Never have I been so appalled at the lack of organisation, helpfulness and sheer friendliness of a party venue.
I had my daughters 2nd birthday party at Ultimate today, and the rudeness started from the moment we entered the building.
I arrived early (15 minutes) to set up (arranged previously and apparently not an issue).. But instead of being greeted with good morning, the staff member grunted, "we don't open until 10".
I was eventually directed to our party area, which was clearly in a shambles from a party the previous day. I had to rearrange the tables and chairs and rip down all the banners and signs from the previous party.
All my guests arrived and the party got underway. 1 hour 20mins after the party started I was still waiting on the water/cordial (included with party) to arrive. The kids were thirsty from running around, and getting my hands on water seemed like the most difficult task of the day thus far. After asking 3 times, I attended the cafe counter to chase it up, only to be rudely advised that I should ask my party host. I had a party host??? Nobody introduced themselves as my party host, nobody introduced themselves full stop. We were pointed in the direction of our party area and that was the end of the interaction with staff.
I had also ordered adult platters for the party. I had a large amount of adults due to it being a toddler party, and kids requiring adult supervision. I only received the cheese platter, which I was absolutely gobsmacked at how small it was for $40! Certainly not what I envisioned. I had also ordered wraps, but no idea what the actual story was behind their failure to be delivered to my party, as I received 4 different stories (excuses) from 3 different staff members.
1. We are Making the wraps now and they'll be out shortly.
2. The cafe that delivers our wraps didn't turn up
3. We ran out of wraps
4. (This is the clincher) I've been on the coffee machine all day and didn't have time to make your wraps!!!!!!
So I book in a party 3 months in advance, pay per head and pay for adult platters as I'm STRICLY NOT ALLOWED to bring food into the venue, and your staff member/s were too busy making coffee (coffee?) to provide the pre-ordered food to my party!!!??? Absolutely atrocious!! Furthermore, no one bothered to advise me that the wraps weren't coming, we had to chase them up 20 minutes before the party was over as we wanted to cut the cake and have everyone fed beforehand.
I didn't receive an apology, not a smile, nothing. Just a too bad and here's your platter refund.
And just to top off an already fabulous day, a staff member came to shoo us out of the party area (fair enough as it was past 12pm), but instead of a nice, "hey guys, just letting you know your party is over could you please vacate the area," I was told we needed to get out as another party was starting in 10 minutes. Well let me tell you, when I finally drove off from the venue over an hour later, there was no party happening in that room. A little bit of plain old honesty would have done the trick.
Unfortunately I had to apologise to my guests for the lack of food and organisation. It reflected really poorly on me when the kids were all asking for water and no amount of asking your staff, could get drinking water for toddlers.
I understand there can be hiccups, But today was simply a joke. I spent the whole party completely stressed out, which is ironic considering I chose to have the party at ultimate so it would be easy and stress-free. The kids had a great time playing (of course) but that's where the fun ended.
Renee read more
