I have been thinking about my blog a lot lately wanting to revive it and try and get regular at posting... this wasn't the type of post I was wanting to start back with but I feel it is an important experience to share for a few reasons.... 1) I think customers (of anywhere, of more than just this farm) need to be aware of their rights and their risks, 2) and I am hoping this helps other people not fall into the same situation.
It is April 4th today.
Back in March my husband called Deen City Farm to book an "Own a Pony Day" for our daughter instead of the usual birthday party. As her birthday would fall during the spring half term, we needed to do some coordinating with her 3 friends we wanted to invite in order to make sure all would be available to enjoy the day with our daughter.
That date was April 12th. It was the ONLY date all girls would be free at the same time.
We had a lot of great reasons for wanting to book this day at Deen City Farm rather than more specific riding school only places. We never anticipated any problems could arise.
When we read their website, we were aware of their no refunds policy. As a regular consumer, we thought that meant once booked we'd be unable to cancel, or if a child fell ill and was unable to come you'd not get your money back. That seemed fair enough at the time.
So, my husband phoned up in March to book our daughter, who would be turning 8, and her 3 friends for this special day. My husband had nothing other than the 12th in mind, no other day was possible. He felt he had a good conversation with the employee he booked with and was left with no doubts about the booking.
Unknown to us, this is when the mistake happened. It seems the employee said one thing on the phone about the date being the 12th... but accidentally wrote the party on the 2nd. It is a human mistake, and no one realizes a mistake until it is pointed out. So, I am not surprised at this point that the employee believes s/he remembers the situation from a month ago correctly concerning the date.
But... a good business would have had a catch net for this kind of mistake and THIS is where our grievance lies. According to Deen City Farm, they also sent us a confirmation email. They did have the right email address to send it to. I do not dispute that the address and I do not even dispute that they sent it as they said they did. What I DO dispute is that, as far as they are concerned, sending an email to someone is equal to them receiving the email. According to them this has been the process for years... unfortunately, in this instance it has gone wrong and we have been left with £140 missing from our pockets. We did not get/see/read and email. We were not aware that an email had been sent.
According to the farm... the problem lies with us... we should have queried the email and remedied the mistake... well, they don't admit to a mistake at all actually, it is me saying there was a mistake. The problem is... when you don't get/see/read an email, you aren't aware that there is anything to query.
So.... now fast forward to April 2.
I came home from shopping to find a message on my voice mail from the farm saying that none of the girls had shown up for their day and was everything alright. I phoned the lady back and said they hadn't showed up because we had booked the 12th and not the 2nd. And this is where the struggle and shock began.
The employee I got to speak to was powerless to do anything about the situation rather that quote was she knew about the process. I was unable to be put in contact with the manager that day. Being upset and frustrated that what the employee seemed to be saying to me was that I just lost £140 on a birthday for an 8 year old that no one attended seemed to have just happened... and that they were not going to rectify this and place them on the right day had me very stressed. According to the staff on the phone, 4 places still remained on the date we had originally booked... yet she was unable to give us those places.
Their work day ended at 4pm and I was left shocked at what happened... shocked that they were falling back on an email we didn't get/see/read.
I looked them up on facebook and they had a page there. I decided to post about what had happened and where they had left me. It was deleted, but I got a message from the manager asking me to send him details of what had happened, and I did.
I don't know if it is alright to share emails publicly or not so I will just have to summarize important details from the emails.
Basically, he took my information to the farm's trustee(s?) to see how they wanted to proceed. Their response back was they felt their staff member hadn't made a mistake and had followed their procedure and therefore they were unwilling to refund or rebook on the correct day at no charge.
They had the nerve to make an offer... they offered to rebook on the proper day for 50% off the usual booking price... that is £70 on top of what I already paid. That would make a day that was supposed to cost £140 for 4 8 year old girls cost £210.
Their argument is that they are a charity and need to manage their finances... and it seems that even means at the customers expense! They said they had to hire more staff to be on that day (the 2nd) to manage the children, that other children were turned away from booking that day because our girls were incorrectly given that spot. All these things, are not our fault, they are a result of the original mistake being badly managed and them not having a catch net process in plan.
But the farm doesn't care about the money their customer is out of pocket, they want more for us to still have the day.
Now... if this was another business, like a high street shop, this behavior would be unacceptable.... there would also be a better management plan in place to prevent these types of things from happening.
But, Deen City Farm seems to feel that they can fall back on the fact that they are also a charity and thus have no need to give us money back or rebook at no extra charge.
We believe the mistake was made by them, not us. That the email process should have been more detailed so it could catch problems like this.
I am left feeling like a farm that caters to children doesn't actually care about my 8 year old child, her birthday and her 3 friends.
So... we are left in a desperate situation. Unable to book something else, and having a child who is facing the loss of her dream party... my husband is leaning to pay the additional £70 to save the day for her.
I am sad and angry that Deen City Farm is exploiting their mistake with bad business practices at our expense.
---------------------------------
It is April 4th today.
Back in March my husband called Deen City Farm to book an "Own a Pony Day" for our daughter instead of the usual birthday party. As her birthday would fall during the spring half term, we needed to do some coordinating with her 3 friends we wanted to invite in order to make sure all would be available to enjoy the day with our daughter.
That date was April 12th. It was the ONLY date all girls would be free at the same time.
We had a lot of great reasons for wanting to book this day at Deen City Farm rather than more specific riding school only places. We never anticipated any problems could arise.
When we read their website, we were aware of their no refunds policy. As a regular consumer, we thought that meant once booked we'd be unable to cancel, or if a child fell ill and was unable to come you'd not get your money back. That seemed fair enough at the time.
So, my husband phoned up in March to book our daughter, who would be turning 8, and her 3 friends for this special day. My husband had nothing other than the 12th in mind, no other day was possible. He felt he had a good conversation with the employee he booked with and was left with no doubts about the booking.
Unknown to us, this is when the mistake happened. It seems the employee said one thing on the phone about the date being the 12th... but accidentally wrote the party on the 2nd. It is a human mistake, and no one realizes a mistake until it is pointed out. So, I am not surprised at this point that the employee believes s/he remembers the situation from a month ago correctly concerning the date.
But... a good business would have had a catch net for this kind of mistake and THIS is where our grievance lies. According to Deen City Farm, they also sent us a confirmation email. They did have the right email address to send it to. I do not dispute that the address and I do not even dispute that they sent it as they said they did. What I DO dispute is that, as far as they are concerned, sending an email to someone is equal to them receiving the email. According to them this has been the process for years... unfortunately, in this instance it has gone wrong and we have been left with £140 missing from our pockets. We did not get/see/read and email. We were not aware that an email had been sent.
According to the farm... the problem lies with us... we should have queried the email and remedied the mistake... well, they don't admit to a mistake at all actually, it is me saying there was a mistake. The problem is... when you don't get/see/read an email, you aren't aware that there is anything to query.
So.... now fast forward to April 2.
I came home from shopping to find a message on my voice mail from the farm saying that none of the girls had shown up for their day and was everything alright. I phoned the lady back and said they hadn't showed up because we had booked the 12th and not the 2nd. And this is where the struggle and shock began.
The employee I got to speak to was powerless to do anything about the situation rather that quote was she knew about the process. I was unable to be put in contact with the manager that day. Being upset and frustrated that what the employee seemed to be saying to me was that I just lost £140 on a birthday for an 8 year old that no one attended seemed to have just happened... and that they were not going to rectify this and place them on the right day had me very stressed. According to the staff on the phone, 4 places still remained on the date we had originally booked... yet she was unable to give us those places.
Their work day ended at 4pm and I was left shocked at what happened... shocked that they were falling back on an email we didn't get/see/read.
I looked them up on facebook and they had a page there. I decided to post about what had happened and where they had left me. It was deleted, but I got a message from the manager asking me to send him details of what had happened, and I did.
I don't know if it is alright to share emails publicly or not so I will just have to summarize important details from the emails.
Basically, he took my information to the farm's trustee(s?) to see how they wanted to proceed. Their response back was they felt their staff member hadn't made a mistake and had followed their procedure and therefore they were unwilling to refund or rebook on the correct day at no charge.
They had the nerve to make an offer... they offered to rebook on the proper day for 50% off the usual booking price... that is £70 on top of what I already paid. That would make a day that was supposed to cost £140 for 4 8 year old girls cost £210.
Their argument is that they are a charity and need to manage their finances... and it seems that even means at the customers expense! They said they had to hire more staff to be on that day (the 2nd) to manage the children, that other children were turned away from booking that day because our girls were incorrectly given that spot. All these things, are not our fault, they are a result of the original mistake being badly managed and them not having a catch net process in plan.
But the farm doesn't care about the money their customer is out of pocket, they want more for us to still have the day.
Now... if this was another business, like a high street shop, this behavior would be unacceptable.... there would also be a better management plan in place to prevent these types of things from happening.
But, Deen City Farm seems to feel that they can fall back on the fact that they are also a charity and thus have no need to give us money back or rebook at no extra charge.
We believe the mistake was made by them, not us. That the email process should have been more detailed so it could catch problems like this.
I am left feeling like a farm that caters to children doesn't actually care about my 8 year old child, her birthday and her 3 friends.
So... we are left in a desperate situation. Unable to book something else, and having a child who is facing the loss of her dream party... my husband is leaning to pay the additional £70 to save the day for her.
I am sad and angry that Deen City Farm is exploiting their mistake with bad business practices at our expense.
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