at about 2:15pm on 7/19/23, i had a very disappointing experience. my dad and i are visiting family here from florida, and we usually like to skate every wednesday at our local rink. we didn't bring our skates, but assumed it would be okay to rent at whatever rink we came to here. we were sorely mistaken.
registering online was incredibly tedious, but we eventually got it figured out. once we arrived, there was a woman working who seemingly wanted nothing to do with us. she eventually took us to the rental area, and after trying on several pairs in both of our sizes, not a single skate has even the slightest edge. some of the blades were completely destroyed as if they had been used on concrete.
we tried to step on the ice, hoping we could at least skate a little, but it was impossible to find an edge. Now, i am not a professional by any means, but i know how to skate pretty well. These skates made it feel like i had never stepped on the ice in my life. it was borderline dangerous how difficult it was to even move 5 feet.
we asked the woman at the front desk if anyone could sharpen any of the skates, and she claimed not a single person there knows how to work a sharpener. i found this very disheartening for two reasons:
1: the idea that nobody who works there knows how to sharpen ice skates is deeply concerning.
2: someone there most likely does know how to, but simply didn't feel like it.
we then asked for our money back, and the woman said she would get her manager. the general manager then comes out of her office and says she'll refund it. we tried to explain to her what had happened, and she could not have been more disinterested in anything we were saying. the entire time we were trying to talk to her, she was talking over us saying "okay, bye. okay, bye. okay, bye." we eventually left, and needless to say, will not return.
my dad and i were both very excited to skate here, but unfortunately, that did not happen. i hope that someone there will consider how dangerous and hazardous it is to have skates that bad, but until then, i would recommend finding a different ice rink. read more