D-BAT Mountainside — Local services in Mountainside

Had a very negative experience as a first timer going into D-Bat, excited to have a great afternoon with my boys. The website says "walk ins welcome," so we came in, I said we wanted 2 cages and went through the options only to then be told that we had to make a reservation, and when I said it says walk ins welcome he said the website isn’t really up to date and if we wanted to wait it would be 2 hours. That’s when I asked to speak to the manager. The person at the front called the manager, Tony, and talked to him for a few minutes, and then said to tell me he’s not taking business calls right now and to call him on Monday - what a solution. I then asked if the youth one was open or any of them and he said yes! What?! Why wasn’t I told that first, that at least one of my kids could play? I know the guy at the front was fairly new but this not how to run a business. He was overwhelmed and needed a second person there with him with how many phones were ringing and people needing him, and we ended up waiting 15 min before even being able to get a cage and that was without anyone in front of us. Jon is the owner. After calling him, I was told that Jon wouldn't speak to me or give out his number. I paid for the one cage I could get, and then when I asked if I would be receiving a receipt, I was told that the printer didn't work well so I might be getting an email receipt - I received nothing. I was going to book a membership before coming, and I'm so glad I didn't. The batting cage was fine, but the overall experience not at all what I had...

1. These machines are really bad. The pitches were very inconsistent, very wild, and just all over the place. You have 2 choices, up or down, and it way too high, then way too low. They jammed 2ce in the 20 min i was there. Almost half the balls had the shells torn, as well.
2. If you are even 5 minutes late, they will make forfeit your spot, or make you move in the middle of batting. I was 5 minutes late, and rather than have another customer use a fully available cage, I was stoped in the middle of batting to move to another cage for the final few minutes. I booked for a half hr and told them I may need it for the full hr, but was asked to move after 20 minutes of use, for being 5 minutes late. And he was very rude about it. But even if the customer service was fine, the pitching machines are still an issue. Been to a few batting cages in my day and these are the worst. The place itself is nice, very bright, clean and seems well maintained, but the machines are bad. I suggest Dingers, in Maplewood. Or Lefties in Clifton. Those places are really good, and the customer service in on point. Will never be...

Called a day in advance to book a cage for an hour. Showed up the day of to find out I wasn’t scheduled. Waited for 20 minutes at the front desk and no one told me what the plan was, so I asked if I could get a cage. I was instructed to go to the back cage however someone else was utilizing it, so waited an additional 30 minutes for something to open up. Finally got a cage and as I was about to start my 3rd round, I was informed by someone waiting they had the cage next. This was only 30 minutes into my session, and I believed I was getting it for an hour since that was my original booking. No one even told me it would only be for 30 minutes. I was also charged full price for the half hour even though this was botched completely from the beginning. Nothing was said or done to remedy the inconvenience and mistake made by DBat.

I’m sure this doesn’t happen all the time, but if it was handled better I wouldn’t be writing...