What Happened To The 40/40 Club?

ESPN Room

Have you ever gone to an establishment and spent your hard-earned money only to be mistreated?  Have you ever waited on hold or on line for an excruciating amount of time and received attitude instead of customer service? In the past, if an issue couldn’t be resolved with a manager, people would write a letter and tell a few friends. Now we  have tools available that  allow us to share our experiences with the world, which is what I intend to do.

I was always told that someone’s 30th birthday is a momentous occasion.  It’s  supposed to be the birthday of all birthdays.  I turned 30  last Sunday, April 4th, and decided to celebrate my birthday at the “exclusive” 40/40 club.  I ordered one of the  birthday packages, which includes: reserved seating, front of the line passes, birthday cake, balloons and more.  What I thought was going to be a perfect night, almost turned out to be a complete disaster.

The Beginning

When I arrived at the club ,  I was told that my reservation was not on file. Luckily, I had saved the confirmation email  and showed the staff that I not only received a confirmation from 40/40, but my credit card had been charged. The staff made me and my guests wait outside in the cold while they tried to locate my order. After 40-minutes of waiting, they let us inside only to tell me that someone didn’t process my order. Because my order was not processed (but still  charged to my card), they did not have the seating or anything else that was supposed to be included with my birthday package.  We ended up in the ESPN Hall Of Fame Lounge sharing seats with several other parties.

The Middle

How the club used to look

After some of the other parties had left the room for the evening, everyone at my party was able to sit and relax a little. We ordered some food, drinks, listened to music and played pool.  It almost made up for everything that had happened in the beginning, except our waitress was extremely rude. Not only was she rude, she tried to get over on everyone. She charged an extra $3-$4 per drink on top of the bar price. We found this out by people going to the bar to order their drinks. Also, the waitress never came back with anyone’s change. She kept it as if it were her tip.

The End

The night definitely ended with a bang. A friend of mine was leaving the club and asked the bouncer who took his hat from him when he first arrived if he could get it for him. The bouncer showed my friend a pile of hats, but his hat was not there. The bouncer told him there was nothing he could do and that he had to leave the club. My friend asked to speak with a manager, but the staff completely ignored him. The situation ended up escalating to the point where the cops had to get involved.

That’s how my 30th birthday went. The good news is because of social media, my story can spread and maybe influence some kind  of change. Where did you experience really bad customer service and what action did you take?