Hanover Lanes — Attraction in East Hanover

the staff here are insufferable and need a reality check. poor customer service, easily agitated, and disrespectful.

Came on a Thursday with less than 50% of max capacity. I (18y) brought my brother and his friends (all 11y) bowling to ease my mom's stress at home. Purchased 2 games on lane 16. At first, the boys were rowdy and messed with the score (once). Staff had to fix our mistake and moving forward I kept the boys in check. However, the machine kept glitching. I tried explaining the situation to the staff (50y w/ gray hair and ear piercings) but she insisted it was our fault. They reset the machine but the problem kept appearing. Same woman then spent the entire game 1 staring at us and made us feel uncomfortable. After game 1, I asked if we could switch lanes but she said (rudely) she couldn't help us. Within 3 frames of game 2 the machine again started glitching. Technician came to help but the machine ended up shutting down. I asked the lady for a refund for only game two, but she explained we already played for some frames and can only give a partial refund. I even offered to receive credit for the arcade so we would still put money in the business but she got even more pissy. I reasoned we should get a full refund taking in account all the inconveniences presented. She then raised her voice, stating that's the rules and it was too bad. Then another staff member (20s tall w/ glasses) talked down to me while he was playing clash of clans at the register. Guy couldn't even look me in the eyes nor stop playing on his phone while handling the situation. I ended up taking the partial refund because I felt bad. I realized it must be hard being this old and working at a bowling alley as your main source of income. To be easily agitated at kids over a machine malfunction (which is no one's fault) and talk down to customers because that is all the control you have in life must be depressing. I wish the lady w/ gray hair good fortune because I'd hate to be in her bowling shoes (get the pun?). Blah blah...

I wanted to like Hanover Lanes and was having a good time up until halfway through our first game when 2 male staff came over and spoke to me in an inappropriate and belittling tone. One of them was literally in my face about the 3 balls we had stuck in our gutter. My son is 7 and wasn’t throwing with enough power at first so they got stuck. We knew not move them ourselves and figured we would say something after we finished our game. However, your employee was barking at me saying I had put the staff in danger and how this could injure others around me even though no one was within 5 lanes of us on either side. At other establishments they nicely come around and move the bowling balls without making me feel as though I have committed some crime. We were going to play another game but decided after that we were done.

My youngest also really wanted to use the arcade on the way out and there was still 30 minutes till closing. But I was told by the female attendant that I only had 10 minutes so I said okay. However, as we were trying to play some of the games she was literally unplugging them and turning the power off. She kept scowling and glaring at us and kept reiterating that we needed to leave even though it still wasn’t 10. This is a place that wants everyone out 30 minutes before closing so they can be out by 10. Not the paying customer gets to stay for the hours they say are operational.

Don’t worry, based on how I was treated, I will never be coming back. Wish I had read the other reviews because they reiterated the poor...

this place is ridiculous and does not know how to speak to people. my friends and i thought that you could put name and team them up and when we did one of the workers brought us all up to the desk to yell at as and proceeded to ask if “there was a language barrier” and if we were “deaf” which was very rude and belittling and racist since the majority of us are clear minorities with accents. we got attitude even before starting to bowl and was watched like a hawk throughout our entire time there. they later complained to their managers saying we were bowling improperly and had too many people even though they said it was okay and some of us have never bowled so obviously we did not have proper technique. there was no patience or costumer service present in any of the workers. to top it all off when we asked to get a refund on the game they said sure since we did not play it yet, but they refunded us 0 dollars and told us it will go through eventually even though it never did. not a good place to go. i also overheard a mom ask why the machines that say win every time did not work and the man told the little girls that they were the ones messing it up making them sad. the tone and respect in this place is awful. will never be going back and...