Extremely disappointing experience. I came to Main Event specifically to redeem points that my…read morefriends and I had spent the entire summer accumulating through playing games and combining our cards. Instead of being able to enjoy what should have been the rewarding part of the experience, I left frustrated, embarrassed, and empty-handed.
When I attempted to redeem my points, the manager, Grey, immediately made the process unnecessarily difficult. I was repeatedly questioned about how I accumulated so many points and where they came from. I completely understand verifying a large redemption, but there is a difference between reasonable verification and making a customer feel like they are automatically suspected of doing something wrong.
What makes this even more frustrating is that the card history should show the activity. Games were played, cards were combined, and the points didn't simply appear out of nowhere. If there was a specific transaction or policy violation that made my points invalid, I would have appreciated being shown exactly what it was. Instead, I felt like the fact that I had a large number of points was being treated as suspicious by itself.
The entire interaction made me feel targeted, profiled, and stereotyped. Two other team members actually tried to help me, and based on what they told me about how situations are normally handled, I felt even more uncomfortable with the way I was personally being treated.
What bothers me most is the amount of TIME and MONEY that went into this. My friends and I spent an entire summer going to Main Event, paying to play games, earning points, and saving them with the expectation that those points could eventually be redeemed. I then took additional time out of my day to come specifically for the prize I had finally accumulated enough points to get. After spending my money, spending my time, answering unnecessary questions, and waiting around trying to get the situation resolved, I STILL wasn't properly serviced and left without the prize I came for.
How is a customer supposed to feel confident spending money earning points if accumulating a large amount of them can suddenly become a problem when it's time to actually redeem them?
I wasn't asking for anything for free. I wasn't asking them to give me points I didn't have. I was simply trying to redeem the balance already on my card.
If there is a legitimate policy that prevented my redemption, then Main Event should be able to clearly identify that policy and explain what part of my card history violated it. I have already submitted a complaint about the situation and hope management takes the time to actually review the card history and what happened.
An arcade is supposed to be somewhere you go to have fun. Nobody should spend their time and money there only to feel interrogated and singled out when they finally try to redeem what they've earned. This experience completely changed the way I look at this location.