# Do not get married at *****************, Valencia!!!



## michoon (Mar 31, 2010)

This story as told by me, Jason and Graham Hunt. This is what Graham has written;

As a brilliant example of how not to treat customers I feel you just have to read the account of my friend Jason who had his wedding cancelled by a restaurant in Valencia just two days before the ceremony. Just some background, Jason and Michele came to live here about a year ago. Rather than having the wedding back in the UK they decided to put some money into the local economy by booking a Valencia restaurant and getting over 50 people to fly in. 

I will let Jason explain in his own words but you will get the idea that he is not a happy bunny.

"In January we went to *********** in Valencia with the intention of having our wedding ceremony and reception there. We had a meeting with them where nothing was too much for them. They made everything feel special, showed us photos of the food and took us outside to show us the area where the ceremony would be. They also showed us upstairs where the reception would be and explained to us how everything would be set up and how it would look.

Everything was perfect so we discussed prices, menus, times etc. We arranged for the date to be 28th May and asked for a 4pm start. They agreed to the date but said they would prefer 5pm. We agreed and paid a €500 deposit on the basis that the food would be Paella. During the meeting we were told flowers would be €200 but after inspection of their menu lists we found that they say flowers are free. We showed them this at a later date and they initially knocked it off the price.

During this meeting they also told us that as we wanted to bring our own DJ we would be charged €200 for music royalties. At a later date our research showed that actually the figure was €123 according to the official SGAE website but we never brought this up with them until after the contract was canceled. 

So, when leaving the first meeting and after paying our deposit and signing a contract for what was agreed, everything seemed to be perfect. We went about arranging our wedding as all normal people do, to the date and time agreed in the meeting. We arranged sound, DJ's, hair and makeup, transport, guests, invitations etc as if the wedding was going to start at 5pm.

However, approximately one month before the wedding we went and had our second meeting with ********* and things were very different. The owner, Pepe, had joined us and he appeared to be a very arrogant man with a big chip on his shoulder. Pepe had decided that he wanted to move our wedding back to 6pm and he also made clear that he wasn't happy serving paella as the main dish as it meant his rice staff would have to come in early. After a bit of discussion we agreed to change the time to 5.30pm at the latest as this meant re-arranging all of the other things we had organised for a 5pm start. We still had paella as the main course but another issue had cropped up. 

In this second meeting *********** and Pepe in particularly stressed that the cost of the ceremony was €600. This was something that was not brought up in our first meeting although on closer inspection they did have the cost written in small print tucked away into one of their emails they had sent. They gave us a break down of the cost and said €350 was for flowers. Flowers that we had no choice in choosing and flowers which we could not take home. Basically they were flowers for***********. Again, we agreed to their changes, paid another €600 and arranged another meeting for 6 days before the wedding.

In this meeting things had really started to become strained. Pepe had joined us again and his manner and arrogance had gotten worse. He told us that we had 3 options, all of which were very different to the contract we had signed; 

1- We have the wedding at 7pm instead of 5.30pm. 
2- We have the wedding upstairs in a room at 5.30pm 
3- We have the wedding as planned outside but the restaurant would remain open to day trade and within a few metres of our ceremony non-wedding guests would be eating their meals. 

We found this to be incredibly wrong bearing in mind the wedding was 6 days away and we had up to 55 guests flying in from all around the world. We felt we had no choice other than to agree to option number 3 and we even agreed to change the time to 6pm...the fourth time it had been changed and third since the contract was signed.

They told us that because we were having paella we had to have plastic flowers and not real ones. They told us that if we brought our own wedding cake they wanted to see a receipt and a list of all the ingredients. 

Despite relations being difficult by now, we again agreed to everything they wanted from us. That was until the next day when we received an email from Pepe;

He told us that he had ran out of patience with us and from now on everything he says goes. He told us that he was changing the terms of payment; he wanted the money in full within two days or the wedding was canceled. Initially he said we could pay the remaining balance on the day of the wedding and as I was transferring the money from an English account this was not possible. Still, we went down to the meeting he had demanded at 6pm on Wednesday 25th May. He immediately told us he was canceling the wedding without even asking us if we had the money. He said ************* had done all they could to accommodate us. 

We told him they had done nothing. We had changed our plans on numerous occasions despite finding him an incredibly difficult man to deal with and despite the fact this involved making a number of changes to all of our other plans including informing all of our guests who were new to Valencia. 

We presented Pepe with a list of all the things he had put us through as well as very clearly telling him we knew how he was trying to rip us off with flowers and PRS payments. We demanded the €1100 back but he would only do this after we signed a contract to say we agreed to canceling the contract. The contract was in Spanish and we signed it without understanding it and with different names just so we at least left the building with our money. 

The money really isn't important though and really you can't even begin to imagine how it feels to have a wedding cancelled 3 days before, in which people are traveling from around the world when all you have done is stuck to the original deal on which the contract was signed and the deposit was paid."

So what can we learn from this situation?

