Can You Escape? — Local services in Tampa

Wow... unbelievable how money can truly change a person's character. Although, I am not aware of the type of person the owner, Kristi, was prior to becoming owner of "Can You Escape" on Memorial Hwy in Tampa. I would rate this review ZERO stars if I could. My husband and I were planning to visit "Can You Escape" on Memorial as a party of 6 people, all couples. We were referred by my sister who previously attended to the Clearwater location. Upon her visit, she was given a complimentary card for the free admission of one person, in a group of 3 or more people.

My husband attempted to book a "Midieval" room for this upcoming Saturday, March 26, using the promo code provided on the card. The promo code was not working properly online. My husband phoned the company trying to troubleshoot. We then were informed that the promo code ONLY applied to the "Office" rooms. On the complimentary admission card, there was no specification that the promo code only corresponded to the "Office" rooms. In fact, the exact statement on card is as follows "One Team. One Adventure. One Hour". If I could post a picture of the card on this review, I would. Not by any means, is there clarification that the promo only applied to the "Office" rooms.

We were instructed to contact the owner, Kristi, and address the issue with her. We did just that and awaited a returned phone call. Surely, she did respond and was relentless in her stance continuously reiterating that those cards were produced prior to the existence of other "non-office" rooms and that it was unfortunate that we misunderstood the coverage of the free admission. Despite the fact that the admission card revealed no such information. She completely evaded fault and maintained her position. Kristi was arrogant, impolite and disrespectful. She continuously provoked my husband and even insulted his intelligence by blatantly asserting that my husband was guilty of several "fallacies".

Kristi persisted in her condescending tone and was unwilling to negotiate. She even asked my husband "So you and your party of 6 would not come over $28?!" After my husband countered and explained that the principle still stands that considering the error was on behalf of the company, it was their responsibility to honor the complimentary admission. She then responded saying "I asked a simple question". Implying that my husband's lengthy response was both unnecessary and unappreciated. Kristi even laughed in his face taunting him with a comment along the lines of "Wow you are really working hard for this $28, aren't you?!"

My husband and I own a small family business and we are well aware of the severity of false advertisement, and how that could sabotage the publics' and consumers' trust in and loyalty to a company. Not to mention how important customer satisfaction is in order to assure customer retention. Not only will we NEVER make any contribution to this company, but we will also steer anyone whom we know away from supporting this location or any location owned by Kristi and/or her associates.

We are terribly disappointed in the quality of person that Kristi is and how arrogantly and rudely she presents herself. We have never encountered such a negative and degrading customer experience. We will proceed to also file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Although I doubt that will spark a reaction from Kristi, seeing as she is entirely motivated by greed and pretension. Sadly, the point still remains, that the issue was not the $28, but rather the lack of customer appreciation and false advertisement. It's a shame. Truly a shame.

RESPONSE TO OWNER:

John, just so we are clear, I heard the entire conversation. I did not appreciate Kristi's condensending tone. Completely impolite. Somehow I'm not surprised with your response, John, as I didn't expect for your entity to accept any responsibility. Your marketing strategies are deceptive. Just thought I would share my experience. Judging by the pattern here, it will happen again with someone else. Thank you for your...

This was SO much fun! Korey was an awesome host, we definitely would come back again to try the medieval room & the coming-soon Soviet/ Soviet spy room (not officially coming w/ a date & everything approved, but HOW COOL?!) We came at 3pm on a Wednesday, as work for us in the double date isn't traditional hours, so we had the whole place to ourselves. We walked in, were greeted by the friendly Korey, explained that we cannot bring anything that can record or take photos with, so we locked up all our belongings in the little lockers w/ a key you take w/ on your person. The only thing we took w/ were any necessary medications, wallet, & the baby's milk.

We had to sign waivers on the computers after Korey explained a bit about the process, & you choose you difficulty level from beginner-intermediate-to-expert, which all depends on how soon you want the first clue. We chose beginner as it was my husband & I's first time ever doing anything like this, which meant you get the first clue up on the wall-mounted TV screen after 10 minutes of free-range exploration for clues.

In the waiver you state you are unable to give away any details of the room, so I will just tell you it was an awesome experience! IF you are struggling in the room, she will prompt you w/ helpful clues or guides to just gently assist you through what you are stuck on, without totally giving away anything.

