Should we have to pay this?

scheming_gypsy

Just pay the bill. You can't expect them to write £900 off because nobody told them that the coffee was cold so they could replace it with hot coffee.

Pollycat

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

Just pay the bill. You can't expect them to write £900 off because nobody told them that the coffee was cold so they could replace it with hot coffee.

I can't actually see where the OP has said that nobody told the caterers that the coffee/tea was cold.

He did say that he spent some time during the wedding day sorting things out with the caterers so maybe that was one of the things he sorted out.

I don't think it's good advice (or very MSE) to tell the OP to 'just pay the bill'.
Maybe you can't expect the caterers to write off £900 but you also can't expect the OP just pay £900 without querying it.
If he'd already paid almost £3000, that's an additional 33%. :eek:

I do agree with hcb42 that to argue that they don't deserve the extra £900 isn't a good footing to start on.

peachyprice

cburton777 wrote: »

We return from honeymoon to find a bill for £900 for bar tabs, staff hours etc.

How many people were at the wedding?

Did you ask them to tell you when the bar bill had reached a certain amount? It's suprising just how quickly bar tabs add up, people can drink an awful lot, and think nothing of ordering another drink and leaving half an old one when they're not paying.

Did you ask them to keep on serving after the agreed time?

scheming_gypsy

Pollycat wrote: »

I can't actually see where the OP has said that nobody told the caterers that the coffee/tea was cold.

He did say that he spent some time during the wedding day sorting things out with the caterers so maybe that was one of the things he sorted out.

I don't think it's good advice (or very MSE) to tell the OP to 'just pay the bill'.
Maybe you can't expect the caterers to write off £900 but you also can't expect the OP just pay £900 without querying it.
If he'd already paid almost £3000, that's an additional 33%. :eek:

I do agree with hcb42 that to argue that they don't deserve the extra £900 isn't a good footing to start on.

If they told the waiting staff that the coffee was cold, and replaced then it shouldn't be mentioned in their argument, so i'm taking it that nothing was mentioned. Unless of course they're just clutching at straws in a bid to not pay.

abbyscuito

If a few cups of cold tea/coffee is the most of the complaint, sorry I'm laughing!

Pollycat

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

If they told the waiting staff that the coffee was cold, and replaced then it shouldn't be mentioned in their argument, so i'm taking it that nothing was mentioned. Unless of course they're just clutching at straws in a bid to not pay.

The OP doesn't say anywhere in his 4 posts whether he complained to anybody (either a supervisor or the waiting staff) or not.

So I'm taking it that we don't know if it was mentioned to the caterers or not.

However, the OP did seem to have a number of things he had to sort out with the caterers so maybe this was one of them.

I do agree that if nobody told anybody about the cold coffee (and I don't mean muttering between guests as the coffee & tea were served), it should not be mentioned in any discussion about this extra bill as the caterers were not given the opportunity to put things right.

I don't think the OP has told us enough about the agreements in place with the caterers about what they should have provided for anybody to give definitive advice.
Until then, it's all speculation about whether his complaints are justified or if he's just clutching at straws to get out of paying this additional bill.

paddyrg

The bar tabs...

From what you say, it was a pay bar. If their staff handed out drinks to people who didn't leave a card or some other tab item as a deposit, they are stupid. Drunks are notoriously bad at paying up, wedding crowds overexcitable and suddenly dashing for coaches. If they have ever catered a wedding or worked a bar before, they should know this. If they didn't look after their own bar take, I would suggest you agree to put them in touch with whoever they believe still owes them money from the bar tabs, but not get involved. Pay your own tab, of course.

Paying for extra staff - why? What duties did the staff perform in addition to what you could reasonably expect from the initial contract? Did washing up take longer than they thought? Did the party run later than agreed? There may be reasonable reasons for some small uplift if the faults were down to your party not running as agreed, but if they miscalculated the labour to run the core catering, that is their fault.

Cold tea/coffee is a bartering chip, but probably nothing more. Be prepared to give up on that one to appear reasonable so the other side need to give up a bit too, maybe?

Extra wine - did you take extra wine? Then you owe for it. Hardly unfair.

peachyprice

OP, you need to come back and answer some questions.