Thursday, June 5, 2008

A Birthday Party @ McDonald's, anyone?

Two years ago, I planned a Disney Princess Birthday party for my daughter who's turning 7 that year. Luckily for me, I saw a pamphlet that McDonald's do offer this kind of a theme party and so I went to the SM Bacoor branch of McDonald's and booked my kid's birthday party on the 17th of December, 2006. I asked them if we can have this kind of birthday cake from Goldilocks since it's their official cake supplier:

Disney Princess Birthday Cake


They said that they can arrange that and I trusted them that they'll get the job done, since I worked before at this same branch I thought that they'll do good. And so the big day came, we went to the venue a little early so that I can still prepare my daughter in her Cinderella costume. Just before the party started the crew who's going to host the party told me that they didn't have the birthday cake I ordered and that they'll just use their McDonald's cake instead and just put a Disney Princess design made out of cartons to create the theme, look at the picture and see how they did it:

The Alternate Birthday Cake


I was really disappointed about this, I asked them why they didn't call me about the problem with the cake, I could have arranged that we bring our own birthday cake for my daughter! They just told me that the cake they ordered didn't came, now that's some lousy reason, huh! Though the host tried his best to keep the party alive with lots of games, I can't ignore the fact that we didn't get the right birthday cake for my daughter. And to think that the event will be immortalized by pictures, we'll be constantly reminded of this negligence by the crew and management of this McDonald's branch!

Moving on... Almost a month ago, I planned another party for my son's 7th birthday celebration, I didn't go to the SM Bacoor branch because of that experience with my daughter's cake and we thought that it would be practical for us to do the event in the McDonald's Imus branch near our place, also it's a new branch and a friend of mine from my McDo days is now a manager there. So we, me and my son, went there to book for the Incredibles theme party but unfortunately, they said that it's already obsolete! They offered the McTroopers theme instead since it's a boy's birthday party and my son accepted the theme because the crew, Ms. Ina, showed him the freebies. The party was booked 11th of May. Then I told them that I'd bring the birthday cake that I planned to buy from Red Ribbon but they insisted that they would never allow a "foreign" food inside the party and that they have an agreement with Goldilocks about the cakes. Right there and then I told the crew, Ms. Ina, that I already had a bad experience about that kind of arrangement and I don't want to risk the cake again! She asked the managers of the branch about my suggestion but they insisted that the cake is already included in the package and that McTroopers characters will be on the cake. Ms. Ina assured me that she will make sure that the cake will be fine, these are her words exactly, "Ma'am, ako na po personally ang mag-aasikaso ng cake, 'pag pumalpak 'yung cake n'yo ako na po ang awayin n'yo..." So I told her in a joking manner, "Sigurado ka dyan sa sinabi mo ha! Ikaw ang aawayin ko!", but really, I am dead serious about this!

And so the day came... As soon as we arrived, I checked the cake...and guess what?!

DISASTER! They got the name of my son spelled wrong! The cake was bare, no McTroopers above it just a single figurine of a boy in a basketball get-up, a big yellow M and some letters spelled "Love ko 'to" (at least that spelled right!)...in short, so very NOT the cake that they promised me! I should have taken a picture of that "wrong spelling" disaster!

Not only that, Ms. Ina, remember her, wasn't even the one to host the party and she's blaming the other crew (the one hosting the party, Ms. Joy) about the cake disaster! And so I told Ms. Ina about our agreement, she was scared that I'd be hysterical, but of course I kept my composure and asked her to do something about the spelling of my son's name on the cake. You know what she did? She took a spoon and attempted to alter the line of the icing to make the letter E into an A, but what happened was the whole name got stuck in the spoon and the name was erased! What the?!?! She was almost crying when she called my attention and told me what happened to the name on the cake...I still kept my calm and said, "Pwede ba mag-print ka na lang ng name ng anak ko sa papel at iyon ang itakip ma d'yan?!". And she ran off to their office to make a print-out. My mistake is that I didn't get a picture of the much worst disaster that happened to the cake! Here's how the altered cake looked like after the commotion:

The "Patched" Cake


Then Ms. Joy approached me and told me that we have to start the party or we have to pay an extra Php500 for the excess time that we'll spend inside the venue! So I told her that no one reminded me about it, they are busy altering the name on the cake and they tell me that I have to pay for the excess time! So I demanded her to start the party immediately, and to my dismay, she is the most boring host I have ever met! Oh my gosh, I don't want to comment anymore, I have to stop here before I say something bad about this person! Not only the hosting was bad, the cake was a disaster, the give-aways are so cheap (they gave out Disney Princess items!) but also the food they served was unsatisfactory! The spaghetti noodles are soggy and not cooked properly! Aurgh! That was too much disaster for me to handle! I just let the party move on and finish since the kids didn't notice these kind of things!

But please, please, please, to all of the crew and management of any McDonald's or even any establishments that offer party packages, DO YOUR BEST TO GIVE YOUR CUSTOMERS A QUALITY SERVICE that we truly deserve, WE PAID FOR IT with our hard earned money, we TRUSTED you to give us the great time and great memories, WHAT WE ONLY ASK IS PLEASE DO YOUR PART!

To summarize all of these experiences in my two children's birthday parties, in two different McDonald's branches, I am very much DISAPPOINTED! I hope that these experiences of mine will serve as a warning to every person or parent who looks for a great place to spend their money on parties!


As for my ratings:

Birthday Party @ McDonald's SM Bacoor : ♥ ♥

Birthday Party @ McDonald's Imus (near LTO) : ♥


I rest my case!