Business ProfileforHopewell Valley Vineyards

Winery owner and her event coordinator are rude, disrespectful, unreasonable, aggressive, and unprofessional. I endured months of bullying and unethical price gouging while trying to plan an event at Hopewell Valley Vineyards. They charged me $1,000 for using an outside caterer, wine tasting fees despite not one guest having a wine tasting, wine consumption fees for the 40 underage children at our party, a $125 fee to my caterer for disposing our event trash in their dumpster rather than taking the garbage with them, and a 20% service fee on my final **** that, only when pressed, the owner explained was her way of mandating a tip for her staff, even if we had a terrible experience, which we did. As for ludicrous policies, rules, and restrictions: I was not allowed to get into the space to set up until 1 hour before the start of my event, I was only allowed to bring 2 people with me to set up, no candles, no balloon arches, my DJ was reprimanded twice for the music being too loud, and we were given 30 minutes to clean up and get off property when the event was over. Even worse than their outrageous nickel-and-diming and intolerable list of preposterous rules, however, was their abusive communications in both writing and over the phone. Both the owner and event coordinator are defensive and condescending. They refuse to listen to customer feedback and instead respond with inappropriate personal attacks. And, while it would take too long to list every example, their lack of professionalism permeated virtually every interaction, most notably in their refusal to accept any responsibility for mistakes they made or hold themselves or each other accountable for poor customer experiences... and it's not just me, there are many other online reviews echoing my negative feedback.

It is always our mission and intention at *** to provide warmth, hospitality, and beautiful moments to every guest that passes through our doors. We have, unfortunately, been put in the position to publicly correct the inaccuracies in this review, line by line. But before doing so, let us say that clear communication is vital in ************* or hospitality business, and we pride ourselves on our upfront communications, which guests have always remarked and greatly appreciated when planning their events with us. By providing our policies and fee schedule upfront prior to any specific price quote and certainly before any accepted booking deposit, everyone involved can manage their financial and practical expectations long before the day of the event arrives. We are sorry that our consistent communications did not work in this particular case, with this specific reviewer. With that being said, here are some corrections and insights that perhaps this reviewer has forgotten to consider.1) "Winery owner and her event coordinator are rude, disrespectful, unreasonable, aggressive, and unprofessional. I endured months of bullying and unethical price gouging while trying to plan an event at Hopewell Valley Vineyards."The winery is a local business serving fine wine and hospitality. We are in the business of bringing people together for joyful occasions and facilitating that to the best of our ability. We have been doing this since **** and take pride in our policies, procedures, and conduct. We are surprised to hear the words rude, aggressive, and bullying being applied to our professional conduct. We are also surprised to hear the word 'price-gouging' when the reviewer herself approved in writing the event's price prior to us ever accepting her booking deposit.2) "They charged me $1,000 for using an outside caterer"Let it first be stated that ALL FEES are included in our introductory email to potential guests. This has been the *** policy for many years. And in this specific reviewer's case, the price was in fact reduced to $600 (from $1,000) once her final guest count (provided 10 days prior to the event) fell below 60 guests, as is our standard policy for this specific fee.3) "Wine tasting fees despite not one guest having a wine tasting"As first and foremost a vineyard and winery, and not a catering hall, wine tastings are a non-negotiable element to any event we host, which is again stated in our first introductory email. Every guest that comes to the bar is offered a personal wine tasting with a member of our team. While not every guest may choose to do a wine tasting, we are always staffed as though all adult guests will. This reviewer selected only two wines for the event, in comparison to the standard of five. While most guests at this specific event chose to be poured a glass of wine and leave the bar, all were invited to engage in a tasting.4) "Wine consumption fees for the 40 underage children at our party"Again, all information regarding minimum wine purchase is provided in our initial email, and is based on the length of the event and total guest count. Also, please note the difference between minimum wine purchase versus consumption at an event. This was confirmed in the initial email to this reviewer. It was confirmed a second time on 9/01/21 via email to which the reviewer replied "Got it! No problem." It was confirmed a third time on 9/02/21, again in email, when the final quote was provided to the reviewer prior to *** accepting her booking deposit. Please also note, the $5/pp wine tasting fee is *NEVER* imposed on guests under the legal drinking age of 21. In this reviewer's event, it was imposed on the **************************************************** a one-on-one wine tasting. We also feel it important to note here that we are first and foremost a winery, with vines we are proud to grow and wines we are proud to produce, and all guests that look to host events at the winery must wish to incorporate the local products of our business, and not simply use our beautiful facilities as a catering hall. This is what we communicate openly and clearly to all of our potential guests, and while most guests come to the winery