My fiance and I have been looking for a spectacular venue to get married in May 2013- and in…read moresearching for alternative sites to churches and expensive locations like Fearrington House, Carolina Inn and the like, happened upon the Lodge on Pickards Mountain. In late February 2012, we scheduled a visit and enjoyed it so much we actually came back a 2nd time that same day to take another look.
We immediately e-mailed the owners (who shall not be named) and told them we'd like to proceed. We confirmed then that we'd meet in late May to take a final look at the property and presumably, to possibly look at and sign the contract.
So, May 2012 rolls around and we're excited and ready to go look at the property. And we couldn't have been more thrilled with it. Actually, our photographer came out to view the property and loved it as well. Yup, we invited and paid for the photographer to come look at the property. Unfortunately, due to personal emergencies, one of the owners couldn't be there, but we met with the second owner and we were shown the new additions to the property.
We were ready to sign, and on May 29th, 2012, I asked to see a contract and they said they'd put together a proposal and get it out to me - saying they were excited about the wedding and wanted my experience to be world class.
However, they then back-tracked and said the price on their VRBO site (their only site), was not valid. Not only was it not valid, in that they'd raise the rates, but that they wouldn't even tell me the rates until August.
I had a couple of issues with this response. One, we had told them since late Feburary (almost four months at that point) that we had been interested. They had known we were looking for a price list. Second, where is the promised proposal? What are your actual charges? Third, how can you not have prices? Any lodge, wedding venue, or even hotel, will have rates for people who like to think ahead and book their wedding (which by now, was well within a year). How were you planning on sending me a proposal without any prices? Fourth, I've never experienced anywhere that hasn't been willing to honor their rates.
We still wanted the place, so we nicely asked them to give us some sort of price list, but instead, they gave us this response: "We really do appreciate your interest in the Lodge. We feel it would be best for you to pursue other options at this time."
Wow. You've got to be kidding me. We were shocked and disappointed. Not sure how we came from having a date soft-booked, in particular having shown interest in signing a contract - regardless of price, as previously mentioned, to having the people responsible for the venue cancel my reservation without giving any reason for doing so.
They had been going through some personal problems that I won't go into for privacy reasons - again, note my non-usage of any sort of names - but for a business, or a wanna-be business, personal problems are that - personal. If you need a time-out, then hire someone to help you (see my previous offer). Even with their personal problems, I hardly pushed at all, following up about once a week and tried to be as unobtrusive as possible.
The biggest problem, of course, is that we stopped looking for locations after finding "the perfect one." Their only website showed rates for a 3-day stay or one day event, and that's what we assumed would be the case. They've since increased their prices, and added language about contacting them for weddings and events, but I'd encourage you to not bother contacting them at all. I've added fantastic alternatives on a separate page, and would encourage you to call them instead.
I don't know why they abruptly canceled my reservation - but I do know that this is no way to run a business. Either you gain a customer's trust, or you don't. Either you renege on a handshake deal, or you don't. Either you honor the prices you list, or you don't. These business principles are pretty simple.
So, that's the story. I want as many people as possible to read this and remember that 1) you've never got an agreement until it's in writing, and 2) be careful dealing with these people because they will cancel your reservation for no reason at all.
What I think happened is that they knew other people might be interested, people richer than us and who didn't care about the price, and they just decided to go with them. Greed at least is a better reason than other ones like racism, which I really hope isn't the case. Thanks for nothing, Pickards Mountain.
If you want the full story, check out: http://pickardsmountainlodge.com.
