ComplaintsforHappy Hangout Westside

• Initial Complaint

  10/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  10/15/23 Rented out facility for a private party. Followed all the rules. Manager was extremely rude and unprofessional. Owner didn't answer or reach out to resolve issue. I was targeted because of race and charged a extra clean up fee, " Just because" . Also, Manager Kim stated she called the police because she "assumed" i was going to run without paying. All the yelling she did at the kids during the party. i received multiple complaints from this manager. To the point most kids couldn't enjoy their time because this manager made everyone uncomfortable.

  Business response

  10/20/2023

  Hello! Please see attached the related documentation. I have attached both the party documents that she agreed to. In them, you will find that she agrees to be financially responsible for any damages caused by her party (as was the case here). When she was assessed the cleaning fee she got belligerent with staff to the point where they felt unsafe enough to call law enforcement. This is extremely uncommon and has only happened twice in the entire time we have been open. 
  
  *Here is my (the owner of the business) email to **** after the incident: (Responding to her inflammatory and accusatory reviews she posted everywhere and had her friends post everywhere.)*

  Hello ****- 
  
  As a local small business with no giant corporation behind me, no millionaire investors, and no million dollars of my own, I have to take damage and potential damage to my facility very seriously due to my large personal investment in purchasing custom houses and play structures. Although your side of the story that you are putting everywhere is compelling, I have two employees that were involved that both tell a very different story about your behavior from your entrance into the building. My employees would never call the police just for a non-payment. It happens more frequently than you'd think (and since you brought up racism, parents of all races have left without paying), and we deal with it. They would have had to feel very unsafe to even pick up the phone. As a woman, I'm sure you can understand how threatening situations can quickly feel dangerous and get out of hand. 
  
  The cleaning fee was due to the large amount of food scattered all over the play area including but not limited to: *******, donuts, spilled drinks, baby bottle pop powder, orange handprints (****** dust) on walls of the playhouses and the playground, food up in the playset, etc. As you can see by the rules I've copied below, that is one of our steadfast rules. Our "No food in the play area" rule is what helps keep it clean, allergen free, bug free, and safe for all children. It takes hours and a special cleaner to get any food residue off common surfaces in the play area to make it safe for kids with life-threatening food allergies. The fee is for the extra time my employees need to spend on this task. A simple disinfecting is quick for us, cleaning up food is different.
  
  Here are some excerpts from the party contract that are relevant in this situation:
  
  9. We want all the children at your party to have fun!  However, we do expect some common courtesy and respectful behavior towards other guests, Happy Hangout staff, facility toys, and structures at all times as well as adherence to our rules by both adults and children.  Unruly guests may be asked to leave the facility.
  
  11. Clean-up.  Renter is responsible for placing all trash in the provided trash receptacle, removing all personal items and decorations, wiping down tables, and sweeping the floor.  Any damage to the room or excessive messes may result in an additional charge.
  
  Here are some lines from the private party agreement:
  
  3. I agree to be financially responsible for any permanent damage done by myself or party guests to the facility as a whole. This includes but is not limited to: damage to play areas as a result of food or drink, paint damage done from taping things to the wall, bathroom water damage due to unsupervised children, etc.
  
   6. I acknowledge my responsibility to ensure all guests follow the rules of the facility such as but not limited to: socks in the play area, no food or drink outside the party room, parental supervision, etc.
  
  I'm sorry this ruined the memory of your child's birthday. We make our rules very clear in the party contract, the private party agreement, and the waiver every parent must sign so that expectations are very clear before the party even starts. Safety is always my #1 priority and your party was not safe. Rough housing, throwing toys, bringing footballs to toss at each other, and sitting small children on top of vehicles with signage to the contrary are a few of the unsafe behaviors that we had to address with the guests at your party. I will admit that Kim was frustrated and overwhelmed by having to constantly remind guests of the rules, and may not have handled the final payment situation in a patient and polite manner. I think you can understand that when other people make your job difficult for 2 hours straight, it's hard to keep your cool. We are all human and sometimes get upset. 
  
  Again, I apologize because birthday parties are supposed to be fun and memorable in a good way. 
  
  Tricia M********
  Owner & Director of Operations
  Happy Hangout Westside
  2041 Anderson Ferry Rd.
  Cincinnati, OH 45238
  
  
  *Here was her response to my email:*
  

  Hello, 
  Now this is the response I was looking for. I am a business owner myself. I know it’s hard and can get difficult. As I stated in my reviews , also to Kim, I didn’t have an issue paying nor taking accountability for any violations! This issue was that Kim picked up the phone and called the police and said she assumed I was going to walk out! I asked her to split the payment. She said no and called the police! You’re saying, that’s not the story you got but as a business owner , you should be looking into this further. Reach out to the police station. She told them when they came that it was an assumption. They asked her why she would call and lie , she’s wasting their time and she just apologized. I had both of my cards out ready to pay. That’s what needs to be addressed. Kim never once asked us to leave! I get it. It was a big party , parents everywhere, kids everywhere. I apologize for any cleaning inconvenience but I had to ask her to clean prior! She was nasty and rude when I got there. Possibly the party before , I’m not sure. But it should have been taken out on us! This needs to be addressed. Regardless of how unbelievable it sounds. It happened. She never told the police she felt threatened. So what could possibly be the reason she would assume I’d leave. This was wrong in every way! 
  
