It's a shame one star is a requirement, because they surely don't deserve even that recognition.
I signed my son up for skating lessons in their group setting. They offer these classes three days a week, at two separate time slots each day so that you can choose the one that suits you best. We chose Sunday from 4:05-5:05. Keep in mind upon reading this review that we paid $105 for this. Yesterday was his first lesson, and here was our terrible experience :
We showed up expecting a reasonably small group of kids present for the lesson. Instead, there were easily 50-60 people too many on the ice. From teenagers doing advanced figure skating, to the beginners like my 6 year old son, the ice was a total mess of people. We expected what any parent new to lessons that the coaches would be gathered, ready to explain where the kids were to go and what they needed to do. After tracking an employee down, we were told to find his name on a roster to see who his coach was. We did, and the teenage boys at the skate rental area told us parents were to wait there for coaches that would come address all the parents. We waited. And waited. Eventually we realized no one was coming and most coaches seemed to be out on the ice already. We had to ask parents and finally found our coach on a far end of the ice. We asked another teen employee to skate him out to the coach as our son didn't know where to go. While he agreed, he skated our child out a few feet and then left him there. We had to point and call out to show him where to go. Once he finally got into his group, our coach instructed them to "sizzle," in which they put their arms out and shuffle across the ice. They did this about twenty minutes, while the coach skated circles around them, seemingly not offering any real instruction. After twenty minutes, the coach announced "free skate" and dashed off to the far opposite end to instruct an older group of kids. My son's group eventually shuffled their way back to the parents. My son said "we didn't know what to do so we just came back."
I was livid. I went into the office and spoke with an old woman sitting at the front desk. I described our situation, and she stared blankly back at me, eyebrows raised. She offered no apology, no explanation, no offer to speak to the director or get back to me. Nothing. When I pointed this out, at this point near tears, she harshly barked that she couldn't get a word in edgewise with me. I left crying, my son frustrated at his twenty minute joke of a "lesson."
It's no wonder people have given this place such bad reviews. Don't bother spending money at Skatium, they surely don't deserve it. Seems to me their only benefit is being the only skate rink in town, so they treat people however they want, which in my case was like garbage. read more