Anonymous
map-marker North Fort Myers, Florida

From The Heitman House

From The Management of The Heitman House. If you are considering booking our facility please email us so we can better explain the nature of this fabricated posting by this individual. This posting is false and inaccurate. This gentleman booked our facility for his wedding ceremony to be held on a Saturday. He was not interested in hosting his wedding reception at The Heitman House and only paid for the ceremony. As a courtesy, for set up and decorating, our staff offered him and his bride access to the house on Thursday and Friday before the ceremony, this is something we always do for Saturday events. This gentleman elected to take advantage of our gesture and took it upon himself to include the wedding reception and rehearsal dinner without paying the additional rental fee, indicating that because he was renting the facility for 3 days he was entitled to use it all he wanted and for any use during this period. In 12 years holding events at The Heitman House, we have never rented the facility for longer than the day of the event. This gentleman never paid for the reception or rehearsal dinner when requested by our staff. It is obvious to us now that all this gentleman wanted was to pay for the ceremony and get the rental time of the reception and rehearsal dinner free of charge. He was offered the options of paying the difference which was only $1000 or cancel the event and a full refund would be issued, of course he demanded $5,000 instead of the $1,600 paid. In 12 years in the wedding business, this is the only serious complaint that we have ever encountered. We are very happy we made the decision to separate from this individual regardless of the cyber attacks, personal insults, verbal abuse reported by our venders, and false accusations. This post lacks factual evidence, and this is the third false post made by this gentleman in regards to our business. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any concerns regarding this unfortunate matter. HeitmanHouseInfo@***.com or call us at 239.850.1171
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Resolved
Aveah Vcw
map-marker Naples, Florida

Resolved: Wedding Rip Off

We rented the Heitman House based on the fact that we could cater the wedding ourselves. The contract was for a 3 day rental inclusive of tables and chairs. We were required to supply liquor hosting and liability insurance. We met with Alexandra three separate times to discuss the event including placement of catering equipment, bar and band. We were assured everything would be cleaned and operational. Three weeks before our event we found the house and grounds in serious disrepair. The siding and paint was falling off, kitchen equipment was inoperable, the roof was leaking, and there were bee nests and mold all over the porch. We contacted Alexandra whose reply was that there had been over 200 wedding with no complaints. A few days later she contacted us saying that we had misunderstood the contract; we had to pay another $1000 to continue. We disputed the misunderstanding and set a date to meet the owner. Three days later and without the meeting, the owner, Jose Baserva informed us that our contract was canceled saying that we were too hard to deal with. In short, when we asked them to clean the place up, they decided to try and extort money from us right before our event. Since we did not pay the extortion fee immediately, we were thrown out. This left us with a breeched contract, thousands of dollars lost, and 2 weeks to acquire a new venue. Public searches revealed that the property was in foreclosure; that Mr. Baserva was running strip clubs throughout the state, (Makes you wonder what the managers “real job” is?) and that he was subject to many lawsuits. We also spoke to another couple who had a terrible experience there in 2010. The Heitman House stole our money. They cost us thousands more to re-plan and quickly move. They refuse to take any responsibility or return our payment, even after demands from an attorney. These people turned our precious day into a nightmare! If you are in the market for a good estate wedding venue in Ft Myers, do yourself a favor and don’t let these people talk you into using the Heitman House. The Burroughs House and White Orchid at Oasis are both run by professional and caring people. Once they learned what happened to us they both stepped up to the plate and saved us from these unscrupulous people!
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Loss:
$5000
11 comments
Guest

I had a horrible experience for our wedding ..... I can't even really call it our wedding, it was more like Jose's wedding because he had an excuse for everything not being up to par and last minute changes.

Then had the nerve to Ask for more money from his mistakes like he was king of some imaginary world ........ they could probably handle a group of 50 people no problem, anymore than that will be a cluster F#%*

Guest

JOSE WANTS TO PAY 30V FOR MY LOT NEXT TO HIS I DID NT SIGN CONTRACT

SAYS ILL BE SUED

Guest

*Reality

Guest

This place is amazing. Very friendly staff who goes out of their way to make your dream wedding a realty.

The Home and Grounds are very well kept. Food is excellent. The view is amazing. They work with your budget.

I could not have had a better wedding... 10 out of 10!

Guest

Mr Baserva is a realtor with decades in the real estate and night club biz the ex mayors wife appeared as a miniminal dressed dancer contest

The Wedding house is in good sideing paint bee shape the only place to get married waterfront area

Guest

If you are considering booking our facility please email us so we can better explain the nature of this fabricated posting by this individual. This posting is false and inaccurate.

