Cancelled wedding

Freddie_Snowbits

I am thinking this post is a wind up. Does OP, ex licensee of establishment, knew that Monday 4th May 2009 was a Bank Holiday and probably one of the worst days of the year to 'try out' a venue? Bank Holiday Monday, as with all Bank Holiday weekends are probably the busiest times for PUBs and as such, this may be the reason.

Or some ulterior motive of the OP, in light of the ex licensee?

Tipples

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

Under the circumstances of this post, I am glad the current Ms Snowbits is under no obligation to pack her bags.

Are you sure you want to get married?

We have been engaged for 5 years and put off getting married several times as my partner has had several major surgeries in the last few years in relation to his disability. It is a relief to finally be in a position where we can plan the wedding without everything else hanging over us and also that he is now capable of walking down the aisle unaided.

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

100 guest at £8 a head down the old dog and gun, and spend the surplus on your self.

We wanted to thank our families for being so supportive over the last few years by giving them a day to remember and prove that no matter what, love wins out.

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

Hmmm, just exactly what are you after, a free wedding or Mr Clifford and Co Ltd?

There is more to life than a fly in the soup.

I am not after a free anything - we originally booked the wedding with my Dad's place as we knew Dad would be able to put on a wonderful day without a wonderfully huge price tag. Now we have two choices - pay the same money and have something which isn't what we wnated, or pay more money and achieve the same level of quality and service that my Dad would have provided.

If it was your dream to own a BMW and you had a contract to buy one at a third of the price which was then cancelled, would you just think "Oh well, I'll buy a Ford Fiesta instead." I don't think if you really had your heart set on your dream you would let someone take it away from you without them recompensing you having to go elsewhere to fulfil it.

Freddie_Snowbits

Tipples wrote: »

We have been engaged for 5 years and put off getting married several times as my partner has had several major surgeries in the last few years in relation to his disability. It is a relief to finally be in a position where we can plan the wedding without everything else hanging over us and also that he is now capable of walking down the aisle unaided.



We wanted to thank our families for being so supportive over the last few years by giving them a day to remember and prove that no matter what, love wins out.



I am not after a free anything - we originally booked the wedding with my Dad's place as we knew Dad would be able to put on a wonderful day without a wonderfully huge price tag. Now we have two choices - pay the same money and have something which isn't what we wnated, or pay more money and achieve the same level of quality and service that my Dad would have provided.

If it was your dream to own a BMW and you had a contract to buy one at a third of the price which was then cancelled, would you just think "Oh well, I'll buy a Ford Fiesta instead." I don't think if you really had your heart set on your dream you would let someone take it away from you without them recompensing you having to go elsewhere to fulfil it.

Seems money cannot buy happiness!

Tipples

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

I am thinking this post is a wind up. Does OP, ex licensee of establishment, knew that Monday 4th May 2009 was a Bank Holiday and probably one of the worst days of the year to 'try out' a venue? Bank Holiday Monday, as with all Bank Holiday weekends are probably the busiest times for PUBs and as such, this may be the reason.

Or some ulterior motive of the OP, in light of the ex licensee?

Firstly, I am not the ex-licensee, I am his daughter.
Secondly, it was Sunday 3rd May that we visited the premises, not Bank Holiday Monday.
Thirdly, there were at max. 50 diners in the establishment eating at different times and as we were planning to have 60 diners at our reception eating at the same time, I feel my concerns were well founded, as if you can't cook chicken breasts properly how can someone be confident that a fillet steak would be cooked in a satisfactory manner.
I have eaten there before, when my Dad ran it, and have not had a problem.
Fourthly, as mentioned in my first post, the primary reason was to have a family day out, over and above any 'trying out'. My partner's family live quite a way away and it was a way of spending time together and also show them where the venue was.

Tozer

Tipples wrote: »

I have sent a letter today initially giving them an opportunity to provide contractual reasons for the cancellation, as I don't want to be seen to be the unreasonable party here. I have also returned the cheque as accepting it could be seen as acceptance that the contract has been cancelled.

We are looking at other venues, and I will notify the original venue in due course of our actions taken. The reception (excluding rooms & drinks paid for by guests) was originally going to cost approximately £3.5K

It was a mistake to return the cheque. You need to accept their breach and treat the contract as terminated by reason of their breach.

Another thing - FORGET THE PRESS. You don't want your wedding there (rightly so) so what good will it do?

It shows bad faith on your part. If you want to take legal action against them, great. But I guarantee a judge will not be in the slightest bit impressed by litigating through the media.

Tozer

Poppy9 wrote: »

But if you went to the press to tell them your sad tale of having to rearrange your wedding it's bad publicity for the pub that bears the Brewery's name and reflects on their reputation and could have a knock on effect of the business failing and they get no rent.

And how would this help the OP?

Tipples

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

Seems money cannot buy happiness!

