I just was married last week by him and I am telling all brides that are ever thinking of using him, to do their best to avoid it. He is a fake and he took advantage big time. He added $100 to the bill out of no where, even after we discussed the price and I signed his paperwork, so I just paid it, I couldnt argue with a priest. Then he called me after our meeting and he was all paid up and told me... 'your ceremony has to start 15 mins earlier, I have to catch a flight'. There was nothing for me to do. I told Oheka Castle, and they said they cant start until my guests arrive. I had a 5pm invite and a 530 ceremony start. He wanted to start at 515 to catch his flight. He came up to 'me' the nervous bride about to walk down the aisle, and pointed at his watch at 5:08 and said, we have to go. I almost lost it. My bridal attendant told him, 'you should have never booked a flight on a night you had a job, we will not start a ceremony without any guests here.' I was livid at this man. So we start the ceremony, which I had programs printed and the whole layout of the ceremony was seen by everyone. This S.O.B. skipped EVERYTHING!!!!!! He was supposed to give me a 25-30 minute ceremony...it was 5 MINUTES... and 3 of those minutes were from the readings my aunts read. My unity candle sat there, he skipped over it, he did no homily, a memorial, and he rushed his words. The only thing I remember is him telling us to 'kiss' and shoved us back up the aisle. All this for $550!!! I also paid a harpist to play for the ceremony and he didnt even get to play the songs i picked cause everything was skipped. He didnt even know to play the recessional song until I was halfway back up the aisle because he didnt even believe we were done!!!! Please spread the word. I have tried numerous times to contact him and I have gotten no response. I told Oheka who recommended him to me, and I hope they don't let him back there. He was the only catholic priest on thier Vendor list that you have to use.
Thanks for listening :)
Diana508
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
Posted by tiffanykiss
Soi finally heard back from 'Father Bob' I was able to cancel, but he would not return my $200 deposit. I am going to keep fighting for it.
Definitely keep fighting, but at least you won't have any problems on your wedding day. You can't put a price on that! I do hope you get it back.
EMCGOVERN78
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
Hi ladies,
Just wanted to let you know I had a bad experience with him also. He seemed so nice we loved him. The day of my wedding he sent a replacement with out notifying me. He notifired me earlier that he had a wedding after mine. The day of he didn't show up no phone call or nothing he sent a replacement thank God so we could at least get married. I was not happy I called him the next day and he stated he had a family emergency but I hear that happens a lot to him. ; (
JAAMS
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
oh my gosh! what a horror story this is
MH10910
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
I just wanted to post my awful experience with this guy. There are other posts on here detailing other couple's bad experiences with him as well, and I wish I had checked prior to booking him. We booked him in September 2009. From September to February (over 6 months) we tried getting in touch with him so we could meet him, and he either never called us back or would tell us to call back in 'another month'. It took a ridiculous amount of phone calls in order to get him to call us back. He would never pick up the phone nor would he take the initiative to call us to make an appointment. It was very frustrating. After finally meeting him in Feb, he said we would meet him 3 times in the upcoming months to go over our ceremony and get to know us. He told us we were going to meet him on May 2nd and to call a few days before to confirm. So we called a few days before, a couple of days before, on May 2nd, and no response. Never picked up, no call back, nothing. So finally after 8 months of being screwed around with, we called and cancelled. Surprisingly, that got a return phone call!!! His lack of professionalism was very concerning and made us totally uncomfortable with him. We asked for our deposit back and he advised that it was a 'donation' and non-refundable. Funny because the paper we signed called it a 'fee' for a service he was providing. Being that he is part of the clergy of the ACCUS, he is not supposed to even charge a fee, but accept a gift from the recipient of his service (the amount is up to the customer). Avoid him at all costs. If anyone has any questions, please email me and I will gladly respond.
CantWaitMrsH
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
Wow ... you guys should report him!
risababe26
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
He was on 'Shame on you under a different name.
I almost booked with him but he was SO rude, after talking to him a couple of times I backed out of meeting him. He wanted to meet me in front of chateau La Mer before he performed a ceremony. How unprofessional.
Moonmist09
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
this is a HORROR story!!! i'm so sorry for all of you!
dancer14007
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
Wow girls...I find it so surprising, because he officiated our wedding 2 months ago at Jericho Terrace, and we NEVER had any issues with him at all! He always returned our calls promptly, and our wedding ran right on schedule. I'm sorry so many of you had bad experiences with him!
stx29kls
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
This is so horrible!! Did you pay him cash? I would take that a**h*** to court.
ItalianBella1122
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
Ladies - it doesn't sound like this is a Catholic priest. And if he CHARGES he's definitely a scam artist. Catholic weddings only take place within a church (hardly ever is there exception to this) and even if this man is working with you on his own, he still needs to be associated with a parish. Even if he isn't assigned to a parish (where he lives and works) all marriage records need to be kept at a church office. Ask him to tell you the name and location (actual location you can drive to and attend mass at) and pastor of the parish where the records will be kept. But the money thing is the most troubling...when a church asks you for a fee, its not to pay for the sacrament of marriage. Its to keep the lights on in the church and the AC/heat on during your ceremony and to pay the sacristan (the man or woman who sets everything up for the wedding who isn't a member of the clergy). Also, if for any reason you decide to cancel your wedding, I know of NO catholic church who wouldn't give you that money back.
