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WWYD? Venue concern almost a year after the wedding.

Hey ladies,

So I'll try to make this as short as possible.  We were married in Sept 2014.  When we booked the date back in January 2014, we were told we had to pay 50% of our package as a deposit by either cheque or credit card.  We sent in a cheque in February 2014.  We noticed it wasn't cashed right away, so I called the venue to make sure they had got it.  They did, promised they'd cash it, all was well.

After the wedding, we were checking our of the venue the next day and were told we owed them almost $1000 still.  We were very confused, since we paid the other 50% of our agreed contract 30 days before the wedding, as instructed. They insisted they didn't cash our original check (the 2nd deposit was paid by credit card), and called the wedding coordinator our for us to talk to.  He said they didn't accept personal cheques, and that it was just to secure the date and that payment was always due after the wedding.  I had the original email saying they accepted them, which he said was an error and that he was 100% sure it was never cashed.  This was against what our contract said, but he showed me our payment sheet from the venue and it only showed the payment made 30 days before the wedding.  We tried to look on our bank statements online but the mobile site wouldn't go that far back, and there were so many vendor cheques to go through that we agreed that since we hadn't seen it cashed originally, they were right and we paid the first deposit amount before we checked out.

Flash forward to tonight- we just saw a credit for the deposit go onto H's credit card.  Almost a full year after our wedding, and way over a year since they cashed that original cheque.  They didn't contact us in any way to say that hey, we realized we were wrong and DID cash that cheque, so here is a refund.  We went back through bank statements and found that original cheque was cashed back in March of 2014.

Obviously we missed it too and could have followed up, but with all of the payments going out of our account and being on our honeymoon, it honestly never came back up.  But I'm pretty upset that we weren't contacted when they discovered this error, and while I'm very happy they refunded us the deposit money, I feel that a phone call or email was owed to us.  Did they honestly think we'd just be all oh cool, an almost $1000 credit from the wedding venue, how nice!

I'm going to email our coordinator/the manager/the sales person we had been in contact with and ask them what happened, but I'm not really sure what to say in the email.  I don't want to go into this email being rude, but we're both pretty upset that they didn't try to contact us to let us know they realized that we were right that whole time.  It was really stressful when we had to pay that extra money the day after the wedding, because we had hotel reservations and other wedding/honeymoon payments coming off of our credit cards and had to so some juggling around to figure out which card it could go on without messing up another vendor's payment at the same time.  It was embarrassing and not the best way to deal with leaving our wedding venue.

If this was your venue, what would you say/ask?

TTDR: Our wedding venue just refunded us our original deposit from our wedding a year ago, that was paid for by a cheque that they insisted they never cashed/made us pay via credit card the day after the wedding.  They haven't contacted us at all, and I want an explanation of what happened/why they didn't contact us in any way when they realized they owed us almost $1000. WWYD?
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Re: WWYD? Venue concern almost a year after the wedding.

  • I would call not email. I'd just say that you notice the original check was cashed and that there appears to be a refund and you wished they had let you know. Also maybe give them a kind (assuming you liked them overall) but honest review saying what happened to warn others.
  • Hey ladies,

    So I'll try to make this as short as possible.  We were married in Sept 2014.  When we booked the date back in January 2014, we were told we had to pay 50% of our package as a deposit by either cheque or credit card.  We sent in a cheque in February 2014.  We noticed it wasn't cashed right away, so I called the venue to make sure they had got it.  They did, promised they'd cash it, all was well.

    After the wedding, we were checking our of the venue the next day and were told we owed them almost $1000 still.  We were very confused, since we paid the other 50% of our agreed contract 30 days before the wedding, as instructed. They insisted they didn't cash our original check (the 2nd deposit was paid by credit card), and called the wedding coordinator our for us to talk to.  He said they didn't accept personal cheques, and that it was just to secure the date and that payment was always due after the wedding.  I had the original email saying they accepted them, which he said was an error and that he was 100% sure it was never cashed.  This was against what our contract said, but he showed me our payment sheet from the venue and it only showed the payment made 30 days before the wedding.  We tried to look on our bank statements online but the mobile site wouldn't go that far back, and there were so many vendor cheques to go through that we agreed that since we hadn't seen it cashed originally, they were right and we paid the first deposit amount before we checked out.

