Gold Rush Event Services

Terrible place, order back in February for our October 3, 2015 wedding. They charged the credit card then yesterday, 5 days before the wedding they emailed me stating that there credit card processor has not paid them so they had to cancel on us at the last minute. Lucky we found someone local in town that was available on such short notice and she was a better deal. If you need a photo booth in central illinois. google mugz shots in Onarga, IL. she was cheaper and had more to offer

I would this joke of a company negative stars if I could. FRAUD!!!
I purchased their services through groupon in Dec 2014 with plans to their services at my wedding next week. Well yesterday they called saying that they had to cancel my reservation due to a «billing» issue. What F’ing billing issue do you have when you already have my money. We purchased the groupon for $ 500. Then out of nowhere this joke of a company billed us $ 476 for tax on the full non– discounted amount as well as tip. We tried to get our money back in January and cancel the reservation but groupon said there was nothing they could do because it was on the fine print on the company’s website.
Well flash forward to yesterday. Anne kept saying «unfortunately» there was nothing they could do and that they would refund my money in a couple of weeks. I just about lost it– you are cancelling 10 days before my wedding and will not refund me until after my wedding? How the hell am I supposed to pay for another photobooth?
After I got off the phone with the not so helpful Anne I responded to their email with the following —
—This is complete and utter joke!!! Your reputation as a business for pulling this shit on me the week before my wedding is pathetic.
I just got off the phone with your representative only to basically be told over and over again «unfortunately.» Unfortunately for you I will be taking my claim to the BBB.
Not only are you cancelling my reservation through no wrong doing of my own– but I was told that the monies I have paid to date will be refunded in a few weeks. REALLY??? I have paid your company $ 976.65 to date– with my last payment on 1÷6÷2015. So in real world terms, I paid in full on 1÷6÷2015− that’s 9 months ago. I paid your company 9 months in advance for you to cancel 10 days before my wedding. AND it will take a few weeks to refund me? How the hell am I supposed to find another photo booth company and pay them for their services when you have damn near $ 1000 dollars of my money. I need a cashiers check with my full refund of $ 976.65 overnighted by the end of business tomorrow. You royally screwed me over and you need to make it right.
All communication from here on out will be done through email. I need to know your response to my email and what you are going to do to fix this situation in writing ASAP.
One pissed off Bride,
Then this morning I followed up with the following email after not hearing back from them yet.
—I need you to make this a serious matter in your books. After reaching out to over a dozen companies yesterday– they are either all booked or are well over what we were paying your company for the same package. We are now having to downsize to only a 3 hour package and are still unable to pull the trigger due to the final payment being due immediate in lieu of the timeframe given.
I need an update from your company ASAP. I need our reimbursement issued today in the form of a cashier’s check and overnighted to our home. We will not be able to afford another photo booth otherwise. I am passed the point of «threatening» legal action for a resolution. The ball is already rolling in that department, and you as a company need to make this situation right by the consumer.
Once again– All communication from here on out will be done through email. I need to know your response to my email and what you are going to do to fix this situation in writing ASAP.
Shocker– I have not heard back from them at all. I have reached out to groupon for a refund and will be contacting my bank for a fraud on the additional charge.
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. I HOPE THEY ALL ROT IN HELL!

They were great via email, and the driver showed up on time to our LSP event. However, the equipment was just two huge stackable boxes, and the props really horrible — some old wigs, torn feather boa, scratched glasses. Also, the «photographer» set up with no artistic ability, the image was blurry. The Groupon price is under $ 400 but the tax/​delivery/​tip is another $ 400. So for over $ 800 for 3 hrs this is a horrible deal!!!

Wish I could give a review less than 1 star. just as was stated by other posts. I was just contacted today (5 days before my wedding) via email– to tell me they couldn’t provide the service (photo booth rental) and that in order to get a refund, I had to go thru my bank to get the money back. This company consists of two people… and they are both scam artists and both committing fraud. I can’t believe this company is still in business… I will be contacting the Better Business Bureau. How could you do this to someone who is getting married… as if planning a wedding wasn’t stressful enough– you have to do this 5 days before the wedding. HORRIBLE HORRIBLE people!

BEWARE! This company is now operating under «America’s Party Company» as well! Do not go with either, they are both complete scams!

