Image via hiddencitysecrets.com.au //
How is that fair…
A wedding is supposed to be a day of celebration. A day of getting together with your nearest and dearest to celebrate your new marriage. Yet, with COVID-19 wreaking havoc across the world and effectively stopping all weddings as we know it, countless couples have been robbed of that special day.
You’d think that wedding venues would be completely understanding about this, and totally willing to refund couples their hard earned deposits, especially in the current financial climate. Sydney venue Curzon Hall (run by Navarra Events) however, clearly isn’t, refusing to refund Sydney couple (and friends of LWA) Hannah and Mikey Ohanesian their $12,000 wedding deposit.
To give you a little backstory about Hannah and Mikey, they were set to tie the knot on April 18, with over 150 guests coming in from all across the world to celebrate their union at Curzon Hall. But of course, as the COVID-19 pandemic developed in the months before and progressively worsened, their plans were left in the lurch. Social distancing regulations were put into effect, and weddings were only allowed five guests, turning their world upside down.
At this point Curzon Hall failed to personally inform the Ohanesians about the official cancellation, instead the young couple finding out through a generic Facebook post by from just a few weeks out from the wedding.
But it gets worse.
After getting in contact with Navarra Events to enquire about a refund for their $12,000 wedding deposit, the company flat out refused. Instead, Navarra said they would be able to use the cash to rebook the wedding by February 2021. Anyone knows this is absolutely impossible though, with international travel on a complete halt for at least a year and a half.
The Ohanesians ended up marrying without guests on April 18, but Navarra still has $12,000 of their money that they’re refusing to give back.
“We were treated so poorly, first notified via a social media post and consistent unanswered calls and promised call backs which never happened,” Mikey said. “They have $12,000 of our hard-earned money they are refusing to give back.”
According to the couple Navarra Events is avoiding their emails and enquires from their lawyer, leaving the young couple in the lurch, especially given the current financial climate.
“It’s stressful – now we’re married we’re planning for the future and starting a family, but this has put so much on hold – we have $12,000 just sitting there and we can’t plan anything,” Mrs Ohanesian said.
Navarra is the only wedding supplier to refuse to refund them, with all other wedding suppliers immediately returning their funds.
They’re not the only couple to be done over by Navarra, with Sydney mum Eleni Paneras left without $2000 after Navarra refused to refund the booking fee for her daughter’s christening, which was cancelled due to similar reasons. Again, Navarra offered a credit note up to July 2021, but for the same reasons as the Ohenesians that wasn’t possible for Eleni.
Speaking out on the current climate, Navarra Venues CEO Sal Navarra stated “At present we are in a difficult position where my team has to inform clients once again they might need to postpone their event unless they want to hold a function for not 300 guests but only 10.”
“Our company stance is to continue working with our clients to find the best possible solution every time government restrictions change”.
“The Navarra Venues team are on the phones nurturing and supporting clients through this very emotional process.”
Well in the case of the Ohenesians, that last part definitely isn’t true. Our thoughts go out to the Ohenesians, Ms. Paneras, and anyone else who’s been hard done by and is struggling to get their refunds back from venues. It straight up isn’t on.
