I contacted Dean Smith, of Rainbow Catering Services through a yellow page search. I told him of the nightmare I was going through with my wedding/reception. After a week or so of telephone conversations, my fiance' and I met with Dean in Chippewa Falls to view a possible venue and discuss our catering needs. The hall he spoke highly of named the Crystal Palace and was right on the Lake Wissota, when in reality, it was 6 miles away, the venue was nothing more than a dance hall with a bar that would be closed by 11pm forcing all my guests to move the reception to the front bar where there were no places for them to sit with their children, two pool tables and a stage that Dean said was 'perfect' to get married on. There were plastic long tables arranged in rows like a soup kitchen sets up for free meals. He described his plans to have the tables set up exactly like it was when we viewed it, and have our guests sit at the tables while we were wed on the stage. I had described to Dean during our previous phone calls about the type of ceremony I had planned and when we were at the venue, he told me I would just have to rethink the plans for the wedding ceremony and just exchange vows on stage to accommodate the changes. Then we went back to his home to discuss his catering services and what we were thinking of for the dinner. It was then that I informed him that we did not want the Crystal Palace for our reception and even asked if he would be offended if decided against it. We did not sign a contract with Dean Smith/Rainbow Catering, for at the time it was well known that there was an issue about receipt of monies owed to me and everything was dependent upon getting that money to pay for his services. Dean asked that I write a check to him, so we didn't have to travel another 100 miles to sign the contracts for catering, he would hold the check, and nothing would be done with it, until he heard from me by that Saturday following our meeting, whether to void it and send it back or to cash it in if the money was received as it was expected to arrive by mail delivery no later than April 16th, IF we decided on hiring him for his catering services. When the check did not arrive that Saturday, I immediately called Dean to inform him not to cash the check because I did not receive the money I was owed, and therefore could not afford his catering services. There was no mention by Dean of losing any deposit money because we had not signed a contract with Dean Smith/Rainbow Catering. I called by phone, left email messages, voice mail messages for several days. When we finally connected by phone the middle of the next week, Dean informed my fiance' and I that his mother fell and broke her hip and he was away caring for her. He said he could not find the check, but would look for it and send it back. Then on April 26th he penned a note and sent along a contract for me and my fiance' to sign, with a yellow memo note enclosed, on which he informs us that his bookkeeper deposited the check and did not know she was not to, and we could work something out catering wise. The 'contract' was a xerox copy of the notes he took down from our meeting. Neither mine nor my fiance's signature was on this copy, as I have the original which was written in pencil. I received this note and xerox note 'contract' on May 1. Both my fiance' and I called him and told him via voicemail message that he had to pay the money back, he had no right to cash that check, we had no contract with him, we contacted the police and we are filing a lawsuit if he doesn't make this right.
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