The Blazing Donkey in Ham, Sandwich, Kent

beks

For anyone who does not already know of this wedding nightmare tale.

Our nightmare with this wedding venue began last year when we booked our wedding at The Blazing Donkey in Ham, Sandwich, Kent (although the owner will argue that it is Deal, not Sandwich). It looked like a lovely venue for our wedding and we received a very persuasive sales pitch from the manager/owner.

We paid a massive £4950 over the phone for our weekday wedding (we were told the only way we could secure the supposed 'discount' was to pay within 24 hours!!

We did not receive a receipt of confirmation of booking and we spent nearly 3 months chasing for this. All emails and phone calls were ignored.

FInally, we received an email from the wedding coordinator to tell us they didnt know who we were, when we had booked for etc etc - they had no record of us on file.

We lost all confidence in the venue and requested to cancel.

We were told the owner was unavailable but when we turned up at the venue, he was there - he denied all knowledge of my emails and phone calls and said that he had sent our confirmation by post (a lie as he did not have our address). We handed him a letter requesting return of our money. We received lots of support from trading standards, consumer direct and from on here!

Two more letters later (and four weeks later) he did not reply. After a fourth, we received an email to say we would not be getting our money back unless he sold the date on.

We then started court proceedings in the small claims court for the return of our money - again, he did not respond. We won the case by default but after 3 more weeks, he still he did not pay up. We instructed bailiffs to get our money back and once he received his bailiff papers he wrote to court to say he had not received the court papers (he said we had put the wrong address on the papers - same address as he advertises on his website though).

A court date was then set for his hearing, he did not turn up, we did and again, we won by default. He still refused to pay and finally after 9 months, the bailiffs went back in and got the money for us.

We have learnt a big lesson from this - most importantly do the research before you commit to such an important occasion. The Blazing Donkey reviews are horrendous and I know of many people who have been taken in by this venue and have lost their money. I am not the first and will not be the last to be taken in by the Blazing Donkey. The Blazing Donkey has ruined our wedding, we should be getting married in less than 2 months, instead we have only just got our money back and we have no wedding to look forward to. If I can help one bride from not having to go through what we have, then publcising this awful venue has all been worth it.

paulofessex

Glad to hear the result, just a shame you had to go through all that to get your money back. I wonder if the local newspaper to the venue would be interested in your story, or even some of the weekly mags, you know where they pay £100 for a story. The reason l mention this is due to it being a good way to spread the word to warn other potential customers.

techno12

Just reading the TripAdvisor reviews and I've never ever seen a place with unanimous 1/5 scores for page after page. Makes for fascinating reading and it sounds worse than Fawlty Towers!

hollydays

love the idea of a blazing donkey in ham,sounds very jaimie Oliver

spugzbunny

fantastic beks - great idea to add your story here as well! In case anyone hasn't seen Beks' other thread it's an amazing tale of woe and sticking it to the man! It's well worth a read but I warn you .. tears may be shed!

ljonski

I think this great hotel. i work here many years as waiter. I love Mr F. He let me keep pet hamster in cage.
i speak good english nowe ?But i dont like when new chef try to kiss me. Mr F he great friend he give me money to go put on horse(I know nothing i say to mrs F.
me even now on tele ! Thanku listen my type.
I need go now - i hear Mr F call my name.... I think he find dead body in room 23.
Maybe that fish again.....

Manuel (from Barcelona)

PS .even i leave now as mr F not pay my wages for 30 years and i have no job anymore

qetu1357

Well done.

A lesson for us all is only book places with personal recomendations from people you trust.

System

qetu1357 wrote: »

Well done.

A lesson for us all is only book places with personal recomendations from people you trust.

Surely this is pretty much impossible to do! Unless you know people who have been to the exact same places you are going to. Sometimes you just need to gamble and take a risk, sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't. This place obviously sounds awful!

Esqui

Well done.

Also, I want a ham sandwich now.

maninthestreet

From the reviews on Trip Advisor, I'm puzzled how it stays in business.

Alyssa_C_2

Have been reading the new reviews Beks, good grief surely he's going out of business soon! If you google blazing donkey now, your review pops up about 4th on the list :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Evil Man should be shot :mad: