We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
catering price problem - opinions required
nrgserv
Posts: 23 Forumite
i will try to keep this short and brief!
on the 6th june we got married. (mr x and mrs y)
i frequented a local cafe for the last 8 or so years, who after hearing, said "oh i can do that" offered to cater for us.
we discussed numbers and meals, which came to:
about 70 guests
starters of:
parma ham with melon
tomato soup
main course of:
bangers and mash
chilli con carne
veg lasagne
pudding of:
chocolate cake
lemon merangue pie
followed by a small buffet for the evening reception.
a menu was attached to the rsvp on the invite, with guests attending detailing their food preferance, for buying quantities.
at the start of my dinner in her cafe, she initially said £200, then wine was discussed and the price rose to £300. we left it that (mid 2008)
as my fiance frequented the cafe also, other bits were discussed along with our budget of "as little as possible", and wine was added to the list at £60.
we had expected the total to rise as time progressed, and 19th may saw us hand over £180 for her to start buying food. by the end of this day we were told it would be £500 and she needed the money as soon as possible.
we handed £320 plus a cheque from my fiance's parents for £60 who agreed to buy the champagne.
total now £560.
on 26th may, ms x got a call saying another £300 was needed.
not having a budget price to work off, we "borrowed" money set aside for the hall hire, bringing the total to £860, and would sort the hall hire out later.
on 4th june, ms x received another call saying another £500 would be needed. ms x deferred saying she would have to speak to me first, as we didnt have access to any more surplus money immediately.
i rang the caterer inviting her round to our house to discuss exactly what this £500 was for. it appeared there were "a few bits left to buy" and she wanted £200 for loss of earnings due to not opening her cafe on the saturday morning, £80 for a kitchen hand, £30 for an evening waiter and £20 for an assistant evening waiter.
fearful that she might not turn up, (ms x was now distraught that it might not happen - 2 days before the wedding), we said yes but couldnt get £500 until the following friday (12th june)
this all got a bit heated as we didnt have the money right then.
reluctantly, the caterer agreed to use her credit facilities if needed. (her words -"tuff !!!! innit, if its late, everyone does it")
the big day came and we were glad when we smealt food on entering the hall!
however..
during the meal it became apparent a rumpur was circulating that the chilli was burnt. (i had bangers and mash)
i sampled some from a guest on the top table (which incidentally was served last), and after removing half a dozen slug sized black bits (i thought they were mushrooms!), confirmed it was in fact burnt. (inedible as one guest described it!)
at the time i didnt make any deal of it and let the guests sort themselves out. (they had shared the bangers and mash on their tables!)
passing the kitchen on the way to the bar, i enquired
"what happened to the chilli?"
to hear the reply
"dunno, its one of those things".
i continued to the bar.
the following days, i have spoken to most guests, who say i am silly to pay the remaining £500, as £1360 is too much for the quality of what was delivered, it was her choice to close her cafe and attend another function, and as we never got an original price, quote, estimate or anything in writing, we are under no obligation to pay.
i dont want to pay, but i said i would, and dont like to be dishonourable. this ran way over our budget and we turned down "professional" caterers because of the price. had we known the final price we would have altered the menu or made other arrangements.
at least 6 guests and mrs x, say i must not pay!
your comments would be appreciated!
mr y.
ps. everything else ran smoothly and we had a really good day!
on the 6th june we got married. (mr x and mrs y)
i frequented a local cafe for the last 8 or so years, who after hearing, said "oh i can do that" offered to cater for us.
we discussed numbers and meals, which came to:
about 70 guests
starters of:
parma ham with melon
tomato soup
main course of:
bangers and mash
chilli con carne
veg lasagne
pudding of:
chocolate cake
lemon merangue pie
followed by a small buffet for the evening reception.
a menu was attached to the rsvp on the invite, with guests attending detailing their food preferance, for buying quantities.