Scam! Do not use Gold Rush Events. I am confirming that all these reviews are 100% correct! We are all foolish for not checking with Unilocal first. This company is completely unethical. I did call Living Social last week and they are not doing business with Gold Rush Events anymore — surprise, surprise. However, they were not able to help me which does make me very upset with Living Social.
Unlike others, GRES did send someone out and they did a great job, but it was after my event in January 2015 that my credit card suddenly had an additional $ 368 charged by GRES! I called my credit card company, I had to give them all the information and they checked it out and took the charge off my account. I’m thinking it’s over but now in JULY I get a threatening letter from a collection agency! I have responded to them via certified letter, called Living Social, called GRES and spoke to someone who also «assured» me that someone would get back to me, but they have not. Now I will be reporting them to the BBB. Meanwhile, I’m sure I’m in for numerous harassing phone calls, letters and emails. Hopefully they are not able to harm my very good credit. Someone needs to stop them and all companies like them!
Mary R.
Grand Avenue Preschool

Awful experience. Bought through groupon and both companies refuse to refund although they can’t provide service or location although they said they do.

Absolutely horrible «company». It’s a scam! Don’t book them!
I booked them back in January of this year for my June 2015 (that’s coming up!). I was told back in March that I would be contacted 15 days prior to my wedding to find out who my local provider was. I should have seen this as a red flag. I’ve been super busy with other things, and the photobooth was a low priority on my list.
I call this company now 10 days before my wedding to follow up since they hadn’t contacted me, and Anne from customer care «assured» me that they would contact me 4 – 5 days before my wedding. Excuse me? Now they are telling me something different? She didn’t now how to respond to that and just said «Rest assured, our local provider will contact you 4 – 5 days before the wedding.» Yeah, just like how I was supposed to be contacted 5 days ago? I can’t afford to wait that long and that’s cutting it too close to the wedding to find out who my provider is. Up until this point they have not assured me ANYTHING.
I demand a refund on the phone. Clearly, they don’t know what they are doing. Anne from customer care wasn’t even able to give me a straight answer if I could be refunded. She couldn’t give me a number for the billing department which then she later revealed was only available through email. WHAT?! Shady! I then told her «what is it that you do in customer care if you can’t answer any of my questions? What is your job?» She then went on to say she just informs people about their services… um okay. I asked her «How many providers do you have in Corona, Ca?» «Ummmm…uhh a lot. «Oh, okay that’s reassuring. She knew nothing and completely stumbled all over her words. She kept saying «rest assured, someone will be there on your day.» I am not resting assuredly because I have no proof of anyone being there for me on our wedding!
I’m pissed at this point. I then told her, firmly that I don’t want services whatsoever from them. She tried to mend the situation by saying, I can put a note that your call is urgent and your upset and we will find your local provider in the next couple of days. Oh, so now that I’m upset you’re going to take care of me? Now you’re going to do your job and have someone reach out to me in 2 days instead of 4 – 5 days before my wedding? Is that how you handle your business? Not having it. Hours later I get a call back from a guy named Max but didn’t answer because I was working, and the voicemail he left was inaudible. I then receive an email with the name of our provider. What a joke. It took a series of angry emails and calls to get them to do their job. I don’t want their services and at this point I believe I’ve been fucked over by a bunch of scammers so I get in touch with my bank, who was awesome and agreed, that this company sounded sketchy.
Luckily my bank is looking into this company and had issued me a refund. I filed for fraudulent charges, and thankfully, now 9 days before my wedding I found a fantastic company that was able to do my wedding on such a short notice.
Gold rush event services — shame on you for doing this to brides and celebrants, you need to be hunted down or someone needs to take legal action on your ass. If I weren’t getting married in 8 days I’d probably
hunt them down. It angers me that they could potentially ruin yet another person’s event.
If there’s anything that angers me most it’s
injustice and cheaters. Screw you, GRES.
TL;DR: Bunch of scammers, they’ll screw you over! Stay away!!!

Yep, one more bad review. Why didn’t I check Unilocal before buying the LivingSocial deal?!
My horror story (in short) is that in addition to the fine print of taxes and gratuity being added, they did a bait and switch. They claimed the classic booth wasn’t available so they would upgrade me to the premier booth at no extra charge, but the taxes and 20% gratuity would be based on the full price of the premier booth. WTF?
Everyone should definitely report this «company» to LivingSocial/​Groupon, They are definitely not reputable and cast a bad light on other companies using promotions as legitimate marketing opportunities.