  Yes, as a women I know this get heated and I know what it’s like dealing with customers. Upset ones at that. But just a total disregard to what happened is unacceptable and makes me feel it is a racial thing. She is YOUR employee and represents YOUR business. 
  
  I’d hope this is discussed further and you can see things from my view. I had to answer to every complaint I got on this lady. I had to hear all the bull crap talking regarding my daughters party! I had to take it a further step for that exact reason! Mid opening gifts , which happened to be the first and only she addressed anything, she walked in our room screaming! Unacceptable. There were adults in the play area almost the whole party. Instead of addressing them, she took it to a whole different level. 
  
  I have never had to explain to my kids why the police were called because she thought I’d leave! It was embarrassing to say the least. 
  
  Hopefully we can come to some conclusion over this matter. Both sides of the story MATTER especially when you have an inappropriate employee. 
  
  
  *Here is my manager, Kim's, statement about the incident in writing.*

  Tons of kids had full donuts, ******* chips, and candy from their grab bags, which included airheads and baby bottle pops, in the play area. Those have a jar of flavor powder attached to them so I knew that was going to be a major disaster. There were two 6 or 7 yr olds in the baby area playing pillow fight with the pads, and they were hitting each other Hard. One kid was climbing the trailer up and over the luggage rack and jumping down. I stopped 3 kids from climbing on the green truck, including a big kid that was just standing on the hood. A parent posed two toddlers on the roof of the green truck for pictures, setting them directly on top of the sign that says "don't climb". And the final straw was the group of older boys throwing the play food at each other. Like humming these things at others faces as hard as they could. All of this happened in the last 15 minutes of their party. I was standing in the middle of the play room going "don't do that," turn to next kid "get down please" turn to next kid "don't climb up there! It's not safe" it was total chaos
  Not including the boys that were playing dodge ball with a real football in the play area all evening. And I mean pelting each other with this ball...or the same boys trying to either do pull-ups on the outside of the jungle gym or trying to climb up on top of the thing. And the NUMEROUS children I had to chase out of the play area with donuts and chips through out the night. She also just did not sweep up the party room at all and there was a spilled drink in there that was not cleaned up either. She didn't threaten me physically, but she screamed at me and shoved her finger in my face, promised to get me fired, said she was going to record me on her phone and post it on social media because "social media is crazy" (her words) and stated repeatedly she would not pay the fee, and I when I couldn't print a receipt, said she wasn't going to pay anything. When I called the cops and told them I was having a problem, the operator said "is she screaming at you right now?" And I said "yes." They could Hear her on the other end of the line yelling at me! I was scared. I don't think calling the cops was a waste. She continued to call me a "nasty racist b****h". 

  (As you can see from the attached contract, much of this behavior is a violation of our use agreement)
  
  *Here is a statement from the other employee who was working the party with Kim and was there for the entire incident. I am not naming her as she is a minor and scared of Andi as she has done nothing but harass our business for this entire week.* 
  
  So at first the kids were okay. Then they started throwing the football near the little kids so kim asked them to stop, so no little kids would get hurt. They continued to play with the football. And the reason why Kim charged them the fee in the first place because they left the party room a mess, and they had candy and chips all over the play area when we had asked them repeatedly to not bring food in there. Kim was not being disrespectful whatsoever, she didn’t even raise her voice, the lady was screaming at her the whole time and trying to argue with her about the whole thing. Also she assumed that we were supposed to be watching the kids. Kim had called the police because she had thought the lady was going to walk out without paying at all because originally she said she wasn’t going to pay the cleaning fee, then after the police were called she suddenly changed her story said she would pay it but she would have to split it between 2 different cards. And the lady got mad about kim thinking she was going to walk out. She was the one that said she was walking out in the first place and started screaming sayin we were racist and how Kim needed to loose her job. 
  
  
  As you can see by all the attached evidence and witness statements, the customer was in gross violation of her acceptable use contract and contracted behavior of each party. She was assessed the fee as per her agreement. My staff does not ever call the cops (even on other occasions where people did not pay) because they have never felt unsafe enough to warrant it until now. As you can guess, a woman and teenage girl versus a screaming woman in their face with all her party guests around as backup can quickly turn into a dangerous situation. This had nothing to do with race and everything to do with contract violation and the threatening belligerent attitude of the customer. 
  
  She can definitely choose to never come here again, but her constant online harassment and spreading of lies is bordering on libel and is starting to make my staff feel unsafe.
  
  Thank you.

  Customer response

  10/24/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.

  The statements given are lies. I have statements as well. 
  I have reached out to ********** ****** department and currently waiting for a statement regarding the “threats” that never happened. 
  

  Both employees are lying on their statements given. As stated before I take full responsibility of any violations! It was the accusations of me running without paying and now all the lies that I have a problem with! As stated to the Owner! As a business, I am the customer and this should be handled. If race isn’t a factor then why are all these lies being made up?? ********** ******, responding officer never got a complaint of none of the things this employee is stating! When they arrived , they asked Kim, the manager what the call was for and she apologized for calling them lying and stated it was an assumption. Kim yelled the entire time during our back and forth. Also, being that my whole party was there at the time of payment was also a lie. 
  

  
  Regards,
  
  **** ******
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