O'Brien Icehouse — Local services in Melbourne

I got my foot sized measured a week ago and got friendly hockey advice from one of the staff members there. After receiving such excellent customer service I brought along my fiance and her sister, as they wanted their feet measured too.

Today, we gave them a call first to make sure they had staff available, they advised it would cost $50 to measure your foot! We agreed that they must have misheard us as this cost seemed ridiculous for a standard service that any retail company offers for free on a daily basis.

An hour later, visited in person and the man at the registers was more than happy to call someone over to assist and there was no mention of the $50, nor was there any signs advising of this.

A gentleman by the name of James arrived to assist us and was ready to take us through the gates when his manager stopped and whispered something to him and was fast to leave the scene.

After this, James advised "I have just been informed that to measure your foot, it will cost $50." Puzzled, I advised him I was not charged the last time I came here so why the sudden change? James advised he will get his manager to come speak to us.

Huhu Chan- Venue Manager arrived (the person who stopped and whispered the newly introduced policy to James) advised us this has always been the policy and that "you should consider yourself lucky, as you should have been charged for getting your foot measured." He continued to offer a sarcastic apology that there is nothing he can do and that "this is a business, we can't just let people in and measure their feet."

This newly introduced policy is nowhere to be found in the reception foyer or even their website. Again, when advising this to Hu Hu Chan, he offered a "thanks for the feedback" alongside another sarcastic apology.

If you are going to offer a standard service of selling products, you can't enforce prices on every aspect. Next, will you charge us to pay for your air conditioning during the summer? It is like going to Athletes Foot who can analyse your walk pattern and provide advice on which shoe will suit you best. They DON'T charge for this service but you will charge me to find out my boot size?

My advice to you is that if you're trying to increase sales and generate interest in hockey/skating etc, then you're going about it the wrong way. In a matter of minutes you lost three customers who visit the rink often and their friends and family.

Goodluck to you Hu Hu Chan, you were obviously brought in to extort money from your customers rather than generate interest or provide positive...

I wanted to give you some feedback regarding Linc’s first term in Hockey academy. From the get go, your team set the tone, Tom at the desk greeted us and gave Lincoln 100% of his attention while he sized him up and help settle his nerves. All of the coaches went out of their way to help Lincoln settle in as well make sure we had the right equipment for him was greatly appreciated. And that continued every week, when we walk in, and see everyone saying hi to Lincoln or calling out “Tacoooooooo” from the ice, just brings a small to his face. He leaves the rink with a smile ear to ear, telling us how many goals he scored and always said “ïm going to score more next week”, followed up by playing hockey up and down hallway at home, then spends the entire week, asking when the next hockey academy class is. The development of Linc’s skills improved so much over a short time.

The culture you have created amongst the children is something you should be proud of. Seeing all the children help Lincoln (when he is lying on the ice and checking up on him) or making sure he “gets a goal” goes to show you that your program is teaching the kids the values of teamwork, comradery and having fun in a positive and exciting environment. This culture helped Lincoln settle in and thrive and come out his shell.

Your entire team should be proud of the program. The final game was amazing and seeing Lincoln skate up and down the ice with a giant smile on his face was a proud parent moment. A moment your team help create but on top of that, watching every single person on the ice having the biggest smile on their face and true excitement to play hockey! After the game, Lincoln was telling us that all the players on “his team” were offering words of encouragement like ïf you see the puck skate towards, and keep trying to get the puck” and Lincoln was just pumped to hear it from other players. This speaks volumes of the culture you have created, when the adult students are giving words of encouragement to a 6 year old!

We really want to send out our appreciation for your entire team for making such a welcoming and fun environment.  We can see the passion you and your team have for teaching this program as it reflects on the both the children and adult students and seeing how much enjoyment they are getting out of it, while also developing their hockey skills. Your program is truly something you should be proud of as it clearly designed to bring the best out of...

ICE SKATING BEGINNERS CLASSES:

Completely disorganized, chaotic, totally unprofessional!

For first timers: No one tells you where to find skates, which ones to use, how to put them on, do we need protection or not (if this is obligatory for rollerskating how come it’s not for iceskating?!?). We saw some people use protection, some dont and when I asked one of the coaches I got reply that she is working here one year and she never saw major injuries - if that’s what a parent or student needs to hear then they should not be working at all! Regarding the group size: It is too big - 10 students for one coach, that’s too much for beginners classes. And the most upsetting is that all students in the group are different ages and skills - most of them already know how to stand on skates and move around while my daughter was unsecure next to them, she barely moved and only once the coach actually helped her but literarly for one second! There was no help or guidance! Coaching methods: In 30 min it’s not possible to go through all the moves like coaches here do (my husband enrolled begginers classes with other coach and he had the same experience - coach shows all the moves: falling down, stomping, going forward and backwards, some tricks…. But this is no use to do immediately on the first lesson bc if you don’t even know how to stand on skates you cand do much anyway! All together my conclusion is that a young person (who was never actually thought to teach anything or had any pedagogy or psychology classes to know how to transfer any knowledge) is working here only because they know how to skate!!!

General feeling of the space and safety: Skates are old and extremely uncomfortable, No other gear except the helmets (no protection for wrists, elbows, knees) Disorganized on every level: who is coaching whom, presentation of themselves and this sport, no guidance as to how to find and put on any equipment nor anyone is checking if it fits properly before going on ice chaotic situation when one classes finish and other begins - no one knows where...