The Black Rose of Hanover

Dear Tracey,

Although we regret having to reschedule your tea, we do have to adhere to our policies as far as profitability go, At the Black Rose, if we do not book 5 or more people for any given day, we tell you in advance that the possibility exists that we would have to reschedule your tea. (Your mother had a gift certificate and did not use a ccd no. )When your mother was called, she did not answer the phone and we left a message for her to return our call. We did not hear from her and had to call again, When we did that, she was so upset , we were not given the opportunity to offer her anything for the inconvenience. Had she let us talk for longer than a second or two, she would have been offered a second gift certificate, doubling her first one. We regret that she was talking over us to the point she didn't give us any opportunity to talk and then she hung up. Please advise her that we will be happy to either double her gift certificate for another visit OR refund her first one. She will need to call the tearoom no. to do this. Provided of course she ceases with her threat for you to write to the local paper and give us bad publicity. This was a business decision that each and every customer is told when they make reservations...It is regrettable that we were not given any opportunity to speak or give her satisfaction. Again, she would need to call us.

Dear Elaine,

As a business owner, I am disturbed that you were upset with your visit. Since it was your friend however who scheduled the tea and was DEFINITELY given our reservation policies, I can only assume that there was a miscommunication between the two of you. These policies are gone over very thoroughly with each person booking and as a business must be adhered to.I'm certain you can understand this. Your friend certainly knew our policies when she paid for the tea in advance and was given many options to choose from when your friend did not show up. She opted to keep the food and share it-at that point it was no different than your friend being in attendance as far as amount goes. Your friend also knew it was 'lavender' month at the Buttercup. If she did not want a lavender themed menu then she could have booked another day, which she did not. Like many tearooms, we do a seasonal menu and do not publish this but will explain when asked. As far as menu amounts, although this is a subjective opinion, after being in business for over 11 years, we feel we balance our menu in keeping with what the teatime tradition really is. Everyone does it differently and no two teas are exactly the same. We regret you were not happy (although nothing was said to me at the time of your visit, and I was not given the opportunity to make you a satisfied customer..) we hope you will return at another season when perhaps the menu will be more appealing to you. We certainly care about your tea experience as we do all of our patrons...