Skyline Comedy Club — Restaurant in Appleton

Management is NOT customer service oriented at all! Made my birthday 'free' experience a horrid night as 1 ticket holder had a family emergency come up. All Cliff (who claimed to be the manager - how this is possible is beyond me!?) could say was something like, '...Sorry, when the landlord needs his rent, the same is the case for ticket reservations. We give you 24 hours to notify us.' I explained very professionally it was a death in this guys family' I get back, 'I don't mean to be unsympathetic, but tickets are tickets.' I explained these were 'free' tickets for my birthday?' I got the 'ol 24 hour notification line again. I explained how a death in someone's family is not something you have 24 hours notice on, and that this being my birthday - Skyline is really making this an unhappy day for me. I became 'a little more professionally firm' with and stated, 'Really? This is how you treat customers? This is pretty poor customer service.' I get back, 'I'm sorry.' Really?! I told him to take my name off his list for future calls and reservations. He says, 'OK'. ...& scratches my name off his sheet of paper. Wow... Really? This is how this guy views customers?

When I walked in initially, there was another group issue too that they were trying to make accommodations for - who did not have reservations, and it was her birthday too. I had offered my ticket to that group. Cliff curtly states to me, 'That's another issue, let me handle them!' At which point I said (somewhat shocked at his response) 'Sorry man...' He then said he'll see what he can do.

10 minutes after being seated, the 3rd seat that I was moderately under the impression I was still paying for (that I had my feet resting on) was taken away from me by a waitress and she said, 'Sorry we need this seat." I figured wow, maybe Cliff okay after all?

Upon leaving, I asked Cliff, citing that the third seat was taken away from me - attempting to thank him for taking care of it like he said he was going to do. He said, 'Let me look at my seating chart... No we didn't have any last minute walk ins, you'll have to pay for your seat (the one that was taken away from me - for another guest). I asked him to please explain how is it that I am paying for a seat that was used? I get the line, 'We didn't have any last minute walk-ins, oh wait, there was some people that showed up tonight that actually had reservations from last night, but showed up tonight instead.' This was the point where I said this is really poor customer service and to take my name off your list...

I've been in customer service and management for 20+ years - this Cliff is by far one of the poorest managers and customer service oriented individuals I've EVER encountered...ESPECIALLY given the circumstances.

Ticket sales or not, you simply do not treat people the way Cliff treats people / customers. Cliff should be ashamed of his management style, and how he treats paying customers - period.

I will NEVER go back to Skyline, and I actually have had some excellent / awesome times there previously with some wonderful comics, however, tonight was the final blow. I've always found, 'the guy on the phone' to be snippy, rude, and unprofessional - now I can finally put a face to the rudeness I've encountered over the phone - and it all makes sense...

Additionally, I will encourage others not to go to Skyline. True, they may have a loyal following and currently be the only comedy club in Appleton - but I suppose that is Cliff's justification for being able to treat customers however he chooses. They have a 'captive audience' for now, however, that will not always...

We won't be back and if possible, I would have given zero stars.

Apart from the fact that the openers weren't funny at all (some people have already complained about that, so I guess it was not a unique situation with us), this club has really weird policies and rude staff.

Since the men's restrooms are located right next to the stage, my husband did not feel comfortable walking past the stage to go to the toilet. So he left to go to the toilets downstairs. He was stopped at the door and explained they have a no-re-entry-policy. When my husband told the doorman he does not feel comfortable going to the toilet in plain sight (and risk having a so-called "comedian" follow him with a mic under his arm while my husband does his business), he was told to go to floor P1. Upon returning, he was not let back in, but instead, one employee came to my table to inform me that my husband is not being let back in. I told the employee that his colleague had told my husband to use the restroom on P1, which led us to believe he would be allowed back in. I was then told "Well, he was wrong".

The discussion that followed at the door had no more of the "he was wrong" tone to it but was rather rude and impolite. Apart from continuous interruptions, the only thing we were told was "sorry, that's the policy". So basically, if you want to enjoy good comedy but don't want to be in the center of it, you either have to pee your pants or leave.

