Upsetting Situation at Party City

If this store doesn't normally take phone orders, all they had to do
was say so. Instead they were so disorganized that nobody knew what
to do. I have a really hard time believing that a party store doesn't
receive phone calls like the OP's on a regular basis. If they aren't
equipped to do this, or if they are unable to take CC over the phone
and need to wait for someone to arrive, they needed to make that clear
to the OP. Whatever the case, I think the store could certainly have
handled this situation better.

I think we all can agree on one thing: The employees at that store
need training in how to treat customers, how to process phone-in
orders, and how not to lose customers!

This was absolutely handled incorrectly. If they needed a CC number
they should have either asked you while they still had you on the
phone or called you back since they had your number. Instead, they
just assume that whomever picks them up will be able to wait
indefinitely for them.

In this case I would definitely let your feet do the talking and would
not set foot in there again. Unfortunately unless more people demand
better service things won't get any better.

It's apparent they aren't very good at completing phone orders. Maybe
too many people handling the phone lines at one time and once they put
you on hold they can't backtrack to their original customer. After the
first few hang ups, I think I'd have given up on them.

How frustrating! I don't understand their inability to process this
transaction: Don't they do this sort of thing ALL THE TIME? Like...
at least several times a week?

I hope your letter is a wake-up call somewhere. Please let us know if
you hear back from them.

So you called the day before an "event held at (your) school". This
happens to be prom season. What if everything was already spoken
for?

I know that in my area, there's a shortage of helium. If it's the
same in your vicinity, what should Party City do?

Did you send your actual plastic CC with your friend? Were you
available for confirmation?