Cowabunga's Indoor Kids Play & Party Center - Manchester — Attraction in Manchester

Absolutely Disastrous Experience

I recently visited Cowabunga, and I can confidently say it was the worst experience I have ever witnessed. From the moment I walked in, the unprofessionalism was astounding. The staff seemed completely disorganized and uninterested in providing any level of service.

Instead of addressing the issue, the employees were dismissive and rude, making me feel like a nuisance for simply asking for assistance.

I personally reached out via email to the general manager, Alexia, seeking resolution, but I received absolutely no response—neither did the person who paid for the party. The staff's rudeness was appalling, and the rushed atmosphere completely ruined the one-year-old's birthday celebration. There was a lack of respect for the occasion, and the young kids working in the back were heard complaining about everyone needing to hurry up, as if we were inconveniencing them.

The unprofessionalism displayed by the staff and the general manager is unacceptable. I will attach the email that was sent as well, but let me be clear: this is the worst customer service and experience we have ever encountered. Save your time and money—this place is not worth it!

Attached email:

Dear Alexia,

I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out on behalf of my friend Sariah with concerns regarding the experience at Cowabunga for her daughter Juliet's first birthday. Sariah is not comfortable with confrontation, so I’m here to express how uncomfortable this experience was.

From the moment we arrived, the atmosphere felt rushed. Juliet was given only three minutes to open her presents, and there seemed to be a lack of patience from the teenage staff, who were in the back openly complaining about how long things were taking. This made the experience quite uncomfortable for everyone involved.

While I appreciate that the manager provided a $40 gift card, it felt inadequate given the situation. With a total of $450 spent for a party that involved a small group of people, it was disheartening to see everyone feeling like they were walking on eggshells, scared to talk to anyone. I strongly believe that some form of compensation beyond the gift card is due to this family, especially considering how important this occasion was.

As you can imagine, for a mother, a first birthday celebration holds significant importance, and it’s disheartening to see it overshadowed by discomfort.

I hope you can understand the impact this had on Sariah and the celebration. Thank you for taking the time to consider this feedback.

I have cc’ed Sariah in this email feel free to email her or call her based on the information you...

If you are considering a private birthday party at Cowabunga’s, think again. Since my very active now 2 year old loves to jump and run around, Cowabunga’s was perfect for his birthday celebration, or so I thought. As we expected over 20 people at our party, it was decided to go with the private package. Both private play rooms are very run down, there are two big slides in the first room and two bouncy houses in the other, a couple of couches and tables against the wall. If you have non-walking babies at your party like we did, there will be no place for them to play and crawl on. Their party flyer is a bit misleading. Our “dedicated party pros” (seriously? a bit of a stretch to call them that) did not play with the kids or even tried to get them excited to move to another play room and looked liked they needed to be cheered up themselves. We knew we only had 45 minutes in the party room to eat pizza, cake and unwrap gifts, so we decided not to order a bunch of extra food. After jumping for over an hour, we all go to the party room only to find three (whatever happen to the fourth pepperoni?) completely cold pizzas! (They order pizzas from Sals themselves to ensure its timely arrival) Our veggie platter did not come with a dip and looked nothing like the picture on the flyer. Don’t be fooled by their lower prices, just get your platters from Shaw’s next door, at least you’ll know exactly what you’re getting. At checkout we simply suggested that a party place serving hot items should have means to keep them warm. The girl at the register waves over the party manager passing by and tells her that our pizzas were cold. The manager comes over to the register, rolls her eyes at us and says “I took $3 off” (their mark up for ordering pizza from Sals) and walks away without even looking at us. Horrendous customer service! Cowabunga’s, how about investing in employee training?! I see how you roll, just take my money and roll your eyes at simple customer suggestion to improve business? Cowabunga’s private party is definitely not worth the price they...

UPDATE: After the review was posted I did hear from one of the owners. He was very understanding and sympathetic to the situation. He apologized that it took me leaving reviews in order for someone to follow up and said they will learn from this for the future. That is all that I was hoping for. No parent should ever feel like their child's well being wasn't number one.

I want to share an experience my son and I had this week. To start I want everyone to know my sweet little man is doing just fine now. On Tuesday, August 15th, we met some friends at Cowabungas in Manchester for a playdate. The kids were having a great time jumping in the volcano bounce house when my son suddenly had a panicked look on his face and came walking out saying he hurt his arm. His arm was going in a completely different direction. My friend quickly called 911 and my son and I were taken out on a stretcher and brought by ambulance to the hospital. The ER doctor said it was a very common break in children but that his was "impressive" 😞. He had surgery and had 3 pins placed. It has now been 5 days since this accident and no one from Cowabungas has reached out to see how he is doing. The manager made a point to take mine and his names and phone number while waiting for the paramedics, plus they have all additional contact info in their system and I've heard nothing! Anyone who goes to one of these indoor play places or trampoline parks must sign a waiver before entering. They are not responsible for any injury, and I am not placing blame, this was an accident. But the fact that a 6 year old boy went there to play and left by ambulance and no one cares enough to see how he is makes me sick. How can an establishment like this not have some sort of protocol to follow up for accidents that occur? Be careful taking your kids or grandkids to this place. They clearly don't care about...