Huddys Escape — Attraction in Ocala

We had a terrible time; yet, this is how the owner responds to our initial complaints that we sent him via email. He didn't try to work with us on any level; instead placed the blame on us..terrible customer service!!! He also lied and said we were smiling and tipped. Why would we be smiling and tipped, when we were over charged for a below par experience and provided terrible customer service.

Our email

My other half and I booked at your location for the first time yesterday and we were hugely disappointed with your staff!

When we arrived, the lady who helped us (with blond hair) spent over 10 minutes discussing what we couldn’t do (including utilizing our phone’s flash); yet, in the beginning of the 1970’s prop, you needed to utilize your phone for the trash can. We wasted time figuring that out, since we were told not to utilize our phone. We didn’t know until we finally had to ask for a hint!

We didn’t receive any type of introduction to this prop; what the prop we selected was about or what we needed to do (the fantasy). Other escape rooms provide this.

Also, another very non-pleasurable experience – the employee spending ten minutes, telling you everything you are not allowed to do. In other words, discussing every previous bad behavioral trait, from your previous customers. Example-three-year-old chewing on wires and for us not to do this. Mind you, our group consisted of two 50 plus year olds, one 14 and one 17-year-old. Now why do we need to know this information and to tell us not to damage wires???

It’s a complete put-off (!!) listening to what an establishment didn’t like about what the previous customers did; and utilizing 10 minutes of the 60 minutes you paid, telling you what not to do from those past experiences.

Second, the entire staging area was dark and you needed a UV flashlight for two out of the three staging areas; yet, we were only provided two. This was terribly cumbersome, since our group of four had to rotate utilizing two flashlights. Everything became lost in translation, since half the group couldn’t see any of the clues. By the time we rotated utilizing the flashlight, we already forgot what we originally saw. (BTW, we did ask for more flashlights but was told on the loud speaker that you didn’t have any more). We are paying this type of money per person and you don’t have the major prop that helps see the clues???

Thirdly, we didn’t receive any type of notification that our time was almost up. The two ladies just opened the door and said our time is up. Mind you, they wasted 10 of the 60 minutes with complaints about the previous customers

*The owners response! My partner just showed more of the email I missed regarding leaving this information on Google, that's ok, I will respond accordingly to that. Our game masters are well trained and we are very proud of them, we have received 40 5 star reviews in the last two weeks alone.

To call our location the worst customer service you've experienced leads me to believe this a common response you have to small businesses.

Let's see:

You showed up and got greeted by our lovely staff and your upset because you got instructions that thousands and thousands of our groups have received the same way without issue or complaint.

We didnt provide you with custom items for the game at your request, that's not how an escape room works, all items in the game worked and was there to find accordingly.

Your time ran out and no 10-minutes was not used in instructions, as they told you in the instructions (I reviewed on video) your time doesn't start until you go into the room.

They said don't use your cellphone flashlight and the game asked you to use your camera flash, hence why we can't have the sensor disrupted by a cellphone flashlight, again, never a complaint from another group regarding any of this until we just received your email.

You should be ashamed at your behavior, on the bright side there is still plenty of time to mature, our fingers are crossed for you.

Take care and have a great new...

I’m giving a mixed review in the hopes that Huddy’s will read this and take my recommendations under advisement. Overall, Huddy’s does a solid job at atmosphere, but this is overshadowed by the glaring lack of maintenance and understaffing of this location. Our host did an excellent job at moving us along when issues did crop up, but because there was only one employee today, there were times where we needed to ask for help and an attendant was not available. There were props in the room that needed repair or replacement; locks that did not consistently work, paint that had chipped or had low visibility (we missed a clue until our host mentioned there should be numbers inside some black light paint boxes), and a chain based puzzle that had been ripped out of the wall by previous escapists that had not been repaired. Additionally, as the host was pressed for time given the busy schedule (there was no availability outside the time slot we rented, as it was a holiday) some puzzles were not fully prepared in the room. In summary, I feel this location needs some love. If it got some work, I might come back again.

Edit in response to owner: (Note: if you don’t want to spoil Nineteen70, don’t read ahead).

I’m not sure if you had audio available to you when you watched the playback, but if so, it would’ve been clear there were issues. With the puzzle where you place cards in a specific order in painted squares on a sealed box, the paint showing which number correlated with each card was faded to the point where we only noticed the numbers were even there after the host told us there were, and even then it was difficult to discern what the numbers were. This was especially irritating since the squares where you place the cards were drawn in black light ink, but the numbers were written in a dull blood color that blended too well with the sealed box. After that, there was a puzzle revolving around opening a case with a shotgun, but we never had to bother solving it since the magnetic locks gave way with little effort, after we tried opening it after the card puzzle, hearing a click over by that corner. In fact, the host came in to apologize for this, stating that by getting the shotgun early, we didn’t skip too much, though I am sure you saw this from the camera perspective in the opposite corner of the room. Later, two rooms later, there was a puzzle that involved interpreting highlighted words in a book as directions on which way to pull a pair of chains protruding from a shelf. However, the book itself was in poor condition, with pages falling out and tape holding it together. I understand that you guys reuse props between themed rooms, but at some point they need to be repaired or replaced. Also, the chains we needed to pull were actually removed from the slots they were supposed to be seated in, so we could not complete the puzzle in the traditional sense, and instead had to relay the list of right and left chain pulls to the host, who, after hearing of the list was correct, opened the next door. I would hope that the understaffing was a result of the holiday, and not the norm, and I would hope that the owners of Huddy’s would look into replacing or repairing the puzzle elements of Nineteen70 that I mentioned here. I again would like to note that our host was courteous and tried his best to work through the issues we had. I understand this is an unusually low review for a location that regularly receives glowing reviews, so I would hope you move forward with repairs so future escapists can continue to enjoy a frightening and challenging experience at Huddy’s. Thank you for your time, have a...

I played the 1970s escape room with a group and while I did enjoy the room there are few things that need to be fixed. The case holding the shotgun has a broken magnet and therefore wasn’t actually locked. We were told to just not open it until a red light glowed with a correct combination. The numbers for this combination were written in something incredibly light and hard to see in the first room before you receive flashlights. We were actually unable to see them at all even though our faces were inches from these numbers, until our attendant informed us there were numbers there. I understand the room is meant to be dark and scary, it should not be impossible to see the clues though. We got the combination right according to our game attendant, however the case did not glow. So we had to open it anyway and continue on. There was also a puzzle made of chains that was broken, and we had to shout out the correct combination to our attendant to pass to the next puzzle because of the broken chains. A decorative leg also fell off the wall at one point. The ending was also a bit odd as you don’t actually achieve the goal you are given for the room of catching the killer or collecting evidence to put them away. Certain elements of the room were very fun and scary and I did enjoy those parts of our adventure. The most unfortunate part of the experience is that we were informed before we entered the room of everything that was already broken inside, which took away a lot of mystery/puzzle solving. I DO NOT BLAME OUR GAME ATTENDANT IN ANY WAY. Our attendant was the only thing that made our game playable due to the broken puzzles. Furthermore, I believe there needs to be at LEAST two attendants at any time working this facility, our attendant was the only one in the building and had to run several games by himself at once while also greeting and escorting parties out, resetting rooms, getting parties to sign waivers and accept payment, etc. Our attendant was very gracious and helpful giving hints during our game when the rooms mechanics malfunctioned or simply didn’t work at all. I do not blame our attendant in any way for the experience they were incredibly kind and helpful. The owner needs to make necessary repairs to the room, and needs to work on the ending of the room as it does not feel like you really accomplished anything. Thank you...