The Main Event

I so wish we had read all these reviews BEFORE we booked The Main Event for a wedding reception. The event had been contracted in November and a deposit paid. Unfortunately, the wedding had to be pushed back a few months. They were called in plenty of time (three months) to reschedule the wedding right after the first of the year. They were all accommodating on the phone when setting the new date. The word ‘Friday’ was used several times during the conversation. SOMEHOW, the person making the change got it marked on the scheduling on the wrong day. When they were called to arrange final details, we were told that date had been booked, our date was the next day, Saturday, which made it necessary to search for another venue, which isn’t so easy on short notice. Here’s the thing… the owner and manager will NOT refund the $ 250 deposit even though it was THEIR clerical error. I am sure that amount is a drop in the bucket for such a large venue. However, it is a big deal for two young people trying to pay for a wedding themselves. I can’t understand why they cannot refund the deposit since they were told in plenty of time. I could maybe understand if they were notified late and could not re-​book that date. However, this is not the case… the date was already booked and they did not lose any money. Why not refund the money and not risk yet another bad review. Like I said in the beginning, I wish we had read all the other bad reviews in the first place. Obviously, this is not the first time someone has come out on the losing end of dealings with The Main Event on Lancaster. I would never use nor recommend The Main Event on ANY occasion! They are totally unprofessional and will not take ownership of any mistake THEY make.

Everything seemed great with this venue for my wedding reception, until a few weeks before the event. There’s a huge event that blocks off the entire street and then some that landed on the same date. They claimed they didn’t know about it, which is hard to believe considering it happens every year for the past few years. They couldn’t reserve more than a few spaces for us and our guests. So getting there was a nightmare. On top of that, apparently after my wife and I left, they started kicking everyone out. We had the place booked until 9, and we left no later than 7:30. I’m very disappointed with them. Did I forget to mention they failed to ever take my email down properly so I never got a receipt for any of this? They dropped the ball bug time.

Where do I even start?
Okay, so in the beginning, everything was great. They were friendly, and the venue itself was perfect for our wedding reception. We paid for two extra hours for set up, and were very happy and excited.
Fast forward several months, and we suddenly see a flyer about Streets of Lancaster, happening over the weekend of our wedding. So about a week later, we call the venue, and they claim they didn’t know about it until just a couple days ago.
Even if this were the case, why didn’t they contact us and give us a heads up? However, I don’t buy it for a second. Turns out Streets of Lancaster has been going on for years around the same time of year. Not to mention I’m sure there were TONS of ads around Lancaster Blvd for months.
So this was some fun stress for bride-​to-​be, but I figured it would be fine.
Fast forward again to the day of our wedding, and that’s when things really fell apart.
Suddenly there’s no record of us paying for those extra two hours of set up. In desperation, my parents shoveled out another $ 100 just so they’d have time to get the place decorated.
And to really top everything off, after my husband and I left the reception, instead of allowing all the guests to stay and dance and have fun for the remaining two hours of the reception we paid for (we left at 7, we had the venue until 9), they began shooing people out.
I don’t even know what to say at this point. They are OUTRAGEOUSLY unprofessional. Don’t be like me. I assumed the reviews were incorrect, or outdated, or some other form of denial on my part.
Believe the reviews.

This venue was amazing for me and my family the staff was wonderful and assist me all the way with colors balloons sashes everything for my birthday even the awesome food. the blvd makes its a hit there was a large amount of parking and star treatment for our guests. i recommend this place for all your events ! i have even heard of some celebrities renting this place out ! i promise you your going to love it there thanks main event for my beautiful special birthday party i will be back!

