deja vu VIP cards

Deja Vu is a national chain so I don't know if my experience represents an organization-wide policy or whether it was unique to the club that I visited.

About four months ago, I purchased a VIP card, with the promise that it would give me free admission for 6 months. Of course 3 months were "lost" to COVID shutdowns of all the strip clubs. About a week after strip clubs were allowed to reopen, I ventured in to a Deja Vu and showed them my VIP card, which was marked as expiring at the end of July (more specifically, it was valid for two more months after the date of my visit). I was told by management that the VIP cards were no longer valid for admission, regardless of the expiration date on the card. They offered to sell me another 6 month card for $40. I passed and went to a different club.

While I do enjoy clubs where the girls can dance nude, this type of shoddy and unethical management practice has prevented me from being a regular customer at the Deja Vu chain.

If you decide to invest in a Deja Vu "bracelet" or purchase a VIP card, do so with caution.

I had a similar experience at the Rancho Cordova, CA DV club. $20 cover was charged. I was offered a three-month VIP waiver of the cover for $25. I said "deal," as it would probably save me $100 over the three month period. Then she asked for $35. When I asked WTF, she said, "The cover is $10, but there is a $10 bar service fee that is not included in the VIP." It was still worth it as it saves me $50, but I was pissed that they would play a game like that. Fake news.

Well, one of the advantages of the bar service fee was there was no additional charge for fountain sodas...at that time. Just before I stopped going, they started charging $1 for fountain sodas. Then they began the buy-the-girl-a-drink for $5 scam.

In addition, new management was treating the girls like shit, so the quality of the girls went down. Most any girls 7 and higher were just there to get experience before moving to one of the better clubs in the area. Weekends you might find some 7s or 8s, but most of the weekdays there would be 3-5 girls that couldn't get past 5 in looks and couldn't get signed on to another club. And it was tough to find one that was better than a 5 in personality. (I typically was there Thursday afternoons.)

There was no stage fee for the girls, but the club took 50 percent of the private dance fee. That fee went into a machine, so the club wasn't cheated out of its percentage. There were signs saying the girls cannot ask for tips, but they were getting so little from the private dance fee that if you wanted any action at all, big tips were encouraged.

So likely the "VIP" is good only for a specific club and there is substantial fine print.

When this club was run a little better, it was my favorite, because the girls were decent and prices were very fair. For a while they had $100 30-minute VIPs. And when they lightened up on the no contact rules, it was a great place to spend an afternoon. Then it went to shit primarily due to bad management.

Not disputing that it is bad management.

We saw this shit from all kinds of industries when times were getting so good. Everything from devaluing frequent flyer or shopper programs to raising prices. They make policy changes that disregard loyalty because they think there will always be a surplus of suckers, I mean customers. Plus they know modern consumers have ridiculously bad memories.

A sign of excellent management is making changes like these without pissing off customers.

Well this is just a reminder of how Deja Vu clubs earned their sparkling reputations.

I failed to mention that the club increased its admission fee and started requiring that private dances be purchased in blocks of 5 or more (no single "trial" dances) and also placed restrictions on contact during the dances. Now that's a great business model to attract customers back to the club after the COVID shutdown -- increase prices and decrease options and service (my sarcasm should be evident).

So many surprises in the responses
- that they reopened at all (have there been virus outbreaks?)
- voiding existing passes (new management in all these cases?)

@Electronman, which Deja Vu?

I had one from the Flint location. (I've been going there almost every week for years where my ATF-ATF was until her recent retirement). As soon as I walked in the manager took my old VIP card, which still had about 3 months left, and gave me a new card with an additional 3 months. The only change was a temp check upon entry and masks until seated. No changes in dance or VIP. Had fun in VIP with 2 (separately) long time favs.

@NeverEnuf, the Deja Vu in Kalamazoo, MI.