So in January 2020 I rang to book a kids party for 10 kids at Gallones Market Harborough. I was simply told over the phone what food options there would be and the activities available and was asked to pay a £50 deposit over the phone and told I would get an email receipt. Nothing else was said at this point about any contract etc.
2 days later I received an email confirming the booking and number of children. I scrolled to the end and found an attachment for the printable invitations and another curious document called 'disclaimer'. In this document they spoke of how: ''Your party booking is with Gallones Ice Cream Parlours. Your booking is confirmed when we have received your £50 deposit and we have sent a confirmation email. Please note that upon confirmation your deposit is non-refundable'' so basically once you get sent this email you can't change anything even though no one told you that when you booked.
Then it stated: 'We ask that all parents ... will at all times respect the decision of the Gallone’s staff member to reprimand to any children who seem unruly.'' Reprimand? Sounds very archaic! I didn't feel comfortable with having a party where someone else was going to be having a go at the kids for the duration of the party - after all what does 'seem unruly' mean - just chatting etc?
'' Gallone’s Ice Cream Parlours reserve the right to cancel any started party due to disruptive and unruly customers, which includes children and adults. No refund will be given and customers will be expected to pay the full outstanding balance. The choice to stop any party will only be taken by the parlour manager. All actions will be taken by staff to control the party before stopping...'' So basically if kids are a bit noisy or excited the party gets cancelled 5 minutes in and you end up with a heartbroken birthday child and having to call all the parents back to collect their kids just after the party has started! No thank you. The terms seemed unreasonable at very least and to be honest no children's party we'd booked anywhere before had any terms and conditions anyway.
I emailed them stating that as they had not informed me of terms and conditions at the time of booking I required a refund of the deposit and to cancel the party. No reply. My partner then emailed explaining that as I had booked over the phone I had a 14 day cool off period by law and needed a refund. No reply. When we emailed next both our emails received an auto reply stating we couldn't email! I contacted my bank who agreed that by law I was entitled to a refund of the deposit but when I spoke with them again they said Gallones Market Harborough were ignoring them also.
We wrote to the Market Harborough Parlour and this got ignored also. Not until my partner contacted their head office with a legal letter did they send a cheque within a few days with a letter stating they had tried emailing us several times (none of these ever got through suspiciously!) and that they never received our emails - convenient. A bit of a sham!
If you want your birthday child 'reprimanded' then book for a fun party at Gallones!
Party went ahead at Nandos where staff were super friendly and kids had fun with colouring activities and lots of yummy food!
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