Post # 1
Member
11 posts
Newbee
As I was sitting with my co-workers enjoying a celebration lunch in honor of my recent engagement, I received a text from a friend who found out my wedding venue closed its doors today. They filed for bankruptcy and locked the place up. My wedding was scheduled for February 2015 at Rebar in DUMBO and we gave them a 50% deposit in Feb 2014; we paid via Amex.
I have sent emails to my wedding planner and site manager in hopes of hearing back from them… I was wondering if there were any brides out there with advice. My primary concern is getting our deposit back so we can book with an alternate venue.
Post # 2
Member
46597 posts
Honey Beekeeper
Post # 3
Member
7 posts
Newbee
I’m sure you got the e-mail from Tyler over at reBar. I think that’s the last we’ll hear from any employees of reBar – honestly, it was sweet of them to do that… they didn’t have to a damn thing.
Two things to note: 1) If you haven’t contacted American Express, you really do need to do that IMMEDIATELY – you actually may be able to recoup your deposit since it was paid via credit card;
2) reBar hasn’t legally declared bankruptcy. If you have a lawyer, or a friend who is a lawyer, get in touch with them as soon as possible. There is a tiny possibility of being able to litigate and get your money back that way.
My fiance and I also paid a 50% deposity back in December for a wedding in May 2015. Unfortunately, our deposit and the majority of our payments were paid via check and we’ll probably never see that money again. We’re going to try to get back what was paid on our credit card, but it was such a small portion of it. We’ve basically lost our ability to have a real wedding in New York. It will likely be an intimate city hall wedding for us.
Although, honestly, what we’ve lost is frivolous. The employees have lost their jobs AND the paychecks they were supposed to get today. I can’t even imagine what they’re going through right now. Those poor people are so much more screwed than we are.
Post # 4
Member
2602 posts
Sugar bee
From what I understand, people with a fully paid Saturday booking may have lost upwards of $25,000. I wouldn’t call that frivolous.
Post # 5
Member
2476 posts
Buzzing bee
Also echoing the advice to talk to AMEX.
There is some “faith in humanity news”: some of the employees are volunteering for a wedding this weekend (http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/37/20/dtg-rebar-wedding-goes-on-2014-05-16-bk_37_20.html). Absolutely amazing- I wish them all the best.
I do know that whatever the owner did will dictate what happens at this point. I’m not an expert, but there are different forms of bankruptcy. There’s one where the business continues to operate, but there’s a lot of reorganization (I believe this is what KMart did). There’s another where they simply liquidate. It’s also possible the owner just took off and posted a note without declaring bankruptcy… Which I’m imagining would make him a wanted man (even more so than now).
I know I shouldn’t make judgement before knowing the full details, but based off of what they were saying, the owner sounds like a con man and absolute slime and I hope he gets dragged through the courts for every penny he owns.
Post # 6
Member
1 posts
Wannabee
@MoniqueR83 My wedding is also planned for February 2015 at rebar. Both my fiance and I are at a loss, since we’ve already paid more than 50% of our wedding cost….I assume we both got the same email about this all. I’m kind of at a loss on what to do next, please if anyone has any advice/information do share. We’re planning this wedding from SC at this point so things just got much more hectic than expected.
Post # 7
Member
1520 posts
Bumble bee
- Wedding: June 2015 - Holly Hedge Estate
MoniqueR83: I just read this bit on EATERny. Seems like the community wants to pull together for people have lost a lot of money in the ReBar closing…..
http://ny.eater.com/archives/2014/05/rebar_1.php
Post # 8
Member
758 posts
Busy bee
- Wedding: October 2014 - Our Backyard/Steakhouse
jenni_squirrel: I feel for all of you who are involved. Jenni, despite what everyone is going through – you’re right. It is frivolous and puts a lot into perspective. You can still get married, you still have your jobs, you can still pay your bills. It sucks what happened, and the owner is a huge douchenozzle.
I wish you all the best of luck in sorting through this mess.
Post # 9
Member
6574 posts
Bee Keeper
jenni_squirrel: I just want to applaud you for such a positive outlook!! That is a terrible thing to happen, and I know it must royally suck! I think most people would immediately jump to ranting and raving so it’s refreshing to see someone who is being level headed about such a really crappy situation!
Post # 10
Member
7339 posts
Busy Beekeeper
If you paid your deposit by AmEx, then don’t bother trying to litigate. Contact AmEx, file a dispute claim, and let them handle it. That’s part of what AmEx is there for (visa/MasterCard too). There us a very good chance you’ll need to wait until after your contracted date before Amex refunds your payment; you’ve contracted for a service to be delivered on a specific date, and while it’s pretty obvious that ReBar won’t be providing those services, you can’t prove that from a legal level till the contract date passes. But credit cards offer fantastic protection. It may be worth spending the annual fee to upgrade your card membership to the highest level you can afford and be approved for; at the higher levels (gold ok, platinum better, centurion amazing) AmEx has concierge services that may be able to help put together last-minute alternatives. Other credit cards have this service too. Amex PLatium is steep- $475/year- but when you’re in a pickle, you might be glad you spent that money to get those services.
Post # 11
Member
56 posts
Worker bee
Post # 12
Member
11 posts
Newbee
Thank you all so much for all the helpful advice and for the kind words of support. Our hearts go out to couples who lost more than we did and those who paid cash. This is just one big ugly disaster for all parties invovled. The former staff at Rebar have been nothing but amazing in light of them suddenly losing their jobs. It is my belief that all of us will come out on top here and that jason stevens will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
My dream wedding will still happen. All i need is my groom by my side and our families surrounding us. Everything else is icing on the cake!
Post # 13
Member
7 posts
Newbee
I also want to point out that anyone who hasn’t already joined the groups on Facebook should really do so. If you don’t have a Facebook account, make one and join. There are two secret groups, so you’ll need an invite to join or even see the pages. Apparently a lot of the wedding community have joined the open reBar Brides and Grooms page as well. PM me if you want to get an invite. We’re all strategizing together to make this thing right. There will definitely be litigation involved (reBar did not actually declare bankruptcy, which is good news for us), but we’re also trying to figure out how to save all the weddings coming up in the short term.
Post # 14
Member
4 posts
Wannabee
Important steps for those of you not in the facebook group:
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I just want to organize our collective efforts for contacting these government offices…we really NEED EVERYONE to take these next steps. We need as many people as possible tallied and part of their files.
Here are the offices that I have so far. Please add to the list if there is any other office that we need to contact:
Brooklyn DA’s Office: call 718-250-2340/2240. Give them your name…they are collecting it as part of one file.
NYS Attorney General’s Office: print out and MAIL the following form – http://www.ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/pdfs/bureaus/consumer_fraud/brooklyn_complaint.pdf
NYC Consumer Affairs: call 212-487-4110. Also, print out and FAX the following form – http://www.nyc.gov/html/dca/downloads/pdf/complaintform.pdf. They gave me a special fax number 646-500-5914, but I also would send it to 212- 487-4482 just in case)
NY Better Business Bureau: file a complaint online – http://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/
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