I have had the WORST experience with this ranch, and highly recommend that you steer clear from throwing any parties at this location. This review has been posted due to the lack of communication and lack of effort, from the owner, of the ranch, to solve this privately. It has been almost 20 days since my last email correspondence and I have not received ANY kind of response.
My sons birthday party was set to be thrown on November 27th, 2016. I provided a $100 deposit to Theresa Houchin, the ranch owner, a few days prior. On Saturday morning, the 26th I went to the ranch to render the contract and questioned Theresa in regards to the weather. It had been raining on and off for the last few days and I believed it would be best to reschedule considering the weather forecast. When I asked Theresa if the rain would pose a problem to the party she stated, "I have thrown multiple parties in the rain and it will be fine." I was hesitant to agree but trusted her because she seemed so certain that it would be absolutely NO problem.
When I arrived on the 27th, I began unloading decorations and it wasn't until 20 minutes after that Theresa arrived. At which point SHE brought up rescheduling because of the rain. She mentioned having called earlier to reschedule. She made ONE call FIFTEEN MINUTES BEFORE I was set to arrive. Correct me if I am wrong but 15 minutes is NOT an adequate amount of time to notify someone of a cancellation.
A cancellation was certainly not what I expected following the reassurance of rain being absolutely no problem. She followed my hesitation with, "" It wouldn't be the best idea to have it today, the horses will be cold and the children will get wet." Is this not something that should have been thought about the day before?
With her having made it clear that it was an inconvenience to her and uncomfortable to the horses I hesitantly, agreed. I let her know that I would get in contact with her at a later date to try and reschedule.
I came around to getting in contact with her about a week afterwards and expressed my feelings of opposition to rescheduling.The date I had chosen was specific to when out of town family members would be available. Finding another date would be close to impossible before the end of the year, with holiday's coming up.
Being that she was the one who suggested rescheduling I believed it was only right to adhere to the contract which states, "AS SOON AS A CONTRACTOR IS AWARE OF A POTENTIAL CANCELLATION, DELAY, OR LOCATION CHANGE CONTRACTOR SHALL NOTIFY CUSTOMER. . .CUSTOMER MAY, AT CUSTOMERS OPTION CANCEL THE SERVICES ALTOGETHER...IF THE SERVICES ARE CANCELLED CONTRACTOR SHALL PROMPTLY REFUND THE DEPOSIT IN FULL TO THE CUSTOMER."
This was followed with a string of emails from herself and her husband stating, that I was in the wrong and there would be no deposit return. The argument stems from her saying she only "suggested" the cancellation. The following are direct quotes from emails I received, "First, obviously we have no control of the weather, especially the heavy downpour that started about 15 minutes prior to your party start time." The heavy downpour had begun Friday and was forcasted to continue throughout the weekend, hence my hesitation at even agreeing to keep that date. "I did not cancel your party, I asked you if you wanted to reschedule, Due to the rain," If the rain was the reason for the "suggestion" then why was MY suggestion of rescheduling, the day before, ignored?
I have attempted to handle this matter privately as to avoid giving the ranch a bad name seeing that, my sister is a part of the "boot camp" services provided by the ranch. Which thus far has never posed a problem. However with the lack of effort from Theresa, to solve this privately, I am forced to make this public. I can only hope that this serves as a warning for anyone who is considering having a party at this location. read more