Sarah B.
Google
I was at Maracanã on Valentines and had an awful experience due to the extremely rude and unhelpful staff. My friend’s phone was in my bag, and at some point in the evidently overcapacity venue we realised it was likely pickpocketed without me noticing as it was no longer in my bag despite me not having opened it.
When we approached a bouncer for help, he sent us to another bouncer by the office. This other bouncer was dismissive and rude, saying that we’re always dancing and not watching our phones, and then we make it his problem. This was honestly so frustrating because the venue was so overcrowded that there wasn’t even space to properly move, let alone dance.
The manager then checked if the phone had been handed in at the office but said he couldn’t do anything unless staff turned it in, even after we told him that it was still on the property as we were able to track it on my phone, which I still had because I had been holding it in my hand the whole night.
We went back to searching on our own and walking around to see if we were getting closer to the location it was displaying. It seemed like the phone was in the VIP section so my friends went in to look for it. I was the only one without VIP so I went up to the bouncer to try explain what was going on but he just assumed I was trying to get inside and wouldn’t even let me get a word out to explain, continuously cutting me off when I tried to speak. Only until my friends with VIP came back, did he stop speaking over me, letting them explain the situation and showing him that the phone appeared to be inside the VIP section and that it was MY phone they were using to track it, to which he told us if I wanted to come inside with them I had to then buy a vip ticket. Which was so ridiculous.
We then spoke to a woman who was handling the wrist bands in the front and was probably the only helpful person there. She said she would talk to the bouncer and explain the situation, so she left while I continued to wait outside the VIP. After a few minutes she still wasn’t back and I tried to ask the bouncer if she had spoken to him yet but again before I could even get a word out he cut me off telling me that if I tried to come in one more time he would personally kick me out himself even though I was clearly approaching him not trying to get inside.
Realising he was not prepared to listen to me, I was left standing alone outside VIP, visibly stressed and without my phone (since my friends were using it to track the missing one), so I wasn’t even able to contact anyone.
Only after I had been waiting there for a long time did he eventually allow me inside. We found the phone on a table in a section none of us had even visited, confirming it had clearly been taken.
The way we were treated during an already stressful situation was completely unacceptable and ruined the night. I’ve been to Maracanã many times before and have never experienced such poor treatment. I’m extremely disappointed and would not recommend this venue after this experience.
