The Hoopla Connection

Reading these reviews has me in shock and I wish I had of done more research before signing a contract with Darin Pryer of The Hoopla Connection. I paid Mr. Pryer a little over $1K for his services regarding my daughter's Surprise Princess 5th Birthday Party. I communicated with Mr. Pryer days leading up to the event and the day of the party. Below is a list of things I paid for and did not get. more

I signed a contract with Darin Pryer, of The Hoopla Connection, on May 28, 2010 to perform a myriad of services for my daughter's first birthday party on August 28, 2010. I had countless dealings with him up until the day before her party. He assured me that everything was good to go and that I will see him on Saturday, August 28th. When I showed up for my party, he wasn't there. He called me @ 1:30pm (when the party was supposed to be set-up) to say that the truck with my rented tables and chairs broke down and that he was on his way to pick them up. This was a lie. He showed up over two hours later with tables that I didn't even order. He dropped them off and immediately left the party. He said I will be right back with your birthday cake, custom goodie bags, custom decorations, moonbounces, cartoon characters, sno cone/popcorn/cotton candy machines, birthday banners, photo backdrop, etc. He never showed up. I hired him to manage the logistics of the party because we had over 100 people in attendance. Since he never came back to my party, I was forced to improvise and try to entertain over 100 people. We called him 100 times but to no avail. Darin turned his cell phone off right after the conversation we had about my tables and we never got back in touch with him until Sunday, August 29th. He left a voicemail on my husband's cell phone apologizing for ruining the party. The apology was so fake. We called him back and told him to give us our money back immediately. He said he didn't have it...he had to work a few parties to recoup the money. We told him this was unacceptable and that he needed to find other means to get our money back. We have sent him numerous text messages, e-mails, and called him repeatedly but he won't return our calls. Darin assured me that my party was the only one scheduled on the 28th but that was a lie. He had seven parties scheduled on the 28th!! I spoke to several people and they told me that Darin tried to procure their services for my party on the day of my party...unbelievable!! I have e-mails stating that everything was booked well in advance for my party. He was a no-show for several other birthday parties in Brandywine and Waldorf, MD. Darin has been deceiving people for years. There are several negative comments on the internet about his deceptive practices. He owes so many people for services not rendered. I wished I would've done a more thorough background check on him before paying him almost $5,000 to host, plan, and manage my daughter's birthday party! He has ruined a milestone for her that I can't recreate! I have e-mails, text messages, phone records, contracts, witness statements, and payment receipts to validate my claim. more

I will never use hoopla connections again spider man came to the party with a busted customes the custome was torn in the back his toes and fingers were out and to top it off his private parts were showing he should had worn a jock strap soo inappropriate, the balloon lady made crappy balloons and gave all the boys swords to fight with spider man that all spider man did with the children. I spoke with hoopla and they said they will come play games and dance contest they said they will bring a playlist of different songs to play while playing the limbo, sing happy birthday and cut the cake ( they left before we got the chance to sing happy birthday and cut the cake) they anit did sh*t excuse my french we had to tell them what to do i thought they was going to come prepared hoopla connection is nothing but a big rip off. If u are reading please don't waste your money..... Pros: They arrive on time!!!!! more

I planned my daughters first b day party to have a moon bounce a character face painting and a balloon artist. The owner came over and I signed a contract saying what time everything would be here. To say the least the character was 4 hours late the moon bounce never came, no face painting, and the balloon making was horrible. On the website it says character enters to theme music and plays games and dances. No not at all, He came and played with the balloon sticks they called swords and that was it. I did a lot of planning for the party and in my opion it was very upseting that half the kids were gone by the time the character came. I did not get refunded my deposit but I did not have to pay that day. It was a horrible experience that ruined my daughters first birthday. Cons: everything more