We planned out daughters 2nd birthday party at Happy Times for May 25, 2008 (Memorial Day weekend). We had about (20) children along with about (20) adults (we have a big family and they all want to be there for our daughter). Last Tuesday my wife asked me to take a ride to Happy Times to see the facility/ room,etc. My wife, my sister, my daughter & I went in and first confirmed that our reservations were made, which they were. She asked the young man behind the counter if we could see the room that we were having the party in and he said no problem. (He was very professional and courteous). We proceeded to go upstairs where there are about 5 rooms (4 small & 1 large). My wife asked a employee that was upstairs (hard looking middle aged women with a tattoo on here ankle-I think her name was Michelle) a few questions about the parties and she seemed annoyed to answer them. After looking at the rooms we went back downstairs and approached the front counter again so my wife could finalize a few things. As we were standing there "Michelle" came behind the counter to see what we needed.My wife was told that there was only (1) other party booked along with ours and that arty might not be coming so my wife asked if the day of our party, if no one else was booked, could we could use the larger room to accommodate our guests and was immediately told NO! and not in a nice way. My wife proceeded to explain that we are both in the customer service business and understand that they could not guarantee anything but make the decision the day of the party. Michelle replied I don't care where you worked and NO, we don't do that here! This is where it gets good. This turns into a heated argument that thankfully calmed down after a few minutes. The young man tried to calm down the situation by being professional but it was obvious to us that Michelle has never had any form of customer service training, ever. During the conversation between her and my wife, the only thing she would say was that she can give us our deposit back, basically like she just did not need the business. We come to find out that "Michelle" was the owners daughter.. shocking to say the least. We finally leave and have a long conversation about where else we could have the party. We get home and not 20 minutes later the phone rings.. It's Michelle from Happy Times telling my wife that the owners decided that they did not need our business and they were refunding our deposit. We doubted that the owner would turn our business away so my wife asked if she could have the owners name and Michelle replied No and hung up! Are you kidding me? I told my wife that this was a blessing and unfortunately, like the other negative reviews that are posted they had there parties and it was too late to change plans.We decided to have it at Giggleberry Fair in Peddler's Village and so far they are very accommodating. (We should have booked it there from the start, its a nicer place). To wrap this up my wife did finally get a hold of the owner (Bud) and he had the same negative attitude as Michelle, Big surprise. I guess the apple don't fall far from the tree. She did explain to him that she owns a Cheerleading organization and me being in the PGA in the area that we would definitely spread the word. Bottom line, do not book your party at Happy Times.
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