Not enough food at function

naedanger

popsy2 wrote: »

I didnt think it was that important initially. we took it to the local council. initially we were not informed it was anything to do with them, until we were ignored by the caterers, only then did we discover a link with the town council. The Town clerk has wiped his hands of it without correctly referring us to their correct procedures (or appeal process etc) and I think we should now be writing to the Mayor. Its been brick wall after brick wall. I am pleased that so many people are in agreement that the amounts provided are way short of what you would reasonably expect. I dont think we are going to get anywhere though.

One option:
If you have not yet paid then simply write a letter explaining why you believe the caterer failed to deliver the goods and services they were contracted to provide. Then state you will only pay £x in the circumstances and explain why you believe £x is reasonable given the goods and service that were provided compared with what you expected them to provide based on the contract.

If they wish to dispute that they failed to provide what was required then they can sue you. Then the worst that will happen is you lose and have to pay some court fees and the amount you withheld. If this happens then provided, you pay everything promptly, there will be no adverse affect on your credit record.

It seems more likely to me that you will win. The fact the contract was vague does not mean the court will automatically side with the caterer. Where the contract is vague the court will need to determine what is reasonable based on all the circumstances.

Another option:
If you do not wish to withhold part of payment that is your choice. (And I can understand why you might wish to do this.) You will then presumably need to negotiate but are likely to be ultimately reliant on what the other party decides. However if you then don't get anywhere the reason may be because you are failing to make use of the facilities made available for settling such disputes - i.e. the courts.

popsy2

Thank you. Currently writing a letter quoting Consumer Act 2015. S49(1) Reasonable Care & Skill, S51(2) (Reasonable Price to be paid for a Service) and S68 (1) (requirements for Transparency). All guns blazing now...

susancs

OP, I would email your the person at the council who deals with the bookings and copy in your local councillor, Head of council etc so you have a record of the complaint.

Maybe something along the lines of:
Dear X,
Further to my conversation with you regarding the fact that we did not receive a sufficient finger food buffet to cater for 100 people at ...... on......, I would like to make an official complaint about this and ask for our bill to be reduced to reflect the actual food we were supplied with. As you are aware we booked a finger buffet for 100 people who had attended a funeral and were given a price of £1250 of which £940 was for a finger buffet for 100 people. For the £940 our party was supplied with 300 bite size snacks, 100 chicken drumsticks, 25 sandwiches (100 small quarters), a bowl of potato salad and a bowl of tomato and onion salad. As you will appreciate as it was a finger buffet the bowls of salads were not eaten or really appropriate. We are not disputing the £150 room hire, £120 for 100 hot drinks or £40 for extra staff hire.

I am currently in the process of obtaining a number of quotes and information from other caterers in the area on what would be considered a minimum amount of finger food for 100 people at a cost of £940.
I am also investigating via public forums and will supply you with this information.

I hope that I can look forward to your further consideration on this matter and that you will consider that it would be fair to reduce the bill to reflect the food that was actually provided.

Your sincerely

daytona0

susancs wrote: »

OP, I would email your the person at the council who deals with the bookings and copy in your local councillor, Head of council etc so you have a record of the complaint.

Maybe something along the lines of:
Dear X,
Further to my conversation with you regarding the fact that we did not receive a sufficient finger food buffet to cater for 100 people at ...... on......, I would like to make an official complaint about this and ask for our bill to be reduced to reflect the actual food we were supplied with. As you are aware we booked a finger buffet for 100 people who had attended a funeral and were given a price of £1250 of which £940 was for a finger buffet for 100 people. For the £940 our party was supplied with 300 bite size snacks, 100 chicken drumsticks, 25 sandwiches (100 small quarters), a bowl of potato salad and a bowl of tomato and onion salad. As you will appreciate as it was a finger buffet the bowls of salads were not eaten or really appropriate. We are not disputing the £150 room hire, £120 for 100 hot drinks or £40 for extra staff hire.

I am currently in the process of obtaining a number of quotes and information from other caterers in the area on what would be considered a minimum amount of finger food for 100 people at a cost of £940.
I am also investigating via public forums and will supply you with this information.

I hope that I can look forward to your further consideration on this matter and that you will consider that it would be fair to reduce the bill to reflect the food that was actually provided.

Your sincerely

Just going to make an invoice for the situation at hand:


£940 cost for the food...

50 portions of potato salad
50 potions of tomato and onion salad
100 Samosas
100 Spring rolls
100 Sausage rolls
100 BBQ chicken
(100) 50 rounds of sandwiches (100 halves as per OP "provided half a small triangle sandwich per person")

----
600 items in total
----

940/600 = £1.56 per food item.

One or two of the items MAY be justified at being £1.56 per item, but the majority of the items seem vastly overpriced!

OP should point out that ASDA list items at the following prices:

- Shazans Meat Samosas = 40 for £7 (17.5p per item)
- ASDA Extra Special Potato Salad = £1.78 for 3 servings (60p per item)
- ASDA Chosen by You 4 Vegetable Spring Rolls = £1 for 4 (25p per item)
- Don't get me started on the possible prices of sausage rolls!
- etc etc

So all in all the markup would have been immense here! I think OP got mugged.

Kaye1

My husband and I ran a small catering company and he is a head chef.

Comparing the prices to supermarkets doesn't work.

You can buy direct from wholesalers such as Brakes/Bookers and the buffet items are pence, depending on the quality.

We would have provided 125 rounds of sandwiches- why? Because it is a really cheap way of bulking up a buffet. A mix of expensive and cheap fillings- some beef, some cheese, some egg, chicken, tuna etc means that every guest gets a good amount.

We recently catered for a small private party. The fish they wanted was £30.99 a kilo in Waitrose. Our wholesaler delivered it on ice for £13.99 per kilo.

I'm sorry to say you have been completely ripped off.

For us, we got most of our work through word of mouth and recommendations. So I would try the line that you are willing to tell all your guests how badly you were treated and they will surely tell other llocal people, which will directly affect their business.

Got to dash now but will drop back in with some more info later. I have a Bookers account so may be able to get some comparable prices for you.

markfj

You could try the resolver app and also try get advice from citizens advice, I've found them both helpful myself recently

popsy2

I would also say that the extra £40 they paid for the staffing was well worth it, considering the amount of people at the bar (most probably buying up the crisps and snacks behind the bar.

popsy2

Meer, the trouble was none of us who are the main family got any food either, so we didnt even get to sample it. By the time we turned round to get some it was all gone.

Poppie68

Does it matter if she has paid what some think is an extortionate amount for a finger buffet? She agreed to the cost, the complaint is against the amount of food provided. She paid for a buffet for 100 but it seems like a buffet for 50 was put out.

powerful_Rogue

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Isn't that what the £40 for extra staff hire was for?

So that one extra member of staff cooked the food, plated it, served it, collected it, cleared up and washed it all?

From the OP sounds like that extra member of staff was working behind the bar.