So I am holding my reception at a private members club that I am a member of. They have their own planner who has been really nice and helpful, until recently. Contracts were signed back in feb along with estimated numbers and there is specifically a clause that says a) final numbers need to be in writing 4 weeks, but no later than 5 days before event and b) minimum numbers apply to marquee bookings only. We chose to have our do indoors, rather than the marquee anyway. Final numbers and payment were due last week (4 weeks before wedding) and emailed her in readiness 2 weeks ago and asked her for the invoice. She took a week to respond which was unusual and sent me the invoice firstly with double the amount of pimms id ordered (enough to sink a ship) and secondly she said there was a minimum number that applied to my booking and because I was now amended what was in the original estimate she would be charging me a grand "variance fee". (They've got 10k out of me for the reception in total). I said I wasn't paying for more guests if there weren't any, I would be happy to round it up but no way was I paying an extra grand as firstly, they hadn't ordered food yet and secondly there were no other weddings booked in that day so it's not like they had to turn people away. She then took another week to respond and sent me another incorrect invoice with the numbers rounded down, charging me even more for the "variance". To top it all off she then tells me she's pregnant and her maternity leave starts next week? Err who will be taking care of my big day? This had led me to think she's doesn't care anymore as she's leaving next week and her behaviour has become irrational because of her tiredness/hormones. I've remained really polite th whole time (because I'm a member I have my reputation to think about) but today i just had to respond to her telling her I was so upset I couldn't communicate with her anymore and would be referring it to the OH and best man to deal with. In the absence of her being competent enough to give us the correct invoice, OH has just calculated what we owe minus the "variance fee" and we've sent over the money, it's too late to book anything else now, we love the venue. OH has sent an email to her manager copying her in saying why we're not happy and referring to the t&cs in that we're not paying the "variance" fee but he's got an out of office from him until next week!
anyone else had issues like this?
Do do you think we've done the right thing?