exactly for this reason, others that have different priorities are free to find other venues that serve their needs best.5) "A $125 fee to my caterer for disposing our event trash in their dumpster rather than taking the garbage with them"As a small winery with our own daily events and customers, we do not have the capacity to process all waste from all events. As demands on our facilities have grown, especially since the start of the pandemic, it became exceedingly clear and imperative that we impose a new policy for waste removal. Waste disposal is an important logistical detail that all caterers face no matter the venue, and every venue has its own policies. At ***, caterers are fully aware they are responsible to either rent a dumpster to handle their own waste, or to take the waste with them to be disposed of in their own facilities. The company that catered this specific reviewer's event has had a working relationship with the winery since 2008, and has been aware of this policy since its implementation in 2020. In fact, in a past wedding event since this policy was implemented, *** procured for this caterer a dumpster on our site at a reduced rate as a gesture of good business for all. For this reviewer's event, the caterer knowingly preferred to pay the fee instead of renting a dumpster, which we could accommodate in the winter months as the winery produces less waste.6) "A 20% service fee on my final **** that, only when pressed, the owner explained was her way of mandating a tip for her staff, even if we had a terrible experience, which we did."When visiting ANY restaurant, a gratuity percentage is imposed (normally no less than 18%) for all parties of 8 or more, let alone for a venue that must handle complicated planning and staffing, sometimes over a period of months. We firmly believe this is appropriate business practice. Our staff is the life-blood of our business and must be compensated accordingly in all facets of their work. While we are sorry to hear that the reviewer had a terrible experience at her event, which contradicts earlier written reviews from her on other platforms, we heard directly from several enthusiastic guests at the event just how wonderful a time they had. We believe this reviewer, unfortunately, has twisted up her own expectations with the winery's responsibilities. We did everything in our power, as always, to show outstanding hospitality to guests while being professional and ******* clear in communications. In fact, with a business that demands very precise logistical details for many events throughout the year, there is no other way to run such a business.7) "As for ludicrous policies, rules, and restrictions: I was not allowed to get into the space to set up until 1 hour before the start of my event."This is standard for all private events unless otherwise required (i.e. large wedding) or requested, which this reviewer did not. Please understand that we close down our normal business to the public to host events, and we try our best to minimize the disruption to our regular guests that have been loyally supporting the winery for years.8) "I was only allowed to bring 2 people with me to set up."Having run hundreds of events over the years, we have observed that allowing an unlimited number of guest helpers to set up events in fact creates much more stress and chaos to the guests themselves as well as winery staff. On the contrary, when this number is limited, guests are much more focused on handling their logistics for set up prior to the day of the event, as is ideal, and sets up a much better working environment and event atmosphere for all. As for this reviewer, on 12/22/21 she was informed that due to the size of the event, she could bring up to 3 guests to help set up (beyond of course the catering staff).9) "No candles." This is correct. No open flames is a Hopewell Township ********** policy for public venues, which we of course abide by. It was noted on 12/22/21 that the reviewer could bring battery-operated candles if she wished, which other guests do all the time and the ambiance is still wonderful.10) "No balloon arches"Balloons are permitted, though it is correct that arches/displays are not. This is standard procedure and was never communicated as something the reviewer wished to include. After several large balloon displays at the winery over the years, we have come to understand that the disassembly of such large displays is usually left as an afterthought to winery staff, and, more importantly, the cleanup of micro plastics on our winery's lawns, decks, parking lots, and vineyards is not something we can easily accomplish or accomodate.11) "** was reprimanded twice for the music being too loud" On 1/18/22, an email was sent from *** to the ** in preparation of the event stating, "We ask that you be mindful of the volume for both our staff and the guests. If the music is too loud, we'll ask you to turn it down to an appropriate volume for all." During the reviewer's event, our decibel monitor spiked on two occasions at 99 and 102 dBs, and we politely asked the ** to turn the volume down. Indoor dBs should be ***** but not exceed 90. There is also a Hopewell Township ordinance that 10PM is the cut-off time for loud music, which we are obliged to respect. This reviewer's event ran until 11PM on a Sunday night.12) "We were given 30 minutes to clean up and get off property when the event was over" This reviewer was never told this. In fact, due to how late this event ran, we waived the caterer's responsibility to bring the room back to its normal set-up after their event, and employed our own staff to finalize and clean up the next day. The half-hour clean up was only requested via email to the ** on 1/18/22 for HIS clean up, due to the fact that in the past **s have taken a significant amount of time to disassemble and pack up equipment long after winery staff, with many more responsibilities, is ready to close and yet cannot.13) "Outrageous nickel-and-diming and intolerable list of preposterous rules"All pricing and policies are provided up-front for any future event. This reviewer's price projection was sent for her explicit and written approval prior to *** accepting her booking deposit, as is policy. This reviewer chose *** with all this information upfront and clear.14) "Their abusive communications in both writing and over the phone. Both the owner and event coordinator are defensive and condescending. They refuse to listen to customer feedback and instead respond with inappropriate personal attacks."