Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/29/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I paid this business 2500.00 in august 2023 for a deposit on a wedding ceremony and reception that was to be held 9/01/2024. I was rushed into it and pressured by them to get the deposit down two days after seeing their venue and a day after booking it I regretted it and asked to cancel the whole thing and be refunded. Although they had only had my money for a day they said they could not do that. I decided we would just proceed and get married there. No one would take my money to book their estate house and I was pretty much ignored for a couple of months before I learned online that they had changed the entire venue!! They enclosed their open space and instead of looking like a beautiful open barn it is now a garage. I met with the owner 2 weeks ago in January 2024 and she said she would discuss it with her team but that they could possibly refund me if they book my date as they have done for others in the past. I was ignored for 2 weeks before I reached out asking what the plan was. I got an email today stating they couldn’t refund me as it isnt fair to others. I don’t understand how they can take my money for one thing and refuse to refund me when they change that thing to something entirely different. 2500.00 is a lot of money to my husband and I and I am sick over losing it to an unprofessional company. I will not be getting married there so they just took my money for nothing most likely they used my deposit to build the wall that encloses the space I had paid for. How can they do this??? How can they sell me a space and then change the whole thing and refuse a refund when I’m no longer interested in it?! The owner Dominic called me today and aggressively told me to take 10% refund or nothing and insulted me multiple times while raising his voice. They are unprofessional rude thieves and Dominic likes to call up women and talk over them in what I would describe as an intimidation tactic. I was shaking after the call. I don’t appreciate a man yelling at me ever

  Business Response

  Date: 02/09/2024

  While we are not in a high-pressure business to sell anyone
  anything they do not want, we would like to rebuttal. Our contract clearly says
  that it is nonrefundable.  As is
  customary in our industry, deposits are nonrefundable, and many venues do not
  even offer a transfer of funds.  Our contract
  does state that it is transferrable, and we offered to help with transferring
  the money she spent onto another event, more towards what she was looking for,
  as you can see in the emails that took place. She also had several days between
  the tour and making the deposit before she came in and signed the contract. Yes,
  she did tour with ***** to look at the fresh look of the pavilion. *****
  discussed with her that we do not typically refund money, and that in some
  cases we do offer a partial refund at times, like in the case of Covid-19 or if
  we are able to re-book the date, but we are not in the position to offer a
  refund of any sort at this time. We have yet to rebook this date, typically
  brides are looking 12-15 or more months in advance, at this point, we feel the
  date will not be rebooked. We missed several opportunities to book the date of
  9/1/24 as there was a deposit made and the date was not available.  The time to tour, answer emails, and emails
  all equal to time our staff spent on this situation.  This is payroll dollars spent on this
  situation.  Lastly, in the case of name
  calling, how is this acceptable?  This is
  defamation of character, as the business owner, Mr. Varallo, was trying to
  explain to ****** why we do not offer refunds. But for her to say he was aggressive
  and intimidating as well as being a lying thief is definitely not something
  that should be said while all he was trying to do was explain to her, she had a
  binding contract.  This was a
  conversation from a business owner to a customer, not a man trying to
  intimidate a woman, it was a business arrangement. Also, we have had no emails for booking the estate house for
  her, however we did hold the dates she requested as well for her. We have since
  removed the hold for the estate home.  We have attached emails with our conversations as well

  Business Response

  Date: 02/12/2024

  I am attaching the contract again.  Please read the entire contract and you will see that it clearly states at the bottom of page two: "A deposit of $2500.00 holds the event date and is non-refundable.  This will be reflected and subtracted from the final bill.  The deposit is transferable up to 180 days before the event."' 'Thank you 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/14/2024

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. 
  They haven’t said anything on the matter besides attaching a basic blank contract that says “non refundable” as if that phrase allows them to be unprofessional. This business acknowledged in person to me that they changed their venue and understood we didn’t care for it. An owner, *****, said that they have refunded people in the past and that she didn’t see why they wouldn’t be able to work something out with us such as selling our date to another couple and refunding our money since the date is 7 months out still. The tone was drastically different when I heard from Dominic but even he offered a refund of 10%. I don’t think 10% is fair but obviously he was willing to offer some sort of a refund as well. I would like the business to work out a refund of 70% or to communicate with me on what my other options may be. I do not want to get married at their venue as its appearance has been changed and we do not like it one bit. I would be willing to have a bridal shower or some other smaller event there to spend the 2500.00 they took as a deposit. Simply saying they can’t do anything besides 10% (250.00 of a whopping 2500!) and ignoring my emails the past two or three weeks is unacceptable. I would like a refund of 70% otherwise they are forcing me to do business with them and I would expect a response and a plan moving forward. 
  
  ****** ********

  Business Response

  Date: 02/16/2024

  We certainly understand what
  ****** is saying and feeling.  However, we
  did offer a change of venue in an email on 8/30/23.  This was also the
  first email in which she was told it was a nonrefundable deposit.  Please
  see attached email.  We have responded to
  every email/phone call (please see the timeline of our communications in the
  original response dated 2/9/24) However, we did receive an email on 2/12/24 of
  which we did not respond as we are now communicating through this forum as she
  chose to contact the BBB and she continues to email us directly instead of
  using this forum she chose.  We have cooperated with all requests for
  information from the BBB.  A blank contract was
  sent to prove that we do indeed have a nonrefundable deposit, it is professional,
  it is how people do business in this industry.  Also, ***** did tell
  ****** we would possibly refund part of her deposit if the venue was re-booked,
  of which it has not been rebooked.  At this point we feel
  this relationship needs to be severed.  We prefer not to do business with
  ****** as we feel it would now be a liability for her to hold an event on the
  property.  We have more than fair
  to her. Again, we will reiterate:  She originally requested a tour
  for a February wedding (an outdoor venue), she had several days to think about
  signing a contract before she signed, she called asking for a refund and was
  told it was not possible and we could do another type of dinner/event. 
  She chose to go ahead with her plans, we answered every email and
  request.   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/14/2024

  I have already complained that this business completely changed their venue after taking our money for a wedding there. I understand their contract is non refundable however it is transferable and I have been trying to communicate with them and find some sort of solution for months now. They seem to be refusing to respond to my emails. I’m just trying to work out some sort of arrangement where we can both walk away satisfied. I have suggested transferring the money to a bridal shower at their venue or transferring the money to cases of wine. The deposit was supposed to come off the final food and beverage bill so both of these seemed like great solutions to me- they keep the money and I at least walk away with something since I paid over 2500.00 and no longer wish to be married at their venue. It’s extremely unprofessional that I’m being ignored when all I’m trying to do is figure this out. If they are unwilling to transfer the money within their own company then I’m going to still be having a wedding there in September and no one can even respond to me? I need to know what is going on what the plan is and if we can reach an agreement or if I need to be going there to select my menu options for the wedding I don’t want. If that’s what they’re going to force me to do I’ll do it because I can’t lose that kind of money. I really think settling this with wine in the amount of the deposit would be a wonderful solution for both parties because as I said they keep the money they’re so desperately clinging to and I don’t walk away empty handed. It would be really nice if they could work with a paying customer to reach a solution to a problem they created. Maybe my money and my business isn’t good enough for their time??