Bad after-service from Misty River Wedding Venue

I had my wedding at the venue on 27 January 2018. The attitude of the owners changed soon after the wedding when they had to pay me back my refund. First they told me that they had deducted money from the refund for table cloths that I hired from them, which was not true. they also stated that there were additional charges for using their water dispenser. On the day of the wedding their barman offered us the water dispenser and when we told him that we don't need it, he told us that it was free of charge and that's what they usually offer their clients on the day of the function. They further deducted money saying that I had slept over on the night of the wedding, which was of course false because I left the venue at 10pm that evening and went home. When I queried this they were all of a sudden not available to take my calls. I used my own petrol and drove back to the venue to try and resolve the issue with the owners. when I got there both owners gave us attitude. after waiting for a ridiculous amount of time, the one owner eventually attended to us. she then told me that my people did not bring table cloths and that's why she decided to provide them without my knowledge. she further told me that the water dispenser was requested by my deco guy which he also disputes. when I asked her about the issue of the room that she said I slept over in, she told me that she was told that I slept over, but would refund that money after I asked her how possible it was for me to sleep in a room where I never checked in nor received a key from her or her employees? Out of R2000 that she had to pay me back, I only received R500. She further claims that she made two payments of R500 each which is a lie because I only got one notification from her bank as well as mine that shows that only R500 was paid.

After the bad attitude that I received from her, she then said she'll pay me back the next day which never happened up to this day. every time I call her, she blatantly ignores my calls. When I send her WhatsApp messages she just looks at them and ignore. I have sent her countless emails to make follow up but she and her husband just never replies.

The issue here is really not about the money, but the work ethics of Imker and his wife Elzeth and the attitude that they give their customers. The employees were panicking after they were asked why they let me in and that raises a question on how they treat their employees as well. I told the owner that since they refuse to pay my money back without valid reason, I will take them to the small claims court if push comes to shove and I will use social media to expose them if I need. do you think they cared? of course not. To think that more than five people came to me after the wedding asking for a referral and here I was thinking of giving them the go ahead. Of course all of that has changed. People will know what kind of venue they'll have to deal with should they decided to go ahead.

The sad part is that we black people continue to support these white businesses regardless of how they treat us. Lesson learned, never again!!!

Disgusted and very disappointed,

Khethi Johannesburg