MFA Bowl Reviews

Terrible place to bowl!
Went for a night out with the Mrs as we were baby free for the night. The first lane we were put on was fine for a couple of turns then started putting in all the scores wrong, we managed to get moved to a different lane but yet again this one wasn't working either, the barrier came down and stayed down for about 5 minutes every time!
After wasting about 40 minutes in total and still not getting to play a game, we went to speak to Claire the manager about getting a refund. Turns out they don't do refunds on the premises and all refunds have to be requested by email. The reason for that is now obvious..... so they can ignore every email you send and make sure you never get your refund!
The place itself is in desperate need of refurbishment, its dirty, balls are chipped, lanes don't work and chairs are disgusting. Definitely don't bother wasting your money!

Dirty and now overpriced. Used to be very cheap however I went on sunday, it was rather expensive and drinks were also overpriced. Dark and dirty. I was shocked that it would have been marginally cheaper to go to Hollywood bowl in Strood. Although the cost difference was small the facilities there are much better. Will not return

Absolutely disgusting. Manager ‘Maisie’ was just trying to get us to spend more money as opposed to go through. Lanes were absolutely filthy. Maisie made a mistake and instead of rectifying it- she tried to blame it on me and scream ‘no refunds’. Whole establishment is run by bratty kids that are so unhelpful and disrespectful. Will never ever take my family there again.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
This was by far the most disgusting place physically and their behaviour matches.
The Short grease ball manager walks around like Fagin picking pockets and robbing people blind. The bowling balls are DENTED (how does a bowling ball dent) the pins will fall over or not rack the staff hide the no refund policy sign and whip that out over nowhere the second you show them how busted everything is.

The closest to 10pin youll get is bowled over in cons, creatures, crusty carpets

We paid 59.80 for 3 games and didnt even finish 1

Paid online for 3 games of bowling. Upon arrival was already charged more than the online price stated - ignored this for the sake of avoiding drama. Our lane malfunctioned after the second go so already had to be moved to another. The 2nd was then inconsistent and didn’t accurately display our scores. After the 1st game we requested (politely) a refund for the final 2 games but we’re quickly shot down and shown a handwritten “no refunds” sign hidden behind the counter… the manager was rude, defensive and basically told us to go to head office. Sadly, the staff didn’t even remove the dirty glasses from the previous customers on our lane (not very hygienic during covid). The painfully Fluorescent lights genuinely made the experience painful, the beer tasted off, bowling balls chipped and totally overpriced!

The venue is a covid hotspot, not one of the lanes was cleaned/wiped down inbetween use.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY - SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN!

Made a phone call to change booking time, was immediately put on hold for 10 mins, eventually got through and changed time. Today I find out I've been charged £5.05 for the privilege of being on hold. ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING AND I CANT EVEN CALL TO COMPLAIN WITHOUT BEING CHARGED AGAIN.

On to of all that... Food was bad, bowling lanes were in extremely poor condition and kept breaking down. And to top it off, genuine real life excrement smeared on the gents toilet wall.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Booked my sons birthday party at Blackpool MFA bowl back in Feb for mid April... as things started to get tense around covid early March I phoned and asked what would happen if we couldn't attend, they told me getting a full refund wouldn't be an issue if they had to close and it wasn't our choice not to attend

6 months later, 2 emails, 2 face book messages and countless phonecalls we still don't have our money back! Horrific customer service! My son was told by us he can have a treat/family day when the money comes back and he's still waiting

To whom it may concern.

Elliot my Autistic son has always loved bowling and attended your Burnley branch almost weekly until Covid19 hit.

Elliot's condition means hes very fixed on rituals and routine and the need for everything around him to stay the same. Hes really struggles with loud music or whats called double barrel sounds. His biggest worry over the Covid outbreak was not being able to attend his beloved bowling.

Elliot was super excited when I told him you were finally allowed to reopen and I had booked us 2 games on Sunday afternoon. We got lots of giggles and wonderful noises from a very excited young man.

Time had finally come and we walked unto our favourite bowling venue, but the music was so loud. Elliot went into instant meltdown, I asked your staff behind the till to turn the speakers down. The woman in charge at first did little to support us. After the sixth attempt to ask her. She finally switched the sound down, after saying the customers wouldn't like it, not having any music on.

We went to our allocated alley and the music got switched back up. The music actually physically hurts my sons ears. Imagine knowingly, physically hurting a young disabled person after explaining to the woman on the desk about his condition. It was only when I stopped an employee at the bar whom saw my son wincing in pain with his hands covering his ears. That the music finally got switched off and the woman at the till told my daughter to let her know when we were leaving.

Now, I used to toilet, to find none of the lights worked, so had to use the torch on my phone to get around. Before returning to our allocated space.

As I previously said I booked two games on line. The sweeper for the bowls broke/froze 5 times. Half way though the second game. The technician, said he would move us from lane 7 to lane 8. At this point the woman from the till, I'm presuming she was the manager, came over and announced she was switching on the speakers. Her reason for doing this she said was because the technicians out the back could not hear them speak!!!!!!!!! I tried to explain we were half way though the game and that we would have to leave, because my son would go into overload and have a meltdown, but she didn't care. I'd paid for two games and your staff would see my son in pain, for what gain????

This is discrimation against a disabled young person, not only directly discriminating but also indirect discrimination. My son behaved impeccably and this woman for what ever reason, hurt him, she wanted to see him cry. My son had been looking forward to this visit for 6 months and she shattered that, for what reason???? Ten minutes and we would have finished that game. Ten minutes and my son would of walked out of there with the biggest smile on his face, but she shattered that!!