    Flash forward to tonight- we just saw a credit for the deposit go onto H's credit card.  Almost a full year after our wedding, and way over a year since they cashed that original cheque.  They didn't contact us in any way to say that hey, we realized we were wrong and DID cash that cheque, so here is a refund.  We went back through bank statements and found that original cheque was cashed back in March of 2014.

    Obviously we missed it too and could have followed up, but with all of the payments going out of our account and being on our honeymoon, it honestly never came back up.  But I'm pretty upset that we weren't contacted when they discovered this error, and while I'm very happy they refunded us the deposit money, I feel that a phone call or email was owed to us.  Did they honestly think we'd just be all oh cool, an almost $1000 credit from the wedding venue, how nice!

    I'm going to email our coordinator/the manager/the sales person we had been in contact with and ask them what happened, but I'm not really sure what to say in the email.  I don't want to go into this email being rude, but we're both pretty upset that they didn't try to contact us to let us know they realized that we were right that whole time.  It was really stressful when we had to pay that extra money the day after the wedding, because we had hotel reservations and other wedding/honeymoon payments coming off of our credit cards and had to so some juggling around to figure out which card it could go on without messing up another vendor's payment at the same time.  It was embarrassing and not the best way to deal with leaving our wedding venue.

    If this was your venue, what would you say/ask?

    TTDR: Our wedding venue just refunded us our original deposit from our wedding a year ago, that was paid for by a cheque that they insisted they never cashed/made us pay via credit card the day after the wedding.  They haven't contacted us at all, and I want an explanation of what happened/why they didn't contact us in any way when they realized they owed us almost $1000. WWYD?
    Honestly, I don't know if I'd say anything. Yes, they were wrong to have you pay the day after your wedding, but how did you not know you paid an additional 1000 dollars? Credits happen all the time on credit cards without them contacting you. Maybe they were audited or something, and figured it out. If they took payment without telling you, then yes I'd be pissed off

    If you were more on top of your finances you would know you had already paid the 1000 dollars and would have refused to pay it on your credit card. Or you would have figured it out when you returned from your honeymoon, because no way am I paying an additional 1000 dollars without looking into it.
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  • Honestly, I don't know if I'd say anything. Yes, they were wrong to have you pay the day after your wedding, but how did you not know you paid an additional 1000 dollars? Credits happen all the time on credit cards without them contacting you. Maybe they were audited or something, and figured it out. If they took payment without telling you, then yes I'd be pissed off

    If you were more on top of your finances you would know you had already paid the 1000 dollars and would have refused to pay it on your credit card. Or you would have figured it out when you returned from your honeymoon, because no way am I paying an additional 1000 dollars without looking into it.

    Yep, we screwed up, but it doesn't excuse their mistake either.  It came out of H's account so I didn't have access to it while we were away, and honestly, after our honeymoon we just never looked into it because we took the venue at their word.  Should we have looked?  Absolutely.  But I'm more concerned that when I was sure they cashed it they insisted they didn't, made us pay the extra charge, and then discovered only now they made an error (I'm also guessing an audit) but didn't say anything.  It isn't hard to send us an email saying they discovered the error and that we'd see a credit card refund.  Since it was a personal cheque, I would have preferred they send us a cheque back instead of putting a huge refund on a credit card that hasn't been used very much.
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  • I'm not sure what I would do, mostly because I know I would have been all over it until I figured out if the check had been cashed and definitely wouldn't have gone down without a fight.

    I don't think there is harm in calling and saying that you noticed the credit come across and wanted to see how that was figured out.  I think it gives you validation that you were right and they did cash it initially but I'm not sure it really solves anything other than gives you peace of mind. So if that is the best thing then I would do it for your own sake. I don't know if it is necessary to say anything in a review to warn anyone, mostly because I think most people would have it sorted before paying again.

  • I don't get it. You didn't bother to keep track of your money or figure this out. They eventually realized you has overpaid, so they refunded you the money. That seems like they actually did the right thing to me. Nitpicking over whether they should also have emailed just seems like an excuse for getting all riled up about something you dropped the ball on. Next time you aren't sure if you've overpaid someone by $1,000, put the effort in yourself to sort this out.
    All of this.  They corrected their mistake.  So what if they didn't send you an email telling you that they corrected it?  You got your money back so what is the big deal?

    And I agree with the PP.  I would not have been shelling out an additional $1000 until I made absolutely sure that the original check was not cashed.  If I saw that the check was not cashed I would have cancelled that check immediately and then paid the $1000 on my credit card to prevent a double payment and the venue having to refund me some money.

