Caterer not supplying all food/services paid for at function

somethingcorporate

No problem at all, I just think if we can keep resolutions on the forum it can help people in future. This instance has come up a couple of times before!

flightinfo

hcb42 - I'm happy to PM you but not sure what other information you require in the PM.

The reason I thought I would go to CAB is just for a bit of advice. I don't intend to take up hours of their time. I wanted to show them the contract/letters received prior to the function and the correspondence since. The caterer is stating I did not pay for items shown as 'inclusive' and also stating I was aware of a problem at the venue - 'a serious fire' which I knew nothing about until I received their first letter in answer to my complaint. In the first letter it was mentioned as a 'fire' and I was informed the venue were aware of it. I spoke to the venue who stated they were aware of some problems but nothing major (and not a fire) which would have impacted on the function. The second letter from the caterer states 'why did you not mention the serious fire - you know it happened'.

In addition, after my first complaint letter, we were sent a cheque with the first reply from the caterer. The caterer stated they had a bereavement two days prior to my function. The cheque was a 'little gift' (caterer's words) in memory of a member of the caterer's family who had died. We felt this was totally inappropriate and returned it with a letter of condolence.

The caterer then returned the cheque to us stating if we didn't want to cash it, to give it to charity. The caterer stated that it was not compensation as they didn't feel any was due as points we raised were minor. Again, we returned it with a letter stating that we felt it was for the caterer's family to make a donation to charity if they so wished.

They also stated they were going to take advice from one of our guests (who has a high standing in the community). I, therefore, had to approach the guest to explain the situation - and to state that as far as we were concerned it was between ourselves and the caterer.

All the comments (and there are others) from the caterer are not really what I would expect from a business replying to a leter of complaint.

DVardysShadow

flightinfo wrote: »

...
They also stated they were going to take advice from one of our guests (who has a high standing in the community). I, therefore, had to approach the guest to explain the situation - and to state that as far as we were concerned it was between ourselves and the caterer.

There is a clue that these people are absolutely clueless about their responsibilities. No business contracted to provide hospitality to the customer's guests would dream of involving any of those guests in a dispute like this.

If nothing else, I would be writing to instruct them that they are under a duty of confidentiality to you as their client and that any such approach to your guest would be taken as aggravating the matters under complaint.

somethingcorporate

Talking to your guests about it (regardless of their standing in the local community) is incredibly unprofessional. I agree with DVardys - these guys have absolutely no idea what they are doing.

I would slap them with a small claim for a reasonable figure and let them explain it to the courts.

flightinfo

I spoke to the guests concerned a couple of days after I received the letter. At this point, the caterer hadn't contacted them. I don't know if they have since as this was a couple of weeks ago. I obviously don't know if the caterer just put that they would contact the guests to try and 'frighten' me off or whether they have/will contacted them. I doubt the guests would tell me if they had been contacted.