Main Event Stafford — Restaurant in Stafford

Here’s my story. I get to Main Event for a seven years old birthday party. I purchase a card and select the middle option which costs $55. We get to use it a couple times before the kids of the party are called to laser tag. We leave laser tag early and go back to the arcade. We get to the milk jug toss, I swipe. No balls come out. I let a lady nearby know ( she’s cleaning games) she tells me that at the prize place area they can refund me the points. So I proceed to go there and wait in line then tell the employee behind the desk what happened. They took my card to give me the points. I go back to a game with my daughter and the car says there are no funds on it. I go back to the employee and say hey there are no funds on my card now. The two behind the desk are unsympathetic and seemingly incompetent and have to call the manager. Manager 1 comes over. Employee tells manager about the card - there are two cards on the table she shrugs and is like this card. She swipes it- Says the card isn’t even in their system. I explain what happened. He’s acting like I’m a liar- he asks for a receipt- ( Lesson learned ALWAYS PRINT A RECIEPT) I didn’t. I tell him I can show you the transaction on my credit card on my phone because of the age we live in. I also mention well what about the other card on the table- she acted like she didn’t know what card it was so maybe mine is that one. Doesn’t even try, says we wouldn’t be able to prove that one is yours. All the card looks the same. I’m like but you clearly saw that she hesitated about the card. Manager 3 comes to look at it and literally stares at my dumbfounded when he sees that I have a card that’s not in the system apparently. unsure what to do. Manger 3 comes. SHERMAN. Let me remind you I have a seven year old daughter standing next to me this whole time. Sherman, Sherman, Sherman, basically tells me I’m SOL - sees the credit card transaction- says they can’t give me a new card or do ANYTHING because the transaction is “pending.” At this point, my blood is starting to boil because this is all on them. But I breathe and I tell him as a manager myself - you know credit card transactions don’t go through till at least the end of the day or next day. I try to humanize myself, I get his name I tell him mine I say we’re here for a bday and what you’re telling me - is that this kid doesn’t get to enjoy it because one of your employee made a mistake and you can’t fix it- I say it’s not a big deal mistakes happen but y’all aren’t gonna do anything to fix this. Meanwhile employee who shall remain nameless- both employees who both messed up- one by deleting my card and the other by possibly switching my card - are both just dead eyes and never take any ownership over their part in this horrible experience. SHERMAN says I can call my credit card company. I know they can’t do anything but I do it. They give me the number to dispute the charge and you better believe I will be doing that. MAIN EVENT in STAFFord has a lot of good folks working there- I told three young employees the whole story - I told them Sherman, they said “ oh! He’s new and no one likes him.” SHERMAN has no customer service skills to speak of and honestly I don’t know how he’s a manger. When asking another employee if they thought it was appropriate how Sherman handled this whole thing- their response without hesitation was “no, but I can’t do anything unfortunately. “ I hate these moments in life- when you’re right but it’s out of your control and you just have to take it- I want to make sure...

Very poor customer service! Many of the machines were broken, either not functioning at all or partially functional. My daughter's card went empty very quickly (within 15 minutes with over 240 credits on it) and when we asked why she said that the games she was trying to play weren't doing anything when she swiped her card. We went to the Prize Collection desk and asked what was up and we saw the computer screen. Multiple charges and swipes within a minute. I'm talking 6 or more and the charges were coming multiple times on the EXACT same swiped minute. They even admitted that the game lasted more than 1 minute. Guess we weren't supposed to see the screen. We questioned this and the manager was called then per customer request b/c this was obviously not right. John Dinh kept walking away during the discussion saying the child (11 yr old) should have reported it immediately to be all refunded correctly. I said, look at the card history on your computer screen, it is obviously not correct. John Dinh continued to walk away, even as this customer was speaking to him and not finished with the conversation. He was able to refund 15 credits only to this card before walking away, but this wasnt fair as he didn't look at the full machine issues on the card for the 15 minutes it was used. We just paid over $50 for these 240 credits. Then, we went to customer service to ask for him again b/c he walked away and wouldn't return when we were asking. This conversation was all recorded at this point. Probably should post it to show how bad the customer service was. Will probably try to get in touch with their corporate about how their GM acted. When they refuse to give their names is generally when you know they are doing some shady stuff. After we had the conversation with the GM, they sent their employees out to test the machines and guess what????? They were not functioning correctly. My kid is young, 11 yrs old. She should have come to me after the first machine failure?....yes......but she didn't know it was taking her credits. Is it a big deal? Not really. But when there is poor customer service involved it makes everything that much worse. The GM tried to not give his name at all. Other employees tried not to give his name at all either when asked. Then I said, as a GM, I need your info or card. And finally, he gave me his card, not willingly. I am sure it is b/c the way he acted. He said he owned 6 businesses. I said as a business owner, you wouldn't act that way. I doubt he owned any businesses but since he was a GM, maybe he thought a GM was the same as a business owner? Not sure. But whether an Ego Complex or just that he didn't want to refund $ when Main Event was in the wrong is on him as a GM. Corporate needs to go and double check these machines at not just this facility but all of John Dinhs 6 facilities if he...

Family entertainment options come in many varieties and here in the Houston area, one place that combines several family entertainment options into one is Main Event. I visited this location in Stafford most recently with some people from work and we had a pretty good time overall, with one exception.

This Main Event offers most of the things you find in all Main Event locations: Restaurant, bar, arcade games, bowling alley, gravity ropes, and laser tag. The bowling alleys are rented by the hour and when I was here, we purchased one hour for three people which was enough to play two games. We ended up running out of time during the second game and we were already near the end. I told the person at the counter and she added an additional 10 minutes at no charge, which was nice.

With the other entertainment, guests can choose between gravity ropes, laser tag, and arcade games. The arcade games are where I usually spend my time. You win points, which are transferred electronically to a card and can be redeemed for prizes before you leave. Each game requires a slightly different number of points to play and you can fly through your card’s points in a short time. The expanse can add up quickly for a family, but you get to cash in the points for prizes in the end, so I can tolerate the cost.

Food and drink at Main Event are decent, but nothing special. I usually go for pizza and wings when I visit. They are fine overall. The bar is full- service and they do serve several specialty drinks. But there is a limited beer selection and only a couple local brews, so I wasn’t too thrilled in this area.

Remember the one exception I mentioned in my opening paragraph? Well, that one issue I have had is the slow service. There were very few people at Main Event on my most recent visit, yet they still took a long time to serve our drinks. This cost them sales, because I can assure we would have ordered at least one more round of drinks if they had served us in reasonable time.

It’s nice to find places for family fun and entertainment. Main Event is a good place for an afternoon or evening of fun and this location in Stafford is a nice place to visit for this purpose. I have liked other Main Event locations a little more, but this one still has enough positive qualities...