Dear Do-It Man: We were married at the Silver Bell Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas on June 30. The chapel offered several packages including package #III, which included a witness, wedding music, ceremony in decorated chapel, audio cassette, marriage scroll, 12 3x5 still photos, one 8x10 still photo, hand bouquet (fresh or silk), boutonniere, video recording, and limousine ride for one hour.
The regular price of the package was $185 but the chapel was offering a $35 discount in celebration of its 33rd anniversary.We took package III for $160, which according to our literature included the limousine. But in Las Vegas we were told it did not include the limousine.
We have several complaints.
- Instead of taking one hour, the limousine drove us all over Las Vegas, taking 11/2 hours. We paid the limousine $36. That means we paid a total of $196 - $160 for the wedding plus $36 for the limousine.
- The limousine was black, not white.
- The audio cassette of the ceremony included only the voice of the man who performed the wedding.
- The video tape of our wedding is blank.
- Our legs are cut off in all of the still photos.
L.E., Sandy. Dear L.E.: The Silver Bell Wedding Chapel said it will give you extra photos or a refund to compensate you for the bad video. However, you must return the video "so we can see if it is really bad. We have had people take a video and copy it to another tape and then ask for a refund."
The chapel's response to us said nothing about your limousine complaint.
However, the owners did say they felt you owed them money. They say you received a $35 discount off the $185 price of package III, bringing the price of the package down to $160. (According to Do-It Man math, $185 less $35 is $150. Perhaps the difference has something to do with tax. Perhaps it doesn't.)
They say a new employee subtracted the $35 discount from the $160, meaning you received the discount twice. (If that's the case, the mistake is the chapel's problem, not your's.)
The chapel charged you $12 extra for the additional 1/2-hour limo ride. So, according to the chapel's method of accounting, you paid a total of $137 for the deal ($160 less $35 plus $12 for the extra limo).
Except for the $12, it looks to us like the deal was a virtual wash. You paid the limo $36, the chapel undercharged you by $35. If the limousine company collected money from you as well as from the chapel, then it is the party that came out ahead.