December 2020 by Colleen G.
Hate to put a business on blast but... We are in strange times, I know. And in these times, it's been important to us to try and be supportive of small/local businesses - but we've found ourselves in a strange spot. We had planned to get married at The Pajama Factory in Williamsport on May 3rd, 2020 and then COVID happened. We postponed our wedding until January 23, 2021 as a result. In light of the current climate, and with the desire to move forward in life, we decided to cancel the event we had planned. I expected that as a result of this unforeseeable circumstance, we would be out our security deposit for the venue. Initially, upon discussing cancellation, I was told we would possibly be given a full refund only to receive a call today that they would only refund 50% of what we've paid. Upon further conversation, it was decided that they would also refund our security deposit, which is nice, but still leaves us out $1200 for an event we can't have. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. I'm angry. We literally CANNOT hold the wedding we planned due to state guidelines related to the pandemic and our contract specifically states that if the event cannot be held on the agreed upon date related to a disaster (ie a pandemic), we would receive a full refund. I planned on being out the security deposit and have no problem with that, but holding any more of our money than that is just wrong and plainly put, theft. We thought this was worth sharing for anyone else considering an event location now or in the future. It's also important to note that the lack of professionalism from the business manager has been completely astounding.
