Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

Hello there everyone,

The venue that we've got a wedding booked for is trying to charge all vendors of the bride we're shooting for a "policy acknowledgement fee" of $100 per vendor. I have never heard of any fee like this, and it makes me pretty upset that the venue would try to do this. The venue even goes as far as to only allow brides to book vendors off of an "approved list", and the only reason she was allowed to use us was because the bride complained that there were no good videographers on the list.

I don't want to pay this fee based on principle alone - I couldn't care less about the money. Not only that, but the owner of the place that we've been dealing with has been extremely rude with us for absolutely no reason. It's come to the point where we have decided that we won't be accepting any future weddings there.

Any opinions? Has anyone else ever had a venue try to charge them a fee?

Thanks!

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

I'm assuming you mean couldn't care less?

Perhaps the approved vendor list is giving him back handers (commission) and he wants some way of recovering this from you.

However, my question are.... what happens if you don't pay it? He just doesn't acknowledge something that you sent? Do you care if he acknowledges it? Does the Bride? Will he turn you away on the day and deliberately upset the bride? Have you mentioned it to the Bride?

Either way, we've never paid commission to a venue and never will. You have the power to make them look great or to record things that aren't so great. OTOH, they can also make life miserable on the day, lighting, sound systems etc.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

I'd contact your state's attorney's office and talk to them about it. It's possible this is against the law.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

Don't know what your contract states but all extra costs the day of the wedding, like for parking are for my client to pay, if a venue would charge me to allow to shoot that would also be for the couple to pay, no way I would pay them.
Guess how long they will be in business with an attitude like that...

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

sounds completely bogus. Do you have contact with the other vendors?

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

There is a very popular venue here in Houston that tried to charge me 10% of the price I charged the bride for her video. She said "We do that for all of the videographers". So, I said " That means, if I charge the bride $3k, you get $300 out of my pocket and if another videographer comes along and shoots at this venue for only $1500, he only has to pay $150 for occupying this facility for roughly the same amount of time I did. (Most of the weddings at this venue are on a strict schedule, so no matter how much the bride spends on her wedding at this place, they all usually end at the same time of night). I let the venue coordinator know I wasn't going along with that scam and since then, I have only shot one wedding there. Prior to that "conversation" and so called "new" policy, I had shot at least a dozen or so weddings there. It appears as though they are screening the bride for her choice of videographers and then making recommendations as to who she should pick...You know, the ones that will cough up the cash to shoot there.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

That is a crock full of it. The bride chooses her vendors. The Limos, florists, photogs, videogs, music, etc. The venue is really a glorified restaurant with fancy dressed waiters. They are in business to provide food and that is as far as their jurisdiction goes. I never heard of that ridiculous, absurd, pile of rhino dung anywhere. Let them try that stunt on me or my client.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

But Arthur, how do you Really feel?

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

The "preferred" vendors list at many venues has been around for a long time and I do recall 1 banquet venue trying to charge if a vendor wasn't on the list and they had a job there. First it got splashed in the newspaper (remember those) then they were sued by a vendor that wasn't going to pay (didn't go anywhere but it did cost the venue some money to fight the suit) at some point it got on the wedding websites and brides all over were mouthing off about it then the venue went out of business. Gee, I wonder why.
UNLESS they have it in writing that no other vendor can work there unless they pay, it's extortion which the last I heard is illegal in all 50 states. Go in, work, if they say anything, have him show you in writing where you have to pay to work. I bet he can't. IMO, it's just a way for the venue owner to pick up a quick hundred bucks.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

This has long been a problem in photography especially in the States. It is widespread. Sometimes it can be quite subtle in the way the wedding co-ordinator brings pressure on the couple by implying that experience of working at their particular venue is vital or that booking someone outside of their approved list is taking a huge risk. Or it may be more direct like charging the client more to use "outside" vendors. Unfortunately sometimes these fees are expected in cash direct from the vendor to the co-ordinator :- (

Many UK DJs find themselves having to pay fees as the practice has taken a hold.

Of course the clients are lead to believe that recommended vendors are on the list because they are the best whereas the reality is that they are the mugs who pay the fees.

