The Julien Inn ripoff Overcharged lied to AWFUL customer service inept management Dubuque Iowa

I contracted a banquet room at the Julien Inn for a surprise birthday party in honor of my grandmother's 85th birthday on 04/30/06. Approximately two months in advance I made arrangements to order food to be served buffet style.........6 dozen turkey dressing sand @ 10.00 per dozen; one small relish tray @ 55.00; chips and french onion dip @ 35.00; coffee @ 3.50 per pot; milk @ 3.50 per pot. At this time I made a deposit via Mastercard of $100.

The day of the party went very smoothly, the food was excellent, and the server went out of her way to make it a nice party, even cutting the cake and helping us to serve it. Kudos to Annette(our server) for doing an excellent job and being very friendly!

When we finished eating, more than half of the turkey dressing and over half of the relish tray was left. When it came time to settle the bill, it showed that I had been charged $66 for coffee at 6(pots I assume as the number was just 6, and 9.90 for milk at 4.95/unit. Again, no unit was listed. The young man behind the desk promptly informed me that there was nothing he could do about this problem. I repeatedly asked for a number of a manager or a number to speak with someone in the sales office, to which I was told no one is available on a Sunday and he had no numbers available to reach anyone. I finally agreed to place the bill on my credit card. The remaining balance was placed on my Mastercard in the amount of 177.98.

At this point I asked where I could get the food which was not eaten. He told me he could use his "two way radio" to call down to the kitchen and have it brought up. We waited about ten minutes for him to call back and tell us there was no one down there and we could "pick it up tomorrow." I explained to him that I lived 40 miles away, and that was not acceptable, that I had just paid $300 for food and I would like to take it home with me. Finally, I asked for someone in management to call me the next morning, and he assured me he would leave a message.

The next morning, on May 1, 2006, not having heard anything I called at 10:00 a.m. I was sent to voicemail and left a very polite message stating I would like to speak with someone about problems I had the previous day. At 4:00 p.m. the same day, I again called back, still not having heard anything. I was directed to someone in the sales office named Kathy, who was very polite. She said they had charged me by "the gallon" instead of by the pot, and she would refund the money to my credit card. She did not give me the amount that would be refunded. To this date, May 4, 2006, no money has yet been refunded to my card. She apologized that the young man working the desk did not know the proper way to distribute the food. She explained that there was a "release form" in the office which we would have had to sign and place the food into our own container. I let her know that this procedure would have been absolutely fine, if someone had just let us know. She then said she would discuss the situation with her manager and see if there was something they could do to right the situation. I thanked her and hung up.

On Wednesday, May 4, 2006, still having not heard anything, I called back an additional time to find out if this situation could be resolved. I spoke to "Michelle" who I was lead to believe previously was the "General Manager." From the moment the conversation started, she was absolutely rude and condescending. She informed me that is was my responsibility to let them know in advance if I wanted to take the food with me. I informed her that this would have been FINE, had someone just let me know beforehand, but in my experience in the past, I have always been able to take leftover food with me and was not aware of this practice. She then informed me that it was "not her fault if I didn't have enough people to eat all the food I ordered." She repeatedly told me that "only 5% of people take the food with them." She must have made this statement at least three times. I informed her that I was not interested in statistics and I just wanted to resolve the issue. Frankly, this lady did not have any interest in making me happy. In her view, it was too bad and it was my problem. She could not have been more unpleasant, and her tone and words relayed to me that she considered me inept for not telling them in advance that I would like to keep leftover food. I suggested that in the future, she may want to mention this to her customers so they know the procedure. She refused and again stated it was not "their" responsibility. Apparently, it is the customer's responsibility to know the laws of food from banquet rooms. However, as a professional, this was not part of my education.

The following are numbers I have in my possession relating to this situation:
DATE: 04/30/06
ROOM: Crown Gallery
GROUP #: 6978
REF #: 043008

Thank you


Laurie
Guttenberg, Iowa
U.S.A.