I learned finding little clues in movies & TV shows, I am constantly guessing ahead of everyone plots & solving riddles & puzzles, & that same type of thinking applies in this situation, you have to be able to align your thoughts like a spy or just logically thinking through riddles, puzzles, & a bit of math. It's a good exercise for you left brain!

IF at ANY time you feel anxious, or a panic attack coming on, you walk up to one of the many cameras (as they are constantly monitoring you to make sure you don't do anything you aren't supposed to, & if you do, she sees it right away & sounds an unpleasant alarm tone over the speakers) & signal you need out, & you will be let out. If it is just one person in your party that needs to leave for any reason, it is ok, the rest of the group can still continue on, uninterrupted, w/ no penalty or anything like that, you are not being kidnapped or actually held hostage.

This was seriously SO much fun, I was a little worried at first, I didn't get why we were in there, or what kind of clues we were supposed to be solving. We had to ask, why we were even there..what's the story? The other couple in our party had been to a different one at another location w/ a full plot line & what you had to do to succeed at that plot line, in addition to escaping, so that's where the confusion was when Korey was just setting us loose in the room without any explanation to the "story" after she explained the rules & cautions of what we were allowed to do & what we needed to avoid.

Apparently the success rate is only 50/50 of people who make it within the hour, & we did it w/ over 5 minutes left to spare! We never felt super rushed, our group was awesome at decoding the info & constantly having a "flow" & moving around the room when "X" lead to "Y" & so forth, just know if you have a good "flow" & you're on the right track, thinking outside the box, & also at the answer right in front of you, you will do fine. Just keep the momentum going, throwing out ideas & answers, & if you seem to be super stuck, they can see that & you can look to the monitor next to the big timer on the wall & she will offer as many hints/clues/nudges as you need (mostly just towards the end if you're running out of time & looking for a bit of direction).

Just be ready to use your noggin, don't come under the influence of anything... (it's part of the waiver, & honestly just common sense) & have some fun w/ it! It's like being in a crime show in real life, super fun rush when you figure it out, & connect the dots!

Going w/ groups is probably the best, but if it's just you/a pair, they put you in the room w/ others, & you all...

First, my "credentials": lve played about 50 rooms, a mix of great and terrible with a variety of themes, locations, and puzzle types. We played the Medieval room today.

The good:

Can You Escape has an interesting part of their website that let's you look at the big draw for the room. For this room, it was listed as having the most unique puzzles.

They delivered that, there were very unique puzzles, different from ones ive seen before, which is always welcome.

The GM, Romeo, was very attentive to what we were doing, and when we ran into an issue with a prop he immediately spoke up to reassure us we were doing it right, so we knew to try again. He also gave clear warnings about what is in the room we shouldnt work with, and was very patient when one of our group needed to use the restroom as we were walking into the room. I also appreciated him realizing when we were screwing something up, and setting us straight.

For the most part, the props were solidly built, clearly visible, and effective for their purpose. There was a puzzle i really enjoyed that used a mirror.

The room used a low-light ambience, and is one of the few rooms i played that made it work really well. There was just enough light to see what we were doing, and often the puzzles had their own lighting that made them easily viewed.

The bad:

While unique, i didnt particularly care for most of the puzzles. They often felt more like busiwork than puzzles. I wish i could give more in depth discussion, but i dont want to ruin the experience for anyone else who may want to try the room. A good puzzle makes you feel accomplished at the end, and very few provided that feeling.

At one point, two props had to be combined, but the component to allow that didnt attach very well, so we had to try several times to get it to work.

One puzzle has little lights that turn on as you get things right, but 3 of the lights werent working.

The room would greatly benefit from whiteboards and markers for note taking. There are a few times when you are using math, and trying to keep it all in your head is very difficult. Having somewhere to write it down would have been very beneficial. I think that was our biggest time sink, if we made a mistake on a math puzzle we had to start it from scratch.

While I appreciated Romeo's attentiveness, and over all i found him an excellent game master, he was a little quick with nudges and unprompted help.

Conclusion:

Overall I give Can You Escape a 3 out of 5. The room was interesting, but not very satisfying, often feeling more tedious...