Sometimes venues require you to place an expensive ad in some useless wedding guide in order to be in with a shout. Thats how indirectly they get their money. We used to get plagued by these sales people but it seems to have largely died off now. Some of these guides never even get published.

Sometimes it can be justified that the vendors allowed onsite be controlled from an approved list. Caterers might be one.

Try making contact with local groups of photographers - there are bound to be several in the Dallas area. Some groups have successfully campaigned against venues and the charging policy has been dropped.

I'm pretty sure Cliff Mautner was at the vanguard of one such successful campaign. He is not in your area but he is very helpful and approachable and may be able to offer some advice.

http://www.cmphotography.com/

Pete

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

Sounds like a "venue" that wants to milk every "cow" that passes through... probably don't appreciate that you are a BULL, and don't like being "milked"...

"Policy acknowledgement fee" sounds like something someone made up as an excuse to play games and squeeze money out of anyone who is silly enough to get sucked into it.

I've seen more than a few ridiculous attempts to impose highly questionable "terms and conditions" on others, sometimes you just have to laugh, knowing these things come back around...

I wouldn't be surprised if this was some way to attempt to weasel around contracts with EXISTING vendors, who probably already got "milked" and wouldn't be too happy about an "exception"... Giving a vendor an "exclusive" in exchange for a fee is one I've seen a few times, and of course when there's such a marginal ethical position to start from, it shouldn't be a surprise when there's some other "trick" when it means lost business. Pity the people doing "business" (or is that being "given the business"?) at a venue like this...

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

Like Noa, if the bride insists on using a venue that milks suppliers then it's the bride who needs to cough up the money if she is stupid enough to use the venue.

I wonder if the bride knew about this arrangement when she booked the venue. To be honest I have never heard of any venue ever doing this and I would certainly not give them a penny!! You will probably find their "approved" list of vendors insist on this so they get the work rather than an outsider.

Chris

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

I would inform the bride about the fee, let her know she needs to deal with the venue. This "fee" is of no concern of yours.

I promise you when you remind her that her deposit is non-refundable it will work out perfectly.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

I know of a high end venue that asks 30% of your rate only for mentioning your name to a couple, that's ofcourse only applicable if you make an agreement with that venue, I only found those large percentages (20% is often asked in general) a rip off as well. I mean, they only have to mention your name and tell teh couple how great you are and if you get booked they put hundreds of dollar in their pocket, that's a very easy way to earn extra cash.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

If i ran into such a venue, i would kindly let them know that they will need to speak to their clients about it, namely the bride and groom. Since i am not their client, and the bride and groom hired both myself and the venue separately, if there are any additional fees involved with the venue, than they're speaking to the wrong person about it.

If they pushed the matter, i would CC them and the bride in the same message to the tune of: Hi X! hope you're getting excited for your big day! The venue reached out to me about some additional fees that they require for you to have a videographer present on your big day, I'm not sure if you were aware of such fees but please get in touch with mr X who is CCed here, as any venue related fees i'm sorry to say are not inclusive of our contract.


I ate at a restaurant on the beach once, and when we got the bill, there was some extra "10% service charge"
I asked what it was and the waitress said it was for the location of the restaurant being on the boardwalk. I asked for clarification about whether she, the server would get any of this service fee, and she said no, it was separate from gratuity and just goes to the owners. I paid, and then looked high and low for any sign whatsoever that would give fair warning about such an extra fee, none to be found. Guess where i'm not going again?