SUPER SKETCHY company but I was one of the lucky ones to receive good customer service from GRES.
Saw the deal for a $ ³⁹⁹⁄₄ hr photo booth on both Living Social and Groupon, so I called the company directly to make sure they had availability on my wedding date in May. They were upfront that the tax+gratuity+service charges were about $ 200 and I was looking at a $ 602 total. They asked for a credit card to hold the date — I let them know I wanted to charge the photo booth to a different credit card I didn’t have on me, and they said it was fine, that this card was just to hold the date.
A couple days later, I get an invoice via email asking for cash or check made out to a company in Walnut, CA In Full. That’s when I got nervous.
I Refused to pay 1. via cash or check, I wanted to pay via CC and 2. in Full before the services were rendered.
Next came several days of email, on and off the phone with the sales rep and her supervisor. The sales rep contacted the billing department to get the OK from them to accept payment via credit card (they told me they needed cash/​check because the credit card fees were not accounted for in the total), but their billing department OK’d the payment by credit… but I was still Not okay paying for the whole thing up front! No way, not a way to do business.
After speaking again in length with the sales rep Alley and her supervisor Alex, my invoice was canceled and I was never charged.
While I was lucky to receive good customer service, I am so lucky I stuck to my gut about not booking this company. I can’t believe I didn’t read the reviews first — the online deal just seemed too good to be true!
Living Social and Groupon should Not work with this company in the future!

***Update***
I just spoke with Living Social, and they have refunded my purchase. They will also be looking in to this company as a potential scam — they were great, apologized (even though it wasn’t their fault) and gave me a credit. As I suspected, GRES did not «refund my Living Social voucher» as I never paid that amount to them — it was paid to LS. Looks like I caught them in yet another lie.
I am going to reiterate what everyone else has said — DO NOT USE! I wish I would have consulted Unilocal before buying Gold Rush Event Services Living Social deal.
I purchased the deal in January for our March 22^nd wedding. Took me a couple of days to get ahold of them, and then Sandy finally called me to set up the event. I thought it was a little off that she didn’t seem to know what she was doing and that she didn’t specifically ask for the LS voucher number after I had mentioned it — I assumed that I would receive the invoice and indicate there that I had the voucher. Shame on me! I am then told that tax and gratuity ($ 260) are going to be added — okay, I read the fine print and saw that additional fees were associated. I give them our CC number and they then charged us for the entire $ 587 — they didn’t take the Living Social voucher in to account. I emailed them asking about and received no response. I put it on my to-​do list to follow up.
Fast forward to last Friday, I receive an email from them stating that they have refunded the entire amount to my credit card because their CC processing company increased their rates without telling them and that I would need to pay via check to keep my booking. I am also told that I need to send the check to Prime Services LLC in Walnut, CA because that is their legal name. I immediately responded and said that I would need to verify that funds had indeed been returned before I sent a check, but that I also wanted them to fix the amount and only charge us for the $ 260 that I had been quoted by Sandy for taxes and gratuity. I also asked for the name of the provider that would be there the day of the event as I needed to let our venue know. Terry from billing them emails me back and says that «We have decided to cancel your appointment since you do not agree to our charges. Nowhere does it say on the ad that we will contact you prior to any charges on the credit card. As stated on the offer, it is subject to limitations. Also, as per our terms and conditions, we can refuse service to any customer for any reason. And nonpayment is certainly one of those reasons.» Um, what? When did I say I wasn’t going to pay? I asked for the correct amount to be charged, to verify I had been reimbursed and the name of a provider. I immediately call and speak to Max — not going to lie, I was shocked that someone answered the phone. Max says he is going to speak to billing and that he will call me back. Max does indeed call me back and apologizes for the inconvenience and says that we will be charged the correct amount. I then receive another email from Terry stating that our Living Social voucher amount has been refunded to our bank account (which I haven’t seen — but it was just done yesterday apparently, so I am giving them until the end of the week) and that I would need to pay the full amount via check in order to keep my booth.
I went on Groupon last night, found a way better deal with a company that is reputable and not sketchy and have since emailed GRES and told them that I am not booking with them and that I would be contacting the BBB, Unilocal,and Living Social. Just waiting on my refund for the voucher amount, I am hoping that Living Social will help with that… I paid them, not GRES, so I am not exactly sure how the refund works but I am contacting LS to see.
I cannot stress enough that this company should be avoided at all costs!

#SHADYALERT
Where is the 0 stars option?
Just reiterating what everyone else said to shine extra light on this shady situation. This may or may not be a real company. They definitely outsource their «sales call center.» When I called, the woman originally didn’t know what a Living Social was. Hmm… I think she got filled in by her lost (now found) notes because it then sounded like she was reading something back to me. After she confirmed my date was available (without even taking a breath), she told me it would cost me another $ 360+. I asked if that was on top of what I had already paid and she said «Yes, you need to pay taxes and gratuity.» The entire conversation was a huge RED FLAG so I told her I was going to get a refund from LivingSocial.
I’m SO THANKFUL for LivingSocial and their amazing customer service who has approved my refund request.

