How hard to push? Opinions welcome/vent (long)

Maria92609

So, long story short, we had a number of relatively minor issues with our reception venue.  In the grand scheme of things, none of them were that big of a deal that they ruined our night, but they were were significant enough that they had an impact on our experience at the reception (our guests were unaware that anything was wrong).

The day after our wedding (before leaving for our honeymoon), I sent our sales contact a quick email letting her know that overall things went well, but I also drew her attention to the issues we had. 

Two weeks, no reply, but that was okay; we were on our honeymoon. I finally recieved an email from her, that I felt  minimized the issues and had an overall attitude of "well, it didn't ruin your night, so we're okay then."

I followed up with a quite lengthy email that not only addressed my feelings that she minimized the issues, but also outlined the issues with specifics and that told her that frankly, for they promised and what we paid, I expected more.  Most of the issues boil down to a pretty significant communication breakdown between our sales contact and the day of banquet coordinator and major lack of attention to little details that we spent A LOT of time going over prior to the wedding. 

She never did respond to my email; I ended up talking to her in person when I stopped in a month after the wedding.  When we did talk through my concerns, I clearly indicated that now that she understood where we were coming from, that I would leave it up to her to discuss with management and we would wait to hear back from her after that (and made ourselves available to discuss directly with management, if they so desired).

Now, a month since that conversation (2 mos since the wedding), still no response.  I emailed her to check on the status of the follow up, and I received a rather surprised response - she clearly thinks that since we discussed it, we're all good.  I feel that given the fact that we gave them over $10,000 in business (not to mention the guest rooms, cash bar, and restaurant tabs that our guests paid) - and we paid extra for the services that were the source of the problems, the very least they should do is extend a formal acknowledgement/apology. 

Honest opinions, please. I'm just so frustrated with her lack of follow up that I feel I'm losing objectivity on the situation.    Am I just getting far too emotionally tied up in this?  Is it time to go directly to the management? How hard/far do we push it?

Thanks for letting me vent!

Bimbi284

Its too bad that there's been such a communication breakdown throughout this whole process. If its a problem for you, I think it would be appropriate to direct the rest of your communication with the management. You could let her know you are doing so, that way you are still maintaining your end of the open communication you have been attempting from the beginning.
I guess since you've waited this long and are still bothered by these issues, I wouldn't let it go yet. It would be different if it were like only a week after the wedding and you were still ruminating about it, but since you've had some time to cool off and get back into your normal routine, I wouldn't think its so much an emotional thing, but rather the principle that you paid for something, and didn't get exactly what you paid for.
A wedding is a huge expense, its not like you got a salad for lunch and the chicken on it was cold or something small like that haha.

hkiesling

Are you looking for an apology or for money back?  If you want some money back, you should request a meeting with management and bring along your contract and any emails you have the detail what your expectations were before the wedding and show how the venue agreed with them.  Be very specific and let them know what will be a satisfactory resolution to the situation. 

Good luck!

Maria92609

 I think it boils down to the principle of the situation, more than a money issue. Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of great things about our venue (it's the reason I've been trying to give them the opportunity to improve their review!).  It's just that I have really high expectations for customer service.  If you are going to take several hours of my precious week-of-wedding time to go over every little detail, and you are charging me for an extra service, then you should deliver. And if I can point to several specific instances where you did not deliver, at least acknowledge it.

Customer service 101: take customer concerns seriously not only in your sales pitch, but your post-event follow up as well.  

kkaew816

I think you need to ask them what you want.  I'm in customer service and I often take customer complaints but it's hard to be a mind reader and know what the customer wants in return. Some customers want to vent, some want $$$, and some want an apology. It could be very well that the person you were speaking with got the idea that you only wanted to vent to them and nothing else.  Since it seems you don't want any $$$ I would either drop it or write a formal letter of complaint to management. Just my opinion though!

alillemoe

I am not sure what happened at your reception that caused for the hiccups that occured, but my thoughts would be to explain what went and then explain how you want to be compensated for it.

Personally, I would ask for a reimbursement of some kind.  If food was cold, or they didn't get the timing of the event correct or whatever the issues were, I would estimate how much you feel they should reimburse you.

If it is minor ask them for a couple of free overnight stays to use in the next year or so.  If it is more significant ask them for $200 back for each minor thing that they screwed up.