Highland Springs Resort — Hotel in Beaumont

I’m writing this review in regards to Easter Weekend of this year on 4/20. My aunt drove in from Las Vegas and, as she isn’t in town very often, offered to take family pictures of my parents, sister, brother-in-law, my 3 year old niece, and myself. This was not a professional photo shoot; it was simply one family member taking pictures of us as a favor. Since this is a private property, my aunt went the day before to ask if it would be okay for us to take pictures there and if payment would be required. The girl at the front desk said it would be perfectly fine and, since it was not a professional shoot, payment would not be required.||||Upon receiving approval, we went to the ranch the next day. My grandpa checked us in without issue and received a guest card from the front desk. As we had a toddler niece there, you can imagine how difficult it is to get her to take pictures, but she was doing well. We were a few pictures in before a gentleman (the controller whose name is Dwayne Lee, I believe) accosted our group and demanded a professional photography contract, knowing full well this was a casual family shoot and not a professional one.||||We replied that this was not a professional shoot and that we had been given the go-ahead by the front desk. His response was that he was in charge and the girl at the front was mistaken. Furthermore, it would be $300 if we wished to continue to shoot. My issue is not that he stopped the shoot; if this is the property’s policy, then it is what it is. If he had come up to us and started with a polite apology, explained the policy, and presented us with options, we may have considered staying there. However, the tone he took was extremely disrespectful and rude. He did not even greet us before he fired into demanding a contract. His tone was extremely snarky and lacked any type of customer-service. I was shocked that he would speak to anyone like this in a professional setting, especially a group that had a young child and a pregnant woman with them.||||As someone who has spent a significant portion of their life in customer service and managed employees in the past, my stance has always been if one of your employees makes a mistake and sets incorrect expectations with customers, it’s your job as the manager to eat that cost and deal with the issue internally. It was his responsibility to train his employee on photography protocol and he did not. We could have saved the drive out to the property if we had known about this cost or we could have decided amongst ourselves if we were willing to pay the $300 beforehand. In no way is it acceptable to harangue a group of guests on your property and attempt to shake them down for money when they have already been told by one of your employees there is no cost.||||If this is how he engages in day-to-day business, I feel terribly bad for his employees and guests at the property. My personal recommendation for anyone considering a visit there is...

I’m writing this review in regards to Easter Weekend of this year on 4/20. My aunt drove in from Las Vegas and, as she isn’t in town very often, offered to take family pictures of my parents, sister, brother-in-law, my 3 year old niece, and myself. This was not a professional photo shoot; it was simply one family member taking pictures of us as a favor. Since this is a private property, my aunt went the day before to ask if it would be okay for us to take pictures there and if payment would be required. The girl at the front desk said it would be perfectly fine and, since it was not a professional shoot, payment would not be required.||||Upon receiving approval, we went to the ranch the next day. My grandpa checked us in without issue and received a guest card from the front desk. As we had a toddler niece there, you can imagine how difficult it is to get her to take pictures, but she was doing well. We were a few pictures in before a gentleman (the controller whose name is Dwayne Lee, I believe) accosted our group and demanded a professional photography contract, knowing full well this was a casual family shoot and not a professional one.||||We replied that this was not a professional shoot and that we had been given the go-ahead by the front desk. His response was that he was in charge and the girl at the front was mistaken. Furthermore, it would be $300 if we wished to continue to shoot. My issue is not that he stopped the shoot; if this is the property’s policy, then it is what it is. If he had come up to us and started with a polite apology, explained the policy, and presented us with options, we may have considered staying there. However, the tone he took was extremely disrespectful and rude. He did not even greet us before he fired into demanding a contract. His tone was extremely snarky and lacked any type of customer-service. I was shocked that he would speak to anyone like this in a professional setting, especially a group that had a young child and a pregnant woman with them.||||As someone who has spent a significant portion of their life in customer service and managed employees in the past, my stance has always been if one of your employees makes a mistake and sets incorrect expectations with customers, it’s your job as the manager to eat that cost and deal with the issue internally. It was his responsibility to train his employee on photography protocol and he did not. We could have saved the drive out to the property if we had known about this cost or we could have decided amongst ourselves if we were willing to pay the $300 beforehand. In no way is it acceptable to harangue a group of guests on your property and attempt to shake them down for money when they have already been told by one of your employees there is no cost.||||If this is how he engages in day-to-day business, I feel terribly bad for his employees and guests at the property. My personal recommendation for anyone considering a visit there is...

UPDATE: Contacted the California BBB who tried contacting Highland Springs Resort and 123 Farm in order to get our money returned. They received no response from this place. The complaint will now sit in their file, but don’t give them your money. So, they are unabashedly stealing ours.

Posting on 123 Farm:

DO NOT VISIT THIS FARM OR GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY! My husband and I are visiting the area, working as travel nurses for a short contract, and thought it would be fun to attend the Sourdough Festival at 123 Farm. We paid for parking and booked 2 hands-on workshops. We were informed last week that one of the workshops cancelled. We asked for a refund and they refused, saying they would give credit for another workshop or festival. I told them that no other workshops sounded interesting, we were not local to return to the farm, and so we needed our money returned. The response we got was that 123 Farm would only refund our money if we had selected the ticket protection plan upon purchase. This plan is to protect your funds should you, the purchaser, have an issue that kept you from attending the workshop, like an injury or illness. It’s almost comical. We have no issues attending the class except that THEY cancelled the class. I sent an email explaining their logic doesn’t apply to the situation and then… radio silence… they won’t respond.

It is absolutely asinine that 123 Farms will not refund our money. I am so turned off by this aggression, there is no chance I’m attending their festival. I guess that means we lose even more money for not attending the second workshop, but they will be at a loss from me not spending money on their grounds. They have lost a future customer with us… and hopefully more if this review is taken seriously by others. Bottom line, they are stealing our money, which says to me they are desperate for funds and will most likely do the same to other patrons.

I will be contacting the Better Business Bureau to reporting them and my credit card company as making fraudulent charges.

BE WARNED! 123 Farm does not employ good,...