Woodbury Country Club

Review: Hello. On October **, 2014, my family and I had a Bar Mitzvah for our son. There were several missteps that the catering facility made that they have yet to provide compensation to us. I initially contacted them right after the event to discuss my dissatisfaction with what transpired and I was repeatedly ignored. We specifically told the facility that we had guest who could go into anaphylactic shock if there were nut products in the room. Even our catering contact has a peanut allergy so we expected that all would go fine. Below is correspondence to them in November and my catering contact admitted most of the mistakes that were made:

From: [redacted]

Sent: Friday, November **, 2014 1:39 PM

To: Ken Liner

Subject: Fwd: Very upset: Re: Liner Bar Mitzvah 10/**/14

I just called stephanie as I wanted to confirm receipt of this email. she was in agreement with most of the mistakes. I focused on how this can be a learning tool for them in the future and reinforced how some type of money being given back to us would make it a little bit better. she explained that her general manager is out of the country and she will be speaking with him next week and that we should have an answer next week as well.

Begin forwarded message:

From: Laney Liner

Subject: Very upset: Re: Liner Bar Mitzvah 10/**/14

Date: November *, 2014 at 9:57:26 AM EST

To: Stephanie S[redacted]

Dear Stephanie,

I am crushed that I even have to write this note which I had hoped would be a glowing thank you to you and your staff.

However, it has been over a week and I have come to learn some additional information that has taken me over the edge. The only way I will be whole from this nightmare is if Woodbury Country Club can find it in their HEART to give me some money back that we spent for this affair.

Had I learned of the information sooner that I learned yesterday, I would not have even tipped Sara, because quite frankly, she did an awful job and I only saw her maybe twice during the event and I found myself asking my husband Ken to go find her half the time to get stuff done that I spent time with you to ENSURE was HANDLED properly.

I thought you and I hit it off pretty well and we were on the same page so I am completely confused as to what went wrong, but as I said, I do HOPE that Woodbury Country Club will see my position because what transpired for the PRICE we paid is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.

Mistake #1:

When we met with you, we were EMPHATIC that we COULD NOT HAVE ANY NUTS AT THE PARTY BECAUSE it could cause someone’s DEATH due to them being highly allergic. You said you understood since you yourself have a PEANUT ALLERGY. I thought we were clear and on the same page.

I learned yesterday that PISTACHIO ice cream was initially served at the party and that a guest noticed it and told Sara. While it was immediately taken care of, what infuriates me is that we ENSURED our dear friends who have a highly allergic child that this would be a NUT FREE party and this egregious oversight makes us look like LIARS.

Mistake #2:

Attached are the instructions for the favors for the each table that were given to you beforehand. While the cards for the child’s tables were correctly placed at each place setting, the frames were not. I specifically asked for them to be placed at each place setting and NOT in the middle of the table where the message on each frame could NOT be seen. I spent a total of $1,600.00 on the labor and the gift so the instructions could be seen by each guest. There were frames left over because people didn’t know that there was one per person. Why didn’t I say anything at the party? It was too late by the time I realized the way the favors were displayed and I needed to enjoy the party I paid a lot of money to have for my son.

Mistake #3:

I am glad that I chose not to keep tip money in the bridal suite because it was never LOCKED.

Mistake #4:

I went over with you that the shades should be drawn in the reception to create a club like feel. If you recall, during our meeting, I made a special call to my son for him to advise on what he wanted. The shades were up the entire party and again, to ask mid-party that they be drawn would have looked ridiculous.

Mistake #5:

I asked for meals to be prepared and taken home by me since I alerted you well before the day that three guests could not make it after you indicated you could not refund any of our money. I explained to you that I needed them to be prepared and ready to be handed to me at the end of the party. I NEVER went home with the meals and I didn’t ask for them because there was so much going on at the end of the party. You mentioned that day that one more person couldn’t come so I should have been able to take home 4 meals.

I am not even sure if all of 4 sushi trays were eaten. If they weren’t, I should have been given the option to take those home since I paid EXTRA for them.

Mistake #6:

I gave Sara a tip, which in retrospect I shouldn’t have because she did an awful job overall. My parents table had to wait an extensive time for their main meals. I was told by the server that all the wrong meals were given to her and that she was waiting for new ones. This was HIGHLY EMBARRASSING to me that my parents table with all of their out of town friends and family had to wait for their meal.

Mistake #7:

Fish bowls on the high top tables with candy. We were not sent home with these. Where did they go and was there extra candy that we also didn’t get to go home with that night?

Mistake #8:

Amenity basket from the men’s room. I looked for it and I couldn’t find it when I left. I was able to find the one in the women’s room and took it home with me. I also had to find the sign in book and poster board myself. These items should have been collected for me as the party host and I shouldn’t have had to go searching for them given the money that I paid for the event.

Mistake #9:

I had to ask Sara at the end of the night for my two bottles of St. Germain. They were not wrapped up and ready for me to take them home. I had to SPECIFICALLY ask her for them and then I had to WAIT for them at the end of the evening.

Mistake #10:

I had to look and ask for the Challah that I asked to be ready for the service. With all that was going on, I should not have had to ask for it. It should have been ready. I also had to ask for the kiddish cup and wine which should have already been in the room that we paid for for the service. I also should not have had to instruct that the St. Germain that I brought be taken to the bartenders. I already went over this with you.

Stephanie, all in all I felt like we didn’t have a maitre’d and it appears like I never spent time to speak to you at all which is very upsetting to me because I thought we hit it off very well.

I know you may be very disappointed by having to receive this email after the weekend and I do hope you had a lovely one. Believe me, it PAINS me to even have to write this to you, but if I don’t share my dissatisfaction with you, these issues will reoccur for someone else. Nobody else should have to go through what I went through given that hard earned money that was spent as well as the extensive amount of time that I took to speak with you and write emails to ensure that every DETAIL was take care of for my son’s special day.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope you and the management of Woodbury Country Club can come to some type of resolve to make me whole. This was not the experience I had in April 1998 when I got married at your location. If it was, we would not have selected Woodbury Country Club again to celebrate my son’s special day.

Thank you for your time.

Best,

[redacted]Desired Settlement: I expect to receive $5,000.00 for all of the errors that were made. We paid the catering facility in full a total of $15,042.17 and we did not get the entire experience we were contracted to receive. They have also been rude and have ignored us. This is disgraceful for a place where we had our wedding in 1998.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, I have not been contacted by Woodbury Country Club regarding complaint ID [redacted].What do you suggest as my next step?Sincerely,[redacted]

The event staff at Woodbury Country Club approached our caroling group about singing for their "Brunch With Santa" event. After multiple people asked us for a discounted rate, despite the level of our artists and the travel involved, they asked for a contract for our normal rate. This was over a three week period, where they would disappear from communication, then suddenly come back and ask for rates again with a different person. They jerked us around and finally, a contract was sent. They viewed the contract, and then inexplicably the next morning, sent another email asking for a contract. Over the phone they had said the event was a go and they wanted the singers. I told them I would line the singers up and make sure we had the necessary staff available. We contracted the singers, and then suddenly Woodbury Country Club changed their minds! They said they were no longer having carolers (which I don't believe for a moment) and that they weren't going to be signing the contract. When told that singers had already been contracted, their EXACT words were "That was a verbal agreement, not a written one."

When I called to complain about that approach, I was told I was a naive businessman for contracting the singers when Woodbury hadn't signed the contract. But how could I guarantee the singers were lined up and set the date and time aside without a contract?

This is a terribly unethical way to do business. It is deplorable, despicable, and if you are even remotely considering hosting an event with this group of shysters, I highly recommend you look somewhere else.