*** correspondences with this reviewer were nothing but professional, clear, and well-intentioned. If anything, whenever this reviewer reached out prior to her event to either condemn or debate our policies, we tried our very best to accommodate her needs without compromising our business, our ethics, or our other valued guests. 15) "And, while it would take too long to list every example, their lack of professionalism permeated virtually every interaction, most notably in their refusal to accept any responsibility for mistakes they made or hold themselves or each other accountable for poor customer experiences..." It is not clear what mistakes this reviewer is referring to, and therefore we cannot comment more specifically. However, we have written documentation that she agreed to the minimum wine purchase amount, which later she seemed to regret, and attempted to back out from. While every business should take responsibility for its policies and actions, and try its best to correct a mistake if something happens, the same level of personal responsibility and agency should be held for a patron as well. 16) "There are many other online reviews echoing my negative feedback."Out of 242 ****** reviews, about a dozen are 1-star reviews, mostly due to the wait time for wine/pizza during the ******* of the Covid pandemic, when the winery experienced an unprecedented surge in daily traffic as people wished to enjoy the winery's open space. While we openly acknowledge that such high-volume days are difficult for us to contain at times, especially since many of our team members were initially hesitant to work such events due to their own concerns with Covid, we are trying our best to grow our business in alignment with new demands and local needs. We also wish to note that there are no negative reviews to our knowledge in regards to private events hosted at ***, where much more control and preparation are granted.In closing, we at *** are of course disappointed by this reviewer's anger and frustration, and disappointed to lose her as a guest. It was clear to all winery staff and others in attendance that unfortunately this reviewer's stress levels were quite high during the event itself. We understand. We have all had a difficult two years, full of unprecedented challenges, stresses, and change. Even so, we were grateful for the opportunity to host the reviewer's event to the best of our ability, and wish her all the best.

Case in point. This response from HVV exemplifies the defensive posturing and condescending tone that I described in my initial complaint. Just like their public rebuttals to my negative online reviews, HVV accepts zero responsibility, offers no apology other than to say that they are sorry to lose my business, fails to ask for additional information and clarifying examples to better understand my grievances, and makes not one single suggestion about how to rectify the situation. They even go so far as to use gaslighting tactics by flipping it all back on me, the customer, with nonsense about my stress levels and overwhelm during my party a boldfaced lie intended to undermine my credibility and deflect responsibility away from my legitimate criticism of them. In addition to some pretty serious personality issues, it is clear that neither the owner nor the event coordinator have any formal education or training in the service industry. Nor do they have the common sense to do a basic ****** search on How to respond to a negative online review before putting their lack of professionalism on display for everyone to see. Any reasonable person understands that a responses like this only serves to further escalate the situation, which it has.First, in regards to their comments about my complaints about price-gouging, their primary position seems to be that I do not have a right to complain about their nickel-and-diming because the charges were outlined up front and in writing. I have never disputed that I agreed to all of their ridiculous fees. Yes, at one point, there was confusion about the Wine Consumption Fees due to their unclear verbal communication about waving the wine tasting fees for children, but, once I questioned it and understood that they were still charging the 40 teenagers for wine they would never consume, I dropped it and moved on, frankly for fear of another explosive episode just weeks before my event.Not surprisingly, HVV still does not seem to fully comprehend my experience. Just because I mistakenly thought that all of their added charges would be worth it in the end, doesn't mean that their fees are ethical. Nor does it preclude me from feeling like they were trying to squeeze every ***** they could out of me the entire time. Nor does it mean that it was actually worth it in the end. It most certainly was not. I completely regret holding my event at HVV, and I think all of this information is important for people to know.Second, in regards to their pervasive lack of professionalism and the various mistakes they made throughout the months of trying to work with them, if it is unclear to HVV what I am referring to, perhaps it would behoove the owner and her event coordinator to approach guests with curiosity and concern when a complaint is made rather than defensiveness, attitude, and reverse attacks. Their response to my BBB review only serves to validate and punctuate my claims by further illustrating and making public what it is like to deal with these people and why we had all the problems we did.