Maybe not, but the inconvenience caused by this incident is now going to result in either compromising on the day I've spent years dreaming of (Yes, I am a typical young woman), or spending more money than I originally planned to achieve it, so in a round about way, spending more money now is going to make me happier than compromising.

You may think it is shallow and missing the point of what marriage is all about, but this is probably one of the only days in my life that I am going to able to feel special without feeling selfish for doing so. As I work full time and also care for my partner the rest of the time, I have very little 'me time'. I am not looking for sympathy, by any means, but until you have experienced what we have, you may struggle to understand the importance of our wedding actually finally happening. I have almost lost my partner twice since we have been together and faced some of the scariest times in my life. On the other hand, these moments are completely overshadowed by how we feel for eachother, and we think that in itself is worth a celebration, done the way we want it.

However, as I am in this situation through no fault of my own, I feel that the original venue should not be allowed to think they can treat people this way with no repercussions.

Tozer

For whats it is worth, I think you should hit them very hard. But please do it AFTER you have enjoyed your special day in a calm and effective way.

If you get press involved, it will escalate. They have already demonstrated an utter lack of professionalism. Put them in Court and get recompense for their breaches.

Tipples

Tozer wrote: »

For whats it is worth, I think you should hit them very hard. But please do it AFTER you have enjoyed your special day in a calm and effective way.

If you get press involved, it will escalate. They have already demonstrated an utter lack of professionalism. Put them in Court and get recompense for their breaches.

I held the same concerns re: the press initially, but given that they have many other wedding booked in within the next 18 months (courtesy of my Dad's hard work, I might add), I would be mortified to hear that someone's actual day had been a disaster because if their unprofessional attitude and lack of experience.

Although, the recompense is important to me and I would never downplay the importance of money especially in the credit crunch we are in, I would rather not be compensated if it meant it would save someone else from having their wedding spoiled.

Maybe this would be seen as being spiteful, or 'sour grapes', but I have very strong principles when it comes to how people should be treated. And after all, people make complaints to programmes like watchdog all the time, and are still able to claim compensation, but the media coverage serves as a warning to prospective customers.

Tipples

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I am rather confused why you haven't mentioned the poor state of hygeine, illegally cold and undercooked food in your letter. I suspect they will write back and state they cancelled the wedding as you are completely unreasonable or you wanted to cancel and they simply returned your money. You can't then bring up the appalling management and service at a later date it will look trumped up.

I would consider writing to Environmental Health, copying in the pub and the brewery. Mr. Fire Fox is a chef so I know full well there is NO excuse for cold or undercooked food - that's what temperature probes and common sense are for. The hygiene of the toilets is also a health issue, whereas the cleanliness of the flat is completely irrelevant.

If you don't want to go that far you should at least mention the facts - that on the day you voiced concerns about food hygeine and cleanliness of the premises and did not receive a satisfactory response. To be honest tho, by not sending the food back or showing the waitress as she cleared your plates you would be seen to have accepted the meal.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

The point of my first letter was to give them their right to explain their contractual reasons for cancelling the wedding.

As we have already verbally raised concern regarding the hygiene of the premises and the quality of food and service, they are well aware of the issues. As we did not cancel the wedding ourselves based on these reasons we have nothing to justify by bringing them up again at this point. If they come back and say we were being unreasonable, I will cite these instances in my response (after seeking further legal advice naturally). I have our own witness statement and one by my mother in law to back this up.

We did not ask for for the wedding to be cancelled because of the issues, nor did we ask for a refund for the meal, as yes, we did eat it. We would not have cancelled the wedding ourselves based on these issues either, as they are things that are easily rectified. We merely wanted to raise our concerns with the management as we naturally expect better hygiene, food and service on our wedding day.

I actually didn't have too much of a problem with my own meal, sure it wasn't overly hot, but it was fairly tasty and seemed to be fully cooked, although possibly left to stand some time before serving. The issues were raised mainly regarding the soup eaten by father in law and uncle in law, and the Chicken dish eaten by fiance, mother in law, and auntie in law - we merely voiced their opinions on their behalf and our own concerns on how well this boded for our wedding.

Had it been my establishment, I would have apologised for the food and poor hygiene, but explained that as the customer had eaten the food, they could not legitimately then also request a refund, but I would also attempt to reassure said customer that efforts would be made to make improvements with regard to the issues raised prior to the wedding.
Or, if I did not feel the issues were rectifiable within the nine week timescale, I would apologise to the customer, and say sadly, that due to our lack of knowledge and experience I do not feel we are currently in a position to give you the level of service you expect on your wedding day and then give the customer the OPTION of cancelling their wedding and if they wanted to cancel I would have then refunded their deposit.

I personally do have kitchen and bar experience having worked for my father in other establishments and also in establishments unconnected to him, and I am well versed in food hygiene regulations regarding both the storage and preparation of food. I work for the council in the Benefits Section, which is just down the corridor from environmental health - might pop in there tomorrow lunchtime and see if they fancy doing an unannounced visit.