We weren't allowed to finish our drinks in the doorway, so we wanted them removed from the bill. We were offered to have our entire bill voided but because we had finished our first round of food and drinks, we felt we should pay what we had fully consumed... If only we had taken them up on that... We intentionally left no tip and found out later that there was already an 18% tip included... So we even tipped them for their rudeness.

When showing us the door, the doorman said "imagine what it's like being black".

We are still trying to figure out what he meant by that because it really had nothing, I repeat NOTHING to do with what the original problem was (going to the wrong toilet and not being allowed back in). Do the US really have such a big problem with what people look like that you can't even have an adult discussion about where to go to the toilet at the door of a comedy club without people feeling attacked on their skin color? Was the entire situation a power thing, because the employees felt my husband wasn't respecting them and thus immediately made a link to their skin color? I am really wondering about all this and if any of that should be the case, I feel sincerely sad for the state, this country is in.

Genrally, I have one advice: chill for a moment and don't presume you're being attacked personally just because somebody challenges you.

To the management of the Skyline Comedy Club: You should re-evalue your "policies". I feel sorry for your employees that they had to stand up for such a ridiculous policy and kick two tourists out of a comedy club...

Addendum upon reply of Skyline Comedy Club:

I don't understand how you manage to have walk-outs if you take the credit cards from your guests the minute they make their first order...

Accusing us of swearing and being loud/aggressive towards staff makes it easy for you now, so whatever makes you happy.

And no, I still don't understand your policy but fortunately, I don't have to because I definitely won't be back. But I thank you for taking the time to describe your side of the event based on what your...

They have no control over the crowd in this venue. People are constantly shouting out, talking during the shows, and interrupting the comedians with zero consequences. Comedy on State in Madison never has this problem.

The drinks are overpriced for the area (more than Madison even) and then they have the gall to charge a mandatory 18% gratuity regardless of your party size. They claim they have a disclaimer about this charge on the website and menu but I checked—this disclaimer is not present anywhere from the moment you arrive at the website to the time you finish purchasing tickets. No one in our group knew about this charge. You may find it on the menu if you look hard enough in the dim lighting while socializing with your friends, or by studying the entirety of the ticket confirmation email. Your server will not mention it but the check you sign will still have a section to leave a tip. I should also call out the "service charge" they add to ticket purchases online...just another hidden cost.

When I made the mistake of leaving an extra tip and realized the next morning because the exorbitant drink cost wasn't adding up in my head I contacted the club for a refund on this extra tip. It has been two weeks and the staff has refused to refund me upon posting this review as you can read in their reply. I had been waiting to hear from them for 2 weeks, despite me being polite about it.

To be honest the comics were not as good as the ones at Comedy on State either. I'd highly recommend skipping this club and driving down there for a more enjoyable and affordable night out without the predatory extra charges.

The owner claims that I agreed to paying the 18% auto gratuity at checkout but that is misleading. Early in the checkout process the venue policies are clearly visible and they do not mention this automatic fee. Later, right as you're about to confirm the order, you are presented with a checkbox to confirm the venue policies. If you expand this second representation of venue policies the 18% automatic gratuity is then revealed. Why would I expand this venue policy section when I believe I already know the venue policy after reading it earlier in the purchase flow? And why would I read through the venue policies again in my confirmation email? The answer is the vast majority of people wouldn't and this business can shrug and say "I told you so". Fees and checkout flows like this are dark patterns and the business' refusal to provide a refund after I asked privately and politely (and then waited 2 weeks for a reply which didn't come) says it all.

I am unable to post the screenshots of their website UI because it gets flagged as spam but I emailed this information to the club. Maybe the missing information on that portion of the website was a mistake on their part but then why refuse my request for a refund and why not call the auto-gratuity clearly on the reciept before asking for another tip at the end of the night?

If ownership does the right thing and refunds me for this lapse in information I will update...