Caterer catastrophe

They were things like being late, not bringing enough food, not having the correct food. This is a nightmare. I reminded them that I never wanted to book this guy in the first place and only did based on their glowing reviews and constant reassurance that everything was going to be great. So I called the caterer to tell him he was no longer an approved vendor at my venue and that he could no longer cater my wedding and we would require our deposit back. He said that he would need to talk to the venue the next day and that he would call me then. He of course did not call them and the venue after much persistence got ahold of him the following day. I received this message from the venue: “He refuses to give any type of refund he states he does not have the money to give you. When asked if he does not have the money how was he going to purchase your products and pay the staff. He said he would ask you for more money prior to the event. He insists that he is capable of completing your event and exceeding your expectations”. After receiving this message I call the venue and after talking to them, I realize he doesn’t even have the business anymore. No insurance (I guess he stated he would get 1 day insurance for our wedding), no staff (he could “find” people), and no equipment or plates or silverware or napkins.. Our venue apologized and said they would find someone to replace him which long story short they did. The new caterer is $2500 more expensive but he has done weddings at the venue and has great WW reviews. Also our ex-caterer has completely ghosted us with our $2100 deposit. Any advice is helpful but I want to know if anyone thinks the venue should be more than just apologetic. I kind of feel like they should take some responsibility for this.

They should ABSOLUTLY take some responsibility for making you hire him in the first place!!

Do you have emails or something where the venue assured you and you were iffy? Otherwise you're going to find it hard to pin on the venue (probably)

I don't think you can get your money back from him, but I would expect more from the venue. I doubt they would pay the full deposit, but maybe they could chip in a percentage or give a discount somewhere on your package to help make it more affordable? Have you researched any of their other approved caterers or is the new one the only one? If they are requiring you to use someone who is $2500 more AND they know you are out $2000 on the first guy they recommended they really need to step up IMO. The guy sounds like a winner, I can't believe they ever recommended him. So sorry you are dealing with this!

When you originally booked your venue, did they give you a choice of approved vendors or just the one guy? If they gave you a list and you picked from their list, you might not have as much leverage as if they told you that you have to book this particular person. If you had a choice they may try to tell you that you could have picked one of the other approved vendors, so they don't feel the need to compensate you for the change. If they just gave you the information for the one guy, I would see if you can get them to at least reduce the cost of your venue to help compensate the money that you lost due to their poor recommendation. I'm not a vendor, so I don't know what you can legally do in this situation, but I think if the venue is not willing to give you the money directly, they can at least reduce what you are paying them so it evens out.

Holy crap. I'm sorry you're going through this. Yes they should hold a lot of the responsibility. That is ridiculous.

@Becky Yes I do. My ex-caterer had bad communication issues in the beginning which freaked me out so I had done extensive research on outside vendors and asked the outside vendors if they would be willing to do an interview with our venue. I had found 2 I was interested in and contacted the venue about bringing them in. They said they would not have outside caterers because they had bad experiences in the past. They said it was unusual for my ex-caterer to not communicate and said they would follow up with him. They did and apparently he "lost" my email and apparently my phone calls too. But they insisted he does a great job and had personally only had positive experiences with him

@Deirdre They had a list of about 8 but only 2 could do a traditional wedding meal which is what we were looking for. Out of the 2, one was insanely out of my price range (they are looking really good now though) so that left him.

I would be bringing that to the attention of the venue and asking what they are going to do to compensate me/make me whole - because if they forced you to have him, then they should be at least partially responsible for the $2100 - and they're definitely responsible for the $2500 extra it's going to cost (not a lawyer though - if they try to leave you stuck with the short end of the stick, you may need one)

What does your venue contract say? My venue had in their contract their preferred caterer and if I went outside that I had to pay a fee. If the contract with the venue has something like this, I would go after them.

@O&S we feel the same way...about the won't be easy part

@Megan It says nothing like that. It states on their list of approved/preferred vendors that you have to get permission to use someone not on that list. When I attempted to do that, I was shot down

@Wendy C I looked up the catering name. It looks like it used to be an LLC but filed for dissolution in 2012, much earlier than when we signed a contract. Does that mean he was running a business under his own name? The business was not his name.

@OG Alecia yes, I still have the emails from when I inquired about using someone not on their list. They stated that his behavior (lack of communication) was out of ordinary. There is also a statement that they are very selective about our approved vendors.

@OG Alecia Would you consider it a waste of my time and money to get a lawyer consultation to write a demand letter and then take him to small claims court? We also disputed the charge with our credit card company but I doubt anything will come from that as we paid by credit card through PayPal and it was a long time ago

Thank you all for the advice!

@O&S we have started with the CC company

@OG Alecia Thanks! I really do not want to go that route but I also feel like this guy should not be able to get away with this. And you know... I would like some of my money back.

Keep us updated, good luck!

@Mrs. Fall Bride They have a 180 day policy. Maybe I will see if they can go around that in these circumstances though. The email associated with his PayPal account does not exist. It was linked to the website that no longer exists.

Did you pay with an AMEX or some sort of card? Some them have insurance policies that might cover this. Do you have wedding insurance? Since you had a list of 8, I don't know if the venue has that much of an obligation, but I would guilt them into giving you something in exchange. I would report the caterer to the BBB, and keep calling him until he refunds you, stay on his tail. Maybe WW community can help...who is the caterer?

First dispute the credit card charge....second go talk to an attorney and find out what you can actually do and what you rights are..third if he won't give you back your money, and the lawyer states that legally he has to then sue him in small claims court. Worse case you out a little bit of more money best case you will get money back. Keep everything....when you speak to the lawyer ask him about what info to include in a certified letter to the guy. Keep all communication in writing...do not talk on the phone so there isn't any he said she said and its all written.

Just throwing my two cents - I feel like it'd be very difficult to get the venue to compensate for the increased price, but perhaps this unfortunate circumstance would make them more willing to allow an outside caterer? One that you had researched previously?

The rest, I have no advice that hadn't already been stated. I sympathize with you having to deal with this shit show.