We organised a 5th birthday party for my son at the Jitterbugs Castle Hill venue for 11:00am on Sunday 4 December 2011. When we reached the venue we found that nothing had been set up including no sitting arrangements for the parents . When we questioned the staff about this, they said that they are shortstaffed (something that was not revealed to us beforehand).

As per our arrangement Jitterbugs were supposed to prepare their set menu of chicken breast nuggets,fruit platter, hot chips and unlimited supply of fruit juice cordial (Menu 2) for kids and another for the parents as well as wedges. However when we reached the venue there was only cheese and crackers on the table. Upon questioning the staff, they set off to prepared the platters but came out with only one fruit platter for the kids. We had to go back and show them what we had booked and it was only then that they set off to make the second platter for the parents. At this point most of the kids and parents had arrived at the venue (around 11:00am) as per our invitation.

At about 11:20 a.m a staff member came and asked whether they should start preparing the chicken nuggets and wedges. To this we questioned whether this was not already done and were told no.

So for a party booked for 11:00 a.m the food arrived at approximately 12:00 noon already one hour late, after we had to go and ask for these dished at least three times. Also they were two plates short so we had to chase after this as well.

The kids were getting restless and hungry by this time. However, we as well as the other parents there were surprised to see that for $21.95 per child (excluding the cake and lolly bags) that we were being charged for the function the Jitterbugs only served one nugget with some chips for a 5 year olds meal. When we went to question the menu with a staff member we were told that they will give us some more nuggets on the house although we could see that they had prepared another batch of chicken nuggets that they had placed behind the counter and were helping themshelves to it.

As for the catering we had to go and ask for cordial that should come with the meal as well as serviettes.

The Jitterbugs website clearly states that the birthday parties (min 8 kids-we had 11 at this party) there is supposed to be a host either a lady bug or bumble bee for boys who are supposed to provide full party table sevice including organised games but unfortunately neither of these services were extended to us although we were charged for this service. Neither was there a host present for the party nor were any games or entertainment provided for the kids.

There were two staff present on the day out of which only one was dressed as a lady bird while the other was in normal casual clothes. Instead of hosting the party as they are supposed to these staff were busy serving other customers in the ajoining cafe. When questioned about these services that we had paid for, a staff member very rudely told us that they were short staffed and to call her boss. Upon calling the boss to ask her about this inconsistencies we were rudely told that she was busy with another christmas party offsite and did not have time to talk to us.

I feel really sorry for my 5 year old son as nobody from the Jitterbugs even bothered to come out and sing the happy birthday song for him. However, to put icing on the cake, when we went to pay, we were charged for one and half hours instead of one hour service that we had booked even though the Jitterbugs had taken one hour to get the food ready. When we pointed this out to the staff we were told that they have been instructed to do so by their boss.

This whole thing has left us very embarrased infront of all the parents and also guilty that were were not able to provide our son with the birthday that we promised him. He has been looking forward to this for months.

The parents of 11 other kids that witnessed all this and were as equally horrified by all this as us. We got comments that they were never hosting their birthday parties at Jitterbugs.

I called the manager/owner (boss) the next day to complain but she instead tried to shift all the problems on being shortstaffed which just shows that they are unprepared to host our event.

So even if you book the party and pay the money there is no guarenttee that you will get the service that you paid for. On that fact that there was no host for the party or entertainment provided as per the website the (boss) said that there should have been somebody looking after the party and was supposed to talk to the staff and get back to me but I am still waiting.

Having been to several kids parties over the years this was by far the worst experience that I have ever had.

We have written a formal letter of complaint to the Jitterbugs management as well but as usual have not recieved any response.

Approximate cost: $300