DEMANDED EXTRA MONEY AT THE END My daughter's had a Build a Bear party for her 5th Birthday at The Painted Pot in Barnet. The children loved the bear building though it was quite difficult for them to manage on their own and the store does not to allow parents stay for the party. Luckily my two older children were there to help the younger ones. The charge was £13.70 per child which included the animal plus a little T'shirt (for the toy) and a drink for each child and we are allowed to serve a birthday tea (supplied by us) at the table once the bears are finished.
Few complaints: No drinks were supplied, the fabric pens for the T'shirts were all virtually out of ink and the shop was unable to loan us a knife to cut the cake (had to borrow one from a nearby restaurant). I would have overlooked these minor issues if the event had not turned sour.
Five minutes before the end of the party, despite the fact that we were the only customers, I was told that we would be charged extra 'studio time' for every 15 minutes we ran over the specified time slot - this had never been mentioned at all beforehand, if it had, I would simply have asked parents to collect 5 minutes earlier. Luckily all of the parents were prompt to collect their children (as I mentioned earlier, they were not allowed to stay for the party) however after the last guest left, I finished cleaning up the table and went to pay. I was told that on top of the £178.40 (13 children) I was to be charged £15 cover charge for my own two older children who had only helped out - not built their own bears! Furthermore, they tried to charge me for the first 15 minute overstay of the allocated 1.5 hours. By this time it was 7 minutes after the party had officially finished, I had only overstayed to clean up the table and there was not one other person in the entire shop! I felt that I had paid quite a lot for the party and objected to the extra charges added, which were not advised in advance and seemed to be simply trying to bump up the charge and embarrass me as the host into paying extra for nothing. I was very annoyed and refused to pay the extra, at which point the manager was phoned. I did not wish to speak to her so I simply paid the money I had agreed in advance and left feeling very angry and humiliated, suggesting they might want to sue me for the difference.
I have complained to the manager but have yet to receive any response. The absurd thing is that if they had allowed parents to stay during the party, I would have been happy to run a tea/coffee tab for them which would have bumped up their profit. Furthermore, the children could have been moved out a little earlier to make way for the non-existent customers they required studio space for.
This is a nice, though pricey idea for a birthday party but I would definitely not use this shop again due to their underhand pricing policy and poor customer service. read more