There are sh*tty people in the world, not much more to it than that

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

There was, perhaps still is, a venue here in New Jersey ( not mentioning name), that I worked in perhaps 10-15 events a year ( video) that slowly put in their own band and DJ services in motion. The equipment was always left there along with the 2 big plasma screens and light show projectors. The venue always recommended the bride have their music by them and kind of gave them a "discount" if they also included their video department as well, the venue eventually got a video "in house "team with editing under one roof to have a "complete" package. The bride had to have their band, video, dj services and was told not to hire anyone else or they would not be allowed to work there. I already had booked several events that year and the manager came up to me and told me that after I would be done with my contracts,that I was not to book any bride that had her venue there. Later on the following year a few brides wanted my services and I told them the problem if they booked that venue. Some went ahead and fell for that ploy BUT some just changed their minds altogether about having their reception there. I never worked there again since ( 13 years ago) and any referral by me for ANY bride contemplating booking that place would be met with a negative feedback. Yes, there are brides that ask me about venue integrity. Also there is a florist here that is kind of a pain in the posterior who gives free video or photo coverage if the bride chooses her services. The video done by her staff is horrendous and so are the photos.
On one occasion I was cancelled doing video for a client that booked her florals. I later found out by the bride's sister whom I did her video last year, that even if she lost the $700 booking deposit by cancelling the video, she would be saving the balance. Well, yes, at the expense of a crap video coverage.
Perhaps we should be charging fees if anyone gets in the way of the camera, especially the waiters and maitre D's. After all editing them out takes time and effort. How about $18 for every time they show up in the camera ? Better still, let's make it an even $20.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

Pay a "Policy Acknowledgement Fee"? I'm with you, that really, really sucks.

There are several things that upset me about such a practice:

Un-level playing field: What about the guests? Are they paying a fee too? What's the difference? If the facility asked all the guests who use a camera or smart phone to pay a fee their name would be toast.

Don Bloom used the word "extortion" - hey, that's what it is. In the days of records there was a term called "payola".

What Chris said is right on!:
This makes me wonder about how management handles the "income". Is the venue a chain or a stand-alone facility? If it is a chain, do the other facilities charge too? If not, maybe the local management sees this as a profit center the rest of corporation doesn't have to know about. It's be interesting to see what the home office has to say.

Cash kickback? I'll bet higher management doesn't know about that!!! That's under the table money.

"fees" like this need to be addressed in everybody's contract.

Wedding Coordinator: If the coordinator knew about this they should have said something during the budget process. If it wasn't discussed then I wonder how much of a kickback the coordinator gets?

It would be interesting to find out what other local wedding coordinators have to say about "fees" charged by this facility or any other facilities in your area. Not sure I'd contact other venues - don't need to give them any ideas.

Unfortunately, kickbacks, extortion, payola, and, ahem, "fees", are a way of life with some business deals but if the word gets out who is doing it then that can hurt the reputation of both parties. You know the venue is involved and with the list of "approved" vendors you can then know who is playing the game.

Good luck in negotiating the path to take and it's good to hear that someone has some decent principles. I feel sorry for the bride who is probably pretty far down her path only to learn about this fiasco. And the venue probably has her locked in as it's too late to change. What a mess.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

It just occurred to me that this isn't a uncommon as I first thought. The oldest cartel in the world does it all the time... The church.

I would say 95% of our clients who have a church wedding end up paying an additional 'fee' to the church once they mention it's being filmed. Often this is some extra fee to the organist who demands more when it's being filmed (despite him being totally unable to play in key and without hitting a bum note). It's not to cover licences as we cover that and it certainly doesn't cost £150.

We've had a couple of churches see us on the day, a little surprised they weren't told before hand and actually try and get the money from us. Which is met with a firm 'no!' From me and I present a copy of our MCPS.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

Hi Danny

Very true. You can hire an outside venue here for either free or a tiny fee and get a celebrant for between $200 - $400 so your total costs are usually under $500 (not GBP but Auz$ BTW)

I did a wedding last month in an Anglican Church and the bride happened to send me a running sheet from the priest detailing the order and also costs. The basic wedding (bare bones) was an admin fee for $1095.00 ... then the organist (he also played lots on bum notes too) was another $300 and if they wanted the bells rung (they were only 4 tiny ones) that was another $285 ...What actually amused me was the bell ringers (I chatted to them before the ceremony) do this for free as they love bell ringing so it's all a nice profit for the Church!! This was quite a small suburban one too so I'd hate to know what our Cof E Cathedral would charge a bride!!!

Chris

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

Not sure if its in place yet but there trying to standardise fees for churches as they can vary. Some do bells for free, some have charged our couples £500!!!!!

