Trattoria Giuseppe unfair charges • Edgemont Pennsylvania

I booked Trattoria Giuseppe for the date of January 11th 2014 for our wedding reception, and I was over charged on many line items, and the service was little weak. the food is good, but i got ripped off on  our event.

 I forgot the date that we [my fiancé at the time my sister and I] visited Trattoria Giuseppe restaurant to find out about their facility, accommodation, and pricing. we were greeted by Ms. Angela [event coordinator for the restaurant] and then by the owner, Mr. Giuseppe.

I informed Ms. Angela and Mr. Giuseppe that we wanted to find out about their facility and if they can accommodate 55 to 65 guests. Ms. Angela informed us that it is possible and she showed us one of the reception room that is called Bella [which had a bar in the rear right corner]. during the showing I mentioned to Ms. Angela over a dozen times that our guests will be between 55 to 65 people, and her respond was "you give us the number at the end". then we were greeted by Mr. Giuseppe [owner] and he talked to us further at a table at the front reception desk, and at that conversation I mentioned multiple time to Mr. Giuseppe that we are going to have 55 to 65 people, and he also said [ I remember clearly] that we can supply the final number at the end. and he continued to give us prices based on what we wanted and pricing, the orderves hour which will be between 5pm to 6pm, which will be served three items, then from 6pm to 10 or 10:30pm will be the main course. the pricing were $14.95 for orderves [ filet mignon kebab skewers, crab cake, & scallops on toast], and the main course price $55.95 [filet mignon, or pollo Marcela, or grouper] where a waiter/waitress will come around and take everyone order during the reception time. another charge would have been $400 for me to have a DJ, so Trattoria Giuseppe charges $400 to use their facility.

then Ms. Angela brought us two catalogs so we can pick linen for the tables and chairs. we looked so we can have an idea. we all left to think about if we should get Trattoria Giuseppe for our wedding reception. This took place around mid November [ I don't remember definite date].

we [my fiancé and I] returned a week later to book the date with Trattoria Giuseppe, and we were greeted by Ms. Angela then by Mr. Giuseppe, were Mr. Giuseppe took us to the reception room so he can write the details/agreement and book January 11th. so Mr. Giuseppe took us to the reception room that is next to what Ms. Angela showed us and told us that we will the reception room with the bar in the corner, but Mr. Giuseppe told us that we cannot have the room that Ms. Angela promised. so he continued to write the agreement and I informed Mr. Giuseppe that there will be 55 to 65 guests, however he wrote 65 and said that I can give the final number at the end. after we were done Ms. Angela came showed us the linen sample and told us the price will be $85 per table and based on 55 to 65 it will be 7 or 8 table. and another charge would have been to have a dance floor area, that would have been around $700, which we later passed on dance floor area.  And then we left after we figured out what we wanted. I have to mention that at this sitting Ms. Angela showed us a postcard from a rental company that if we placed the linen order before new year we can get 50% discount, and I believe it was from Taylor Rental [ Ms. Angela didn't give us that post card].

Beginning of December I called [do not have exact date and time] Ms. Angela to give me an estimate of how much our event will cost and the breakdown, and she didn't call so I emailed her on December 11 requesting the breakdown and dollar amount, and she didn't call or write back.  I called Ms. Angela after December 11th to ask her what other charges there are and I asked her to respond back via email, the only thing Ms. Angela said was 20% gratuity and tax , and I asked her if there are any other hidden charges that I should be aware of, and Ms. Angela's respond was no, but she didn't confirm with an email respond. during month of December I asked twice to Ms. Angela is there any other charges, and she said no.

The agreement, as far as we remember, will tell Trattoria Giuseppe the final number of guests, the kids are not included because their mother will either supply their mini food or they will have french fries.