    Really this all could have been prevented if you paid closer attention to your finances.  $1000 isn't a small amount of money.  Be happy you got your refund and move on.

  • Ditto PPs. What do you hope to accomplish by contacting them? Getting the chance to scold them?
    What did you think would happen if you walked up to a group of internet strangers and told them to get shoehorned by their lady doc?~StageManager14
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  • Be happy that they corrected their mistake.  They could have just as easily kept that money since you didn't bother to look up the original $1000 payment to see if it was cashed.  I understand that you went on your HM afterwards, but for $1k, I would have been checking my records when I returned to confirm.  That is a lot of money.

    At this point, I'd be happy to have a sudden $1k that I could add to my savings or pay down that cc if there is still a balance.

    I would probably not call, but maybe update any review I gave them to alert future brides to keep track of their deposit monies that get paid to this venue.

  • I agree with everyone above...I don't really understand your point. "Hey, we messed up and didn't keep track that we over paid you. Then, instead of you just shutting up and keeping the money- you refunded it! And you never told us!!!"

    it just sounds a little BSC. What do you want them to do? Apologize for refunding it without talking to you first? 

    Just move on.
  • julieanne912julieanne912 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited August 2015
    Your bank should have been able to pull up the old check, even if the online version couldn't.  I agree w/ PPs that you aren't going to accomplish anything by calling them up at this point and getting angry with them.  

    It's also a good idea to print out copies of the cancelled checks you've paid to vendors and keep in a physical file, to avoid situations like this later.  
    Married 9.12.15
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  • I guess I am wondering what you are hoping to achieve by contacting them. If you want them to just apologize and say you were right...they might do that, or they might just be like "we are sorry for the miscommunication, blah blah blah." Either way, they did the right thing and fixed their mistake. I don't think there is any reason that they needed to contact you after they refunded the money. Would it have been a courteous thing to do? Yeah, but it wasn't absolutely necessary. It sounds like you just want them to acknowledge that they were wrong, but they will probably just deflect blame and apologize for the inconvenience. If it were me, I'd just be happy I got the money back and let it go. 
  • lyndausvi said:
    With money transfers being pretty instant these days, they could have sent you snail mail and it just hit your account before you received a notification.


    Anyone find it funny that a $1000 refund was noticed instantly, but a debit of $1000 wasn't?  I notice $10 debits, pretty sure I would have known without a doubt a $1000 was cashed and would have gone through hoops to prove it was.  Even though I might have to wait until we got home from our HM.  This would not have been just forgotten.

    yea I don't really balance my checkbook but I don't have too many transactions that go through but you can be sure any check I wrote for the wedding I watched to see when it was cashed. I wouldn't have missed $1,000 for sure
  • lyndausvi said:
    With money transfers being pretty instant these days, they could have sent you snail mail and it just hit your account before you received a notification.


    Anyone find it funny that a $1000 refund was noticed instantly, but a debit of $1000 wasn't?  I notice $10 debits, pretty sure I would have known without a doubt a $1000 was cashed and would have gone through hoops to prove it was.  Even though I might have to wait until we got home from our HM.  This would not have been just forgotten.

    Yeah, I would be making sure that a $1000 check I wrote as a deposit for my wedding venue had been cashed.  I mean any time I write a check or pay a bill, regardless of the amount, I make sure that that amount has either been cashed or deducted from my account.

  • lyndausvi said:
    With money transfers being pretty instant these days, they could have sent you snail mail and it just hit your account before you received a notification.


    Anyone find it funny that a $1000 refund was noticed instantly, but a debit of $1000 wasn't?  I notice $10 debits, pretty sure I would have known without a doubt a $1000 was cashed and would have gone through hoops to prove it was.  Even though I might have to wait until we got home from our HM.  This would not have been just forgotten.

    Yeah, I would be making sure that a $1000 check I wrote as a deposit for my wedding venue had been cashed.  I mean any time I write a check or pay a bill, regardless of the amount, I make sure that that amount has either been cashed or deducted from my account.
    Not sure if there is Bill Pay in Canada, but you do need to be careful with Bill Pay.

    Last year we changed our PO Box billing address.  We put it on 2 invoices (there are only 2 a year).  We forwarded from the old to the new for a year.   Well those people with Bill Pay just ignored the change, did a few clicks and mailed the check.   Bill Pay takes out the money immediately, puts it in their account and sends the check from there.