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

The practice you describe is sort of common here with the high end venues. In fact, they charge $1000 for vendors not on their recommended list! What we do is simply charge it back to the bride, she knows ahead of time what the venue is doing.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

I sent a question to the "wedding lawyer' about whether this is even legal. I always suspect that this kind of thing is entirely the venue manager lining their own pockets.

I would, if asked for this or any vendor fee from a venue:
1) call my state's attorney's office to find out if this practice is acceptable
2) contact the venue upper management to find out if they even know about the "fee," and to let them know how repugnant you find the practice (an executive email carpet bomb).
3) post about the issue publicly, like Yelp or other review sites, and notify the bride of your issue (not for reimbursement, simply as part of the conversation).

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

I used to live in Dallas.

What place is it?

Since Dallas is a big market and the news is always looking for a good story, I would contact one of the local stations and let them create a story.

Good luck with it. James

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

Wow. Crazy to hear this BS.

But it makes me think....there are a few venues around here (NJ, Long Island) that actually charge the B&G up to $500 to be able to use outside vendors - specifically photogs, videogs, and florists. I was floored when brides would tell me this. Luckily, these clients of mine preferred my work over the tired, boring stuff offered by the house vendors. Sorry, but that's what it is. Some person or crew that works the same reception room, same cocktail set up, same corridors, etc., etc., etc. and just, in my opinion, gives up after about the 100th wedding they film there.

So....maybe this scam of charging the brides is what venues have been doing in other places as well, but word got out and brides revolted, and now they're trying to pass the cost on to the actual vendors.

Either way, scumbags.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

Hmmm maybe we should start turning the tables here and submit an invoice to the venue for "failure to provide adequate services for videography" .. Poor venue lighting ..that's $100 .. no seating for the videographer .. that's another $100 ... inadequate parking facility and loading bay ..OK, that's another $100 inconvenience fee .... $300.00 paid up front please otherwise your bride doesn't get video!

That would teach them !

Chris

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

I shoot wedding video professionally, occasionally. I did a bridal show in an unnamed big Texas city once. I got two gigs out of it. One was hard fought. The bride said that her venue said that I was unavailable. I said that I was in fact available and would like to meet with her and her family at the venue the next time they had a meeting there. I called the venue and introduced myself and the person on site said that they could introduce me to the bride and that they would consider me for approval to work inside their venue. I went to the meeting. I said all the right things to all the right people. I played along in that they needed to introduce me to my client. I had asked about a place to plug in a couple chargers at the original meeting as well as when I arrived well ahead of schedule day of. The onsite person never indicated where I could charge a battery. I ended up connecting to an outdoor stage where the band was playing. The band members got confused because I had a light. They thought I was plugging the light in. I wasn't. It was battery powered. A Lowel Blender. They let me know in a very unpleasant manner that "nothing" was to be plugged into "band power". I imagine someone tried to plug in a 1000 watt light and everything went down once and then everyone was looking at the band. I never mentioned any of this to the bride before, during or after and the video turned out fantastic. Venues are not always concerned with customer service. I'd go so far as to say they may not be sure who their customers are.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

I've never once needed to plug anything in at any wedding venue ever. I always have enough batteries with me to cover two weddings just in case a battery fails. That goes for cameras, lights, recorders, everything....

I don't blame the band for not wanting anyone plugging things in to the 'band power' because it takes a 'known situation' and turns it in to an 'unknown" situation in terms of what could cause them problems, including noisy power line equipment that could cause problems with amplifiers etc.

Re: Venue trying to charge all vendors "policy acknowledgement fee". Opinions?
 

Only place where I've been charged to shoot was at New York City's late, and as far as I'm concerned unlamented, Bottom Line. I was there to shoot the performer at her request, and the venue charged me $50 to use my own camera. "Welcome to New York. Turn your head to one side and cough."

Venues in music are all over the place. Most are accommodating and professional as long as you don't get in the way of them making money. There's only one place in Chicago I'll never again shoot in, Evanston's 27 Live. The owner there goes out of his way to be a bully and a jerk.