The Nightmare that was booking the Lodge on Pickards Mountain
"We feel it would be best for you to pursue other options at this time" - owner, Lodge on Pickards Mountain
Here is the story in its unabridged form: my fiance and I have been looking for a spectacular venue to get married - and in searching for alternative sites to churches and expensive locations like Fearrington House, Carolina Inn and the like, happened upon the Lodge on Pickards Mountain. In late February 2012, we scheduled a visit and enjoyed it so much we actually came back a 2nd time that same day to take another look.
We immediately e-mailed the owners (who shall not be named) and told them we'd like to proceed. We confirmed then that we'd meet in late May to take a final look at the property and presumably, to possibly look at and sign the contract.
So, May 2012 rolls around and we're excited and ready to go look at the property. And we couldn't have been more thrilled with it. Actually, our photographer came out to view the property and loved it as well. Yup, we invited and paid for the photographer to come look at the property. Unfortunately, due to personal emergencies, one of the owners couldn't be there, but we met with the second owner and we were shown the new additions to the property.
We were ready to sign, and on May 29th, 2012, I sent this out:
"I was wondering if we could get started on some sort of agreement on the different options for the rental - I don't know if there was any kind of paperwork that we needed to sign or look over...I'm not sure how you typically proceed - if you'd like to either e-mail back and forth, have a phone call, or speak face-to-face - but let me know the best way to proceed and we're excited to start the process!"
Two days later, on May 31st, 2012, I received this response:
"...we will put a proposal together and get it out to you! We are excited about your wedding and want your experience to be world class!"
I sent back the information they had requested that same day, and followed up on June 7th, and again on June 12th. On June 16th, more than half a month after they said they would send me a proposal, I received this response:
"The price list...includes lodging only. As do all wedding facilities that include lodging, there is a facility charge for weddings/large events. We are still in the process of pricing for the 2013 season. I expect to start booking 2013 around the end of August. I have your requested dates blocked out. If you would like for me to hold your dates, let me know. I apologize if...pricing was misleading but we feel that with a property as extraordinary as the Lodge at Pickards Mountain it's not appropriate to price it as a moderate priced hotel."
I have a couple of issues with this response. One, we had told them since late Feburary (almost four months at that point) that we had been interested. They had known we were looking for a price list. Second, where is the promised proposal? What are your actual charges? Third, how can you not have prices? Any lodge, wedding venue, or even hotel, will have rates for people who like to think ahead and book their wedding (which by now, was well within a year). How were you planning on sending me a proposal without any prices? Fourth, I've never experienced anywhere that hasn't been willing to honor their rates.
But, we were committed - foolishly, we still wanted it. And, we still had the dates reserved. So, I crafted this response on June 18th, asking to speak with her if possible, with the following message included:
"I'd love an opportunity to discuss our point of view with you over the phone, if only to talk to you about the different options available to us. While I'm certainly disappointed that the rates reflected on your website are not the ones that are valid for the wedding, I do understand all of the work that you all have put into it and in no way am I trying to compare your fantastic property to a moderately-priced hotel. Indeed, I believe that we've shown a great deal of respect to the work done, and have expressed huge interest in the house since February...
We are very much interested in still having the event at the Lodge, and appreciate you holding our dates - and please continue doing so for the time being. However, I am very concerned about agreeing to anything without having a good idea of price, and with the impression now that pricing is still fluid, would still appreciate if you could quote us prices for having a 1-day wedding event and a 3-day wedding with lodging that weekend, even if the prices are now incorrect or will be raised.
My concern at this point is that [we] stopped looking in March thinking that we'd found this incredible property at roughly the listed price - and as a result, we've missed out on some other (albeit not as great) venues that we were originally looking at. Also, I've typically found that when booking a date so far out in advance, whether for a venue or a hotel, the listed price at the time will still be honored.
Finally, I've had some experience in events management and have run several businesses. As your business here continues to grow, if by any chance you are ever looking for someone to manage the day-to-day booking and perhaps managing a website, that's something I'd love to be a part of.
