Poor customer service and communication
We held our reception here. Initially we were going to rent it on a Friday-Sunday. Later on the rental days we're changed, adding Wednesday &Thursday, to give us enough time comfortably. Two of decorators had previously worked with Gesu for planning so I felt like I was in good hands. The day before the rental (Tuesday afternoon)- I was made aware that we would only be able to rent the hall on the weekdays between the hours of 8a-4p.I was floored &felt a way,we paid a SIGNIFICANT amount of money to rent the hall &was under the impression we had the hall until 11pm each day. Diane explained that she can only rent the hall between those hrs because they have a new priest. Wow. I wish I'd know this when I set down with and agreed to work with them. When we added on the additional days to the rental, I didnt meet with Diane right away, I just paid the additional deposits. With so much going on, when it came time to make the final payment & update the contract, I honestly did not read the addendum, I trusted that what we all discussed. This was the beginning of the chaos.The day we arrived to start decorating the hall, there was a maintenance guy present washing the windows (really was there to spy on us and see our time of arrival). I was disappointed, at the beginning of the reservation, we advised we did not need their chairs, we expected that they would not be there. We mentioned it to the maintenance guy& initially he told us he would have them moved by the following morning. However, that will not work, Meredyth Rentals would be dropping off chairs the next morning at 9am.With time restraints, we requested they be moved sooner so we would not further delay the set up. Be mindful that the lady assisting decorate had held several events at Gesu & hadn't ever experienced this, she left decorating there as late as 1am. So to topic- the maintenance guy went over to the office, had a conversation, came back and told us- that we were not allowed to move the chairs but he will move the chair for $150 an hour! He mentioned the charge was due to staff shortage. Respectfully, this is not the customer issue. He yelled at my husband, the situation escalated, I was in disbelief. Our planner went over to the office & complained. He made the remark "had you all shown up at 8am this morning instead of 10a you would have time to move the chairs." ( so he was there "washing windows" to really see our time of arrival) I explained to this man that we were literally told the day before that we had time restrictions. After the numerous complaints about time restraints, we were told that we could rent the hall for an addition of $150/hr. How can an entity charge you a daily rate, restrict the hours, and try to charge you hourly to use it! Keep in mind, there were no other rentals on the days we rented so what harm could have came from allowing us additional time? I did not have the energy to argue w/them, especially after the maintenance guy threatened to have us removed. Days before your big day, indirect sabatoge and microagressions from the staff. The Sunday was clean up day, please explain why the staff of Gesu locked up Meredyth Rental products, and our stuff?!?! We called and called for someone to come unlock the door and they took hours to come!! We were charged additional by Merdyth Rentals for the additional time. I emailed and asked the status of our deposit, no reply. The hall was cleaned very well, they held an event that evening right after we cleaned up!! To have no explanation about returning of the deposit is disturbing. Through it all, we transformed the place and the reception was beautiful. I pray this group of staff that represent Gesu get it together. This was so disheartening. Yall be blessed, take care, and work on being nice to people, it cost NOTHING to be nice and have effective communication.