at the start of my dinner in her cafe, she initially said £200, then wine was discussed and the price rose to £300. we left it that (mid 2008)
as my fiance frequented the cafe also, other bits were discussed along with our budget of "as little as possible", and wine was added to the list at £60.
we had expected the total to rise as time progressed, and 19th may saw us hand over £180 for her to start buying food. by the end of this day we were told it would be £500 and she needed the money as soon as possible.
we handed £320 plus a cheque from my fiance's parents for £60 who agreed to buy the champagne.
total now £560.
on 26th may, ms x got a call saying another £300 was needed.
not having a budget price to work off, we "borrowed" money set aside for the hall hire, bringing the total to £860, and would sort the hall hire out later.
on 4th june, ms x received another call saying another £500 would be needed. ms x deferred saying she would have to speak to me first, as we didnt have access to any more surplus money immediately.
i rang the caterer inviting her round to our house to discuss exactly what this £500 was for. it appeared there were "a few bits left to buy" and she wanted £200 for loss of earnings due to not opening her cafe on the saturday morning, £80 for a kitchen hand, £30 for an evening waiter and £20 for an assistant evening waiter.
fearful that she might not turn up, (ms x was now distraught that it might not happen - 2 days before the wedding), we said yes but couldnt get £500 until the following friday (12th june)
this all got a bit heated as we didnt have the money right then.
reluctantly, the caterer agreed to use her credit facilities if needed. (her words -"tuff !!!! innit, if its late, everyone does it")
the big day came and we were glad when we smealt food on entering the hall!
however..
during the meal it became apparent a rumpur was circulating that the chilli was burnt. (i had bangers and mash)
i sampled some from a guest on the top table (which incidentally was served last), and after removing half a dozen slug sized black bits (i thought they were mushrooms!), confirmed it was in fact burnt. (inedible as one guest described it!)
at the time i didnt make any deal of it and let the guests sort themselves out. (they had shared the bangers and mash on their tables!)
passing the kitchen on the way to the bar, i enquired
"what happened to the chilli?"
to hear the reply
"dunno, its one of those things".
i continued to the bar.
the following days, i have spoken to most guests, who say i am silly to pay the remaining £500, as £1360 is too much for the quality of what was delivered, it was her choice to close her cafe and attend another function, and as we never got an original price, quote, estimate or anything in writing, we are under no obligation to pay.
i dont want to pay, but i said i would, and dont like to be dishonourable. this ran way over our budget and we turned down "professional" caterers because of the price. had we known the final price we would have altered the menu or made other arrangements.
at least 6 guests and mrs x, say i must not pay!
your comments would be appreciated!
mr y.
ps. everything else ran smoothly and we had a really good day!
0
Comments
-
This is a tough one.
If you didnt have anything in writing and you did not sign anything, then the way I see it is you wont have to pay. However if you said you would....
If the food was as bad as you said it was then have you since tried to speak to the cafe owner to talk through things? From your post it sounds as if she/he wasn't all that bothered or enthusiastic to be your caterer or not that fussed that she ruined the food at your wedding. If they are not apologetic and offer no proper explanation then i would be inclined not to pay or only pay a % of the remaining balance.
Congratulations on your wedding though
0 -
cheers for the reply and advice rinroo, we thought along them lines and wanted other opinions!
shame theres been so many views and not a lot of opinions!
thanks for the congrats too!
will wait and see......0 -
OMG- this woman is having a laugh, I definately wouldnt pay her. The law states that you are entitled to pay what you think your meal was worth in a restaurant so how is this any different!?! She has a p*ss-poor attitude by the sounds of it and very unprofessional so maybe tell her that 'its just one of those things' that the other £500 wont be being paid!
I hope that you have learned a valuable lesson in making sure you get everything on paper in future because it sounds like she ripped you off asking for more money bit by bit.
