So I called Dang to inform her why the set up was wrong. She got surprised, she was not aware of it. She spoke to the chef if they can still move everything to the other side. She said they might run out of time. I told them the reception will commence at 530p.m and the current hall will be used for photobooth session in an hour. Following the argument, the master chef agreed, so I thought everything would be okay.
A few minutes later, the one I feared earlier happened, heavy rain occurred. Some of my guests arrived early and some of them were running late.
At 2:45p.m, my wedding choir was not yet at the premise. I decided to call their leader, she was stuck in heavy traffic and she thought the wedding would start at 3:30p.m. One of my groomsmen wasn't able to make it as well. Good thing we were able to find one who can replace him.
The mass started.
I walked along the aisle without my choir. None of the songs we chose was played. I realized as well that the flower decorations we paid for were not set up and several flowers were missing too.
My lovely bride walked with her parents. She was stunning and beautiful. She quickly noticed that I was completely pre-occupied. The Priest also told me to relax. The wedding mass went on. I kissed the bride and posed for the cameras. I was happy for a moment.
The wedding mass was too short.
My coordinator grabbed my attention and told me that it's time for the photo booth session but the support for the photo booth were running late too. My coordinator also told me that the tables were not set up as it should at the dining hall. The food were not ready yet! God, almost two hours from the time we arrived at the place and still our caterer failed to prepare what were needed at the dining area. The waiters were not properly dressed either.
There should have been a presidential table for parents, ninong and ninang. But there was none. Instead, regular tables were set up which were good for ten people each. The sad thing about this incident, Balanlay catering services hosted an event in this place before. So they should have an idea already that the presidential table will not fit in the place. And why they did not inform us early?
Having all kinds of trouble, I told my coordinator to leave it that way since everyone were running late. During the wedding program I was still pre-occupied. I was not able to eat. I simply could not understand what was going on!
I grabbed my wife, went to the buffet area, and checked the food servings. I noticed two menus were MISSING. I called Dang and told her why there were missing food. Dang was surprised, again.! She said she will coordinate with her boss. Now to avoid further frustrations, I went back and focused on our wedding program.
After a couple of minutes, my phone rang. It was Dang, she said the two (2) menus were not served because it were not even cooked at all!!! Her boss, who happened to be the owner and who cooked the food too, failed to work it out!
Dang offered to cook the remaining food and have it delivered. I interrupted her and said, I was on the middle of the wedding program, and that I should not be discussing too much things on the phone. We continued the wedding program and I thought the nightmare was over but it was not!!!
The sister of my wife informed us that the dessert, buko pandan, was full of molds. Most of our guest noticed it too and some accidentally ate it. My sister-in-law, took every dessert on the table and informed the chef about it. I called Dang again for the nth time and informed her about the worst service I ever encountered in my whole life!
She was embarrassed. She said there will be a refund for the food that were not cooked and for the spoiled dessert, she was sorry and that was it! She then asked me to proceed to their office to talk about it. I didn't bother to ruin the remaining hours of our wedding so I didn't go to their office.
At last the wedding program was over.
I remained quite. I thought everything will be perfect. So, me and my wife went straight to the hotel and enjoyed the rest of the night. The next day, after breakfast I called Dang and asked her to explain why the reception didn't go well. She was professional enough to say sorry, but sorry won't correct the big mistake they did on my wedding. I decided to cancel our plans/honeymoon that day. We visited our ninong, ninang and friends to apologize to them.
Most of them were surprised when they saw us. They said we should be spending our honeymoon together. I told them that we have to cancel it to apologize to them and to other guests for all the troubles.
Next thing I did was to ask their feedback about the caterer. Almost all of them said it was hell! They even asked me why we chose to get Balanlay Catering Services. ALL OF THE BLAME WAS ON ME! I was completely EMBARRASSED!
I went to Balanlay's office and spoke to Dang. All I got was sorry. I met the owner but I did not hear any apology from him. We exchanged words about what happened. I gave my feedback to the master chef and the waiters, Dang acknowledged it. She was sorry for the menus that were not cooked and again, sorry for the spoiled dessert. Dang explained that most likely it was not placed in the fridge. (Nice! why they didn't do it?!!)
Balanlay on-call waiters (not permanent employees)
We found out that the waiters of Balanlay catering services are not really permanent employees. These are just on-call waiters, who lend their services when Balanlay will have clients to serve.
Now, honestly I went into their office looking for a better settlement. However, all I got was a refund equivalent to the amount of the food that were not cooked and the price of the spoiled dessert. WTF! That was it?
I mean for all the troubles Balanlay has caused me, the only thing I would get is a refund of those food? Come on! So is this how Balanlay deals with a dissatisfied costumer?
I was really surprised how they handled the case. This blog post is not meant to destroy the reputation of Balanlay but I just want to share my own experience with the poor customer service I got from them. Dang, you are aware of this. I hope your boss will change for the better.
Contributor: Paul
