RedKangaroo Trampoline Park Reading — Attraction in Reading

Went on a Saturday evening (6pm session). Overall experience was disappointing! Don’t get me wrong, the equipment was good to use but health and safety did not seem to be their number 1 priority!

A list of problems that occurred:

Need staff to operate the wipeout machine and there wasn’t anyone around to do this and when we did find a staff member they were too busy bouncing on the trampolines doing the things the safety video tells us NOT to do! i.e I watched a staff member race another, doing side flips onto other trampolines, and another doing a skill not within his skill range! (He failed a flip and landed badly that he stumbled). Not to mention the lack of attentiveness of the staff that evening! There were kids climbing the slide and there were like 4 of them trying to get down the slide; a staff members EVENTUALLY came and put a stop to it. I also witnessed children bouncing on the SAME trampoline and of course a staff member was sat on a foam wedge on his phone might I add (FOR 10 MINUTES!) And when we finally got onto the wipeout machine; the guy operating it purposely stopped it at my friends leg so he had to land on it and trip over seemingly to end the game (my friend was one of 2 battling to win). There were also some people sat on and around 1 small trampoline and there were 2 staff members bouncing nearby and even looked in their direction and did absolutely nothing. Not to mention I saw a small child cross his path on the trampoline and didn’t say boo. The ninja place was closed too! I felt unsafe to jump onto the airbag because 1) there was no staff member watching over it and 2) staff members were busy chatting anyway!

So when my groups session was nearing the end, we left slightly early because we have had enough at this point. My friend made a general complaint about these problems. The staff members response was ludicrous! Her response: an apology and that it was Saturday and that nobody wants to work on a Saturday! What kind of staff member gives that response to someone who complains! We are enraged by the lack of compassion and professionalism that was shown in a place that has a focus for people’s safety! There was no staff member watching each activity so instant fail in terms of health and safety! It’s just lucky nobody was injured!

We paid £60 in total! They didn’t gives us our money back or were not relatively helpful. Sadly, we will not be returning again or in fact even recommend this place to other people. We would also like to advise not to open on a Saturday as none of your staff actually give a rats arse about anything and obviously don’t want to work...

EDIT BASED ON THEIR RESPONSE We booked, which we have on email, exclusive hire for 10am for an hour. It might be difficult for the responder to understand this, given they also could not comprehend this on the day when we told them and showed them. Perhaps a training course in customer services and English reading skills will help. I would also recommend they learn internal communication skills with their colleagues given one said we had exclusive hire and we paid for it. But the manager of the branch seems to believe and imply we’re lying about this because they ‘never allow’ it on weekends . They do however mention a refund! So oh my! This must mean, that they DID in fact allow us to pay for exclusive hire because they then had to refund us.

They also only issued a refund after we had an argument with them but seem to miss the point that they ruined an autistic child’s birthday. It’s not about anybody missing out. Or a refund. It’s about clear acts of discrimination against SEN needs or Muslim families. Because they let us book it exclusively, and then told us they don’t book it exclusively on the day…

They were very happy to tell us they could solve the issue but then continued to let people in at the time we had booked for hire.

About the venue: it was pretty untidy inside, there was dirt and fluff on the trampolines, and at first I thought it was a dead mouse. They don’t clean the area properly at all. Lots of water all over the floors too.

The staff: most of them looked very young, which is fine I guess, but the worst part was how bored and miserable they were - not interacting with children or parents but standing about with the grumpiest expressions. I imagine it’s because they make minimum wage and have to deal with the manager we also had to deal with.

All together a very disappointing experience. Not to mention how rude they were to us, and only us!

———— ORIGINAL REVIEW:

Booked exclusively for a party for an hour but they were letting the general public in. Disgusting service and not inclusive. May be because we’re Muslim and it’s fairly common for discrimination. Or because they’re not inclusive and trying to make lots of money

The guy at the front, Shawn/sean told us he could do something and say it’s full capacity so we could have it. But then he said he didn’t want to.

Really upsetting experience for my nephew who...

Myself and a friend met here with our children (4 kids in total) a few days after the refurbishment had been completed.

First thing to note is that the parking situation hasn't changed and is as bad as always. Also we noticed there were at least 3 spaces being taken up with equipment rather than cars! I would definitely recommend getting there at least 10 minutes before your bounce slot. We ended up parking in the hotel next-door which according to the sign, you are allowed to do as long as you head into the hotel reception to enter your numberplate otherwise, expect a parking fine.

Second, after booking in at the front desk you can head to the lockers which ironically have signs overhead to follow the instructions to use the lockers, but neither my friend or I could see any instructions anywhere. No bother as we worked it out between us. Punch a 4 number digit into the keypad and then place in the lock position.

When we entered through double doors into the bounce area the noise really hit us. It really was extremely loud, more so than it was as Red Kangaroo in my experience.

I would say that if you struggle with noise, I would recommend bringing noise cancelling earplugs such as Loops. I had to lip read my friend most of the session. However I do know there was a party going on and the staff were talking into a microphone which broadcast at many decibels over the whole of the bounce park... It was just, a lot! Some sort of noise barrier between the trampolines and the café might be something for the owner to consider. I left Oxygen with a banging headache.

It seems that there is actually less to do at Oxygen which is a shame. The kids unprompted said they preferred it the old way. My 11 year old said it was far too crowded and too many kids were bouncing on the same trampolines making her too nervous to do much bouncing.

The café area is bigger and there appears to be much more seating which was good. We didn't struggle to sit somewhere with a somewhat clear view of the trampolines (on the ground floor at least. I'm sure you can see much more from upstairs)

It was clean and tidy in the main room, but I didn't head to the toilets so can't comment on the cleanliness.

To sum up, the kids were a little disappointed with the refurbishment and would prefer to go elsewhere in future, so I doubt we will be rushing back...