Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  10/01/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We booked our wedding venue with Spruce Mountain ************ in ********. When we took our tour we let them know what our budget was. They told us we had to use their preferred vendors which we didn't see a problem with. However, we are finding out that their vendors are charging higher rates for food and drink because the venue is making money off of them being preferred vendors. For instance, they are charging us $49 per person for food, whereas, if we use them at another wedding venue that doesn't require a preferred vendor they are $35 per person because they are having to pay Spruce Mountain to be used as a preferred vendor. This was not stated in the contract, we were told that the average cost of food alone was $25 / $35 per person, and here we are going from a budget of $30K to now over $60K. We tried to cancel with the venue because they did not disclose this information upfront, and they are not wanting to give us our deposit of almost $5,000 back. The wedding is not until June 2025 which gives them plenty of time to fill it! She offered us 50% which we have been told by other venues a $1,000 kept with the rest of our money back should be fair. However, this is one example... the drinks are double, their event rents are more expensive, all around they are getting kickbacks from every preferred vendor WE HAVE TO USE according to their rules. We had no idea it would be this expensive simply because their vendors have to charge more to be a preferred vendor. Several of these vendors are giving us lower rates going to a new venue.

  Business response

  11/26/2024

  See attached

  Customer response

  12/03/2024

  **** is correct that I did not sign the contract, that my fiance did.  However, I am the one paying for it.  When we met with their tour team we told them our budget was $30,000 and they said it was doable. That is not true, and after discussing with others who had their wedding at Spruce Mountain many went into major debt to have their wedding there.  We are not going to go into debt for our wedding when we had a budget and they cannot meet our budget now.  We are double our budget with Spruce Mountain and have already seen major savings using a different venue.  We are simply asking for our deposit back to have a wedding and not lose out of almost $5,000.  
  
  We decided to cancel our wedding with 8 months out from wedding when we got the catering contract, peak beverage contract, and event rent contracts that would have put us at $49 per person for food (120 guest count), $1,176 for 20% gratuity that we have to pay, and 8% tax at $470.  Food alone is $7,526.   Then Peak Beverage was going to charge us almost $5000 for beverages.  Event Rents was $1300.  So that puts us at $13,000 plus for food, drink and linens.  **** had in her contract to us that it would be no more than $9,000 for those things. So that is a blatant lie.  The same caterer at our new venue is only charging $30 per person because they are not working with Spruce Mountain, who we learned gets fees for being a preferred vendor and is why Spruce requires us to use their vendors and not just any catering company.  So the same caterer is charging almost $20 less per person due to their arrangement with Spruce Mountain.   Our drink cost went down to $1300 for drinks, and we get a bar tender included with our new venue.  There were a lot of hidden things not disclosed to us.  Attached they try to say that bartending is less with their Peak Beverage vendor, but that is a lie as well.  We got a licensed bar tender included with our venue change and are using Cheers for liquor and Beer for $1300.
   
  
  Please let me know if you need anything further for this case, but I do not agree with her assessment!
  
  Thank you,
  
  ******* Foltz 
  **************
  

  
  

  Customer response

  12/05/2024

  You don't often get email from ******************* Learn why this is important 
  
  Thank you so much!   Please, let me know if you need detail as I will get the information that was provided to my fiance from Spruce Mountain.  I also want to note that they did tell her they would provide a refund of 50% of what we paid, "if they book our June 20th, 2025 date", but we have to literally check with them every month to see if they booked it in order to get our 50% refund.  They are not willing to just give us the refund if they book it.  I have been in contact with multiple vendors, multiple wedding venues, and wedding planners who have all said that Spruce Mountain is one of the worst places to work with.  Many of their clients have gone broke paying for their wedding with them, or could not afford to buy a house after getting married there.   I wish we would have had this information upfront when we did our tour with them, but they pressured us with, "if you don't book fast, we fill up fast, and then you will lose your date".   I also wish they would have been forthright when we told them our budget of $30K.  The new place we are having our wedding has been very helpful, very honest, very upfront, and have told us Spruce Mountain is one of the reasons they went into business.  We are well within our budget now.   I wish more people would not be afraid to open up a case against them so that you could see we are not the only ones having issues with them!  I'm a fair person, I would not complain against a business without reasons.  The way this business has treated us with a day that is supposed to be memorable has been awful!   And the fact they are not willing to give us at least most of the money back, or even to get half back we have to call every month???  That is bad business.   I own a business and when people have problems, I fix their problems, I don't tell them it is their fault, and they should have researched better!  I take them for their word.   We are using the same catering company, Broken Bones - which I prefer not to get them in trouble with Spruce Mountain, but they were able to offer us half the price per person in their words, "because we are no longer going through Spruce Mountain".   Spruce Mountain is in fact getting kickbacks from their preferred vendors because I have heard it from multiple sources, wedding planners, venues, and their vendors!  They have to charge us more because they have to pay Spruce Mountain to be a preferred vendor on their list.
  
  Thank you,
  
  ******* Foltz 
  **************
  
  

  Customer response

  12/06/2024

  Here is the wedding contract that was sent to *******.

  Customer response

  12/06/2024

  The system did not let me send all the evidence.  I'm attaching the files here.
  
  You will see the price at Spruce Mountain vs Red Rocks for Broken Bones.   if you add up 120 people x the dollar per person and then add gratuity and tax....
  
  Tara's mock proposal vs real numbers and that again was for 100!  We have 120!
  
  Cheers quote for Red Rocks vs Peak Beverage quote
  
  Then the correspondence that **** sent *******.
  
  I was not able to upload these in the complaint!
  
  ******* *****
  
  **************
  

  Business response

  12/12/2024

  Please find the attached response from Spruce Mountain Events General Counsel.

  Customer response

  12/12/2024

   
  Better Business Bureau:

   

  Clearly there is nothing we can do any further here.  I guess we will just lose our money and allow them to continue doing this to other couples.  We didn't do any further research on venues because we were told that they could meet our budget, they didn't.   I guess we will just lose out on any type of refund, and they have an attorney saying we are trying to spread false claims. Best of luck to them!  I have more important things to do with my time, and I'm not going to get a lawyer I can't afford when I am paying for a wedding and just got screwed out of $4750.

   

  Thank you,

   

  ******* *****

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