If it were possible to give a zero or –1 star rating, it would be too high!!!
The Main Event are managed by a group of unprofessional, dishonest crooks that will take any contract they have with their customers and throw it out the window. My fiancé and I wanted to have our wedding reception here, and everything seemed alright until you signed the contract. Then, everything goes downhill!
The night we signed contracts and finalized the time and date, I offered to pay the full amount for the party right there but their employee tells me not to, and assures me to pay the full amount two weeks before the party starts. Also, their contract requires us to buy a $ 1,000,000 liability insurance policy (no joke) for our party. We ask them why we need to do this, and are told ‘don’t worry’ we can use theirs. So, believing their explanations in good faith, we sign it. Finally, we ask for a copy of our contract; we are promised that it will be scanned and emailed to us the following day.
Fast forward two weeks later (and still waiting for copy of the contract), and the main event management call us to first ask, then demand we change the time of our party. They claim that a city inspector is coming that Saturday @ 4pm (seriously, a poor lie… only a fool would believe). In all reality, they double booked the time and date and wanted us to move our party. And then they claim they record all their phone conversations (a crime if not mentioned at the beginning of any phone call btw) and that they have a recording of my fiancé asking that our party end at the time they needed it to end. Of course, I ask to listen to this recording, and all I get is silence from the management. Yes, another lie… this place is on a roll for sure!
Finally, they claim we are in breach of contract because we didn’t pay half the bill 10 days after signing the contract… you know the contract I still never had a copy of, which also contradicts what they told us the night we signed our contract.
They cancelled our agreement over that, but refunded our initial $ 250 security deposit anyway. If we were in breach of contract like they claim, they I would’ve forfeited the deposit. They lied to get out of our contract with them, and we were forced to cancel our party altogether because we couldn’t find another place to hold it.
If you want to do business with a bunch of lying scam artists, then look no further than Rapture Gold and the Main Event! If you want unprofessional and disrespectful customer service, then this is the place for you!

Do NOT do business here! So disorganized one employee will tell you one thing and quote you a price and then another employee will tell you something different. And in the end you’ll be lucky if they haven’t double booked the day of your event. And then the manager will call you and lie about what your contract says.
If you ARE for some crazy reason you are going to use this facility my advise would be to get everything they say in WRITING in the contract because they might SAY you can come in 30 minutes before your event start time to set up but at the end of the day they LIE.

This place is a complete eyesore! It is located on a beautiful street with wonderful storefronts, but then there is this. It is embarrassing to look at. I sure hope they do eventually make this place look presentable. The inside looks nice, it just that the outside looks terrible.

Unlike the previous review, our experience was nothing but absolutely perfect. We had a tragic event in our family that caused us to have to do a memorial for someone on short notice. Easter weekend no less! We expected at least 150 – 200 people but more than that showed up. They brought in more chairs and were quick to offer any other help we needed.
The owners, managers, and workers were all extremely helpful and friendly and cared that everything went smoothly. They allowed us to bring in our own food and drink… something you never see in most event centers and were very affordable when (with the short notice) they could of easily charged us more.
They have a very nice location with plenty of parking and easy loading. I personally would recommend this place to anyone. Sorry they had a problem back in early 2012 from the last review… but they apparently fixed whatever issues they were having. Basically they went so far out of the way to help us, I’m writing this review to help them let people know this is a great location to have your event!
Thank you Main Event for everything… you came through in a big way for us!
The Mayes & Freiberg Families

We held a baby shower at The Main Event and it was the WORST business I’ve ever had! My friend booked the venue for her daughter’s baby shower and first of all, we couldn’t get into the venue early because «it wasn’t in the contract» the lady said. However, when she and her daughters were coordinating the day and time, they gave the details, including a time for preparation. The lady argued otherwise. She stated that, the customer never said that. What kind of business is this?
Even worse was the fact that the business owners had said that the venue was booked that morning for an event but when we arrived at 1100, there was no one there. The doors were locked and the place was dark. We asked if we could set up early but they said no. We had to come back at 1:00 pm to set-​up. Then they had the audacity to charge us a set-​up fee in addition to the deposit that was made. Isn’t that what the deposit was for?
So we rushed to get the decorations, the balloons and the cake before 3:00 pm when the party was scheduled to start but we ran out of time. So we spent the whole afternoon rushing to play games, eat and clean-​up. We had the event scheduled from 3:00 pm — 7:00 pm but had to get out of there at 6:00 pm. The lady decided to kick us out early!
The rental prices are based on a four-​hour event period but we got ripped off! They claim that they coordinate with your plans whether it is on entertainment, florists, caterers, etc. but we didn’t receive any help from them.
This is the WORST BUSINESS EVER! They were inconsiderate, rude and their customer service was the WORST customer service I’ve ever had! I know how to provide excellent customer service because I worked in retail and I work at the front desk at my job. They were snooty, shady and the worst business owners I’ve ever dealt with.
If you have a party that you want to hold, do yourself a favor and book your event someplace else!