Party Mania

Businesses generally compete based on product, price, and customer service. In order to survive you need to do well in two of these areas. This place doesn't. They have a good selection, and are convenient, but are over-priced and don't have a problem sticking it to the customer unnecessarily.

My wife went in on 1/23/11 to purchase supplies for a party on 2/6/11. The store has a 14-day return policy and the earliest a return could be made was on day 15. The store manager told her not to worry about making a return saying they weren't that strict as long as it came back within a reasonable amount of time. The party was for our 6-year old triplets and with 40+ kids in attendance, we didn't want to run out of stuff. My wife spent $180 and didn't use $29 of it. I returned it on 2/8/11 (day 16) and the manager refused to give a refund, only a store credit. Now I have to carry around the store credit until I can use it. After that, I won't do business with this place as I won't deal with dishonest people as a matter of principal.

Unless you're in an absolute hurry and this place is convenient, I recommend finding a Party City instead. If you're trying to plan ahead by buying early, or have to special order something, or have any other concerns where something could go wrong, and customer service might be an issue, I wouldn't count on this place taking care of you. They get two stars because the selection is okay for a small shop.

On 10/21/09 I asked the man at the store about the box that includes helium tank and 50 small ballons, $30 plus value. He said if I purchase 50 ballons through the store, those ballons are large and they last 8 to 10 hours. I ordered those large ballons with a long string for Saturday 24th 5:30 PM. I pre-paid it $52.50. I went to pick those up at 5:50 PM, just before they closed at 6 PM. My surprise was to see 50 small ballons, not large that the employee stated.

I took them anyway, I had no choice and no time to get new ones just because my halloween party started at 7 PM that day, and my son and friends were all expenting to see the ballons. The other dissapointment was that the ballons didn't last as stated, not even 4 hours. I called the store on Monday to complain but no response from the manager.

I called back the following day. The manager answered but she didn't do anything to resolve the problem. Farthermore, she stated that there are no larger ballons, and that I should had brought the ballons back! I told her that the store was closed at 6 PM. She said I should had brought the ballons back the following day, Sunday.

I could have bought the box with the small 50 ballons at a much cheaper price. The ballons didn't perform as the employee stated, and I paid much more expecting large ballons but I received small ballons. I would like to have all the money paid back. $52.50