Party City

Not sure why this location got such bad reviews. I’ve been here 3x and the staff has been very helpful. Someone is easy to find within the store. The staff I’ve had help me are always approachable and friendly. They seem sincere to help. I have been pleasantly surprised to have this experience over and over again. Overall I wish they had a wider array of colors of balloons. being that this is the only party supply store in the Bronx. I feel that would give them a much more competitive edge.

The following incident occurred at Party City in Bronx, NY at 1 Fordham Plaza on 11÷6÷13 at 7:02pm. I have contacted Party City’s guest service department, as well as the Better Business Bureau.
While browsing the store this evening, my 6 year old son wanted an item. We waited on line, with approximately five people in front of us, and three cashiers (one who was blowing up balloons). My son and another child began playing with the wind up toys, that are part of the fixtures which arrange the lines in party city stores. We were still in line ten minutes later, with at least seven families now in line behind us. Two associates walked towards the register and I asked if there were additional cashiers. One said she was not a cashier and walked away, the other said she would ask for someone to come to the front, and spoke on her walkie talkie. At this time my son dropped one of the wind up toys, a security guard picked it up, but then I heard him say something to my son. I asked him what he said, and he responded «I told him not to play with the toys». I questioned why he couldn’t, his response was that my son broke the one he dropped. At this time other employees came to the registers to help out. I said to the security guard that he should be speaking to the parent, and not to the child, but how dare he accuse my son of breaking anything. More than half of those toys were broken, and if we weren’t waiting on line for so long, the kids wouldn’t have to entertain themselves. He continued to argue with me, at which point I turned to the registers and asked who the manager was. A man behind the counter, (who was not helping any guests), said he was. I asked him to come over, and he said «In a moment». I told my son he had done nothing wrong, and he could continue to play with whatever he wanted. The guard told me that he was going to charge me for anything my son broke. I finally got to the register and I had to summon the manager again. I wanted his name, and the guards name and company. The manager, Ray, claimed he had no clue what the guards name was or what company they were licensed from, since that was all done by corporate. He also acted as if he had no clue of what was going on. The phone number Ray attempted to give me was the store phone number, which is printed right on the receipt, instead of the corporate phone number. This poorly trained manager is not one who should be representing the Party City stores. Your security should be trained on how to speak to children and guests, and more importantly, how NOT to speak to children. The guard said his name was Ali and he was from Brosnan Security.

Totally disappointing. I called the store for an item, I was put on hold and after 5 minutes representative hang up. I called once again, I asked for the item, transferred to the manager and item was not found. I let the manager know that in my previous call the person assisting hang up on me (calm tone of voice and with the desire of providing positive feedback). She did not apologize, but resorted to explain me that because no one picked up the phone, my called was shut down. (hello! is this what’s going to happen every time someone calls your store?). I have never had this type of experience at other Party City. By the way this is a brand new store, not a good start.