I’d give zero stars if I could. All the prior reviews were spot on and I wish that I would have read them before purchasing my Living Social Voucher for their photo booth.
In short, Living Social was incredibly helpful and will be refunding my voucher money. Now I just need the $ 368.65 in TAX AND GRATUITY refunded from Gold Rush Event Services. If I don’t hear from them in 24 hours (I’ve been contacting them since Wednesday via email and phone with the same formulaic response), I’m calling my credit card company to stop payment and investigate for fraud.
The tax and gratuity was more than the cost of the voucher. Absolutely insane.

This business is a scam; please do not use them!
*** HISTORY ***
Back on June 1, 2014 I came across their photo booth advertisement on Groupon while looking at things for my wedding on December 20^th. I immediately bought it without doing any research on this (big mistake). I thought it was a great deal since some of the other photo booth services were being rented out for $ 800+. Groupon charged my card the $ 399.00 and I got an email from Gold Rush Event Services (GRES) regarding setting up the date/​time for my booth. Everything went without a hitch.
Fast forward to November 7^th, I get an email from GRES stating that they charged my card an additional $ 422.65. I immediately sent them an email stating this must be wrong since I already paid $ 399.00 back in June. I called them Saturday morning but got their voice message. So on Monday I called them and immediately I got busy signals (sometimes their phone just didn’t ring). This started to worry me.
So I did quick Google search for them on Unilocal and sure enough I come across these reviews. This was definitely not good news.
I discovered that they are scamming people so I immediately start calling them back. Finally I speak to a woman named Fae and she said that I would have to send an email to their billing department, which I had already done. She soundly flaky and not professional at all. This just re-​confirmed my worries about this company.
Later that afternoon I get an email from a woman named Gina Gerdes who stated that the «additional fees» were for «…fees and gratuity (which is based on the full offer price, not the discounted rate) and delivery». She then goes on to state «…note that all sales are final and we do not offer refunds».
Also in the email so stated «if you would like to cancel your service– the pre-​paid fund would be available as a credit to your account with our company».
*** MY RESPONSE ***
So what I did was I wrote Gina (if that’s even her real name) as scathing email explaining that there was no way I would ever agree to pay $ 399.00 for a photo booth if I had to pay an additional $ 400+ for fees, delivery and gratuity. And why would anyone pay gratuity before their services were ever rendered!!!
I also explained to her that I never got any emails that explained their fees. I took screenshot of all my emails and sent them to her as PDFs. I also took screenshots of the Groupon deal and sent them to her as well.
*** RESOLUTION ***
I then went on to say that if they did not refund me my money I would dispute the charges with my bank and then I would file a lawsuit on their business. I told her I would sue them for:
1. The total amount of $ 822.65 ($ 399.00 from Groupon and $ 422.65 from GRES)
2. All my attorney’s fees
3. All my travel expenses to have to show up in court
4. Back pay for all work hours lost dues to the lawsuit, billed at $ 125.00 an hour.
I also told her that I would write more scathing reviews on Unilocal and other review sites, contact Groupon and Living Social to inform them of their GRES scam, and then I would contact local news and radio stations to let the public know how GRES were scamming innocent people on their wedding days.
I sent this email Monday evening and by noon the next day they had refunded me the $ 422.65. I then contacted Groupon and they refunded me my $ 399.00 as well. Just to be safe I’ve already cancelled my card just in case GRES tries to be sneaky and charge my card again.
*** CONTACT ME ***
I hope you never get scammed by this company like I did. But if you do, maybe you can follow these steps to get your money back. If you want to see the exact email I sent to GRES, please send me an email to «
» and use the subject line «Photo Booth Scam». I’ll be happy to share this information with you.
Good luck,
–Jody

