Elev8 Broadstairs — Attraction in Thanet

I booked this morning for my 4 year olds birthday today. It was our first time coming (and last) I'd mistakenly booked a later session as the website wasn't showing all the options on the page correctly. I tried to call immediately at 8am but they were not open.

I called as soon as they opened at 11am to see if I was able to swap sessions - the later session being twice the price. The staff member on the phone ummmed and said he didn't know how to do that -there was no mention of a no refund policy - he took my details and said someone would be in contact but to come along at 12 if not (so we missed an hour of the session), it was very vague.

We arrived at 12 and I saw the same member of staff on the front desk who was very dismissive and unhelpful, i asked if we could have the difference refunded I explained the website had been displaying incorrectly as the toddler one did not show on the list for the day until i checked again later. He didn't really say what he was doing but asked us to wait to the side, I eventually approached the desk again as I realised he also had not given us the socks we had paid for (and then gave us the wrong sizes) to which he casually said "yeah we can't do that" and when I asked to speak to a manager, mainly because he was very vague and the lack of professionalism made me think he didnt know what he was doing. He abruptly said "they are busy" I was so taken aback by how abrupt and rude this member of staff was I didn't say anything back momentarily and just looked at him and he followed on condescendingly "are you ok". Had my son not been excitedly waiting to go in at this point I would of left then, I have never experienced such rude customer service, particularly in a business for families.There was no explanation of lockers, area etc , the website mentions a soft play which I did not see whilst we were there.

The ladies toilets were missing sanitary bins in half the cubicles and there was no soap at all in the dispenser. The whole thing looks like it's been put together by cowboys with unpainted rough edged ply raising the toilets, skirting boards missing and smeared mirrors put up for people over 6 foot in the ladies.

We queued 15 minutes for a drink as there was one person manning the downstairs area who eventually asked someone to help.

We spoke to the supervisor at the end who was somewhat apologetic after I explained how the man on the desk acted but said he was just covering for the actual manager who was off.

Oh and it also did not let me do the online waiver, the guy at the main desk huffed at this and made no offer to give me a paper copy so we attended the session today not having completed this.

All in all after all the bad customer service and waiting , including wring size socks I paid £30 for and hour and a half of play time rather than £18 for 3 hours. I hope the new park opening over the road has better service, hygeine and health and safety than this place 👍🏻

Edit. Button on main page today still only shows two sessions if you click bounce sessions, you have to click into another page to find the toddler session. Hence I was only aware of it once receving my booking email which mentioned it.

Look at your own pricing the toddler session is £6 for child and adult plus additional adult £6 but the other session was £8 per person. 6+ 6 = 12... 8 x 3=24...do you understand? Not sure what you're achieving checking my maths- is your socials run by teenagers too?

It's not my responsibility to request the form , I made your staff member aware the link wouldn't open - it's your responsibility to provide the paper form as per the policy on your website. The screens you mention in the Foyer were black so presumably not on.

My friend asked if you had had your refit yet - I said no, that is shocking. I put the photos on another review site. 👍🏻

There was no gestures of goodwill about the service received today, we won't come back it's a dump and you treat paying customers...

Booked an 8th birthday party - it was appalling.

Too few staff working to support the four parties that were going on.

[Update: the staff on the day told me they had four parties ongoing and this was why there was a delay in getting the dairy free pizza to the table]

On the day staff were unable to support a party with food allergies, despite having plenty of advanced warning.

The birthday boy was left without any food as everyone else tucked in. Eventually, after everyone else had finished eating, a half cooked, luke-warm pizza was brought out. It was awful.

[Update: The management in response claim that the delay in serving the dairy free pizza was because of the need to prepare the pizza separately. This is contradictory to what I was told by staff on the day, which was that they had prepared a pizza, forgotten to bring it down, didn't want to bring a pizza down that had been sitting around and so had to prepare a fresh one. I don't need patronising about the fact that a dairy-free pizza contains dairy-free cheese, or the fact that it melts differently. I've cooked many a vegan pizza and ordered them from restaurants, I've never seen one come out looking like that - except one time when I forgot to turn the oven on. There were actually a couple of parents at the party who work in childcare and cook vegan pizzas regularly - they were among the first to notice that it wasn't cooked properly, so it's not just me!]

Staff demonstrated their ignorance of how avoid cross-contamination with respect to allergies, and were generally unable or unwilling to sort out the problem satisfactorily.

[Update: I have re-worded the section to refer specifically to the lack of understanding in relation to cross-contamination. I point to the fact that the chicken nuggets, chips and onion rings (all of which are non-dairy and therefor would have been safe for someone with a milk allergy) were served on trays together with mozzarella sticks as evidence that cross-contamination was not properly considered and that the venue did not appropriately cater for our allergy needs].

I complained and was told that I had to email because there was no-one on site with the authority to do anything. I have emailed and am still waiting for a response.

[Update: a response arrived by email shortly after this review was posted]

If you're going to pay for a party here you'd better hope nothing goes wrong, because the staff are more than likely woefully ill-equipped to deal with it.

[Update: Apparently I was shouting and verbally abusive - I'm pretty sure that if I was someone might have mentioned it at the time, or even asked me to leave? Or perhaps one of the parents of the many children in the building might have asked me to mind my language? Don't believe it ... it's nonsense, just an attempt to discredit a bad review. A couple of parents actually commended me on being calm in the face of ... and I quote 'astonishing...

A BIG NO FOR ORGANISING PARTY EVENTS.

Lack of Clarification on Booking and Venue Arrangements: We were under the impression that booking the bounce would entitle us to a private party room, similar to other venues that offer such facilities. Unfortunately, we were allocated a common area, which resulted in us wasting additional money on decorations that were intended for a private room. This lack of clarity regarding the booking arrangements was highly inconvenient and disappointing.

Congested and Inadequate Space Allocation: The space allocated to us was incredibly cramped, with other tables booked for separate birthday parties nearby. Despite our request to swap tables to utilize the walls for decoration, we were informed that the space had already been allocated. However, it became evident that the other party did not commence until after our party ended, rendering the decision not to accommodate our request unnecessary and frustrating. This restrictive environment made it challenging for our guests, especially the children, to enjoy themselves comfortably.

Missing Menu Items: It was only after the party concluded that we realized certain menu items, specifically the mini muffins and Fruit & Veg selection, were missing from our order. This oversight was particularly disappointing as we had placed additional orders assuming all items would be served as agreed.

Miscommunication Regarding Refills: We encountered further frustration when requesting a refill of juice, as we were initially informed that it would incur an additional charge. It was only after insisting and referring to the online menu that we were provided with the refill. Such miscommunication added unnecessary stress to an already chaotic experience.

Overall, the entire experience was marred by disorganization and poor communication, leaving us feeling stressed and dissatisfied. Given the extent of the inconvenience and the failure to meet our expectations, we believe it is only fair to request a full refund for the party.

After everythig they offered to refund for 10 muffin. Just a big joke. Never organising a party event ever All they care about is money no value for customers and...