Complaint Review: Temeku Hills Golf Club

Temeku Hills Golf Club under the direction of Fariel Lowrey and Mike Winn are rip off artisits! They charged us $6500 for a wedding reception at the "Grill Room" located on the golf course at Temeku Hills, and then failed on the delivery of what we paid for and are now avoiding us at all costs!

My daughter spent a year planning her wedding and reception with Fariel at Temeku, who claimed to be an expert and showed us many pictures of other weddings she had hosted there. We paid for linens, food, open bar, flowers etc. for a dinner/reception that was scheduled from 6:30 to midnight. Promises were made about a service cocktail hour, hor d'ourves, beautiful ambiance, food etc...and we paid for each of these items.

The room was unbearably hot as they refused to turn on the air conditioning, claiming it was broken (it was a June 28 wedding in Temecula - 102 degrees outside), and told us to open all of the doors if we wanted air - which cast the burning sun into the room onto all of the guests.

No wine service ever happened and when the cider was asked for for the champagne toast (my daughter doesn't drink and there were many other guest underage or non-drinkers), we were handed two bottles and told to bring them back when we were done pouring them! The cake was cut, but disappeared somewhere - the bride and groom didn't even get a piece (when asked at the end of the evening where the cake went, the top was brought out and we were told there was no more - yet the only guests that received cake were at the table next to the cake table).

The hor d'ourves consisted of rolled up meat and cheese left on the patio in the direct sun in 102 degree weather - there were so many flies on it guests were afraid to eat! There were no linens on the chairs, the tables were big wooden banquet type tables - not the ones we paid for and were promised, my daughter ended up with her head table under the emergency exit sign because they did not follow her room layout or even table size and guest seating at all!

At 9:30, the staff (wearing jeans and t-shirts) turned on all of the lights and began asking guests to leave their tables so they could "get a jump on cleaning up". They pushed all of the guests either out the front door or onto the patio while they took plates of food away and drinks they charged the guests for (even though we paid for a cocktail hour served and then open bar), stacked wooded tables in the middle of the room and began breaking down the dance floor while people were still on it! My daughters silver place holders went "missing" when the staff began "clearing people's belongings for them".

By 10:00 pm, all remaining guests were huddled out on the patio, which we had decorated with lighted swags and candles. The staff came out and began blowing out all of the candles saying "you aren't using these anyway" and windexing the table tops and chairs. Once we were all corralled to one corner of the outside patio, they turned off all exterior lights causing several guests to actually fall down the stairs when trying to leave because of the pitch blackness. Again we were told - sorry, we need to get a jump on things!

We had to stay there with the bridge and groom until 11:30 when their limousine was due to show up to take them to their honeymoon.

I called and confronted Fariel about this (actually I had to leave two messages a day for 4 days and threaten to sue before anyone called be back) and she apologized and said she was in Spain on vacation but would make sure our money for linens and the open bar was refunded. I told her we wanted way more than that refunded.

Fariel, Mike Winn and all have avoided all contact since then, refusing to come to the phone or return phone calls. I have attempted to file a small claims suit to get my money back, but it turns out there is no actual record of any owner!

They are operating with a BOGUS BUSINESS LICENSE - A BOGUS ALCOHOL LICENSE - AND A BOGUS FOOD SERVICE LICENSE! No government agency has the same information about ownership or licensing - they all have expired or canceled LLC's under different owner names!

Murrieta resident
Murrieta, California
U.S.A.