Wedding venue damage...

bhoy1976

I got married to my beautiful wife earlier this month here in Brighton. We had our ceremony at the town hall and then hired out a restaurant for the reception.

After a wonderful day, we were told by the manager at the end of the night that there were puncture holes (from ladies high heels) when people were standing on the bench seating. Of course, we apologised and said we would dsicuss it with them when we got back from our honeymoon.

We got an email saying they were charging us £200 to recover the long seat. Now I am not sure what the material it is but I am pretty sure it isn't leather!

They venue asked us what we thought about this, why I do not know as it seemed certain they wanted us to pay for it. I asked them if this was not covered by insurance.

There reply was that they did not wish to up the premium by making a claim. Now don't get me wrong, nobody wants to push their premium up but surely a venue such as a restuarant should account for such things especially as it is a regular wedding venue?

We paid several thousand pounds to them for the entire day and for guests of around 100, I would suggest that they made a few quid on the bar as well. So even though they haev reduced the fee to £100, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Am I being unreasonable?

noodles86

If your guests did the damage, then yes I would expect to pay. I find it bad that guests thought it was ok to stand on seating in their shoes! I would be more annoyed at their lack of respect for property and that it is now going to cost you than at the restaurant.

I don't know a thing about restaurant insurance but if something is costing £200 to repair then I would hazard a guess that the excess that the restaurant has to pay would probably be in this region, if not more so probably not in their interest to claim and like you previously said, would also push their premium up.

Do you not have wedding insurance that you could claim it from? Have you asked to see the quote from the restaurant for the repair?

duchy

Why were people standing on bench seating ?

I can't imagine any reasonable reason why someone would do this in this kind of setting..... £200 doesn't sound bad for a repair TBH. They've made a good will gesture and taken half the cost themselves-I'd accept the offer of £100 graciously.

They gave you a wonderful day-what a pity you have friends or family who have taken the shine off with their actions -I'd pay up and move on. The hotel is acting fairly and reasonably.

I assume you have a good idea who was sitting in the damaged area-I'd make sure they know the consequence of their actions..... Might save someone else a bigger bill in the future.

gadgeteer_2

I can understand why you'd feel this is unfair but I can understand it from their point of view too.

At the end of the day guests were standing on something and caused damage. Intentional or not, it is their responsibility to make good the damage caused.

If I went into shop, knocked over a display and broke the items then i think it would be fair to be expected to pay for the damage rather than expect the shop to absorb the losses.

I guess the bottom line is if you think the £100 is a fair sum to repair the damage caused. If it is then I would say pay it and see if your own wedding insurance will cover it.

bhoy1976

No we didn't take out any insurance. We got engaged at Christmas and got married three months later so it all happened very quickly!

It isn't that I don't trust the venue, they're a brilliant team and they did an amzing job with the whole day. I haven't been dealing with it personally, I have left it to my wife beacause apparently I'm not very diplomatic.

We haven't and probably won't see a quote, unless my wife asks for it, which I doubt she wil as she wants to eat there again. It has to be said though, I can't see myself going back.

LEJC

I am I'm afraid a little saddened by your post OP...

If you are aware that your guests did the damage to the seating why do you think that you shouldn't be responsible for paying for the damage?

Clearly you had a lovely wedding day and you acknowledge that the staff at the venue made your day very special....but im afraid its your guests that have let you and the venue down....

Just because you spent a few thousand on the reception and your guests drank at the bar therefore giving the venue a good income does not give them the right to damage the venues property or you the right to insist that they dont approach you for recompense.

bhoy1976

LEJC wrote: »

I am I'm afraid a little saddened by your post OP...

If you are aware that your guests did the damage to the seating why do you think that you shouldn't be responsible for paying for the damage?

Clearly you had a lovely wedding day and you acknowledge that the staff at the venue made your day very special....but im afraid its your guests that have let you and the venue down....

Just because you spent a few thousand on the reception and your guests drank at the bar therefore giving the venue a good income does not give them the right to damage the venues property or you the right to insist that they dont approach you for recompense.

I don't think I stated that it was acceptable for people to damage the venues property. I did feel that it might be covered, which it was, it was just that they didn't want to claim.

bhoy1976

duchy wrote: »

Why were people standing on bench seating ?

I can't imagine any reasonable reason why someone would do this in this kind of setting..... £200 doesn't sound bad for a repair TBH. They've made a good will gesture and taken half the cost themselves-I'd accept the offer of £100 graciously.

They gave you a wonderful day-what a pity you have friends or family who have taken the shine off with their actions -I'd pay up and move on. The hotel is acting fairly and reasonably.

I assume you have a good idea who was sitting in the damaged area-I'd make sure they know the consequence of their actions..... Might save someone else a bigger bill in the future.

Unfortunately I don't know who was standing on the seating. I was too busy having a good time.

I will be paying up, but as I said it does leave a rather bad taste in the mouth.

RainbowDrops

bhoy1976 wrote: »

I will be paying up, but as I said it does leave a rather bad taste in the mouth.

But why? If your guest were responsible for the damage, then it's only fair that the cost is covered by you.

gadgeteer_2

bhoy1976 wrote: »

I don't think I stated that it was acceptable for people to damage the venues property. I did feel that it might be covered, which it was, it was just that they didn't want to claim.

So if you go into your corner shop and dropped a bottle of wine on the floor, would you expect the shopkeeper to absorb that cost as part of doing business or would you expect to have to pay for it?

LEJC

But why should the venue claim on their insurance and face higher premiums in the future when they know the damage was caused by your guests...

You I hope have home insurance how would you feel if you invited your friends round and they damaged an item in your house to the value or just under of your home insurance excess...you know who damaged it but its going to cost you either the excess on your policy or repair costs to near that value...what would you do?

The venue has contacted you to try to resolve the issue,in the same way I expect you might contact your friend....now if your friend doesnt want to pay for the damage it falls on you to take the hit...in the same way if you dont want to pay for the damage to the venue....

Why does it leave a "bad taste" in your mouth...because you think its not your responsibility or simply because someone has asked for you to pay for damage that happened at your reception.

For what its worth...and in answer to your question posed in the opening post of whether you are being unreasonable.....my answer is most honestly YES!