I informed Ms. Angela on January 7th [Tuesday] that we'll be having 60 people [ plus the 2 kids are not included because they will have fries or their own food].

on Friday the 10th, I called Ms. Angela and informed her that 2 guests are not coming and we are now 58 quests, Ms. Angela said not to worry she'll take care of me. also that evening I dropped off the liquors, cake knife, and our Champaign glasses. when I dropped off the liquor Ms. Angela told at that moment that the 20% gratuity is only for the waiters and waitresses and that does not include her, so she told me that I have to pay her separate.

the issues are, on wedding reception period:

1. Orderves: the quests arrived around 5 and the orderves where served around 6.  all the guests I spoke to said the orderves came just around 6. so, we paid for the orderves to be served from 5 to 6, and it came out at 6, 1 hour after. and when I call Ms. Angela [on Friday January 23rd] to ask her why did the orderves came a 6, she said "no, the orderves where at 5:30pm", and my respond was but we agreed to have orderves 5 to 6, and her response was "per house policy, they don't serve for few people, everyone has to come then they'll serve it". on my conversation with Ms. Angela on January 23rd she mentioned 3 times the "house policy", I forgot to say to Ms. Angela how come I was not given Trattoria Giuseppe's House Policy hand book. so not one guest told me that the orderves came at 5 or 5:30pm, they all said the orderves came around 6pm.

2. DJ: in prior conversations Ms. Angela was going to set up a table and chair for the DJ, and when the DJ came he had no table and chair. so, they had to bring table, chair and regular linen.

3. Wedding cake: the cake is 3 layers. the wedding cake maker [Mathelda] delivered the cake, but on the way the vehicle went over a deep hole in the street so the top layer of cake came off and the cake was messed up. so when Mathelda delivered the cake and wanted to fix the top layer of the cake, Ms. Angela didn't allow Mathelda to fix the cake because Ms. Angela was afraid it would ruin the linen. In this kind of situation, one has to weigh which is important, the cake or the linen? thinking that the cake is far more important than the linen, even if the linen is ruined, you can put another linen to cover it. Mathelda [cake maker] begged to have adequate time and Ms. Angela didn't grant her time, so in our wedding pictures, there is no third layer and the second layer of the cake looks split.  Ms. Angela should have given as much time to Mathelda to do as much as possible to fix the cake as much as she could have, but Ms. Angela gave no time.

4. I, the groom helped the waiters/waitresses: some time after the ordervers service around 7pm, I noticed that the waiters were taking the dinner orders and the DJ was going to play dance music, so I approached one of the waitresses and I told her to inform me when they are done taking the dinner order so I can tell the dj to start playing dance music, so I told the dj to wait for my signal. if didn't control that section of the evening by playing slow music, then everyone would have gone up to dance and the waiters would have scrambled to take everyone's diner order. so I waited for the waiter to give me the signal and I told the dj to start playing dance music. The waitress appreciate my help and said "thank you".  whatever I did should have been done by whoever is controlling the evening, I the groom shouldn't be doing someone else's job.

5. my wife's & my dinner came, and I had 3 bits and I went to dance for not even 7 minutes, and when I came back my dinner plate was gone. I also noticed that there was so many dinner plates going back and the plate was not finished. The very noticeable item that got my attention was the meat was going back, not finished. if i was the chief i would have been very upset because how come those plates are coming back, the chief should have asked "was the food bad?" or "was the meat not cooked?" . I have to mention that the food was very good, but unfortunately I only had 3 bites.  the food operation felt very assembly line like.

6. Linen: the linen where not ironed. the pictures that Ms. Angela showed me was not the linens I paid for. our head table linen was unbelievable bad. I paid for whatever Ms. Angela showed me in Taylor Rental, but the linen wasn't the one I saw in the magazine.

7. Linen: Ms. Angela charged me $1115 for the linen. I have no idea how that number came, because from the original agreement of $85 a table which we had 8 max, that dollar should have been $680.  I asked Ms. Angela to give in writing what are the details, she never wrote to me, I asked via email, she never responded. so I was ripped of $435.  and I don't know how Ms. Angela used the 50% discount that she mentioned on our first meeting by showing us a post card offer.

I am leaving many things out from this report.

