The Caterer Bill Bond

The Caterer, Bill Bond is not closed. As of October 2011, he is contracted through The San Diego Woman’s Club (location we held our wedding reception at). We had several issues from start to finish and will outline main points:
* Bill Bond never showed for initial appointment. When we called him to inquire where he was, he forgot about the appointment due to so much going on.
* Second appointment scheduled went smooth and we got a better feeling. When we asked if we should have a contract, he noted he doesn’t use contracts (red flag in hindsight).
* Per Bill’s request, we dropped off alcohol and beer day prior to event so he could put beverages needing chilling on ice prior to event. Upon arrival of event, none of the beverages were on ice and were located same place at room temperature.
* Day of Event while decorating, Bill approaches my husband and states «We need ice». At no point did Bill note that we were responsible for purchasing and bringing ice which we would have no issues with. Dropping everything, my husband and father made an ice run rather than Bill sending one of his employees causing my husband to be delayed in getting ready and delayed our arrival.
* There were no serving utensils for the food on buffet table so our guests had to serve themselves with their hands or be served. This alone would make the Department of Health and Human Services gasp… and so would this…
* The employees did not wear gloves while handling food and were serving with bare hands except at meat carving station.
* A dish was mistakenly served at the buffet table. Bill realized his mistake, pulled the dish, and replaced it with correct dish, 2.5 hours after our event started.
* After bringing this up to Bill, he stated correct dish was served exactly between 6:15 — 6:30pm; he also stated 30 lbs of meat was served. We know this couldn’t be possible after discussing with our guests,
The last thing we wanted to deal with the day after our wedding…
* The morning after reception, Bill called both of our cell phones four times in a row and left frantic voicemail stating we mistakenly took cases of wine and beer that wasn’t ours and was meant for an event the day of.
* We did not take anything. Bill’s staff put all alcohol on rolling carts and rolled them out to our vehicles and assisted in loading all that was on the carts.
* We had no idea this happened until he called us. We surveyed the alcohol and called Bill back confirming we were in possession of alcohol that was not ours.
*When on the phone with Bill I brought up items we had issues with from day prior. Bill became extremely defensive and unprofessional. He even lied about a few things which we have witnesses to. One of his excuses was he had 3 events in 2 days. Seriously? This is his job, and we booked our event 1 year in advance. He began to cut me off mid-​sentence and raised his voice to the point where it could be heard across the room by our family and the call was not on speaker phone. Eventually after multiple phone calls and Bill hanging up on us, he did agree that it was his mistake.
* Due family in from out of town, not being home during the day, Bill not stating when he would collect alcohol and his horrible attitude, we decided to leave alcohol on front porch so he could collect it at any time (we let him know this).
* Later we received another rude voicemail stating alcohol was not on front porch and we obviously knew that. Bill had not confirmed address and mistakenly sent his staff person to address on our check which was in fact an old address.
*Positives: Creative food and willing to work within a budget. Either the previously reviewer is friends with Bill and gets better service or his service has gone way down hill.
One of the worst service experiences we have ever had to deal with. Our families were appalled at his behavior and service. Did I mention we paid in full the day of event? We are quite laid back people in our 30s and extremely understanding of mishaps, however, the amount issues we had with Bill Bond reflect sub par service, extreme unprofessionalism and lack of respect and common decency. When we asked Bill for a partial refund, he snipped back and said he could reimburse us for the cost of the ice and noted a refund wasn’t warranted since we received all items on our menu. Unbelievable, shocking and sad! He also snipped «I have been doing this since before you were born!». I would never treat a client like this. One would think if a business owner was concerned about reputation, he/​she would work with the client to amend problems and wrong doing. Considering Bill’s cavalier and disrespectful attitude, we presume these types of complaints have happened in the past. We would never recommend using his services for an event.