Party City — Attraction in South Plainfield

Went to the store a week ago, with my teenage son, to place an order for a balloon bouquet to be picked up tonight. Spent considerable time w/what seemed to be a manager attempting to expedite our order. My son was very careful picking out certain balloons he liked and keeping the size of the bouquet down, because his girlfriend will be carrying them around school all day tomorrow. When we were done, the manager handed our items over to a cashier to be held for inflation and pickup today. Since she told the cashier nothing, we basically had to start at the very beginning with her, explaining they were for an order to be picked up today, and pointing out to her that she needed to make note of the name we wanted printed on the personalized balloon in our order. Despite spelling "S-o-f-i-a" multiple times, the cashier kept writing "Sophia". We finally straightened it out, and had our order set for me to pick up at 5PM tonight (when my son was not home).

Upon my arrival at 5:45PM tonight, not only was our order not ready, they couldn't find any record of it. I showed them the yellow "Customer Copy" I had, and they asked for the paid cash register receipt. I explained I didn't have it, because I was told I ONLY needed the yellow slip upon pickup. A young lady took over and told me to just tell her exactly what balloons were ordered. The specific balloon numbers were NOT listed on the yellow copy and I did not know for sure which ones my son had picked out. I had to guess and am still not sure I got the right ones. The lady helping me said she could give me a much larger personalized balloon. I explained that wouldn't help in this case, as my son specifically was keeping it small. She said she could add latex balloons to the order. Although I think it was obvious, I had to explain that wouldn't help me for the same reason. She also said she could "throw in" a weight to hold the bouquet down. I said "considering we paid for one that was supposed to be put aside, that too wouldn't compensate". As I stood waiting for the personalization to be done, she said "I'm sorry, we don't have any "P"s left in blue." As I'm sure you can imagine, I was trying very hard to keep my cool this whole time. When she said that, I said, "Well, good thing, since, if you look at the paper, you will see there is NO "P" in her name!!" She got all snippy and said, "Listen, I'm trying very hard to accommodate you, there's no reason for you to have an attitude with me!" ARE YOU SERIOUS??!! I said, " YOU listen, under the circumstances, I am doing a GREAT job at not losing my temper. YOUR store screwed up, and I think I have a right to be a little frustrated! YOU have no right to be snippy with ME!!" "Allow me to deal with my frustration. You need to make it right!!" She slipped away a moment later and handed the job off to a younger girl (seems to be a pattern). When it was done, and I looked at the personalized balloon, it clearly had a spot on BOTH sides where it should be personalized. I asked "Don't you put the name on both sides?" and the explanation I got was that most people don't see the other side when they order the balloon, since they're displayed flat on the wall, so they don't "order letters for the other side". Again, ARE YOU SERIOUS??!! Between both visits, she was the FOURTH person to "help" us, and not one of them said anything about the name on the other side. It looks incomplete.

When I was finally handed the bouquet, I asked "So, you're not going to do anything to compensate me for all of this aggravation? No credit/discount/nothing?" I was told "You'll have to take that up with the manager", and they pointed to the "young lady" who was snippy and had walked away. So, I asked her the same question. The response she gave me was "All I can do is offer you more balloons in your order." REALLY??!! You just let a customer walk out of your store aggravated?!! How about credit for future balloons/adding the name on BOTH sides (which should be explained when it's purchased anyway) ALONG with apologizing!! VERY...

I went in to this location needing to make an exchange for a broken item. Shame on me for even attempting because I received the worst customer service ever. When I approached the counter the young gentleman at the register said "you can't return that". When I asked for a reason, he couldn't give me one. I then handed him my receipt and asked him to show me where it said I could not return the item... he couldn't. He told me to wait for the manager. I had other shopping to do so I grabbed my items and waited for the manager. I again explained that my item was broken and he refused to take it back or show me where on the receipt it said I couldn't. You know what he did say instead? "You purchased this in another store. Why should I lose money because you bought a broken item from them?" ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? What ever happened to good customer service? Wanna know how much this broken item was? ONE. DOLLAR. That's it. One dollar. Shame on my for even wasting my time over a dollar. I finally told him to just throw it away and I'd buy a new one. He huffed and puffed, did the exchange then THREW the broken item on the store. Lightening strike me down if I am making that up. Threw it on the floor like a child throwing a tantrum. All of the my remaining items were also thrown into a bag carelessly. If I hadn't already purchased matching items, I wouldn't have bothered to do any additional shopping in this store. The associate manager would not give me the store manager's name. He mumbled under his breath and said he wasn't in at the moment. I'm appalled by this service. Companies wonder why they can't stay in business and lose money to places like Amazon. Guess what- Amazon let's me return broken items, no questions asked and I never have to speak to a live person. Figure it out Party City. Better yet, don't. I won't be shopping with you...

Went here in May to purchase balloons. The balloons I wanted were on the wall but were "discontinued". Why have them on the wall? Went back this past week. Those same balloons (sponge Bob) were still on the wall yet they were discontinued. Why? I then purchased over $100.00 in items at this store. I attempted to purchase a balloon bundle. First I'm told they are out of stock. Then they appear. I purchase them for pick up on Sunday, 6/24, for my child's birthday party. I receive a call on Saturday 6/23 stating 2 of the balloons were defective. I asked of there was an alternative. I was told, "No". I said I was disappointed as Party City is a "balloon business". I can get all of the other stuff at Amazon, WalMart, the dollar tree, etc. I went there specifically for the balloons and made other purchases while there. I told the person I would bring in my receipt for a refund of the balloons. I was told, "no - there are no refunds." My response was "Really. I don't think so." What? People are supposed to buy balloons and pay at their own risk!? What kind of store is this??????

I went in the next day and asked for the manager. The manager was there but couldn't be bothered to come up and deal with the situation. Another associate helped me. She was pleasant. I did get 2 replacement balloons and some regular balloons as well. NOTE: one of the Mylar balloons popped before the party even started!

I'm done shopping at this store and suggest others follow. The customer service is not there and the prices are definitely ridiculous. Next time I will buy a helium tank at WalMart, purchase my Mylar balloons on Amazon, and fill them up myself. Less money and less...