Fо̄wling Warehouse Hamtramck — Attraction in Hamtramck

Venue is great, environment is great, staff is friendly overall, and the games are a lot of fun. Have been here four times now, and save the last, have never had a complaint. The reason for the low rating is due to their reservation policies, and customer service in handling a miscommunication with the reservation. Instead of customer retention, it's clear that this business is all about profit in the short run. I can't fault them, that's a business decision after all.

If you want the short of this review, here are the sticking points: Customer service is not well handled, contracts and reservation policies should be emailed to guests (they were not offered to me), reservation policies are money tight and frugal, and the warehouse is a great place to have a party, if you are going for open-fowling, or if you know EXACTLY how many people you have in advance. If you're trying to schedule a group, and there's chances size could change last-minute, under-book lanes. If not, you're likely to lose money, and I will not be using this venue for a group in the future. Full post and review below:

I set up a reservation to take a church group to the warehouse. It was scheduled a month in advance. Policy dictates that you need to put 50% down at the time of booking, and you have up to 48 hours prior to cancel the reservation, which is completely understandable. Two lanes were booked, and I indicated that the group was primarily older gentlemen that had not ever been fowling. Our group size was likely to change, and it could be possible we only need one lane. This is a men's church group that is just getting off the ground, and has yet to have a lot of structure. Somewhere along the line, due to my misunderstanding, or poor communication, I was under the impression that the reservation could decrease in size, last minute, if need be. After all, why not free up one more lane for business for open fowling, and get more people in the door, or let another reservation that has too many offer to pay in for an extra lane? I've already paid 100% for one lane with the deposit at this point, and thinking that we'd be good to go.

Unfortunately, our group size did drop, and we didn't need two lanes. However, instead of letting us keep our lane, it was indicated that 50% more had to be paid to even get into one lane. In other words, pay 150% reservation cost to fowl on one lane, because a newly organized group of church-going old men struggled to commit in their schedules and make time for something they had not done previously. Now the person who organized the event is out the extra money, not wanting to put the financial burden on his church due to this misunderstanding. That said, not wanting to be unreasonable, and understanding that there was misunderstanding on both parties, the bullet was bit, costs were paid, and fowling commenced. Was a great time.

At the end of the night, I approached the staff, thanked them for being kind/courteous and running a great facility, but indicated I was still very upset with their customer-service, and policies. I attempted to offer a solution that would leave me happy, and guarantee that our church group came back again. Could I, perhaps, get a deal for only needing 25% of a deposit, next time a reservation was made, a one-time deal for this group, that is still struggling to find its membership? I did not want any free fowling, and I did not want any vouchers (although had those been offered I might have changed my opinion). I wanted to pay full-price, and was not asking the business to eat any cost at this point. But, knowing our situation, and how difficult it is to reserve in advance (largely so this doesn't happen again) could something be done? The staff simply lifted their hands and said, "sorry." No reasoning as to why, attempts to explain the situation, other alternatives offered, or anything was done AT ALL, to retain a church group, wanting to come back.

I will not be using this venue for groups in the future, but for open fowling only, and as a...

Fowling is super fun. This is a great spot to do it and the bar service is great. Just don’t ever get yourself into a game with the owner of this establishment. I would have given this place 5 stars if it weren’t for the sour taste I have in my mount from the interactions with this guy.

Let me set the stage here before I offer a few examples....

It was our first time ever Fowling. We had limited knowledge of the rules, the facility or any of the tips and tricks. The front desk staff got us checked in and ran through the basics to supplement our assumptions of what the game would entail. We then got in line to play.

Our first interaction with this guy came when we were having a ton of fun, we felt like we were hitting a grove and then it all changed. My partner crossed over the yellow back line to grab a ball out of the air that had bounced in front of the pins. The ball wasn’t going to do any damage but that didn’t matter to this guy. He was playing in the lane next to us. He came over and stopped play in both lanes to tell my partner that what he did wasn’t allowed. When my partner responded with a statement like “I was told we could catch balls that have bounced” this guy stood up tall and said “You can’t, I own the place, I wrote the rules”. I was instantly surprised. I stepped in to ask if he was in fact the proprietor and he not so eloquently confirmed. The man continued his rant while my partner became more heated about the interaction. Finally we continued play as we shrugged it off.

Next issue came up when one of the people in our group was playing against this guy. The owner and his teammate struck a fatal blow to the team from our group. At that point, our friends grabbed the ball to make their rebuttal throw (something I’d seen done in each game and was instructed to do by a random team on the first game I’d played - remember, first time here). The owner told our friends they couldn’t make the throw and the game was over, when our friend pushed back, this man laid into her as if she was insulting his very being.

Now this all may be circumstantial but if on two separate occasions it occurs in the same night with two different groups, I start to wonder. My argument is that if you want to go around enforcing rules people don’t know about mid-game, post the rules somewhere people can read them (perhaps in the playing area?). Also, if you own an establishment, my recommendation is to not offend or bark at people paying to participate in the game you’re hosting. Further, if someone breaks a rule, there are far more encouraging ways to reinforce good habits than the methods this man employed.

Final note - I won’t be going back to this place because...

I was looking forward to my next visit until my altercation with a pretentious bartender named Jason. Not only was Jason extremely rude and disrespectful, he also admitted he intentionally lied. I was patiently waiting my turn at the bar for several minutes when a gentleman approached the spot the previous customers were at and was immediately greeted. I politely notified Jason that I, not the gentleman was next. Jason responded, "I'll get to you after him." I informed him I'd been waiting there for several minutes prior to the gentleman walking up. His response was, "It doesn't matter! I'll get to you next" in a very rude and condescending manner and began to take the guy’s order. After he finished servicing the man, he approached me and asked what I wanted. I told him I was fine and didn't want anything. If I don't matter, neither does my money. I WILL NOT support an establishment that does not value me as a customer by outright telling me neither I nor my time MATTERED. As I was standing there waiting for my friend to return from the restroom so we could leave Jason was continuously asking what I wanted despite me telling him I was fine. Finally I got fed up with the badgering and firmly stated "I SAID I DO NOT WANT ANYTHING!" I felt he was antagonizing and harassing me so I asked to speak to a manager. Jason stated he was the manager and walked away. I asked another bartender that I previously interacted with, if Jason was the manager and was told he was not. Jason nonchalantly stated, "Yeah I lied," as if it was not a big deal to falsely represent yourself and impersonate a manager. Eventually he called the real manager, Russell. When Russell approached, Jason said, "The black girl over there wants to speak with you." At this point I was even more stunned. Russell apologized and attempted to offer an explanation for Jason's actions by saying that was to help identify who was to speak with. There were several other descriptive characteristics that could have been used to identify me other than the color of my skin. Since I was currently the only female standing at the bar, he could have simply said the lady. Russell claimed he would investigate the situation at a later time, not now because they were too busy at the moment. My experience with the first bartender was phenomenal. He proved to be honest and ethical plus our drinks tasted great. The rest of the staff including the GM were pleasant. Unfortunately one bad seed can ruin it for everyone. I no longer have a...