If I could rate a 0 I would have....

If I could rate a 0 I would have....

Went here for a birthday party with 3 middle-aged teens, a 62-year-old grandma and two young adults for a birthday party. We had a little bit of difficulty with our grandma having stability issues so we kindly ask for an assistant tool so she would be able to skate easier.

Paul, the manager here first asked us to point her out on the ice. She was on the opposite side of the rink holding onto the side.

After pointing her out like he asked, he turned to us and said rudely, "if she can't skate then how did she get all the way over there?" I explained that we assisted her around the rink, but she fell a few times and needed a support tool. He said it was only for children, and although we understood that, we explained she is 62 years old and she wanted to enjoy skating with her grandkids...his replied was, "I wouldn't put my grandma on the ice if she can't skate."

I was so shocked by how rude he was to us. So I asked for a refund for our tickets. First he said he couldn't do that and I told him we are not going to stay if she cannot skate. Then he said he would only refund her ticket.

Of course this was not going to be acceptable since we had just gotten there, and spent maybe 10min on the ice. I continued to ask for a refund until finally he threw up how hands and said, fine get them all off the ice and I'll give you all your money back.

First he refunded us who had receipts from paying with a credit card. Then he gave us a hard time about the three teens and our grandma who paid with cash because they didn't have a receipt. The receptionist who took the payments said they usually don't give receipts to those who pay in cash, so getting more frustrated he started looking it up in the computer.

Then one by one he returned the cash, not realizing that we had four ppl who needed cash refunds, he seemed to be getting more and more irritated each time and asking for receipts even tho we had already explained that she did not give receipts for the payment made in cash. He literally threw the refund receipts back at my teenage siblings and my grandmother. I stood there and watched him do this. Deciding to not make matters worse and mention his extremely rude attitude and actions, I stayed silent because obviously he had no costumer service skills at all. The two employees working with him looked embarrassed and the young lady with blonde hair was apologetic.

In the end he lost the ice rink $112.50 in sales, and completely ruined a nice family outing / 18th birthday celebration. I felt bad for my grandmother who still enjoys to be active and was having a great time even tho it was difficult for her. There was no one else out on the ice using any support tools, so this whole situation could have easily been avoided had they been nice enough to assist the elderly!

In my opinion this was discrimination to old people. As a manager you should always be willing to be as helpful as you can. Even if we absolutely could not use the ice walker because of the rules, he could have handled that situation in a professional manner. No respect was given whatsoever. Even people standing around in the front area were kind of shocked that they wouldn't allow a grandma to use a walker.

As we left he said "sorry it couldn't work out, have a good night!"

This encounter was deeply disappointing and actually very hurtful, we will not ever be going back this poorly managed ice rink as long as he is the manager.

To the reader, don't waste your time or money here, there are other ice rinks with good friendly staff that know how to treat customers with respect!