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New venue FEES!! BS! May be illegal?

StarIzInkdStarIzInkd member
First Anniversary First Comment
in Wedding Reception Forum
Awwww so my FI took it upon himself to write a letter to our law-makers in the state about the fact that all of a sudden these wedding halls are now charging a 20% "Administrative fee" on TOP of 20%  gratuity and 8.875% tax. When I asked 3 different places what an administrative fee was, they all gave diff responses... "It goes to the owner", "It pays for the food", "It goes to our staff"... I've been LIVID because you are now charging almost 50% of the total HUGE bill in FEES. ANd I'm sorry but where are those tens of thousands going if not to your owner, the food and the staff? SO this HAS to be bullshit!!! It's not fair, not right and something needs to be done. This has to be illegal! Anyone who agrees to pay this is a total asshole. I'm proud of him for writing in to someone about this. I can't possibly be the only one who has come across this. I have been told by one venue who does NOT charge this that it IS in fact illegal. I want to point this out to all of you so you are aware of this too. Do not pay this. They are taking MAJOR advantage of us brides and it cost enough money to get married these days. This isn't right.
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Re: New venue FEES!! BS! May be illegal?

  • hlvonbhlvonb member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Answer First Comment
    It may not be right (morally etc) but it may not be illegal. Depends on where you live.
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  • manateehuggermanateehugger member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    I have a feeling your law-maker is going to to do a big fat nothing about this. What does your contract specify? 
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  • JoanE2012JoanE2012 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    StarIzInkd said:
    Awwww so my FI took it upon himself to write a letter to our law-makers in the state about the fact that all of a sudden these wedding halls are now charging a 20% "Administrative fee" on TOP of 20%  gratuity and 8.875% tax. When I asked 3 different places what an administrative fee was, they all gave diff responses... "It goes to the owner", "It pays for the food", "It goes to our staff"... I've been LIVID because you are now charging almost 50% of the total HUGE bill in FEES. ANd I'm sorry but where are those tens of thousands going if not to your owner, the food and the staff? SO this HAS to be bullshit!!! It's not fair, not right and something needs to be done. This has to be illegal! Anyone who agrees to pay this is a total asshole. I'm proud of him for writing in to someone about this. I can't possibly be the only one who has come across this. I have been told by one venue who does NOT charge this that it IS in fact illegal. I want to point this out to all of you so you are aware of this too. Do not pay this. They are taking MAJOR advantage of us brides and it cost enough money to get married these days. This isn't right.
    Why is it illegal?  They are disclosing the fee.  If you don't want to pay it, find another venue.  

    FWIW, If you googled it, you would find out it's a pretty common charge (also known as a service charge).  So before you call brides who pay this fee "assholes", perhaps you should do some research beforehand.  You are naive if you believe the other venue who is telling you it's illegal......they just want to win your business!

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  • MyNameIsNotMyNameIsNot member
    First Comment First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its
    StarIzInkd said:
    Awwww so my FI took it upon himself to write a letter to our law-makers in the state about the fact that all of a sudden these wedding halls are now charging a 20% "Administrative fee" on TOP of 20%  gratuity and 8.875% tax. When I asked 3 different places what an administrative fee was, they all gave diff responses... "It goes to the owner", "It pays for the food", "It goes to our staff"... I've been LIVID because you are now charging almost 50% of the total HUGE bill in FEES. ANd I'm sorry but where are those tens of thousands going if not to your owner, the food and the staff? SO this HAS to be bullshit!!! It's not fair, not right and something needs to be done. This has to be illegal! Anyone who agrees to pay this is a total asshole. I'm proud of him for writing in to someone about this. I can't possibly be the only one who has come across this. I have been told by one venue who does NOT charge this that it IS in fact illegal. I want to point this out to all of you so you are aware of this too. Do not pay this. They are taking MAJOR advantage of us brides and it cost enough money to get married these days. This isn't right.
    You have got to be kidding me.  It's illegal for a wedding venue to charge fees?  What planet are you living on that you think your state senator has nothing better to do but to swoop in and protect you from contracting to pay fees?

    If you don't agree with the fees, use a venue that doesn't charge them.  It's none of your business what other people contract to do, and calling them names just makes you look like a child.  

    It's not illegal for them to charge fees.  It would be illegal for them to charge your card for extra fees that aren't contemplated in the contract, but that isn't what's going on here.  Before you start spouting off about what is and isn't illegal, you should probably know what you're talking about.  
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  • kmmssgkmmssg mod
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    Didn't go well on Wedding Bee either
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  • thejucheideathejucheidea member
    First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    Wow, crossover from WB... usually this happens as a 'the women on TK are evil so I'm coming to WB', not 'I'm gonna post the same thing on TK and WB at the same time'.

