April I. Sent on 15/05/2021
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Quality of the service
1.0 out of 5 rating
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Response time
1.0 out of 5 rating
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Professionalism
1.0 out of 5 rating
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Value for money
1.0 out of 5 rating
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Flexibility
1.0 out of 5 rating
Avoid if you don’t want to lose money!
Firstly, I am beyond disappointed that it has lead to me having to write this review, but I feel I have no choice. I feel I have no other option but to give you all some facts and experiences my partner and I have had to endure for the past 12 months.
Our dream wedding was booked for the 15th of June 2020. With Covid-19 restrictions in place, we received a call from the Mill Barns giving us two options. Option one, rebook for the next available date (at this point 2022) or option two, a gift voucher for the amount we paid initially.
We asked at this point if we could have a refund, to which we were told that we would lose all monies paid at this point as it would be classed as a “cancellation”, even though, the venue could not provide us with our wedding as planned for another two years due to Covid restrictions.
Upset about this, we had a night to think about this situation and came to the decision that we could not afford to lose the money paid for our wedding as this was thousands of pounds of hard earned savings, and this was just not an option. We were lead to believe that the two options given were our only choices.
We decided to ask for a cancellation list or for the wedding to be moved to the new venue in the group, the foxtail barns. We was told at this point that a cancellation list did not exist and we would have to call every week to see if any new cancellation dates had become available, as they were only being offered on a first come first serve basis. This would mean that brand new customers would be given the chance to book a cancellation date before we were given the option (even though we had already had our wedding day cancelled already).
We was told that foxtail barns had been put on hold due to the pandemic, therefore was not taking bookings, which we have since found out that weddings will be taking place there from July 2021. We spoke to management and finally got a cancellation list (after asking multiple times and being told that there wasn’t one). We received a call with an offer of a cancellation date of 10th of June 2021, which as I’m sure most people would have, we decided to rebook our wedding to this date (it was either this or another year waiting).
With government restrictions still in place on our new date (limit of 30 guests) this was something that was simply not an option as our original number of guests was 120 people. With this is mind, we instructed a solicitor to act on our behalf to recoup our money, as we knew we would get the same answer as the previous year of “no” to a refund.
On the 10th of February 2021, our solicitor sent a letter asking for a refund as the service we booked originally could not be provided. We sent two letters, one to the venue and one to head office. On the 26th of February 2021 we received a call from the venue asking which date we would like to postpone to. We had two options, November or a date in December this year. Both of which were winter weddings, which we did not want. At this point we spoke to the employee about the two letters that our solicitor had sent to them, to which they responded “we have not received any letter regarding your wedding”. I find this hard to believe as two letters were sent to them. How could both possibly go missing? They wouldn’t have.
We are now over three months after first sending our letter requesting a full refund. The responses we have received from the venue have been slow to say the least. They have dragged their feet at every opportunity, with our money remaining in their bank account.
Our contract states that if the venue were to cancel for any reason, we would be entitled to a full refund. In our opinion, the contract is being broken as they cannot fulfil the number of guests we were contractually obliged to have. To date, we have paid a deposit of £2475. We have been offered a partial refund of £825. To say this is insulting would be an understatement. The venue is being extremely difficult about returning our money.
The venue has given reason for such a low offer of a refund. They state that they have incurred costs such as a tasting evening (at a cost of £30pp) which we are more than happy to cover which we have already been over with the caterers and came to this agreement. I would like to add that the caterers have been amazing. We received a majority refund from them within 48 hours of asking for it. This review is in no way a bad reflection on them, it just shows how difficult the Mill Barns have been.
Another reason the Mill Barns have given in which to keep most of our money is that they provided an online wedding planner, which is a piece of software you are expected to complete yourself. These two reasons are not in any way justifiable to keep most of our hard earned cash. The offer of £825 is an absolute disgrace.
Overall the owners and employees have completed tarnished our wedding day. This was supposed to be a magical day; instead we have to seek legal advice in order to get our money back. We feel completely let down with the poor service and dates offered. There is no personalisation from this venue. You feel like a number rather than a couple planning your special day.
