Beware! Let me say for the record --- as a small business owner myself, I would NEVER treat someone…read morethe way I've been treated here, and I would never cancel an order without making every attempt to get in touch with them, I would also never hang up on a customer... and it takes a lot for me to write a bad review, so if I'm writing this you know the situation was bad.
I booked a gaming truck for my son's 10th birthday. I got a confirmation email that the booking request was received and then my PayPal was deducted the $100. I feel like I talked via email to someone to confirm, but I never could find that email. In July I emailed ensuring that we were on the schedule, and I saw my 4pm slot was greyed out online. All good! This week I've been swamped with work, trying to get ready for my son's party & out of town guests. I have been looking out for some sort of communication from them for the pat few days, but there's been no communication. Yesterday morning I sent an email seeing if there's anything else I need to do. By early afternoon I had not gotten a response, so I go on their website to find a phone number. As I'm searching I see that it says payment is due 5 days before so yes I agreed to it (no problem, never has been, but it was so strange that no one has reached out for payment, and honestly I forgot about this 5 day thing.... I booked in April!). But if I got an invoice, I would have paid. And then I see our 4pm slot for 9/3 is now available, and I got worried (see screenshot). I called Sophia. She told me that I didn't pay so she cancelled after 3 email attempts!! She NEVER even tried to call me. Then she said that they are already booked for tomorrow so she can't help me (although their website clearly says all slots are open). She never apologizes and is basically like "well, it is what it is. There's nothing I can do". Yes, I was heated as my 10 year old was sitting right beside me listening to this with tears welling up in his eyes bc his gaming truck is not coming. I was not yelling, in fact I was in the lobby of DPAC dealing with this, about to go see Wicked with my boy. I was not yelling and I was not rude. I did heatedly tell her that I can't believe they do business like this. AND SHE HUNG UP ON ME!!!
How do you cancel a reservation without making every attempt to get in touch with the person who booked it?! The ONLY mention of this 5 day thing is on the booking page. I'll add screenshots of policies, it's not there. I told her I've searched my inbox, there are no emails from her (see attached image.... nothing), and I asked what email she sent it to.... she looked and said "your first name and last name @gmail.com". I said that's not my email. My email has my middle initial in it between first and last. She goes "oh yeah, it was that email". I have now asked for screenshots of emails.
Unbelievable she blamed it all on me! Asking me why didn't I call if I knew payment was due 5 days before bc I agreed to that when I booked. Again, I booked in April! Blaming the customer... how disrespectful. I rely on the company to bill me and tell me when a payment is due, and call me if perhaps it slipped through the cracks and there's no response. We even had an email thread going, and she didn't even attempt to reply to that.
There's a part of me that wonders if they were ever going to show up, and if this is a scam. She took my $100 deposit (that she refuses to give back) and blames me, claiming that the customer should just remember to contact her to pay 5 days in advance. No where on policies does it say the things she's suggesting about payment and cancellation. It's shady!!!!
If you want a reliable gaming company, go with GAME ON. I called them after this BS, begging them to help us. My 10 year old was in tears at the DPAC, so upset over this cancellation, and Game On went above and beyond to make sure that one of their gaming trucks will be here for us tomorrow!!
Carolina Gaming is unreliable and I do not trust them. Stay away if you want the truck to actually show up at your kid's party.