I paid £250 for my daughter’s 10th birthday party but was utterly ripped off – the party food was measly & embarrassing
A MUM has publicly shamed a party planner after claiming they splashed £250 on her daughter’s 10th birthday – only to get six ’embarrassing’ plates of nibbles to share between 28 children.
Ashley Black, from Falkirk, Scotland, claims that she quizzed the event planner twice and was assured that there would ‘definitely’ be enough food for her daughter’s 28 friends for the party last month.
But a depressing photo shows a table with only six ‘laughable’ plates on it, containing a few cocktail sausages, mini sausage rolls, sandwiches, scotch eggs and crisps – which the mum claims left her ‘disgusted’.
Ashley says her husband Stuart was forced to rush to the local shop where he spent £45 on crisps, hotdogs and pizzas so the children didn’t go hungry from the ‘ridiculous’ spread.
Making matters worse, Ashley says the event planner named ‘Steph’ then went on to complain multiple times that she felt ‘tired’ from a kids’ party that she’d already attended earlier that day.
However upon complaining, the mum claims the woman refused to give her a refund as she bemoaned that the children were ‘badly behaved’ – and said she would only contribute towards the cost of the extra food.
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After being reportedly blocked by the company, Ashley went on to leave a scathing review of the event on Facebook along with a photo of the food she claims was provided for dozens of children – leaving social media users in shock.
The event planner has since taken to Facebook to defend herself, admitting that she isn’t perfect and is still learning but that she knew ‘in her heart she does a good job’.
The party planner went on to claim a ‘disgruntled person has created a vendetta’ against the business and describe how they’ve been bombarded with ‘100s of comments, messages, and phone calls’ since Ashley’s post.
Social media users branded the food on display a ‘total disgrace’ and joked that ‘even Jesus couldn’t split it between 28 children’.
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Ashley wrote: “I have unfortunately been put into this situation where I feel I must write this review to alert others to the disgusting, disrespectful and childish behaviour and customer service provided by this ‘business’.
“I booked [the event planner] for my daughter’s 10th birthday party in June.
“I spoke to Steph from the first contact. I was told by Steph, many times what I would receive for the £250 I was paying her.
“I was offered the choice of two packages, a neon party or a karaoke party. I chose the neon.
“I was given a list of what was provided with this package. I paid Steph a £50 deposit followed by the remaining balance 1 week before the party date.
“The party day came and Steph arrived 10 mins before the party started, to set up.
“My daughter’s guests were arriving at the start time and Steph was still messing about with lighting and music. Not ideal!
“It was then that she also informed me that the sequin wall I was paying for was broken so she had replaced it with a £35 cheaper piece of material with writing on it instead.
“Steph had told me that she would provide all of the food for my daughters 28 guests, this was included in the price.
“I had asked her two times if there would definitely be enough food for 28 children, to which she replied there definitely would be. There certainly was not!”
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Ashley was left fuming at the amount of food provided and ended up going to Tesco to buy more food for the children.
She continued: “After seeing the morsel of food, my husband and I realised we would have to go out and get more!
“My husband spent £45 at Tesco buying pizza, hotdogs, crisps etc to feed our party guests! This of course meant he missed a large part of his daughter’s party!
“There were also things missing, which I was told would be included. When I asked Steph about these things at the end of the party, she told me they were in her car.
“Steph complained twice that she was very tired from entertaining at a party before my daughters and also mentioned that she may even need to pass the entertainment over to the young girl she brought with her.
“At the end of the party Steph approached me and asked if I was happy with everything. I replied that I have a few things I was unhappy with and asked if I could speak with her about them.
“I raised my complaints (the food, time she had arrived, complaining of being tired) Steph got upset and said she would speak with me the next day.
“She didn’t contact me, so I then contacted her. (That’s poor customer service) from here Steph went on to act like a victim, she accused me of being threatening, and shouting at her, nackening her into a corner (I was in fact standing in the corner of the room when she approached me) and frightening her.
“This of course was completely untrue, the parents who were collecting their children can confirm that.”
Ashley explained that the party planner insisted that the children behaved badly and so would not give a refund on her service.
Ashley continued: “Steph also later told me that my party guests were badly behaved.
“I asked Steph for a refund. I wanted the money back that we had to pay out of our pocket to provide food, I wanted the money back for the items she didn’t provide and I wanted the different for the piece of material she provided instead of the sequins wall.
“Steph refused and instead offered to give us back half of the money spent at Tesco. I have contacted a lawyer who has passed this case onto consumer rights.
“After a further message to Steph as advised by my lawyer, Steph has blocked me. How very mature and again, great customer service!
“So now the next steps have been put into action.
“This woman cannot be trusted. Her customer service is disgusting to say the least. This is a very simple problem which could easily have been resolved.
“She lied about what I was paying for and did not provide what was promised. I would save my money and book someone who knows how business works.”
The event planner claims in a Facebook post to have contacted a ‘lawyer’ as well and she hopes ‘this all blows over’ and previous customers rushed to support the company.
One said: “Concentrate on all the good you do, the happy faces you see through all your hard work and the appreciation of your work from all us customers who love what you do.
“Keep yourself right with the lawyer. Any threatening messages, report to the police.
“You’re building an amazing little business. You can’t please everyone. No one can. Unfortunately, there are some really horrible people out there and karma will catch up with them soon enough.”
The party planner wrote: “I am well aware of a lady posting on every Facebook page and group that she can to tarnish and slander me and my business.
“As she was the one who initially said she was going to contact lawyers I also did. Mine advised me to not to have any contact with her so that her lawyer and mine would communicate with each other.
“I left it at that and thought nothing else was going to happen. Then this afternoon I had had literally 100s of comments, messages and phone calls regarding the post.
“I am not going to go into my side, her side, the truth or whatever was in between. If I say one thing it’s going to argued with and if I say another thing it’s going to go against me.
“All I want to say on the matter is I will not let one customer out of all the customers I have had ruin what I have worked hard to create for kids and adults with their parties and special occasions.
“I know in my heart that I do a good job and all I care about is the kids being happy with their birthday. It has been one disgruntled person who has now created a vendetta against me and my business.
“I can definitely put my hands up and agree that I’m not perfect and some jobs could definitely have been better but every day I’m learning like every other human being is.
“I have been silent since this afternoon as I needed to gain more advice from my lawyer and I’m seeking more advice on where to go further.”
The party planner was left devastated when many other customers began to attack her business.
She added: “I have also noticed other customers have said that they have received bad service from me but it’s like others have joined the bandwagon as this is the first I have heard about it.
“I can assure future bookings as you can see from previous reviews, pictures and videos that I do provide a really great, enjoyable service.
“For those who have commented or messaged me really disgusting, threatening messages…shame on you.
“You have never met me or had any service from me before. You have no right. I hope this all blows over soon.
“It is honestly amazing how one person can feel that they can ruin someone’s livelihood and create such terrible, disheartening circumstances.”
Hundreds of social media users were quick to voice their ‘disgust’ at the photos of the food provided.
One commenter wrote: “My son Mason would eat that on his own. Total disgrace to put that out for 28 kids. Only my opinion though. To take a child’s birthday and ruin it this way is beyond me! Happy birthday to your wee girl!’.
Another said: “Looks like she spent about £6 on food and that includes the plates’.
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A third wrote: “Not even Jesus himself could split that between 28 people.”
The event planner was contacted for comment but failed to respond.