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  • kmmssgkmmssg mod
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    She got called out for being seriously rude over there and closed it.
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  • kerbohlkerbohl member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    StarIzInkd said:
    Awwww so my FI took it upon himself to write a letter to our law-makers in the state about the fact that all of a sudden these wedding halls are now charging a 20% "Administrative fee" on TOP of 20%  gratuity and 8.875% tax. When I asked 3 different places what an administrative fee was, they all gave diff responses... "It goes to the owner", "It pays for the food", "It goes to our staff"... I've been LIVID because you are now charging almost 50% of the total HUGE bill in FEES. ANd I'm sorry but where are those tens of thousands going if not to your owner, the food and the staff? SO this HAS to be bullshit!!! It's not fair, not right and something needs to be done. This has to be illegal! Anyone who agrees to pay this is a total asshole. I'm proud of him for writing in to someone about this. I can't possibly be the only one who has come across this. I have been told by one venue who does NOT charge this that it IS in fact illegal. I want to point this out to all of you so you are aware of this too. Do not pay this. They are taking MAJOR advantage of us brides and it cost enough money to get married these days. This isn't right.
    I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the venue who told you this did so in order for you to hate the other venues and go with them.  Manipulating you to get your business . . .
    Yes, these extra fees are infuriating.  Yes, I was extremely upset when the second I said the word "wedding" to vendors, their fees that were so reasonable before skyrocketed.  But this is the wedding industry.  Find ways around it, and do the best you can. 

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  • afox007afox007 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    kerbohl said:
    StarIzInkd said:
    Awwww so my FI took it upon himself to write a letter to our law-makers in the state about the fact that all of a sudden these wedding halls are now charging a 20% "Administrative fee" on TOP of 20%  gratuity and 8.875% tax. When I asked 3 different places what an administrative fee was, they all gave diff responses... "It goes to the owner", "It pays for the food", "It goes to our staff"... I've been LIVID because you are now charging almost 50% of the total HUGE bill in FEES. ANd I'm sorry but where are those tens of thousands going if not to your owner, the food and the staff? SO this HAS to be bullshit!!! It's not fair, not right and something needs to be done. This has to be illegal! Anyone who agrees to pay this is a total asshole. I'm proud of him for writing in to someone about this. I can't possibly be the only one who has come across this. I have been told by one venue who does NOT charge this that it IS in fact illegal. I want to point this out to all of you so you are aware of this too. Do not pay this. They are taking MAJOR advantage of us brides and it cost enough money to get married these days. This isn't right.
    I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the venue who told you this did so in order for you to hate the other venues and go with them.  Manipulating you to get your business . . .
    Yes, these extra fees are infuriating.  Yes, I was extremely upset when the second I said the word "wedding" to vendors, their fees that were so reasonable before skyrocketed.  But this is the wedding industry.  Find ways around it, and do the best you can. 
    When FI and I visited the venue we planned to use the woman showing us around laughed at me because I just kept using the word event. The 4th time I said it she laughed and told me she knew just looking at us we were getting married and "wedding" isn't a bad word the venue costs the same. 
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  • mrsbananymrsbanany member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    I think you have gotten some good responses here. It sucks but that is the way it is.  I just wanted to emphasize though, read the fine print!!!! Always always always always read the fine print and always always always ask if there are other charges and if they say no - get that in writing!!!

    Be paranoid about everything up front, to the point where you are annoying and you won't be surprised in the end.  You may think you sound ridiculous when you've asked the same question 100x but you will look even more ridiculous when you get charged thousands of dollars more than you anticipated which could possibly push it out of your budget. 
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  • BecauseYouAreBecauseYouAre member
    First Anniversary Name Dropper 5 Love Its First Comment
    I feel it's a marketing ploy in a way. "The cost is $100 per person" you think that's reasonable. Then the give you fees and it works out close to $150. Not really right but not illegal.You just have to look at the total price.
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  • StarIzInkdStarIzInkd member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    Thanks. Yeah I can see how it was probably a sales tactic on their end now. Well neither of them got our business anyway.
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  • StarIzInkdStarIzInkd member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    The place we went with I triple checked on the pricing and that everything we asked for was included. Things are pricey enough as it is without them trying to hide fees and wording things in an off way. Thanks for the advice on how to handle the venues. Just trying to do the same myself here- warning my fellow brides of these fees. I had no idea it was becoming such a thing. I had never heard of it before a month ago and thought I would share the info with you guys. I'd hope you all would appreciate any good advice as I totally do ;)
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