I didnt cause a scene. But asked for a refund for that last game and got a credit note. My son was not welcome on that visit, what ever happened to inclusion??? My son had as much right to be there as anyone else. But instead this woman. Full on bullied my son. SHE MADE IT SO WE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO LEAVE. But she gave us a credit note, so now we can relive this all sinario all over again, thats if I could even get him in the door after this womans bullying tactics.

So shame on you MFA bowling. Shameful that you haven't trained your staff in Autism. Shame on her for bullying my son. Shame on you for not being inclusive. Shame on you for not having walky talkies for your staff that you need to put the volume up on the speakers. That physically hurt my son!!!!!

My son walked out of there and had a full on. Two hour melt down. With screams and tears and you broken our hearts!!!!

After emailing 3 times and no response i will post my email here in the hope none ever visits

Good Morning

I am writing in regards regards to my visit to the Burnley Bowling. My first visit on
Friday 17th Was a absolute disaster I attend with my partner and 2 children and purchased the one hour family bowling slot most of this time I would say more than half was used up by faults on our lane which take a massive amount of time to resolve. Once the issue were resolved I find a serious lack of balls available to be used in addition to this the bar was not maned and waited 20 mins to be served once we was served the beer was flat and un drinkable which was a longer wait for them to resolve this all on all was a terrible and expensive evening .

Against my better judgement my children wished to attended bowling again at this branch 31/02/2020

Yet again after waiting 45 mins to be given a lane after calling in advance to check there was lanes available. When we was given the lane there was again a massive shortage of balls and yet again we had numerous break downs until the point 30 mins in that the lane stopped and no one repaired this after several people said they was looking into it we eventually gave and did not bother carrying as yet again we wasted money on a hour bowl and drinks that take far too long to get severed.

All in all it is fair to say it was a terrible experience on both trips.

i booked a party in june in the function room for sept. went to talk about tables disco etc and was told they had double booked, then was told “ we can close the whole bowling part and you can have your party there” great we thought they promised free bowling and everything. then a different manager told us “ we can’t do that “ we asked for a refund and had to find another venue. asked for a refund and we were told you have to go through head office, still waiting!!!! they wouldn’t give us any contact details for head office. utter shambles, terrible customer service, they had even taken money for the disco which isn’t anything to do with them. £350 down and hitting a brick wall. avoid at all costs.

My son and his 2 friends went to play paid £42 for 3 games. Bowled two balls each and stopped working. Asked Kizzy for a refund- she refused said dont give refunds but you can have soft drink. What a shambles and a con of a 17 year old I am going to see them tomorrow to get money back but suggest you do not use them utter rubbish. If i dont get refund I will be going to trading standards - a disgrace 1 star is1 too many.

Please avoid at all costs a dump that should be closed down

I booked this for a group of 13 children for an end of season celebration and I cannot find the words to describe how bad this place was.

1. Lanes didn't work initially and we had to track someone down to fix it
2. Despite ordering all the food on arrival at least an hour before we needed it, it was not ready all at the same time. Initially I was told they had no beans but someone went to Morrisons to get some, which were served cold ! Chicken nuggets were served 1st followed 5 minutes later by fish fingers (which were so over cooked you could not see any fish in them nor cut them) 20 mins later and with lots of complaining the cheeseburgers and other food came out. This was cruel for the poor children who had to sit and watch their friends eat and who in the end really didn't each much of it as they ran out of time
3. I had to remind the staff that they were supposed to be providing drinks.
4. I saw the chef handling food with bare hands and transferring it from plate to plate in the kitchen.
5. Toilets were dirty and the children were asking for hand gel after they came out
6. I tried to complain but apparently the manager "had gone out" but he was very clearly there as he could be seen through the office window. I had to speak to the "person with most experience" who had been there 4 months who told me there was no refund possible, there was nothing he could do. All the staff just looked at me blankly when I tried to complain. And to add insult to injury 2 of the staff were heard to watch out for the "whinging old lady" and fist bumped each other
7. The place appears to be run by a bunch of teenagers, some of whom could definitely benefit from a shower, who were mostly sullen and had no idea of customer service.

I do think that the place would benefit from a health inspector visit too, needless to say my handgel packs were all used by the end of the visit

I don't like to give poor reviews but I would rate a zero if I could, please be assured that none of this is exaggerated.

All in all an appalling experience and somewhere I will never visit again - I will continue to try to track down someone to make a formal complaint to and request a refund but in the meantime reviews will have to do

I was going to leave this review some time ago as the bowl in Crewe had been deteriorating - filthy, lanes breaking down etc.
Sadly instead of trying to make improvements it closed down with little notice so the Leagues were left in the lurch.

It could have been such a good venue in a good setting for all ages and abilities to enjoy.
We hope someone else will open another in the area.

Took my 11 & 14yrs kids for an evenings bowling and arcade games, part way through the bowling around 8pm the music changed from family easy listening to explicitly embarrassing with Fuxx Bitxx Nixxxr and a whole host of other words. At this time their was parents with small kids present. I maybe in the minority as my kids tell me but come on MFA BANBURY, I should be able to enjoy an evening at your establishment and not be subjected to your attempt at normalizing such explicit language. Sort it out Fiona (manager)

Weymouth

dont bother rude staff broken lanes no system for booking dont have to wear bowling shoes rides and machines broken - company does not do refunds on anything - think this site most be closing as the others, reason for no refunds company prob has no money left - MFA = crap