Let me start by saying I have emails, letters and notes to back up everything in this report! I have saved every piece of correspondence from day one.
Our wedding was planned for April 29 at Junipine Resort who mandated we use Junipine Cafe for our catering and rental services. We booked the resort in May 05 for this 2006 date. We signed the venue contract; we paid all deposits ahead of the deadlines and in full. We did everything we were supposed to do as the consumer.
We also tried desperately to make contact and work with Annette of the Junipine Cafe regarding coordinating our reception and the food to be served. We literally begged for a contract and the details regarding charges and fees. We drove the 2.5 hour drive from our home to Junipine on several occasions to attempt to secure this information and contract when emails and phone calls went unanswered.
However we had nothing but problems with Adam of Junipine Resort and Annette of Junipine Cafe from the very beginning once they had our money! These people are not only non-responsive but are not very bright and delete emails without actually reading them -I have all return receipts that illustrate this behavior!
In July 05 when I pointed out this unprofessional behavior the General Manager; Chris Bossleman made excuses and assured me this was a fluke based on bad email addresses on the website (an excuse that is not legitimate) and continued with and I quote — "We will take great care of you and look forward to your event next year. The bottom line is that I want you to feel confident and excited about your event."
We did not secure an actual catering contract until February 06 for our April 06 wedding. However invites needed to be sent in Jan based on the deadlines that we were given by the resort for lodging requirements. Hard to send out an RSVP card with dinner selections when you can't even confirm the catering contract and menu!
The catering contract also included a 20% GRATUITY ON RENTAL EQUIPMENT - which was not previously disclosed to us and is absurd. Particularly on top of the absolutely obscene charges per head for food and we wont even get into the highway robbery regarding soda and alcohol.
We redlined the 20% gratuity on rental equipment; we signed the catering contract, included a check for more than was required at the time and returned all items ahead of the mandated deadline.
Upon receipt of the contract and check, Annette of Junipine Cafe hit the roof over the redlined item and sent a very confused and unprofessional email to my husband regarding the contract. Her email said and I quote & "I feel I should return to you at this time your deposit check. I am putting it in the mail this evening on my way through town. I am anticipating that you might need to think and talk things over with Brenda, please take the next 10 days to make your decision. I have spoken with Adam, and because April is not in our wedding season, he has agreed to let you out of your rooms/site fee contract and refund your deposit in full if he hears from you by Friday February 24, that you would like to cancel your event. This is all I can offer you at this time."
She also lied about attempting to call our home. I own my own business and work from home - the time and day she claims to have called I was at home next to the phone and she never called. My caller ID as well as my answering machine verifies this fact. Not to mention the check she was sending back THAT day, wasn't actually sent out until about two weeks later.
69 DAYS BEFORE OUR WEDDING THEY (Junipine Resort) breached the contract 100% and tried to make it seem like they were doing us a favor and letting us out of contract. This was not only a cancellation of the catering contract BUT a cancellation of the venue and lodging contract which was separate and independent of the catering contract.
When a local wedding coordinator I hired; Cathleen Arena of Catarena Weddings & Events (who will be named in another rip off report) went to meet with Adam and Annette of Junipine to find out exactly what was going on, she was told they had already cancelled my wedding, would be refunding my money and I should plan a smaller wedding in Phoenix and use the extra money to pay for a honeymoon!
Not only is this highly insulting that one would think I could not afford the wedding I was planning but that I couldn't afford my honeymoon either. And the highly inappropriate, unethical and violating behavior of Junipine Resort and its employees came in the fact that they had cancelled my wedding (ahead of their own deadline given in an email to my husband) they told this to a random third party and not me or my husband and had no regret or second thoughts about this violation of the contract.
So with 69 days to go before the wedding, they had our money, we had already printed and sent out invitations. Guests had made lodging reservations months in advance; all vendors had been hired based on this venue location for our wedding. And THEY CANCELLED MY WEDDING THUS VIOLATING THE CONTRACT WE HAD IN PLACE!!!
When I contacted the GM; Chris Bossleman (He was on vacation the week that this happened) he was supportive of the violation of the contract by his staff and extremely rude. And informed me my refund would be sent out shortly. I have in writing from Chris Bossleman a confirmation that his staff not myself or my husband cancelled our wedding (in violation of the contract) and that he was okay with those actions.
We are now in the process of totaling up how much extra time and money was spent replanning our wedding in 60 days time and we will be filing litigation against Junipine Resort, Junipine Cafe and Grace Hospitality to recoup these financial damages and then some.
It is now my mission to warn anyone who may be considering planning a corporate event, family reunion, wedding or any other event to think long and hard before entering into a business transaction with these people. Frankly I wouldn't book a stay at this resort if my life depended on it.
Do not let these people ruin your event like they attempted to ruin mine. A wedding is a major event in a persons life and these people neither take it seriously nor treat it professionally. They think that you should be honored that they will let you have your wedding or any other event in sedona.
We had our special day and went on our 3 week honeymoon in Italy, Spain, France and Croatia (the honeymoon they felt we couldn't possibly be taking) so all is well now. But it is now time to fight back against their actions.
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