I apologize for the length of this e-mail, but we had our hearts set on this location since the moment we stepped onto the property, and would love to work with you to make this happen. Please do contact me..."
So, yes. We were still interested, and I even offered to help them either create a website or run the day-to-day booking. This would probably help them with situations like...oh wait, this one. But, it's still all good right? I was hoping to hear back with some sort of price list, and waited patiently. A full 11 days actually.
Finally, on June 28th, 2012, I received this:
"We really do appreciate your interest in the Lodge. We feel it would be best for you to pursue other options at this time."
Wow. You've got to be kidding me. We were shocked and disappointed. Not sure how we came from having a date soft-booked, in particular having shown interest in signing a contract – regardless of price, as previously mentioned, to having the people responsible for the venue cancel my reservation without giving any reason for doing so.
They had been going through some personal problems that I won't go into for privacy reasons - again, note my non-usage of any sort of names - but for a business, or a wanna-be business, personal problems are that - personal. If you need a time-out, then hire someone to help you (see my previous offer). Even with their personal problems, I hardly pushed at all, following up about once a week and tried to be as unobtrusive as possible.
The biggest problem, of course, is that we stopped looking for locations after finding "the perfect one." Their only website showed rates for a 3-day stay or one day event, and that's what we assumed would be the case. They've since increased their prices, and added language about contacting them for weddings and events, but I'd encourage you to not bother contacting them at all. I've added fantastic alternatives on a separate page, and would encourage you to call them instead.
I don’t know why they abruptly canceled my reservation – but I do know that this is no way to run a business. Either you gain a customer’s trust, or you don’t. Either you renege on a handshake deal, or you don’t. Either you honor the prices you list, or you don’t. These business principles are pretty simple.
So, that's the story. I want as many people as possible to read this and remember that 1) you've never got an agreement until it's in writing, and 2) be careful dealing with these people because they will cancel your reservation for no reason at all.
What I think happened is that they knew other people might be interested, people richer than us and who didn't care about the price, and they just decided to go with them. Greed at least is a better reason than other ones like racism, which I really hope isn't the case. Thanks for nothing, Pickards Mountain.
Here is the story in its unabridged form: my fiance and I have been looking for a spectacular venue to get married - and in searching for alternative sites to churches and expensive locations like Fearrington House, Carolina Inn and the like, happened upon the Lodge on Pickards Mountain. In late February 2012, we scheduled a visit and enjoyed it so much we actually came back a 2nd time that same day to take another look.
We immediately e-mailed the owners (who shall not be named) and told them we'd like to proceed. We confirmed then that we'd meet in late May to take a final look at the property and presumably, to possibly look at and sign the contract.
So, May 2012 rolls around and we're excited and ready to go look at the property. And we couldn't have been more thrilled with it. Actually, our photographer came out to view the property and loved it as well. Yup, we invited and paid for the photographer to come look at the property. Unfortunately, due to personal emergencies, one of the owners couldn't be there, but we met with the second owner and we were shown the new additions to the property.
We were ready to sign, and on May 29th, 2012, I sent this out:
"I was wondering if we could get started on some sort of agreement on the different options for the rental - I don't know if there was any kind of paperwork that we needed to sign or look over...I'm not sure how you typically proceed - if you'd like to either e-mail back and forth, have a phone call, or speak face-to-face - but let me know the best way to proceed and we're excited to start the process!"
Two days later, on May 31st, 2012, I received this response:
"...we will put a proposal together and get it out to you! We are excited about your wedding and want your experience to be world class!"
I sent back the information they had requested that same day, and followed up on June 7th, and again on June 12th. On June 16th, more than half a month after they said they would send me a proposal, I received this response:
"The price list...includes lodging only. As do all wedding facilities that include lodging, there is a facility charge for weddings/large events. We are still in the process of pricing for the 2013 season. I expect to start booking 2013 around the end of August. I have your requested dates blocked out. If you would like for me to hold your dates, let me know. I apologize if...pricing was misleading but we feel that with a property as extraordinary as the Lodge at Pickards Mountain it's not appropriate to price it as a moderate priced hotel."