Can you even rate a business with zero stars!!! Same as everyone else. I originally booked a photo booth for my 11÷23÷14 wedding with Heather back in June. She said she would honor the living social rate over the phone so I took her up on it. About a month ago, early November 2014, I started calling my vendors to confirm and I left Heather 2 messages and she never called me back. I looked at my confirmation email from back in the summer and see an 800 number to call. I get a guy that says Heather no longer works for GRES and says everything will be ok. A week later I wanted to call to ask a few questions and now the 800 number has an automatic answering machine, press 1 for new sales and 2 if you have already booked a booth. I emailed the customer care and filling emails and did not hear back. I finally got a call back two weeks later on ¹¹⁄₁₈ because I repeatedly bothered the lady (Fae) that only takes new contracts. It is ridiculous they have no one to speak to when you have actually already paid! The calling center manager, at least that is who he said he was, that called me back two weeks later literally called me «annoying» when I was trying to express my frustration and not understanding his confusing instructions. Never in my life!
I thought about it and after reading the reviews here on Unilocal,I did not want to gamble with this company on the day of my wedding, which is the event I booked the photo booth for. I emailed the GRES billing department AGAIN to tell them how I was spoken to and asked for a refund and for them to contact me immediately. The weirdest thing was they actually emailed me right back! Why when I emailed them before did I not hear anything from them for almost a week! In the mean time, I called the amazing people at AMEX and asked them if I am unhappy with the service I am getting from a purchase, can I dispute the chard. They said absolutely and credited me the $ 600plus dollars right away and told me they would deal with GRES and everything from that point on. Then I look and see the email from GRES billing saying they will refund my money and sorry for any inconvenience. Uh yea, inconvenienced and insulted. I made sure to tell AMEX that they got back to me but to please keep the dispute claim open because who knows until I actually see the credit that the email was legitimate. They completely agreed.

Utterly DISGUSTED with this place.
Ordered thru groupon
Got miscellaneous fees
Couldn’t get a hold of anyone
Did talk to someone who confirmed (3 days before my event)
Day of event NO ONE SHOWS UP or even calls.
They had a problem taking payment for the «miscellaneous» fees a few days before but when we spoke with Heather she failed to mention any of this to us.
All groupon will do is give us a credit
And all GRES will do is apologize and give us our money back.
We’ll never be able to recreate the moment & won’t be able to look back at it because now we have NO PICTURES to remember it.

BUYER BEWARE!!!
I am so sad that I did not research this company before I bought the Groupon. It sounded too good to be true, and I was anxious to cross items off on my «to do» list. Like the other reviewers, I received an outrageous charge for tax and gratuity after purchase. Small print on this is a killer.
Afterwards, and as the event drew near, I called Gold Rush to confirm that they would be there, and the female who answered the phone could not care less about the instructions I had for parking, who to contact upon arrival, and setup location. I feared the worst, that they would not show up at all.
Two days before the event, I received a phone call from another vendor, who indicated they had subcontracted with Gold Rush to provide the service. This vendor, Snapshot Photobooth, and the gentleman who contacted me, were top-​notch, on-​time, friendly, and did a great job. If you are in the Phoenix area, be sure to contact them directly!
I do not give Gold Rush any credit for this at all, because I know they paid Snapshot far less than I paid them for this service. Do yourself a favor, and avoid Gold Rush and the misleading «Groupon» they offer. It is a sham, and they are making tons of $$ off well-​meaning people.

I could not agree more with the other reviewers… TERRIBLE! DO NOT USE!
I reserved this living social voucher just under a year out from my event. Then BAM, 10 months out I get hit with this ridiculous taxes & gratuity fee, which makes the photo booth full price… okay? No, not okay. I will gladly set up my own photo booth with some crafty props, but I got this because it was a great deal. How do you charge this amount 10 months before the event? Shady…
So I gave Living Social a call, because obviously the other reviewers didn’t get far with Gold Rush… Living Social I give you a MILLION STARS! They were fantastic and quick to act. Even called Gold Rush for me to confirm cancelation and my refund. I will no doubt have to follow up with these shady Gold Rush people, but I am so relieve LS was fantastic.
Moral of the story… stay away… far far away from this Gold Rush company.

Terrible terrible terrible!!!
I used this in Oregon for my wedding, and it was a disaster.
Same as many others have stated, got a groupon, thought I had everything set up, even emailed with a guy named Colton who confirmed my reservation… Several months later, when I didn’t hear anything back, I emailed them asking if we were still a go. No response.
Had to reach out to this service a week before our wedding to ensure someone was still coming, and they charged me without any warning.
We were charged an additional $ 385 for services fees and taxes (which were mentioned in the groupon, but never how much or when it would be charged).
NONE of the emails have names or signatures, no one returned my calls, and as soon as I mentioned disputing the charges, they cancelled our services completely.
I’m hoping this refund comes through soon, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I have to come after them for it.
DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY IN ANY STATE!!!

This company must have skipped the chapter on «Ethical Business Practices».
They advertised on Groupon. I purchased the Groupon and then attempted to book a date via email following the instructions exactly as stated on the Groupon voucher. Nothing. Nada. I followed up with Groupon support. They tried to look into it. Still nothing. Nada. Oh, but they do have the money. Oh details, details.
There is definitely something fishy going on here. I hope others will avoid a similar pain with this company.