Thunderbowl Lanes — Attraction in Allen Park

After many years of bowling at Thunderbowl, this will be my last frame. This place is a total ghetto full of wild, crazy, pigs. (I can't even call them bowlers, because a bowler has common courtesy for other bowlers.)

It started when my party of 6 was put on ONE lane. (Lane 80) I understand that this may be your policy, but for 6 people?! Really? Then, after we got to our lane, the party next to us, was a large group of people who were loud and rude and had no consideration for anyone else on the lanes. I immediately asked the front counter if I could have a lane change, and with 2 lanes this time so my group could actually bowl. So we were moved to lanes 51-52. It turned out to be 10X worse! We were in between two large groups of people, who were again loud, rude, and all over the lanes. Some were bowling in their socks!!! Some were bowling in boots! Kids were running out onto the lanes and rolling around on them. Kids and younger teens were playing on the floor. Some kids were actually rolling around on the tops of bowling balls on the floor! Bowlers were throwing the balls overhand, and when the ball would stop mid-lane, or in the gutter, kids were running out onto the lane or in the gutter to retrieve the balls! (In street shoes, too) We also could not sit down by the lane because the other two parties decided that they could use our seats. I believe there are 4 bars in the building, and only 1 ONE was serving drinks, and with only ONE bartender! I won't even go into how long it took to get a pitcher of water and beer. It's not the bartenders fault. It's the lack of planning and staffing. (I help run a business, so I know what it's like to require adequate staff members, at the right time. Keeping customers waiting is very unprofessional.)

The frustrating part of about this, is that Cloverlanes, which closed back in May, 2015, had the EXACT same type of crap going on inside. Ghetto atmosphere, wild guests, lacking any type of security monitoring the lanes to keep the crowds under control. They CLOSED. The "guests" ran the facility, just like they did tonight at Thunderbowl. It's just sad, because I last bowled at Thunderbowl 6 months ago, and it was nothing like what it was tonight. As we were finishing up our final game, the lights were turned down and the music turned up. You can't turn the lights off with this type of clientele out on those lanes. In my book, it's just not safe. By the end of the night, we just wanted to leave.

I did make it a point to go to the front counter and speak with the Night Manager, who was very professional, but as I figured, she was short staffed and there wasn't much she could do. I will say, that she did offer me a place in the Arena either tonight or during my next visit, but sadly I will not be returning to ever take advantage of that opportunity. She did encourage me to rethink my decision, but my mind had been made as soon as I started to bowl.

I understand it can be hard to monitor each and every lane, (It's a large bowling alley) but something needs to be done. It can't be avoided or ignored. If it is, I'm sorry to say, but you will most likely end up like Cloverlanes. "Closed". The fact of the matter is that I will not be returning to Thunderbowl ever again. My party was not pleased with the experience, and they couldn't wait to leave the building.

Tonight turned out to be a regrettable experience, rather than a fun and memorable one...

Yesterday me and my date visited Thunder Bowl. The lady at the front desk was extremely rude. When we came in and paid for our lane, my date was given the receipt and told (fill this out). He was confused about what he was supposed to be filling out. He ask what am I suppose to be filling out? She said “do what it tells you to do” with an attitude. He said is this asking for a tip? I looked at it and said yes it’s giving tip amounts. If she was expecting a tip being rude saying ( do what it tells you to do) is not the way to get a tip for service that doesn’t require a tip. We were just paying for a lane…. Should I tip the cashier at the corner store as well?? Then we stood there waiting to know what our lane number was. She looked at us and said “what?” Again with an attitude. (I said lane 29)… if she had told us what lane we didn’t hear her. Then we were looking for the lane numbers and the gentleman that was also a customer at the counter told us which way to go. We didn’t spend another dime in there. We played out our time and left. When we took the shoes back we left them on the counter. The same cashier said thank you for coming. We didn’t respond because she had already ruined our vibe and she knew it. There was a guy sitting next to her that works there. The both of them cracked a joke and laughed as we left. I felt bullied and it took a lot to not flip out. There has been a lot of establishments wrecked because of the staff having issues with customers and I see why. Sometimes it’s your staff that’s ignorant and confrontational. He’s heavy set black with red hair and freckles. The cashier is tall dark with braids and had purple makeup on. Not to be confused with the other lady at the concession stand that we did not visit because we refused to spend any more money there and will...

I visited Thunderbowl Lanes for the first time this past Saturday (March 22nd), sometime around 7PM. I paid $100 to bowl for 2 hours with my 3yr old and my 7yr old. I was assigned to lane 76. However, there were people sitting in my section. Lane 75 doesn’t have any chairs - so those people were sitting in the chairs that belong to lane 76. They were also sitting in the chairs behind the lane, as well (they had a large party)

The general manager was unwilling to assign me to the next available lane and unwilling to give me a refund. The staff suggested that i pull up a few chairs and have us sit behind the section so we can bowl. I thought there suggestion was completely unreasonable and inconsiderate to me and my children. I wasn’t willing to sit my kids behind a group of strangers while I bowl in the section that I paid for. Keeping an eye on them both would’ve been difficult in that situation and just unreasonable. I paid the same price as everyone else and I deserved the same access to comfortable seating.

The worst part is that the coward, GM, didn’t even have the time to come say it to my face. He sent one of his teenage staff members to inform me that the GM was unwilling to offer any reasonable accommodation. He refused to refund me and refused to assign me to the next available lane.

This is by far the most disorganized and inconsiderate bowling alley I’ve ever attended and I will never come back. It’s overpriced and the management is despicable. I left respectfully and I will be disputing the charges on my bank account once...