room. Aware that they did not eat popcorn, pizza, or drinks provided for the party. And despite being aware of all of this, he still said that I was wrong for allowing them to be in the hallway outside of the party room! He proceeded to tell me that this was all outlined in my contract confirmation (which I did not receive), and that he "should" be charging me for the 21 people, not 17, because that's the number I confirmed. Even though he also knew that I was never called back for a final confirmation. I had to do a search on my email to show him that I did not receive this confirmation.
Nick then tells me that he is going to "check the computer" to see if I am correct in saying I did not receive a confirmation. Essentially calling me a liar, but I KNEW I did not receive it, so I had no issue with him checking. Told me he would be back to let me know.
15 minutes later, my attendant came back to me to tell me that he was only going to charge me for the 17 people. So in other words, he realized that I was NOT lying, and that I read more