I have a couple of issues with this response. One, we had told them since late Feburary (almost four months at that point) that we had been interested. They had known we were looking for a price list. Second, where is the promised proposal? What are your actual charges? Third, how can you not have prices? Any lodge, wedding venue, or even hotel, will have rates for people who like to think ahead and book their wedding (which by now, was well within a year). How were you planning on sending me a proposal without any prices? Fourth, I've never experienced anywhere that hasn't been willing to honor their rates.
But, we were committed - foolishly, we still wanted it. And, we still had the dates reserved. So, I crafted this response on June 18th, asking to speak with her if possible, with the following message included:
"I'd love an opportunity to discuss our point of view with you over the phone, if only to talk to you about the different options available to us. While I'm certainly disappointed that the rates reflected on your website are not the ones that are valid for the wedding, I do understand all of the work that you all have put into it and in no way am I trying to compare your fantastic property to a moderately-priced hotel. Indeed, I believe that we've shown a great deal of respect to the work done, and have expressed huge interest in the house since February...
We are very much interested in still having the event at the Lodge, and appreciate you holding our dates - and please continue doing so for the time being. However, I am very concerned about agreeing to anything without having a good idea of price, and with the impression now that pricing is still fluid, would still appreciate if you could quote us prices for having a 1-day wedding event and a 3-day wedding with lodging that weekend, even if the prices are now incorrect or will be raised.
My concern at this point is that [we] stopped looking in March thinking that we'd found this incredible property at roughly the listed price - and as a result, we've missed out on some other (albeit not as great) venues that we were originally looking at. Also, I've typically found that when booking a date so far out in advance, whether for a venue or a hotel, the listed price at the time will still be honored.
Finally, I've had some experience in events management and have run several businesses. As your business here continues to grow, if by any chance you are ever looking for someone to manage the day-to-day booking and perhaps managing a website, that's something I'd love to be a part of.
I apologize for the length of this e-mail, but we had our hearts set on this location since the moment we stepped onto the property, and would love to work with you to make this happen. Please do contact me..."
So, yes. We were still interested, and I even offered to help them either create a website or run the day-to-day booking. This would probably help them with situations like...oh wait, this one. But, it's still all good right? I was hoping to hear back with some sort of price list, and waited patiently. A full 11 days actually.
Finally, on June 28th, 2012, I received this:
"We really do appreciate your interest in the Lodge. We feel it would be best for you to pursue other options at this time."
Wow. You've got to be kidding me. We were shocked and disappointed. Not sure how we came from having a date soft-booked, in particular having shown interest in signing a contract – regardless of price, as previously mentioned, to having the people responsible for the venue cancel my reservation without giving any reason for doing so.
They had been going through some personal problems that I won't go into for privacy reasons - again, note my non-usage of any sort of names - but for a business, or a wanna-be business, personal problems are that - personal. If you need a time-out, then hire someone to help you (see my previous offer). Even with their personal problems, I hardly pushed at all, following up about once a week and tried to be as unobtrusive as possible.
The biggest problem, of course, is that we stopped looking for locations after finding "the perfect one." Their only website showed rates for a 3-day stay or one day event, and that's what we assumed would be the case. They've since increased their prices, and added language about contacting them for weddings and events, but I'd encourage you to not bother contacting them at all. I've added fantastic alternatives on a separate page, and would encourage you to call them instead.
I don’t know why they abruptly canceled my reservation – but I do know that this is no way to run a business. Either you gain a customer’s trust, or you don’t. Either you renege on a handshake deal, or you don’t. Either you honor the prices you list, or you don’t. These business principles are pretty simple.
So, that's the story. I want as many people as possible to read this and remember that 1) you've never got an agreement until it's in writing, and 2) be careful dealing with these people because they will cancel your reservation for no reason at all.
What I think happened is that they knew other people might be interested, people richer than us and who didn't care about the price, and they just decided to go with them. Greed at least is a better reason than other ones like racism, which I really hope isn't the case. Thanks for nothing, Pickards Mountain.
