Candle Light Banquets

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2015/06/24) */
Candlelight Banquets is approaching nearly 25 years as a family run business. The family takes pride in the quality of food and service the business provides to its client's and their guests, many of whom are repeat bookings. Please make note...

service and quality was not addressed in the complaint but rather contractual details. The business would need to know the guest count to account for resources required for the day of the event and provide for the level of service expected: inventory, employees, etc. The business anticipates and kindly reminds the client of this guest count at contract signing, "You will be responsible to pay for the number of guests guaranteed, complete payment must be made 1 week prior to the night of the function..." stated in the contract. Furthermore, nowhere in the contract is it stated the business is to refund for the difference in guest count or reimburse with inventory, that being food as specified in the complaint. Management courteously provided a generous sizing for the family to take home. A document required signing for the take-home items to not hold the business liable. This item is for internal purposes and does not serve the client. Liability after the function is another reason the business refrains from take-home items, despite this circumstance whereby items were courteously provided.
Candlelight Banquets wants to thank all its former and repeat clients. Quality and service is to be expected and should not diminished by this single complaint, which is deemed as contractual oversight.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 10, 2015/06/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Candlelight Banquets did not provide the number of dinners that I contracted for. The company owes me $1,581.03 for 43 guests minus 10 guests that I received food for that did not attend the reception, and the company would not give me all of the 43 dinners that I paid for even though the guests did not come to the reception. The company response does not satisfy my concerns. I paid $6,706.77 for 140 guests to attend and eat dinner with drinks at an open bar, and [redacted] stated to me and my family that the company would give us the plates of food for the number of people that did not attend the reception because we were paying for the food and had a right to it. This is what [redacted] told me and my family, and whether it was stated on the contract or not, I paid for 140 plates of food and only 97 guests arrived, so I was owed 43 plates of food that I paid for. I did not receive food for 43 people, I only received food for about 10 people. The company will not honor what it told me or what I paid for, which was that I would receive the food for the number of guests that did not show up for the reception. The company is responsible to provide food for the number of people contracted and if those guests do not show up, I have already paid for this food and the company should have given me the food I paid for or refunded my money. They did not do either with the exception for about 10 people, therefore I am trying to obtain my money back for the remaining 33 guests I paid for and did not receive any food for. I bought 140 dinners and only 97 people had a dinner so the company is responsible to provide me with the dinners I paid for, which was 140 dinners. The company [redacted] claimed I would get the dinners for whoever did not show up to the reception and now the company is claiming they didn't agree to this in the contract and that they don't have to give me what I paid for.

Cristina also would not give me a copy of the document she said I had to sign and then she wrote on the document after she had me sign it. Any document a customer has to sign, that customer has a right to a copy of whatever the company made them sign. Any customer who pays for 140 plates of food has a right to obtain 140 plates of food because they already paid for it. This company was well aware of the number of guests that did not attend the reception because I told Cristina, and it was obvious because there were several tables where no one was seated. The company knew they did not serve 140 guests and it is a shame that the company refuse to refund my money since they did not give me the food that I paid for.
Also, there was a service issue as I already stated that I had an extra-large cake that would serve over 200 people. I told the company I wanted them to serve the cake to my guests at the reception and told them not to give out the top two layers of the cake. The company did not serve the cake, but instead cut it up and put some of the slices in boxes on a table. Less than half of my 97 guests were able to get some cake and the company only gave me the smallest, top layer instead of the two top layers as agreed. Also, most of the cake was never put out because of 97 people who attended only half of them received cake. This could have been avoided if the company had served the cake at the end of dinner to each guest as they agreed to do. My focus at this point is that I should receive my money back for the 43 guests that did not attend because the company would not give me the food for the 43 guests that did not attend, which is what the company claimed it would do if some of my guests did not come to the reception and the company should give customers what they paid for.