Copper Dock Winery, Illinois, United States

2Lauren D 5:00 PM Oct 12, 2013

Beautiful Place..Very Rude Owners!
My girlfriends and I went to this winery for a fun "girls day" and were very disappointed in the service. It was about 45 minutes away from where we live, but wanted to check it out. We got to the winery and decided to sit outside. The bees were horrible, so we had our waiter light the fire pit that was in the center of our table that is ran from propane gas. We noticed that the other two tables next to us had their fire pits going, so we thought maybe it would help. About 20 minutes later, the owner, who was a female, came over to hand us coasters for our drinks. She said, "Why do we have the fire pit going, ladies?" I am assuming she was asking this because it was a rather warm day, so we explained to her that we thought it would help with the bees. She said, "Well, you know I have to pay for that. So let me know when you are finished." Our jaws dropped! We had a table full of drinks and food, and she had the nerve to ask us why we had the fire pit going. The service itself was not the best. We were very offended that she said this to us. She also went over to another table..who also had their fire pit lit...and did not say a word to them!!! We were paying customers, and I can guarantee that the money we spent there was more than enough to cover the propane that was used to light the fire pit at our table. I will not be going back to this winery. They seem very cheap!!!! If you don't want the fire pits lit, then don't put them at your tables!!!!!

2Vicki A 5:00 PM Dec 5, 2012

Use Caution
We considered using Copper Dock for the upcoming wedding of our daughter. Our experience with the owners/managers (Chris and later Pam) was a frustrating nightmare. In July 2012 we were given a contract to take home to read. We had numerous questions after reading the contract so we called Chris for the answers. After several calls over several days it was apparent that Chris was unorganized, difficult to talk to, rude, condescending and very unprofessional. When we were able to get her on the phone, interruptions were frequent as she dealt with other issues at the same time. She repeatedly said young brides don't know what they want, the bridal parties were too unpredictable behavior wise, receptions have ended in fights because young kids get drunk and fight over girls dancing with other guys, and on and on. Chris' first answer was that we never should have been given the contract because it was old and was being completely rewritten. We asked her when we could get the new contract. She couldn't give us an answer. We pressed her for an answer and Chris told us she ran five other businesses and supervised hundreds of employees and didn't have time to drop everything to get it done. The common theme of her other answers was "that's not what it means." Repeatedly she contradicted what the contract said. We pointed out several times that she was contradicting the contract and again she said "That's not what it means." She finally told us we would be notified when the new contract was complete but that never happened. She did agree to hold the date of our daughter's wedding until the new contract was completed. We finally got the new contract when we attended a bridal show Copper Dock hosted in November. The new contract was almost identical to the old contract except for price increases and larger fonts. After being told the option to rent the pavilion for the wedding ceremony only with no reception would no longer be offered, page one of the new contract listed a price for just that. We were told at the bridal show a new tier for food was being developed but its completion date was undetermined. Three weeks later our daughter was called and informed that she needed to put down a deposit if she still wanted the date that was being held for her. After waiting from July until November for the new contract to be completed and still waiting for the new food tier to be completed we were being requested to make a deposit. When told we were still waiting for the new food tier option to be completed and presented to us, Pam (who has since taken over as the wedding coordinator for Copper Dock) informed us that 2014 prices could not be guaranteed nor could a cap for future price increases. In essence, we were being asked to sign an open contract and put down a deposit with nothing guaranteed except the price of the reception hall rental. As the wedding date approached Copper Dock would inform us of what the new prices were. We told Pam that was risky on our part as they could charge us whatever they wanted at that point knowing we could not walk away from our large deposit or find an alternate site so late in the game. "We have others willing to sign contracts right now" was Pam's response. We told Pam that she left us no choice but to look elsewhere. If you use Copper Dock be prepared for frustration and write down everything that is said by any of their staff. You'll probably need it later.