Are all bouncy castle hire companies created equal ?
My name is David I am the owner of 1st Choice Bouncy Castle Hire I decided to write this article in the hope it may help some of you when next hiring a bouncy castle or any other sort of inflatables. 1st CHOICE have been trading since 2013 during this time we have seen the Good, Bad and Ugly within the industry, sadly some customers don't understand just what it takes to supply not only top quality equipment but also a great service from the start / finish of every booking.
We get many calls every year from customers asking if we can price match with so and so company they have seen on google or Facebook, we always try our best to explain why are prices are set at an affordable but completive rate. Obviously sometimes this can fall on death ears and I can understand some customers want the best deal they can find at the cheapest rate, lets face it we all like a deal but like most things in life you get what you pay for and bouncy castle hire isn't any different.
Most customers sadly find this out the hard way, we must get close to 60 or so calls every year from upset customer who have been let down last minute on the day of there party and in most cases its to late for us to help we try our best but sometimes its to late notice for us to help. We have many stories similar to the one I'm going to share with you below, this is to illustrate just one example of the kind of calls we receive on a regular basis.
Customer from Dudley called to enquire about one of our unicorn bouncy castles, she really liked the theme and style of the inflatable but was insistent that she could get one similar for £10 cheaper but wanted to use us because we have better reviews ect than the other company. I kindly explained our prices are set to comply with quality of equipment, level of service, insurance, castle testing and many other little cogs that keep the wheels turning.
We didn't hear back from the lady customer until about 2 weeks after she first called to enquire about the unicorn bouncy castle, she called at around 10am in a blind panic trying to explain she called 2 weeks ago and asked if she could still hire the unicorn inflatable because the other company had let here down and wont answer or return here calls.
Unfortunately this was to late notice as all drivers and delivery's had already set out for the day and the bouncy castle in question had already been booked by another customer, horribly the lady customer was in such distress she began to cry down the phone I felt awful but my hands were literally tied there wasn't anything I could do to help.
This is just one example of many we come across all to often, bouncy castle hire is predominantly a weekend business and its for this reason a lot of customers unfortunately get let down last minute. Most people like to go out on weekends and celebrate with friends and family and when they wake in the morning sadly your bouncy castle hire booking is the last thing on there mind.
The harsh truth is nobody is going to care about your party as much as you do, here at 1st choice bouncy castle hire we understand and apricate just how important your parties and events mean to you and we always aim not just to please our customers but to AMAZE them. Since we started our company in 2013 we are very proud to say we have 100s of 5 star reviews with not a single negative one to date.
I have taken the time to list a couple of key checks you should do to help make sure when you book your next inflatable it arrives clean, on time & fully insured.
1-Reviews, Checking reviews of each company is simple and very effective they are a great indicator of what previous customers thought of the service they received. Great places to check for reviews are Google, Facebook & Trust Pilot, taking 5 minutes to check company reviews could patiently save you from a massive headache in the future.
2-Insurance, This one probably isn't as obvious as checking for reviews but checking a company is fully insured is something few people do. Why is it important for a bouncy castle hire company to be insured? well firstly insurance is required by law and will cover for any liability in the case of any accidents or injury's caused on the company's part. Another reason you should check for insurance is because this shows professionalism and a certain level of care for there business.
3-Test Certificates, All bouncy castles and inflatables should be tested yearly by a fully trained inspector after any inflatable has been inspected it will either pass or fail, passed inflatables receive a 12months safety cert similar to when you take you car for an MOT any bouncy castles that fail shouldn't be hired to the public and are not covered under any insurance policy. You should ask to see a safety cert of any bouncy castle you choose to hire.
4-Websites, Most company's in this day and age have there own website but in the bouncy castle hire industry some company's advertise there business on Facebook and other social media platforms only, in most cases business that do this don't have insurance, test certificates and below par equipment if you want cheap and are willing to take a big risk then Facebook is the place to look. I'm not saying all companies who use Facebook are like this but its always worth checking if the business has a website also.
Above are just a few of the basics you should always check before trusting just any old company with your party rental equipment, its always important to remember even if you check all the above miss fortunes can still happen i.e vehicle brake downs, damaged equipment, motorway traffic etc etc. but at least it will be a genuine reason and way less likely to happen then somebody who just cant be bothered to get out of bed on a Saturday / Sunday morning.
We hope this article will help customers understand that not all bouncy castle hire companies are created equal, there's a lot that goes into supplying top quality equipment that's fully insured, arrives on time and with a great service from start to finish. 1st Choice are a Walsall bouncy castle hire company who have supplied 1000s of happy customers across the West Midlands we honestly care for our customers because without you guys our business wouldn't excite.
Sadly not all companies within this industry feel the same, there are other good company's out there but for every good one there's probably 2 bad ones. The amount of calls we receive every year from upset customers who have been let down last minute is shocking and very frustrating because we cant always help and are left feeling horrible that some poor kid hasn't got a bouncy castle for his or her party. Thanks for reading guys.
Kind regards David & Leanne
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