This gentleman booked our facility for his wedding ceremony to be held on a Saturday.

He was not interested in hosting his wedding reception at The Heitman House and only paid for the ceremony. As a courtesy, for set up and decorating, our staff offered him and his bride access to the house on Thursday and Friday before the ceremony, this is something we always do for Saturday events.

This gentleman elected to take advantage of our gesture and took it upon himself to include the wedding reception and rehearsal dinner without paying the additional rental fee, indicating that because he was renting the facility for 3 days he was entitled to use it all he wanted and for any use during this period. In 12 years holding events at The Heitman House, we have never rented the facility for longer than the day of the event. This gentleman never paid for the reception or rehearsal dinner when requested by our staff.

It is obvious to us now that all this gentleman wanted was to pay for the ceremony and get the rental time of the reception and rehearsal dinner free of charge.

He was offered the options of paying the difference which was only $1000 or cancel the event and a full refund would be issued, of course he demanded $5,000 instead of the $1,600 paid.

In 12 years years in the wedding business, this is the only serious complaint that we have ever encountered. We are very happy we made the decision to separate from this individual regardless of the cyber attacks, personal insults, verbal abuse reported by our venders, and false accusations.

This post lacks factual evidence, and this is the third false post made by this gentleman in regards to our business. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any concerns regarding this unfortunate matter.

HeitmanHouseInfo@***.com or call us at 239.850.1171

Therron Wzs

This doesn't sound legit at all. We had our wedding at The Heitman House early 2014 and it was amazing.

The grounds were extremely clean. Grass was green, new mulch, outback by the water was spotless, and the Paint/House were in GREAT shape. The Kitchen was like new and fully working.

Always 3 sides to the story, and I have a feeling you have a personal issue against the owner Jose. I actually researched your claim and found that he had a club in Fort Myers which was sold several years and another in Palm Bay, FL and was also sold several years ago.

He doesn't even have any clubs at this time. I don't know what that would have to do with a wedding house anyways.

I actually just Showed up a week before the wedding date, and the place had zero issues. He actually had a couple staff members working on some odds and ends to improve the place even more.

I have concluded that this must be some angry former partner, crazy ex, or another local competitor trying to badmouth an amazing place. Grow up!

Guest

Honestly, consider the source. My husband and I just got married at the Heitman House in January, (we actually booked after seeing this review but paid it no mind because it just sounds phony), and it was great.

The staff was helpful, the house was beautiful, and our guests were blown away. :) :grin

Guest

The man, Dan Gorton, who wrote this review is a well-known scam artist. I wouldn't take it too seriously. Just saying.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/DANIEL-GORTON-CONSTRUCTION-COMPANY/NORTH-FORT-MYERS-Florida-33903/DANIEL-GORTON-CONSTRUCTION-COMPANY-DAN-GORTON-CONSTRUCTION-LLC-***-ARTIST-FAULTY-WORKMAN-728289

Guest

If you are considering booking our facility please email us so we can better explain the nature of this fabricated posting by this individual. (AlexandraHeitman@***.c…) Dan Gorton's posting is false and inaccurate, and sadly, we are not the first business that he has victimized.

He booked our facility for his wedding ceremony to be held on a Saturday. Mr. Gorton was not interested in hosting his wedding reception at The Heitman House and only paid for the ceremony. As a courtesy, for set up and decorating, our staff offered him and his bride access to the house on Thursday and Friday before the ceremony, this is something we always do for Saturday events.Mr.

Gorton elected to take advantage of our gesture and took it upon himself to include the wedding reception without paying the additional rental fee, indicating that because he was renting the facility for 3 days he was entitled to use it all he wanted and for any use during this period. In 11 years holding events at The Heitman House, we have never rented the facility for longer than the day of the event. Mr. Gorton never paid for the reception when requested by our staff.It is obvious to us now that all Mr.

Gorton wanted was to pay for the ceremony and get the rental time of the reception free of charge. He was offered the options of paying the difference which was only $1000 or cancel the event and a full refund would be issued, of course he demanded $5,000 instead of the $1,600 paid.In our eleven years in the wedding business, this is the only serious complaint that we have ever encountered. We are very happy we made the decision to separate from this individual regardless of the cyber attacks, personal insults, verbal abuse reported by our venders, and false accusations.

This post lacks factual evidence, and this is the second false post made by this individual in regards to our business. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any concerns regarding this unfortunate matter at (239) 233-**** or (239) 850-****.

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