First off, I was really excited when a new location closer to our home was opening. We've been to couple of birthday parties and have enrolled in one day camps at the I-10 location. I went to visit the new location after seeing it advertised on their website and it did not exist, no one there and it was empty. Eventually, after several months passing, the Open House invite was sent to my house so we went and it was still not quite ready.. The rooms were there, but no kitchen and only less than handful of computers. You had to use your imagination.. not a great first impression.
My son went to the after-school care for a semester fall of 2015 and it was fine, Foster did a good job. When I inquired if they could accommodate 2 days after school care, they gave me a quote that was more than our current 3 days pick-up so I pulled him out.
This week was his first week attending summer camp. We elected the pairing of morning and afternoon 1/2 day camps. Mine, Craft and Survive with LEGO and Rollercoaster Design for ages 6- 9 year olds. There was a mix-up in my part by taking my son to the wrong camp and not ordering the lunch in time. Once we were there, I was told they would have a lunch tray for him and it was not a problem. However, I chose to leave a small snack in his backpack just in case he doesn't like the lunch. Good thing I did! He never got a lunch tray, they accidentally gave it to someone else. In the afternoon class, there was a soon to be 10 year old boy (birthday tomorrow) who had put his hand on my son's face and pushed him, they got into a scuffle over personal space. So I called in the afternoon for over an hour and the phone system was not working! How frustrating and unprofessional that we never received any type of communication there was a phone issue and where we should route our calls to, what if there had been an emergency?! Finally, I called the I-10 location and left a message with someone. I received a call within two hours from Adam to address the issues with their phone system, my son's missing lunch, and the bully. We did come to terms and pulled my son out from the afternoon class in the end.
The very same week, a very loud false fire alarm went off due to the smoke produced from the cooking class. Kids were escorted out the building and fire fighters cam. This time, email communication was distributed to parents. The unnecessary situation caused much disruption to the classes.
Over time and time again, this place has consistently proven to be disorganized and more reactionary than proactive. Adam is the coordinator for all the Idea Lab locations and he may be overreached.. Michelle at the service desk from the Energy Corridor is super nice and sympathetic. However, I just think there could be more improvements with better oversights. read more
