I’ll try and keep this as brief as possible. I am planning a wedding with my spouse to be. We had quite a high number of invitations (lots of cousins, parents’ friends etc). However, we had an unexpectedly high number of drop-outs (most of our friends our own age can make it however, don’t feel sorry for us). We only knew this after the caterer’s six weeks’ deadline for confirmation of final numbers, however, we did inform them more than a month in advance of the event that our numbers would be lower than we had told them at the deadline.
I want to be clear at this point, I DID NOT ASK FOR A REFUND, I asked if we could exchange the reduced meals required for a wine upgrade. Our event manager said they would “re-cost the event and re-allocate the funds”. Great, so far so good. So basically, the services required for fewer guests was around £3,000. They came back with a basic wine upgrade that would normally cost around £1,000. They are getting to pocket the £2,000 difference as pure profit. I pointed this out (politely) and they are quoting the contract back at me. Again, I am not asking for any money to be returned to me. I haven’t worked in catering, but I would have thought that swapping the wine served would be far easier than having to prepare and serve quite a few meals. I also thought alcohol markups were easy money in hospitality.
They are well within their rights to do so according to the T&Cs, but am I an entitled arsehole for thinking they could give me an exchange for an equally priced set of goods, or do I just not “get” business?
15 comments
The numbers changing after the deadline is very much a you problem not a them problem.
They could have told you to fuck off but are still offering you something else for basically free instead, but that’s not good enough for you?
YATA
>We only knew this after the caterer’s six weeks’ deadline for confirmation of final numbers
What bit of deadline do you not get?
Yes you are the entitled arsehole.
Welcome to the world of adulthood where you’re bound by the terms of contracts you sign.
I do see where you are coming from, on the surface its easy to assume this is them pocketing pure profit.
However caterers have these deadlines to protect themselves. For all you know they may well have had to turn down other work because they were originally told you wanted many more meals than you now do. They may have paid deposits on hire of cutlery, plates, etc.
in short I doubt very much it is as simple as it appears on the surface. And even if they have no other reason than “you fucked us around” they are still well within their rights. Hell, that in itself is a form of protection for their business.
Shit like this just makes me not want to get married. Is 3k a normal amount to spend just on catering? Who on earth can afford that I don’t get it
I mean, a deadline is a deadline. Do you not have to work to deadlines in your own job? Don’t you have set expectations given to you by managers / customers?
It depends on how the company operates and how far in advance they organise things. They may have the six week deadline in place because they have to give the suppliers of the ingredients and drinks that much notice to ensure they have enough food on the day. And obviously the more meals they need to prepare, the more staff they have to allocate to your wedding, or give staff a longer shift to give them more prep time.
Six weeks is a crazy deadline for a caterer. But you did agree to it, you aren’t an arsehole but without knowing what way they cost their services it’s hard to say if the caterer is unreasonable or not.
You will get lots of negative responses for spending money on a wedding in this sub so take those ones with a pinch of salt.
Well, you agreed a price and signed a contract. It sounds like they’re sticking to their part of it so all’s fair. What they do with the profit is their business
However, there’s no harm in trying to negotiate. If nothing comes of it then so be it. You’ve managed to get a wine upgrade which is more than you’re contractually entitled to so I’d consider it a more-than-fair compromise.
Just go back to the original numbers for food.
But those aluminium food containers.
Direct that all the excess meals are served first to a table at the back of the room, where bride’s maids and groomsmen Don gloves and aprons, and transfers the food from the plates to yhe containers and seal them. Bride and groom, stack the food into crates, and the homeless charity/who goes round giving out food takes the crates to their vans, and then goes off and distributes it..
You then deglove and apron and sit and are served your meals.
You’ve paid their 2k extra profit forward.
There’s different margins on food vs drinks, so if they change your package they’d probably lose out. You’re not entitled for asking, I think anyone would ask in this scenario, but given the deadline had gone I think you just have to accept it for what it is. Maybe as a compromise ask them to still prepare the extra food and see if they’ll deliver to a local homeless shelter or something? Or even just buy the raw ingredients and have them delivered to a food bank.
No you’re not, there is nothing wrong with the request you made. Ignore the comments reminding you that you had a deadline and contract that was made clear in your post, you are obviously aware. They don’t have to agree to your request, which you are also aware of. Simply asking them to help doesn’t make you entitled.
If you have to ask, you know you are one.
Whilst I don’t think you’re acting in a manor that could consider you ‘entitled’ I do think you’re missing some key points which have been highlighted in other comments such as the caterer needing to book cutlery and order food, possibly take on staff and the like. It’s not £2k in their pocket it’s £2k they’re still going to shell out on their overheads which is why they gave you a deadline – they had a deadline with their suppliers. It’s a learning curve.
What do mean when you say
most of our friends our own age can make it however, don’t feel sorry for us
why should people feel sorry for you that most of your friends can make it? Don’t you like your friends, if not, why invite them in the first place?