WARNING: Mandatory 15% Fee

If you’re thinking about booking a group event here, please take this as a warning. My group went for a hat-making birthday activity, and while we enjoyed the creativity, the financial shock afterward completely ruined the good feelings. I felt compelled to leave a review and contact customer service immediately because I believe this policy warrants review, as it may negatively impact future group bookings. Specifically, the mandatory nature of the 15% charge for a group booking, particularly considering the perceived disparity between the cost of materials and the final price, felt excessive and somewhat exploitative. Furthermore, I left a $75 deposit in advance for my spot, but my receipt shows a $55 deposit. The lack of transparency around pricing and the error on the deposit made me feel completely taken advantage of, which is why I need this resolved.
Customer: I’m calling about a major discrepancy on my bill following our group hat-making event. I paid a $75 deposit to secure my reservation, but the final receipt only shows a $55 deposit was applied. That's a $20 error that needs to be fixed.
CS Rep: I am so sorry that there was an error in applying your deposit, and I appreciate you bringing this to our attention. I can certainly look into that right away. What is the date of your visit and the name the reservation was booked under?
Customer: It was on [Date of visit], under [Name]. And while you have my transaction pulled up, I also have serious concerns about the mandatory 15% gratuity. Adding $42 onto my final price for a group felt excessive and was not transparently communicated upfront.
CS Rep: I completely understand your frustration regarding the mandatory gratuity for groups. If you liked this write-up and you would like to get a lot more data with regards to www.oeppeo.com kindly check out our web-site. While that policy is in place for our customization services, we regret that the feeling was exploitative. We can certainly correct the $20 deposit error immediately, and I will escalate your feedback to our management team regarding the mandatory service fee policy for clarity moving forward.
Customer: I need more than just an apology for the gratuity; $42 is a significant charge when the service was already covered by the high material cost. What action can you take beyond fixing the deposit error to address this overall lack of transparency?
CS Rep: Let me process a refund for the $20 deposit error right now. In addition, based on your experience, I will generate a $20 service credit that will be refunded to your card to acknowledge the distress caused by the non-transparent gratuity application.
The reason I left this review on the website is to hopefully prevent others from falling into the same trap.