    Well we never got the checks because the forwarding was over.   The money was gone from their account so they assumed it was paid.   Some of the owners got into it with me.   Finally they took my advice and contact Bill Pay to see if the check they sent was ever cashed.    It wasn't.   

    Moral of the story with Bill Pay is just because the money out of your account, doesn't mean the vendor actually got the money.   






    What differentiates an average host and a great host is anticipating unexpressed needs and wants of their guests.  Just because the want/need is not expressed, doesn't mean it wouldn't be appreciated. 
  • lyndausvi said:
    I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill here.   It must be nice to just write off $1000.  Seriously, I guess you do not balance your checkbook?   My ass would have been online looking for that check before I even paid the extra money.  Worse case when my ass got home from my HM I would have done it.

    Fact is YOU were the ones who didn't check your own records.   I'm guessing an audit of the venue discovered the overpayment.  They refunded you the money.   Be grateful you have an extra grand in your account and move on.

    Sure it would have been nice if they contacted you, but hey you were the one who didn't care enough on your side to confirm it was cashed.

    This is huge - especially with identity fraud becoming such a huge thing. When I go on huge spending sprees, like if i'm going on a trip and know I'll be using one of my accounts a lot, I'm ALWAYS checking it - possibly every day to make sure I'm being charged properly and no weird charges are popping up. This seems crazy to me. I feel one would be more careful in situations like this. I honestly would not complain to the venue. They made a mistake but so did you. You're an adult - keep track of your own bank records.
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  • edited August 2015
  • .
    You can call customer service to have them cut you a check for the balance on the account.

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  • I'm with PPs. Calling to scold them will not serve a purpose. And maybe it's just me, but when I was writing wedding checks, I was checking my account balance online daily to see when checks were cashed and when. I would most definitely notice if a check for $1000 was never cashed. And if I even suspected that a check had been cashed when a vendor said it had not, I would be going in to the bank the moment it opened and refusing to pay the vendor until I was sure.
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  • luckya23 said:
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    You can call customer service to have them cut you a check for the balance on the account.
    Thanks, I'll call them this afternoon.


    Posted on mobile from the account I never use, just so I can lurk at work (still can't log in to my account on mobile, still don't know why).

    The cheque was from H's account that he clearly doesn't balance, I do balance my own accounts but never go through his.  When he said he didn't see the cheque cashed, I believed him.  He's pretty upset by his error too.

    I would have appreciated a cheque back or a heads up from the venue, but clearly neither happened.  I'm likely going to just email our coordinator since he's still working there and ask what happened, and if he had no idea then at least he'll know that personal cheques can be cashed in case someone else had the same problem and didn't follow up either.
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  • I'm with PPs. Calling to scold them will not serve a purpose. And maybe it's just me, but when I was writing wedding checks, I was checking my account balance online daily to see when checks were cashed and when. I would most definitely notice if a check for $1000 was never cashed. And if I even suspected that a check had been cashed when a vendor said it had not, I would be going in to the bank the moment it opened and refusing to pay the vendor until I was sure.
    I did with all of the vendor payments from my account (photographer, hotel bill, etc) and the rest were on our credit cards. The one cheque he sent was that one, I don't know how it was missed either, but since I don't look at his statements, all I knew at the time was when they didn't cash it and I called (early February 2014), they said they would cash it right away.  It was cashed the end of March 2014 and he somehow missed it.  At least this made him realize that the way I go through my accounts all the time makes sense now.
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  • Thanks for the responses!  I'll call his bank and see if we can get a cheque instead of that credit and put it back into savings.
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  • I would drop it.  Halls deal with hundreds of people--those shopping and those booking.  It was probably something picked up on by their accountant.  The person you call will have no idea what you are talking about.  They probably were not informed either.  And they will pass you on to someone who also has no clue.  We would love to think they remember us but a place with a single room can easily do 5 weddings a weekend.   Enjoy your found money :-)
  • I can't recall ever being called by any company that did a cc refund when there was an error. I don't think it's common practice and would think it was pretty silly for them to waste both their time and mine with a call like that.

    As for how the refund was given,it seems to me that it was the check deposit that was correct and the later cc payment that was in error. Plus, refunding a cc payment is much easier and quicker fora company than issuing a refund check. I think they were right to issue the refund the way they did and asking for a check is unreasonable.
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  • What a pain in the butt! My friend's sister just got married there on aug 1, I hope they didn't have the same issue!

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