Woman's Club Building

Back on April 22nd I viewed the Denton Woman's Club building and loved it. I thought it would be perfect for my wedding on November 1st. Since I'm a disabled veteran, Susan offered a 50% discount to rent the facility (I did not ask for this, I was actually happy to pay the $300). I was so relieved I almost cried. I signed the contract and gave her a check for the deposit that day. A few weeks ago my bride’s maids asked if they could view the building to give me ideas on how to decorate. I kept calling Susan but couldn't lock a date in. When I did reach her, she said that she did not have her calendar with her and would call me back as soon as she could (never did receive a call in return). On Saturday July 19th I reached her again. She said August 3rd would probably work but she'd have to check her calendar and she wasn't home. Yesterday July 23rd I still had not received a call back and called her again. I did finally reach her but again she didn't have her calendar with. Then she had this to say: "Oh.... My.... I've been dreading this call for a while. You know, I've been doing this for 9 years and never have done this before but we accidently double booked on the day of your wedding. The Friday before, the Sunday after or the Saturday the following week are available. Which one works for you?" I was stunned. My wedding is November 1st, so it’s only 3 months away. I was trying to explain to her all the moving parts I have going on and that I couldn't just pick a date. People have purchased plane tickets and I didn't know their travel days. I was explaining that to her when she suddenly started screaming at me. She called me unreasonable and uncompromising but I don't believe ever apologized for the mistake nor even offered to compensate me for this major error. She claims the other couple scheduled before me and that it’s an all-day affair and that they are paying “x” while I'm only paying “x.” I don't genuinely know when they contracted. I know her calendar was blank when she wrote me in on April 22nd though. I can't tell you how many times I asked Susan to calm down and when she finally did I was able to tell her that I couldn't just change the date and needed to make some phone calls first. One of the rude expressions she said was "You work at XXXXX! I'll just give you your deposit back and you can figure it out with them! You signed the contract so I have the right to do that."

So not only was she completely rude and disrespectful to a disabled veteran, but she didn’t even have the courtesy to tell me of the error immediately when she found it. The phone numbers on their website http://dentonwomansclub.org/ all go to Susan so it took me several hours to find their current president and her information. She did call me back. At first things sounded promising. She spoke with Susan and her attitude changed. As of right now, the Woman’s Club is offering me zero compensation for the trouble this has caused, they have not stated to me what they plan on doing about Susan’s behavior and incompetence, and they have not stated whether or not they will honor the 50% discount Susan extended (come to find out she did not have the authority to do that). I also spoke with the former president and she did not have pleasant things to say about Susan. According to her, the only reason Susan is still doing this is because her mother is on the board.

I was going to report the Denton Woman’s Club to the Better Business Bureau but unfortunately the BBB does not handle non-profit organizations.

Moral of the story: Don’t use the Denton Woman’s Club facility. With only three months out from my wedding I have to either reschedule or shell out a ton more money that we had not budgeted for to rent a new facility. If Susan is still running the books, don’t bother. The savings isn’t worth the hassle I’m going through now.