Our event coordinator, Lauren P. was very young and VERY inexperienced (she had only been doing event planning/coordinating for 3 months). Lauren was also EXTREMELY unprofessional and SEVERELY INCOMPETENT. She failed to fully explain the differences in the catering packages when we were making our meal selections. This resulted in our not getting what we thought we had paid for. There were no place settings or silverware at the tables. We were provided with only small, salad-sized plates for the buffet and our guests were not allowed to go through the buffet line a second time - even though they could not fit everything onto the ridiculously undersized plates during their fist trip through the buffet.
Lauren also GUARANTEED that we would NOT run out of food. There were approximately 20 less guests at our reception than what we RSVP'ed for...yet we STILL ran out of food! A couple of our guests arrived after everyone else had gone through the buffet, and were told by the serving staff that there wasn't any prime rib left for them. In addition to not having enough food, what food we did have was cold.
On the day of our reception, Lauren arrived at the facility 1-1/2 hours late. Nothing was set up and ready for us to decorate and none of the staff who were present knew anything about our event, so they could not help us. The staff tried calling and paging Lauren, but she never responded. When Lauren finally showed up, she informed us that (and I quote her), "You know, I have a life outside of my job!" Everyone who heard her (eight people) could not believe that she responded to an upset customer in such a disrespectful and inconsiderate manner. We were shocked! HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!
(continued...)
(continued...)
Lauren made changes to the table set-up the night before our event without consulting me. She reduced the number of tables that we were using by two tables. Her explanation for the change was that there was a large event planned for the next day and they needed the tables. Her attitude implied that our event was smaller, therefore it wasn't as important as the "large" event planned for the following day... so we could do without a couple of tables. HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!
Lauren told us that she would be in the lobby of the hotel when our reception started to direct our guests to the rooms where our reception was being held. She disappeared before it even began and was nowhere to be found the entire night. HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!
Allow me to say...My husband and I are NOT cheap people. We are both professionals who possess strong work ethics and morals. We simply believe that a consumer should get what they pay for. We took our complaints to the general manager, Cliff Weber. His reaction was rude and even hostile. He told us that he did not believe that Lauren acted unprofessionally or unreliably. He only discounted LESS THAN 5% of our total bill.
We feel that we did not receive what we paid for. We paid for a hot meal that fed ALL of our guests. We did not receive what we paid for. We paid to have the services of a professional, reliable event coordinator. We did not receive what we paid for. To top it all off, we were treated with disrespect and indifference.
The lack of professionalism and customer service at the Hitching Post Inn is nothing short of abhorrent. We strongly recommend that you DO NOT PLAN ANY EVENT AT THE HITCHING POST INN!