ALSO I looked up this man on the internet just now and in his photo, he is wearing a black cassock with red piping....which means he is a CARDINAL.....THERE IS NO WAY THIS MAN IS A CARDINAL.
This sounds very wrong to me.
win01
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
I am so sorry for all the brides who had a bad experience with him...It makes me mad that he is passing himself off as a Catholic Priest...If he is 'reformed' from some fraction of a church, fine, but he is NOT a RC Priest currently...They would tell you that they marry in the CHURCH.. It is fine to use anyone you want, but this is just wrong.. The idea he is messing up people's dream weddings is upsetting.. I hope everyone reads these to prevent having problems.. So sad for your guys.
paulajjones
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
I have had a horrible experience wiyh Robert Allman as well and wish I had read these posts before sending him my deposit. When I spoke to him on the phone back in May, I thought he would be perfect and didn't think twice about sending him my $200 deposit to reserve the date. I called him repeatedly to set up a time for the three of us to meet. He always took a few days to return my phone calls, always acted like it was the first time we had spoken, asked for our information each time (names, wedding date, time of ceremony & location) and kept putting off our meeting date. First it was because it was the summer and he was busy, then he wanted to wait until after Labor Day because he was going away, then until after Columbus Day and then he had a 'family emergency' and had to go to Florida. At that point it was a little over 6 months before our wedding (April 2011), I didn't have any faith that we were ever going to meet him and that he would actually perform the ceremony. I did some additional research and found a wonderful officiant who was part of the Roman Catholic church and is going to provide us with the experience we were looking for and did not make any false promises that the wedding would be recognized by the catholic church. Once we met and confirmed everything with the new officiant (which happened within a week and a half after our first conversation) I called Robert Allman and he is yet to return my phone call or deposit.
He is very dishonest, we felt like we were taken advantage of and he should be avoided at all costs.
KristynLeigh
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
All I have to say is wow and if I can remember I am going to search for this from time to time and bump it. This is really a sad situation.
tara5533
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
Hi my name is Tara and I was going to use Father Allman for my wedding ceromony because he is the only preist I can find that is a Preist and in Long Island I ma getting married at the holiday inn in Plainview Ny and they do not have anyone I can use so I am on my own trying to find a preist that will come do my wedding on 9-7-12
If someone can help me please find a preist I would really appreciate it!!!!
Soon2BMrsJoeBear
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
Posted by tara5533
Hi my name is Tara and I was going to use Father Allman for my wedding ceromony because he is the only preist I can find that is a Preist and in Long Island I ma getting married at the holiday inn in Plainview Ny and they do not have anyone I can use so I am on my own trying to find a preist that will come do my wedding on 9-7-12
If someone can help me please find a preist I would really appreciate it!!!!
no priest will marry you outside the walls of a catholic church unless it's a multi-religion ceremony. Trust me, I tried. I would also listen to the reviews... there's a reason why there are so many bad reviews...
moniquel1112
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
Hi there! I have booked Fr. Bob and now am having nightmares that my wedding day is going to be completely ruined by this man. I was wondering who you were able to book for your wedding since you went with someone else. Any help would be SO appreciated. Thank you so much!
Courtz
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
That's horrible, I'm so sorry to hear that. You should report him!!!
Bride2Be78
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
A priest is not allowed to marry outside of the church and it will not be recognized by the Catholic Church. Run as fast as you can away from him. He advertises that he is a priest but supposedly got defrocked by the church.
JenL
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
Wow. I don't think you can get any lower than this. What an unprofessional, unholy jerk.
LBCJRS1125
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Re: Officiant Father Robert (Bob) Allman
Hey ladies I wanted to write to clear up any misconceptions about priests and marrying outside the church. I have had much difficulty with finding both a rabbi and a priest and when you are an interfaith couple a lot of shady clergymen come out of the wood work and try to take advantage. My fh and I had a bad experience with a well know rabbi and he wasn't providing his services and not calling back. We later found out he was handeling all the money for the priest he worked with and actually telling the priest he was charging a different fee and pocketing more than he was supposed to. FM me for his name, we lost $200 by canceling him but it was worth it. Well I found a rabbi I like and trust and while he was trying to find us a Roman catholic priest (yes ladies you can be married outside of the catholic church by a priest and it will be recognized by the church fm if you want me to explain. This is a possibility and is ethical and legal and recognized by the Vatican) we came across father allman. He is still trying to pass himself off as a roman catholic priest and even has the Vatican seal on his business cards. He is lying to couples and other clergy and it is so wrong. He founded this American catholic church himself in 2000 And tries to convey it as roman catholic by just calling it a catholic church. He has had many legal problems, was defrocked under questionable circumstances from the church and lies to fellow clergy as well as to couples. Steer clear of him if you want to be happy on your wedding day and stress free, I have heard that he does horrific stuff to brides. My rabbi is spreading the word about him to his clergy friends at st. Patrick's cathedral to see if anything can be done to shut this guy down. FM for details on anything that I wrote.
