Hi Kim,
Thank you for your review and feedback.
I am so pleased you had such a wonderful day with us, and that Chloe helped create your perfect wedding. We are so proud to have her as part of our team.
As you say, following your wedding there was a very upsetting and disappointing incident, which in over 24 years of hosting weddings has never happened and was a total shock for us all. After reviewing the CCTV which takes a rather long time due to number of cameras needing to be viewed, and duration of time recorded, as soon as the evidence was discovered, we immediately filed a police report, and let you know instantly about it via phone call that evening. We also alerted the security company who too were proactive at offering you a full reimbursement that same evening, as well as additional compensation. The police told both ourselves and the security not to release the funds until they were further along in the investigation, which myself, the security and police communicated to you directly, and I also informed you later on of the update from the police when they said it was OK for them to release the funds, and the date of payment, which I believe was carried out accurately.
I am very disappointed to read that you felt we didn’t communicate with you after the initial contact. We have emailed and phoned multiple times since the incident, giving you the crime reference number, giving you the security company direct contact details, as well as mine, an update regarding a phone call from the police, an update after giving my witness statement, as well as the police contact details after you had misplaced them. In your replies, you state ‘I would like to thank you for all that you have done for us regarding our missing cards.’ ‘Thanks again for all of your help with our case.’ ‘you've handled my situation very well and that the venue aren't at fault here.’ ‘Thank you for keeping us updated and we would also like to thank you for being so helpful in our situation.’ and ‘Just so you're aware, we haven't got a bad word to say about the venue and everything was absolutely perfect on the day.’ so I am sorry to hear you are now disappointed with how we handled the situation, especially as we did everything we could to be as helpful and quick to respond as possible.
I too would have liked a quicker conclusion instead of waiting 6 months, however, as it was a police investigation, I am sure there is a lot of work they must do behind the scenes, so have not had anything to update you with. We too only received an update from them yesterday alerting us to the same conclusion you received, that the security company was to be reimbursed, as you already had been months ago. I’m sorry you feel that we didn’t put in any effort to help with the investigation, but I can assure you we did, which we informed you about along the way, and the police told us and yourselves (as you confirmed via phone call) that we had been a very proactive business and wished that more businesses were as helpful and quick to respond as we had been.
COVID was a particularly challenging time for our business, a circumstance which we had never been in before, and hope we never have too again! We offered multiple options for postponements, including days and months with a cheaper venue hire. We did also offer a much more cost-effective Saturday during Summer as, like you mention your partners working days offered you little flexibility, but you declined this offer. During the pandemic, each wedding venue offered various options, but the ones we benchmark ourselves with locally offered the same options, or some even did a higher percentage charge when moving dates.
We are thrilled that you had a wonderful time on the day, and wish you both all the best for the future.
Kind regards, Sarah