1) If you come to visit us in Valencia we will never be taking you to ************. In fact there are at least 30 people here who will never be going there again and will be advising all of their friends to do the same. Estimated loss for the restaurant on the lifetime value of the customer? 

2) Trip Advisor is a wonderful place. Just watch how that develops over the next few days Once we have tanked their rankings there and all of the other review sites watch how bookings decline.

3) The restaurant has lost two more potential customers for weddings who were to be attending this one.

4) Social media is a great platform if a group of people can get organized. Guess what? A group of 55 irate people and friends and family who are rather indignant can get very organized. 

5) If you are going to try and rip people off for the price of flowers then at least have the good grace to take the free flowers offer off your paperwork.

6) If you are a restaurant owner and have a signed contract then stick to it otherwise you might get sued. And if you then get the clients to sign a waiver or disclaimer in Spanish later make sure that Mickie and Minnie Mouse are not signing it before you give the money back ;-).


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## Spanky McSpank (Aug 27, 2009)

A terrible situation. From my experience British people are terrible at negotiating with Spaniards. This would not happen to a Spanish person or family. The British are too yes yes... First hint of disagreement you tell him, ok we'll go somewhere else, ciaooo.


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## JeanP (Sep 11, 2010)

Oh my, what a horror story. Unfortunately it will never be the last this sort of thing happens, being expats in a foreign country, not knowing the language etc...

A valuable lesson to anyone reading this, just very sorry that it came to the expense of you. Well, I for one will certainly stain the WWW and people I know about **********...makes me so angry hearing stories such as these.


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## Malagueño (Apr 18, 2011)

From what you've said, the behaviour of the owner does not seem one bit logical.

Does he smoke crack?


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## michoon (Mar 31, 2010)

The owners attitude was like nothing you've ever seen. In the first meeting he wasn't there and everything went smoothly. Things only started to get silly when he joined us in the second meeting but unfortunately that came just 3 and a half weeks before the day. As we had over 50 guests flying in from around the world we weren't really in a very good bargaining position and felt we couldn't just cancel the whole thing. Instead we tried our best to agree to what they wanted. In hindsight we should have canceled earlier but really no-one could have envisaged him turning out to be the way he was. What businessman/person cancels a wedding 3 days before it's due to take place for NO good reason?

We just want to spread the word so that no-one else goes through what we have.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Life was so much simpler when you got married in your home town, then went abroad for your honeymoon ....


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## michoon (Mar 31, 2010)

Alcalaina said:


> Life was so much simpler when you got married in your home town, then went abroad for your honeymoon ....


Valencia IS my hometown.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

absolute nightmare!!!


but I'm sorry, I had to remove the restaurant name from the posts - naming & shaming isn't allowed on the forum for legal reasons


if any posters wish to know the name of the establishment, please PM michoon


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## michoon (Mar 31, 2010)

No worries xabiachica, apologies if I broke the rules.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

michoon said:


> No worries xabiachica, apologies if I broke the rules.


I'd want to, too, in your shoes


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

michoon said:


> Valencia IS my hometown.


Oh - your location says Manchester!


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## JoCatalunya (Mar 16, 2011)

How utterly horrid for you both, I am so sorry this happened to you, to have your day ruined in such a way. Have you considered putting in a 'Denuncia' against the restaurant and in particular the numpt Pepe. 
I am constantly dumbfounded by some folks attitude to others in this country. My son negotiated a job as a DJ for a pub in Cambrils paying 50 euros for 5 hours work. Not a ransom by any means but enough to make ends meet, especially as he was working 7 days a week. The rot started immediately when they asked him would he be so kind as to hand out flyers for them, out of the goodness of his own heart he agreed, but only as a one off and brought in loads of customers. The trouble was, once he had done it, the owners of the pub thought this was part of his responsibilities, however, they werent willing despite him putting in 14 hours a day to pay him anymore. 
Add to this the owner often would decide to interupt the disco to complain the music was too loud or not to her taste, destroying the atmosphere and so driving the customers away which led to her closing early and thinking she could pay him 30 euros for 14 hours work. Is it any wonder he walked out. Thing is, she thought my son was being unreasonable, which leads me to think there has got to be something missing in some folks heads, namely brains.


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## TheHendersons (Feb 22, 2011)

Could someone pm me the name of the resteraunt? Sam xx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

TheHendersons said:


> Could someone pm me the name of the resteraunt? Sam xx


send a PM to michoon - the one who made the original post


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## Vicenteta (Jun 5, 2011)

*La ferradura is the worst place in valencia*

Oh my god! I'm from Valencia and I think you were very unlucky. Were the worst place in Valencia. The owner is a gypsy and soon had a very seedy beach bar. For reasons of property revaluation and mafia operations, this scammer, took the macro resaurant. Yes, the place is on the beach but the style is very bad. I know people who speak ill of this restaurant and I didn't my wedding there, why the bad reviews. Please Valencia and Spain are wonderful places but first must consult local people.


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