So much of our parenting energy is devoted to creating unique and memorable experiences for our children. We spend time and energy on the research and the day-of-planning, and, of course, we spend the money.
Naturally, no parent wants to feel like all of that has been wasted. It’s hard to imagine that a company would go out of its way to scam children. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened during what was advertised as a Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow, Scotland.
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Parents paid £35 for the excursion tickets.
Parents who attended the “Willy’s Chocolate Experience” with their children thought they would be entering a world inspired by the Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They expected “enchanted gardens, giant sweets, vibrant blooms, and optical marvels,” as the event website promised.
Instead, families who purchased the £35 tickets ($44.40 US) were met with a sparsely decorated, drab warehouse, NBC News reported.
Alana Lockens, who took two of her children to the event, walked in and knew she had been duped. “It was just ridiculous. I mean, just very amateurish. Absolutely nothing like what was described,” she said.
Still, she tried to play it off. “For the sake of my children, we were trying to be happy and smiley so that they wouldn’t pick up on the disappointment and just tried to make the best of a bad situation,” Lockens explained to NBC News.
Police showed up at the venue to handle disgruntled parents.
Other parents weren’t so willing to keep the peace. Some immediately took their grievances to social media, slamming the event and calling it “absolutely horrendous” and a “disgrace,” as one parent shared on Facebook.
Parents were so incensed, police had to be called to the scene to calm the situation as patrons demanded refunds for the event that left some children in tears, The Guardian reported. The event was canceled just hours after opening.
'We were told to hand the kids a couple of jelly beans and a quarter cup of lemonade at the end,' one event employee said.
Paul Connell was hired as an actor to perform at the space. Even though he was going to be compensated for his time, he was disappointed as well.
“My heart sank looking around … I just felt sad because I was aware of how many kids were going to be coming through. We were told to hand the kids a couple of jelly beans and a quarter cup of lemonade at the end.”
The organizers promised to refund all the patrons.
House of Illuminati, the event organizer, issued a statement about what it called a “stressful and frustrating day.”
“Unfortunately, last minute we were let down in many areas of our event and tried our best to continue on and push through and now realise we probably should have cancelled first thing this morning instead,” the statement read, per NBC News.
The organizers confirmed that they will be issuing full refunds, which take up to 10 days for customers to receive.