If you are thinking about booking the Mill Barns, then please proceed with caution. All is not what it seems on first glance and you may well run into the same problems we have.
Firstly, I am beyond disappointed that it has lead to me having to write this review, but I feel I have no choice. I feel I have no other option but to give you all some facts and experiences my partner and I have had to endure for the past 12 months.
Our dream wedding was booked for the 15th of June 2020. With Covid-19 restrictions in place, we received a call from the Mill Barns giving us two options. Option one, rebook for the next available date (at this point 2022) or option two, a gift voucher for the amount we paid initially.
We asked at this point if we could have a refund, to which we were told that we would lose all monies paid at this point as it would be classed as a “cancellation”, even though, the venue could not provide us with our wedding as planned for another two years due to Covid restrictions.
Upset about this, we had a night to think about this situation and came to the decision that we could not afford to lose the money paid for our wedding as this was thousands of pounds of hard earned savings, and this was just not an option. We were lead to believe that the two options given were our only choices.
We decided to ask for a cancellation list or for the wedding to be moved to the new venue in the group, the foxtail barns. We was told at this point that a cancellation list did not exist and we would have to call every week to see if any new cancellation dates had become available, as they were only being offered on a first come first serve basis. This would mean that brand new customers would be given the chance to book a cancellation date before we were given the option (even though we had already had our wedding day cancelled already).
We was told that foxtail barns had been put on hold due to the pandemic, therefore was not taking bookings, which we have since found out that weddings will be taking place there from July 2021. We spoke to management and finally got a cancellation list (after asking multiple times and being told that there wasn’t one). We received a call with an offer of a cancellation date of 10th of June 2021, which as I’m sure most people would have, we decided to rebook our wedding to this date (it was either this or another year waiting).
With government restrictions still in place on our new date (limit of 30 guests) this was something that was simply not an option as our original number of guests was 120 people. With this is mind, we instructed a solicitor to act on our behalf to recoup our money, as we knew we would get the same answer as the previous year of “no” to a refund.
On the 10th of February 2021, our solicitor sent a letter asking for a refund as the service we booked originally could not be provided. We sent two letters, one to the venue and one to head office. On the 26th of February 2021 we received a call from the venue asking which date we would like to postpone to. We had two options, November or a date in December this year. Both of which were winter weddings, which we did not want. At this point we spoke to the employee about the two letters that our solicitor had sent to them, to which they responded “we have not received any letter regarding your wedding”. I find this hard to believe as two letters were sent to them. How could both possibly go missing? They wouldn’t have.
We are now over three months after first sending our letter requesting a full refund. The responses we have received from the venue have been slow to say the least. They have dragged their feet at every opportunity, with our money remaining in their bank account.
Our contract states that if the venue were to cancel for any reason, we would be entitled to a full refund. In our opinion, the contract is being broken as they cannot fulfil the number of guests we were contractually obliged to have. To date, we have paid a deposit of £2475. We have been offered a partial refund of £825. To say this is insulting would be an understatement. The venue is being extremely difficult about returning our money.
The venue has given reason for such a low offer of a refund. They state that they have incurred costs such as a tasting evening (at a cost of £30pp) which we are more than happy to cover which we have already been over with the caterers and came to this agreement. I would like to add that the caterers have been amazing. We received a majority refund from them within 48 hours of asking for it. This review is in no way a bad reflection on them, it just shows how difficult the Mill Barns have been.
Another reason the Mill Barns have given in which to keep most of our money is that they provided an online wedding planner, which is a piece of software you are expected to complete yourself. These two reasons are not in any way justifiable to keep most of our hard earned cash. The offer of £825 is an absolute disgrace.
Overall the owners and employees have completed tarnished our wedding day. This was supposed to be a magical day; instead we have to seek legal advice in order to get our money back. We feel completely let down with the poor service and dates offered. There is no personalisation from this venue. You feel like a number rather than a couple planning your special day.
If you are thinking about booking the Mill Barns, then please proceed with caution. All is not what it seems on first glance and you may well run into the same problems we have.
