In November 2019 my fiancé and I hired Hemibry Catering to cater our wedding that is currently…read morescheduled for October 2020. We chose this company because they were on the list of catering companies that work with the venue that will be hosting our wedding. Our initial experience with Hernan, the owner, was good. He allowed us to put down a little less than the required 50% deposit that is due in order for us to lock in the date for Hemibry to cater our wedding. We appreciated his flexibility at that time. Less than three months later, by choice, we fulfilled the full contract amount that would have been due three days before our wedding. Fast forward to March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down just about everything including the venue that will be hosting our wedding, we became increasingly concerned about all of our wedding plans. I reached out to Hemibry Catering to express our concerns and asked if we would be able to obtain a full refund in the event that our wedding must be cancelled which would be out of our control. A person named Stephanie advised me that we would not be able to get the deposit back and that they would be willing to reschedule dates with no penalty or if we do not have a wedding at all she stated that the funds can be used towards another event such as a BBQ, birthday etc. Unfortunately we do not intend on having another event that would call for almost $6,000 in catering so that option would definitely not work for us. Also, it is extremely important to us that we keep the same wedding date if the government guidelines allow us to have a much smaller gathering because changing the date is not an option we're looking to explore. Although we understand that per our contract the deposit would be kept, we were hopeful of receiving a full refund if we do not have a wedding at all because thankfully the venue that will host our wedding along with other companies we already hired are being extremely flexible in working with us with making adjustments even if it goes against what's in our contracts because they understand that the situation with the pandemic is totally out of our control. A couple of days ago I reached out to Hernan, the owner, asking if he would be willing to adjust the contract and lower the amount of guests from 60 people to a much lower number, possibly 30, in the event that we would not be able to have the number of guests we originally planned for due to the government guidelines that continue to change. When I advised Hernan that we already paid the full amount that was due, he stated "I'm not able to refund any money...." He went along with further explaining that all the money they use is for operations, which left us feeling as if he possibly spent the full amount that we've already paid. I found it odd that he like Stephanie, offered the option to move the date, but failed to remind us that we still have the option of cancelling completely and be refunded the amount outside of the deposit that we're entitled to, per our contract. I explained to him that I feel that it is not good business practice to still charge us for 60 people if we can only have 30. He stated that they are being flexible by moving dates. Again, not reminding us of the option to cancel completely and be refunded a portion of the funds, per our contract. I advised him that I really need him to work with us in making some kind of adjustment and also expressed to him that I understand the difficulties that businesses are currently experiencing, however, he should also be more flexible with us because morally it's the right thing to do. The call ended with him telling me that he does not have an answer at the moment but he is trying to make things fair for everyone and will get back to me. The conversation left us feeling a lack of confidence in how he conducts business with his clients during a crisis but I still am slightly hopeful that he allows us to change the number of guests he will cater for to a much lower number and refund us a portion of our money. This is a reminder to people to pay very close attention to how a company treats their customers when unforeseen events occur. As I stated, other companies we're under contract with are much more flexible and understanding when it comes to adjustments and refunds, regardless of what's stated in our contract. Unfortunately at the moment, Hemibry catering is not one of those companies. I hope that my next update will be much better than this one. Until then, I will wait to hear back from Hernan at Hemibry catering.