On the finance end:
- I was charged for 65 quests at $70.90 equals $4608.50, which I paid extra $496.30
- I paid 6% tax of $276.51, which I paid extra tax of $29.78

- I paid gratuity of 20% $977.00, actually I paid extra gratuity $105.21. also, I was ripped off by this gratuity because Ms. Angela added the gratuity dollar amount by adding the total amount of the service [$4608.50] plus tax [$276.51] and multiplied by 20%, in actuality the 20% should be based on the total amount of the service [$4608.00] and it should not include the tax. this is a clear attempt to take more money from me. so basically I paid 21.19% gratuity.

    - so based on Ms. Angela's calculations I over paid on gratuity $55.30

- the true calculations should have been

     58 guests X $70.90             = $ 4,112.20

     tax         6%   X $4112.20   = $    246.73

     Gratuity 20% X $4112.20  =  $    822.44

     DJ  to use restaurant facility  $     400

        my total should have been  $ 5,581.37

                         but I paid            $ 6,262.01

                   which I over paid     $    680.64

     I was ripped off on linen by $435. and i don't know how 50% was applied.

     I shouldn't have paid $80 tip to Ms. Angela because I clearly asked her twice if there are any other charges in month of December, and she replied with "no", and then the night before the wedding she is asking for more money, that is just wrong. I was ripped off on many line items and it wasn't fair for Ms. Angela to ask for more money. and it is not fair for Ms. Angela to charge me 21.19% by including the tax dollar amount into the gratuity figure.

On January 23 I called the owner to have a meeting with the owner and Ms. Angela, the owner had Ms. Angela call me and she said whatever is in the agreement that is what they will charge, even though I told her and the owner multiple times that I will have 55 to 65 quests, and I gave my final number as 58, she insisted that whatever is in agreement has to be charged that. Ms. Angela also added saying that the waiters offered the DJ, video and camera guy the same dinner as the guest are eating because the owner said to Ms. Angela since I paid for 65 guests, even though that was not our original verbal agreement with Ms. Angela, because the dj, video and camera guy where suppose to order much cheaper food items to keep the cost down (this comment was maid by Ms. Angela, which confirms that she knew that we were going to have up to 65 or less, and for us to keep the cost down she was going to serve lesser cost food). I asked the DJ if he was offered the same food as the guest ordered, and his respond was "no", the waiter only offered him pasta or chicken morsel. I asked the camera and video guys, and they confirmed the waiter asked them they can have whatever we are having, however one of them got salad and I forgot what the other had.

I am disappointed with Trattoria Giuseppe because all the time I mentioned I'll have 55 to 65 guests, not one time neither the owner or Ms. Angela stopped me and said " Mr. groom, regardless what number you give us between 55 to 65, you will be charged for 65", not one time neither told me that sentence, additionally Ms. Angela herself told me to offer the DJ, Camera & video guys lesser foods so we can keep the cost down, by Ms. Angela comment on that confirms that whatever final guest number was I was going to be charged based on that number. And I was not offered to take home additional food if I had less than 65 guests, so when I had 58 people I should had been offered to take home 7 meals, since I paid for it.  I was ripped off on the guest count, I was ripped off on the gratuity dollar amount, I was ripped off on the linen. Ms. Angela didn't make the right decision to have the cake maker correct the cake. Ms. Angela did not deliver the same linen that was showed to us in the Taylor Rental magazine. The orderves should have started to come by 5 and it didn't get served till 6, the whole night at Trattoria Giuseppe I felt like manufacturing assembly line, there are other items i'm leaving out. The thing that kept the mood high was mostly my wife and I and the DJ.

As a bride and groom our focus is on each other mostly, but when you here the orderves came an hour late, then you see the linens were not ironed on the head table and the other tables, then you see the cake and find out later that Ms. Angela didn't give any time for the cake maker to fix the cake, and then you here a comment from Ms. Angela that the house rules are not to serve orderves for few people when they were there during 5 to 6pm, at least we should have got Tarittoria Giuseppe's house rule book so we can read it. Also, as an event coordinator Ms. Angela should have prepared a list of items for the wedding couple and a check list so the couple need to do the following tasks by certain date and time, so till the event date arrives everyone is on the ball. Terittoria Giuseppe is a weak operation. if we did it again, i wouldn't have done it at Giuseppe's, we would have used their normal restaurant linen, thank God we didn't get the dance floor, the carpet was fine.