Anyone else having issues with Bowlero and the way they treat league bowlers compared to open Bowling? They obviously do not care about promoting and advancing bowling as a sport. They only care about the $$$.

Our local city tournament was just canceled by Bowlero after paying our entry fees.  This was because Bowlero had rented out the whole center to a private party.

Good old Bowlero!!!!

There seem to be some good Bowlero locations in the company footprint but every person I know personally that bowls in one has complaints, usually about the mechanical end of things (which might explain why Bowlero is pushing string pinsetters -- they don't want to pay the $$ for mechanics).

If I were the leagues/associations at places that were sidelining bowlers in favor of parties, I would put together communication to go over the head of the local manager, with dozens of signatures, and also get the local media involved as much as possible. But for general workforce concerns, the service sector in general is getting hammered right now in this labor market. I work in economic development and there's just not enough pressure on jobs right now to make some people shape up and do what they should be doing. The problem gets worse the further down the salary structure you go.

In general, in bowling I don't like corporate-run houses. That's why I cringed when I heard Bowlero's guy talking about how they want to own as many houses as they can. It's an acquisition strategy to them; it's our beloved hobby. But the problem isn't just Bowlero; the old AMF corporate-owned houses and Brunswick's BRC centers always lagged the independent houses in every area I ever lived. Things may have looked nicer in the corporate houses, but everything else was better at an indie.

Quote from: JessN16 on March 19, 2022, 02:18:54 AM

There seem to be some good Bowlero locations in the company footprint but every person I know personally that bowls in one has complaints, usually about the mechanical end of things (which might explain why Bowlero is pushing string pinsetters -- they don't want to pay the $$ for mechanics).

Interesting. I'd like to know where you're getting that insight from, as every Bowlero location I have been to uses the Brunswick Jet-A pinsetters. I haven't seen a Bowlero in number of states I bowl in that use anything QubicaAMF that would warrant using the string pinsetters, let alone anything AMF.

Now, this isn't saying that Bowlero doesn't have issues, because at every one I have been to, they have in one form or another, but moving to string pinsetters isn't one I have heard at any of the locations I have bowled at.

BL.

Probably should have said that as "mechanical-side issues" which include lane setup/oiling consistency, bad racks, mechanics who can think on their feet rather than just moving bowlers to new pairs when an issue pops up, and general maintenance. That's in addition to complaints about management who is just there to make the bottom line look as good as possible, and don't care about whether it comes from competitive bowlers or birthday parties. Of course, that's been an issue in corporate centers long before the Bowlero movement.

As for the string pinsetter issue, the main study being used right now to try to pressure the USBC to enact certification protocol for string pinsetters was reportedly funded by Bowlero. The reason for this is a string pinsetter has a fraction of the parts of a freefall pinsetter and most issues can be fixed by someone with the same level of training as a general counter personnel. A true mechanic in a bowling center can command a higher salary. The thinking is that what Bowlero would like to do is replace freefall machines in its houses with string machines as the freefall machines reach the end of their life cycle. They're a publicly-traded company now and shareholders love cost containment.

It's gotten really bad at my local Bowlero. They lost their mechanic and didn't backfill the position apparently. Had an issue with the A2 repeatedly not setting up the 10 pin on Friday and whoever was back there tried to fix it. Whatever they did lasted about 4-5 frames when the same issue would reappear. When my teammate went up to the desk to speak to the manager about it he was told that the person fixing the issue wasn't actually a mechanic.

We did get moved finally to the break down pair but finished 1/2 hour behind everyone else. No apology, nothing. Plus that's not the only issue we've had. Balls getting stuck in ball returns and coming back with gunk (and in a few cases actually damaged) has been a recurring issue. Pinsetter sweeping away spare leaves and having to wait 10 minutes to have the pins set back up is also an issue.

Found out that lineage is going up $2 next year as well. I told the league secretary that he ought to take the league to another house, but my suggestion has fallen on deaf ears. Too many people in that league just passively accept the changes and the bad service cause it's the center that's the closest drive for them.

Similar issues going on at our Bowlero.  There has also been talk of our league moving to another house across town, but that is easier said than done.  The other house is half the size of Bowlero, and has no room on any weeknight for our league.  Additionally, most of the bowlers on our league bowl multiple other leagues throughout the week.  That makes it virtually impossible to move the league.

We are also hearing that lineage will be increasing next season, so that might be a corporate wide policy.  If that is the case, they may lose a lot of league bowlers.

I have to chime back in now as well. The Bowlero I had league at for 12 (last bowled league there in 2013) years has severely gone downhill. I'm glad they got in new lanes, but the decor there looks like a remodeled garage at an auto body shop.

Our travel league was there for the month, which I had to prebowl at yesterday. One lane was oiled; the other lane was bone dry, to the point where pearls were burned up before they reached the arrows. Got 680 out for the set, but when you're playing 13 out to the bump with a Web Tour Hybrid on one lane, and piping urethane straight up 10 on the other, you lose any type of consistency. I adjusted, but I could see where others would be pissed off barely shooting 500 because of lack of care for the lanes. It also sucked that every 3rd frame we were calling for ball returns.

Making it worse, from all of the flyers I saw, it looks like they may only be down to having 1 league there the entire week. If so, that's a HUGE drop from having 4 leagues there every night.

Unless something big comes up, that may be my last visit ever to that alley, except to take pictures of where I shot my 300s at there, then never step foot there again.

BL.

That has been my experience with Bowlero in Manteca, CA. It started out with them fixing everything, but has been all downhill since then.

I've stopped bowling there completely.