Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  11/02/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Me and my Fiance (now wife) inquired with Redland about using their event space for our wedding. We signed a contract on 12/5/22 and placed a down payment of $2400 towards a deposit of the space for 9/22/23. Over 6 months before our wedding we had a change of our initial plans and wished to keep the original date for the wedding but to have it be a half day/ hourly rate (something they provided on their website) they initially said that it would be no problem but then proceeded to have us change our date stating that they dont do hourly rates on any days other than Monday-Thursdays. This was not in our contract nor on their website and they refused/ignored emails about a refund in the months following, however did respond stating they would give half of that back. Also on our initial walk/meet and greet, we inquired about an misc event/hourly rate but again was not informed about their policy. In June, after we had already cancelled and had a new venue, they then charged us through their payment system for the remaining deposit of $2400 without our consent, we should not have still been in their system and our payment information should no longer be in their possession. We again asked for a refund of that plus our initial deposit. They again ignored our ask about the initial deposit and admitted their mistake with the second charge and issued a refund for that. We have an email from them about how they didnt take us off their calendar and how they had to deal with us that they sent to their business partner. We have photos of our contract and their website and copies of all of our email communication. We didnt want to cancel our date, we just wanted to move to an hourly timetable of which they were unwilling to accommodate and took our money. They had plenty of time to fill the date but they did not take us off their calendar (in their words) so they couldnt fill it anyway. We are formally requesting our money back after being continuously ignored.

  Business response

  12/11/2023

  RFF Resonse: This is an unfortunate and erroneous complaint. Attached is **** and ********* original contract, dated 12/5/22. It was at that time Redland Family Farm, RFF, collected their $2400 deposit to secure their wedding date, 9/22/23. Section 3, on pg. 2 of the contract reads "Redland has determined that the following represent fair estimates of damages, (including its ability to replace lost business) resulting from ******'s cancellation or rescheduling of a booked event: Cancellations If Redland receives notice of cancellation less than one year but more than six months prior to the event, a refund of 50% of the prepaid facility use fee will be issued." Both **** and ******* initialed this exact statement as shown on the contract. 
  On March 4th **** and ******* emailed (see attachment) to inquire about changing plans to move from a full wedding, at the time a $4,500 contract, with their additional fireplace charges of $300, totaling $4800, to an hourly event at $150 per hour. This decrease in contract value would have made a significantly negative financial impact to our business. At this point they were just over 6 months from their wedding date which would fall under the above mentioned, Section 3 of the contract, that both **** and ******* signed and initialed this specific statement, offering them a 50% refund. September is our busiest wedding month and our business relies heavily on wedding income. We had already notified another potential couple this date was taken, thus missing out on the income of a separate wedding on the date **** and ******* reserved. 

  On 3/4/23 we let **** and ******* know we can accommodate their change. We did not tell them they do not have to honor the contract they signed and initialed. 

  We use Square to operate our business and when **** and ******* initially contracted with us and chose to use their credit card for payments the final installment of their fees was initiated to charge when it was due, 3 months before their wedding. It was an error on our part when we did not remember to cancel this automatic payment after **** and ******* chose to cancel their wedding at RFF. When they notified us of this charge we immediately initiated the refund, the same day, on 6/22 - see attached Square refund. 

  We understand plans change, but by **** and ******* changing their wedding plans 6 months before their wedding date from a wedding that at the time would have provided the farm with $4800 in income, to a "micro wedding" where they wanted to use the farm for part of the day, hourly event would likely  which would have resulted in most likely a 75% decrease in contract value (this is a generous assumption, assuming what they referred to as "part of their wedding day" to be 5 hours at $150/hr plus 2 hours for set up and 1 hour for clean up at $50/hr which would have totaled a likely over generous assumption of 8 hours of reserved time at $900 causing Redland to lose $3900 of income for what was a very popular wedding date we reserved for this couple. 

  We wish **** and ******* well, but would appreciate they remove their negative and falsely stated Yelp review and this BBB complaint. Our business relies heavily on word of mouth and online reviews and they are tainting our reputation with their false allegations.

  Please reach out with any further questions or for any additional information. 

  Customer response

  12/17/2023

   
  Complaint: 20814073
  
  

  While it is true that we wished to change our plans for our day, we still booked the day in question. Once again, nowhere on their website or in the contract did it state that a misc event must be on Mondays-Thursdays nor were we informed of this on our initial walkthrough. We planned on following through with our contract, using the down payment to pay off the smaller time frame. You did not fulfill the contract on your end by then having us change our date. Your email on 3/4/23 stated that you would be Happy to accommodate our change in plans which left us hopeful but also confused by the wording of the email, ending with checking the availability. Again, not being clear until we followed up with wanting our original date.

  If our change of plans truly made such a significant financial impact then they should have taken us off of their calendar after we initiated the cancellation in order to fill the date. We received another email from you on 3/7/23 which that stated we do still have wedding inquiries for September dates coming in. Later saying we have had several inquiries for your weekend specifically in the past few months. Giving them ample time to find a replacement. If the reasoning for not refunding our date was a loss in revenue, then they should have done themselves a favor and taken us off their calendar. Redland should not offer hourly rates at all without clear and specific stipulations on when you can book them. 
  

  They did issue a refund for the mistake in billing, however the mistake shouldnt have ever taken place considering we cancelled 3 months prior. Before we were issued our refund for the improper charge on 6/23/23, we received a communication email that we can only assume we werent supposed to see to your business partner ***** where you stated that you will then also take us off your calendar on June 23rd. 3 months before our date of 9/22/23. By then, clearly not giving yourselves enough time to fill the spot of which is not our fault and clear mismanagement on behalf of you and your team.

  We have not written any Yelp reviews and did not tell anyone to on our behalf. If something has been written, it is not in our control to take it down. Yelp is a space to inform the public of a positive, or in your case, negative business or restaurant. If we feel a Yelp review is necessary then we will do that. The BBB complaint will remain as well as our views on how you have conducted yourselves during this process. You had given us unnecessary stress by putting us into a corner that sent us looking for an alternative event space.

   Nothing false has been reported either. Any claim has been reinforced with email communications, dates, our contract as well as your own website. We will continue to advocate for you all to do the right thing and issue a refund.

   

  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

*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. ↩