CASE ID: 90165799
November 24, 2009
Contact Name and Title: Pennie Williams, Founder
Contact Phone: 512-394-0226
Contact Email: information@CHAPELDULCINEA.COM

Chapel Dulcinea is a free Wedding Chapel. It is not a profit center, it is a gift to the community. Our goal is to provide a beautiful place for people to get married – no strings attached.

Our first year we had a 40% no show rate so we started asking for $100 to reserve a wedding. Show up the day of the reservation and you get your $100. back. Our refund policy is very clearly stated on our website. You can't make a reservation until you've read and agreed to the terms.

Our bad weather policy is a free reschedule, not a refund. This policy was necessitated by brides calling as much as three weeks in advance saying they were canceling due to bad weather and asking for a refund.

That being said, Cynthia's claim that she was unable to have her wedding at our facility due to bad weather and extremely muddy conditions is false. It had rained the previous night so the ground was wet but the trail was very usable. We had another wedding scheduled two hours after hers and it was beautiful. A little overcast but the couple had no complaints whatsoever.

Even though we have over 600 weddings in our chapel every year, I remember Cynthia because she called just before her ceremony and asked us to direct her guests to a facility a few miles away. She had a small wedding (only 30 guests) so it wasn't a major crises even though some were irked that they didn't get a phone call. We checked and she booked the new venue the day before.

It's OK that Cynthia got nervous about the weather. It's even fine that she asked us to inform her guests they were at the wrong venue. The reason we've no record of a single email or phone call requesting a refund is because she already knew the answer.

Our policy is crystal clear. She agreed to our terms when she signed up for a reservation. Cynthia filed a complaint with BBB and boom – here I am defending our reputation.

I understand that BBB takes no position as to the validity of complaints. Otherwise, this case would have never been legitimized with a case number.

Pennie Williams