Sorry to hear what happened but glad you didnt let it spoil the rest of your day- good for you!:j :jTotally and utterly debt free as of 27/05/09!!!:j :j0 -
I would not pay the extra, or at most pay only a percentage. The amount the price increased by added to the extra stress of finding extra money at such short notice is bad enough, but to serve burnt food and not appear apologetic / bothered by it, I am shocked.
Perhaps (if you know how many ordered chilli) work out how many meals you are prepared to pay for based on that. I wouldn't pay for a burnt meal in a restaurant so she shouldn't expect payment for the food she served which was 'inedible'.0 -
I attended the wedding in question and enjoyed the event. It was a pleasure to be there to see two of the nicest people I know getting married.
It is entirely characteristic of 'Mr y' that his sense of fair play and his desire to do 'the right thing' by the lady who catered for the event have led to him seeking advice on this unfortunate aspect of what was otherwise a joyful event.
I had the tomato soup, which was cold, followed by bangers and mash and a portion of commercially made lemon meringue pie. During the meal, I became aware of the smell of burnt food, which I recognised as something which had 'caught' in the pan. I'm sure that many of us, including myself, have done that at home and would recognise the horrible smell immediately.
It's the first wedding reception I have been to, where I have experienced the same smell. It turned out to be the chilli con carne and I heard several people say that it was uneatable.
My wife had the vegetable lasagne and her verdict was that it was dry and unappealing. A little salad with it would have made a difference.
Had everything else been ok. I would have overlooked the fact that the bangers and mash was cold. I put that down to the disorganised way that the food was being served by the three young people, who appeared to be between thirteen and sixteen years of age. I too picked up on the fact that the top table was the last to be served and I can only imagine what the temperature of the food was like when it arrived at that table.
Today, I have been chatting with a friend who is a qualified commis chef and who does outside catering for wedding receptions. I ran through the menu with him and the fact that there was a separate buffet in the evening. His professional opinion was that the food, including the off-the-shelf cake and lemon meringue, should not have cost more than £200 at trade price and that the preparation and serving of it should also not have cost more than £200. A total of £400. Certainly not more than a total of £500.
My own feeling is that the burning of the chilli - and then the serving of it - was unprofessional. This lady runs a cafe for heaven's sake! Would she expect the people who patronise her cafe to pay for burnt food?
I think that Ms x and Mr y have been penalised quite enough and that if no refund is forthcoming from the caterer, there should certainly be no question of a further payment.0 -
I think don't pay any more. I think you have more than paid for what you received. You don't have a written contract and if you did I believe you would be asking for money from them for failing to provide the things they promised. I would explain to the caterer how let down you were on such a special day. If she still continues to ask for further payment ask to see itemised bills with receipts (which i am assuming she will have for tax purposes...). I think it is unlikely she will have this.
I also suggest you find another cafe!
I think this is also a warning to us reading this whilst planning - we should get written contracts with our suppliers with details of costs and goods.0 -
Hi we also attended the lovely wedding of Mr y and mrs x. The tomato soup also tasted burnt and the mashed potato had the texture of instant mash. The chilli was burnt it smelt like an old ashtray. The chocolate cake was nice but definately off the shelf.
Luckily it didn't spoil the day and Mr y and Mrs x had a special day surrounded by family and friends.0 -
I would not hand over any more money, the quality was poor, you had no final agreed price and you haven't signed anything. The food was not of the quality you would have expected either. Congrats on your wedding, glad everything else went well.0
-
on the 6th june we got married. (mr x and mrs y)...your comments would be appreciated! mr y.
I hope this confusion over your names doesn't extend to real life!
0 -
Definitely don't pay anything extra, and if she starts to kick up a fuss threaten to take it to the local paper - I'm sure the "loss of earnings" she was so worried about before will in this case be enough of a deterrent!
And yep. A warning to get everything in writing.
Glad you managed to have a special day regardless xx0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 352K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.5K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 454.2K Spending & Discounts
- 245K Work, Benefits & Business
- 600.6K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.4K Life & Family
- 258.8K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards