Mona L.
Yelp
0/5 stars. As much as I would have liked to leave a positive review about The Bentwood Inn, which should have been our wedding venue in September 2020, it is due to unfortunate circumstances and poor customer service, that I leave this review. Especially for for couples who are looking at The Bentwood inn as a possible wedding venue, please continue reading.
My fiance and I initially expressed interest in having our wedding at The Bentwood Inn back in December 2019 when Aiden and Allora were the innkeepers. Due to their exceptional customer service and the charm of the inn, we agreed to pricing for rooms and dates for September 2020 - we also made a considerable down payment at this time to lock down the dates, followed by another down payment a couple months later. In March 2020, I drove 4+ hours to the Bentwood to sign what I assumed to be a contract (trust me, I would not have driven that 4+ hours towards the end of winter if I was told I would be signing something other than a contract). Then COVID-19 hit and we had to make several difficult decisions, eventually leading to postponing our wedding to September 2021. During this time, a "new contract" was e-mailed to us to be signed, which now included increased costs for rooms, an increased group fee, a fee of an additional $3500 due to having more than 50 people (which we initially told staff was going to be between 55-65 people and this additional fee was not discussed at this time), an extra $750 for a portable bathroom (which also was not discussed previously), and other financial details that felt honestly like nickle and diming a hard working couple that just wanted to get married in Jackson Hole.
After speaking with the owner, Keith, to discuss this new contract that we never signed and ask the business to uphold the contract that I signed in March 2020, he refused. We also requested that the Bentwood send us all copies of signed documents, which they never sent. Furthermore, they continue to deny that a contract was signed even though we had already made two separate down payments, received receipts for what we paid for, and I signed a document (the contract) in March 2020. Keith later informed us that several staff members at the Bentwood resigned or left due to personal issues, COVID-19, etc. This explains why my fiance and I have spoken to five different people now in the planning of our wedding, and this disorganization within the business has unfortunately led to us losing out on our wedding venue. As a result of The Bentwood Inn's decision to not honor the contract, we are now in the process of having to cancel services from other vendors, which we have now lost thousands of dollars in deposits. To add to this nightmare, we are now struggling to find a new venue for our wedding next year, which as been difficult given the number of weddings already scheduled for 2021.
This is all to say, we are VERY disappointed in how The Bentwood Inn has handled our business. It is even more disappointing to know that this business does not honor what was previously agreed upon when signing an initial contract. During a time in which COVID-19 significantly affected small businesses, we agreed to let The Bentwood Inn keep our $3600 down payment as a place holder (rather than taking our business elsewhere) given they said they needed the money to survive as a small business and assuming we would continue to remain customers for our wedding in September 2021. To then turn around and increase the cost of our wedding and void a previous contract that was signed is unacceptable and terrible business practice. To prey on the vulnerability of couples who want nothing else than to celebrate their marriage with loved ones is not a business that has or ever will have my support.
