Firehouse Skate 'N Play — Local services in Vinton

I have been here several times and gotten the same experience the last 3 times I’ve went. Very rude staffing, everyone sitting in the office, had to wait forever to get skates or food. Today, We paid to unlimited admission for $26 another 6$ to rent the kids skate rolling assistant and another 32$ for pizza and drinks. We were there for 15-20 minutes. There is a sign in the front desk that says cash accepted in the arcade area, when we tried to pull out cash in the arcade area to pay for the skate assistant, the general manager was extremely rude and said we are cashless very hateful. There was no AC which was stated from an Employee there. General manager (woman) talked over us when we were trying to express concerns which lead to a heated argument. She proceeded to tell us we could leave. We asked if we could have a refund for what we just paid and she said no and started walking off to the office. She told us when our pizza came out we had 15 mins to leave. She threatened the cops and I told her please just give us a refund and we could leave. She said no and proceeded to yell. I didn’t have good service so I asked if I could use the office phone to call police and she said no I had a cell phone. I told her I didn’t have good service and she said well you better go outside then. I asked her for the owner to come, when he got there he stated he already heard everything and that we would not get a refund. Did not listen to anything I was saying, just shook his head and told us to find somewhere else to go. General manager brought my kids in it, and made a comment that it was a good role model. My husband then got very upset and cussed (probably said a few things he should as any father would, when a complete stranger brings kids into it). Then the general manager flipped it on him and said we were the problem. As we were walking away, the owner yelled sorrrrryyyy very smartly while we were walking out the door. No refund. I’ve never been treated that way by a “professional company ”. It has became very clear that it’s no longer about the experience for kids, it’s about money and...

We’ve skated here before and had a great time, but we recently hosted a birthday party with them and were disappointed by the experience. In general, the kids love the playground and laser tag in addition to skating, but there’s lots to be desired in the way of service. All of it is overpriced, even when they bait you in with “coupons” sent through the schools.

Birthday party was far from cheap— nearly $500 after adding two pizzas, some fruit, and what ended up being about 12 chicken tenders and 12 chicken nuggets (boneless wings). Party package was for 10 kids, and we added 3 more, which cost $25 extra each. The place was dead— our party plus a handful of other skaters— but staff couldn’t seem to muster enthusiasm to be present and take care of us. We literally had to hunt for someone to get skates, to sign up for laser tag, and to get arcade prizes.The arcade (which is a joke) is accessed by cards — ours didn’t work— we had to see front desk to switch most of them out. The laser tag game was faulty— told us 6 kids could play at a time, but kids reported that only 2 guns worked properly; kids were not impressed and it had been a favorite in past visits. Our party room was reserved for one hour— they confirmed my food order by phone during week, in person at check in, and then again when I was ordering bottled water at the concession stand. Somehow the chicken was still forgotten, and when it came, I was shocked at what little food was delivered. The server paired with us was nice and continued to refill the soda pitchers, and even got us a pitcher of water. But she was frazzled and was ready to be done with us, bringing me the check before we’d even opened presents. Staff wasn’t even around for people to buy dip’n’dots ice cream on their own— we had to hunt for them then, too.

While we may have had fun in the past, I would not book another party with...

Really enjoyed everything other than the actual private party celebration. They let me know when we arrived that we would be out in the open at 2 tables next to the snack bar. It was so loud our family couldn’t hear anything or know we were singing happy birthday to my disgusted. We were in everyone’s way who would come to the snack bar or to the play area when we were trying to open presents and again my daughter would have to scream over the loud music to tell everyone thank you as she opened her gifts. They told me it was due to renovations but I wasn’t offered any discounts for not being able to have an actual party room. I had someone from the skating rink email me asking for a 5 star Google review and if I couldn’t give them that to let them know why. I emailed them all of this and haven’t received a response back yet and it’s been 12 days. The amount of money we are paying for these parties, they need to figure something out or charge less for the snack party tables .

Edited: I looked back through my email and replied to the lady who emailed me which was a funquest email address. Not sure why it was from that instead of firehouse but I did forward it to the correct email address. Thanks for responding. We really enjoyed the year before when we had a private room and that is why we booked it this year. Hopefully you can get some more party rooms, I just assumed that was part of it since we had no issue last year getting a room I should have read the information better. Regardless my child had a great time and that makes it...