Maid of Honor steps down, and leaves me with balance due

somerlynn87

My maid of honor selfishly stepped down recently. Her dress had already been ordered and at least 1/2 was paid (by her). She has not notified the shop and I am now being told that they will hold the remaining bridesmaid dresses that have not yet been picked up until the balance for the maid of honors dress is paid. It's $95, which isn't going to break me, but my thought is that if all of the other girls pay for their dress, they should get them. I can also see the shops side of the issue too.Also, I am not speaking to the maid of honor any longer and she lives in another state. What should I do? Just eat the $95 or go toe to toe with the shop?

MobKaz

Why is the store holding you responsible for payment? Unless you signed some unusual contract, each girl, paying individually for her own dress, should have no bearing on the fiscal responsibility of the others. The store should be going after your former MOH. The sales transactions should be treated individually between each buyer and their dress. This makes no sense to me whatsoever.

RebeccaB88

Yeah, this sounds super shady on the store's part.  If the other girls have paid for their dresses, then they should be able to pick them up.  Why do they have to deal with the other girl's problems?  How are they explaining their reasoning behind this rule?  If you have time before the wedding, I'd go toe to toe with them (and maybe bring one of my attorney friends with me).  Taking them to small claims court would probably cost more than the $95 due.

OliveOilsMom

Ask one of your other girls to give you the contract they signed when they purchased the dress.  At the least, I have always been told that I need to initial by the size I'm ordering, that I am responsible for the balance, etc.  I've never seen the bride to be resopnsible.  I would also look at your contract with them, assuming you purchased your dress from them too.  If there is no condition like the salon told you about - then go in and demand your dresses from them.  Also, tell them you will call the police as they are withholding items you legally purchased from them - if there is no mention in your contract.

kgd7357

Depending on the city, small claims court can be super cheap if you don't hire an attorney. And if it's as clear cut as this, you should have it ruled in your favor and the store will be responsible for the court fee. Sometimes just writing a letter explaining that you are submitting it to small claims court is enough to get them to back off.

sarahufl

Obvious question, here- why did the MOH step down and why can't you talk to her anymore? It seems like a quick shift to go from MOH to not being on speaking terms.

I can't imagine why the other dresses would be held hostage. Presumably, the shop has her contact info since it is her dress. Can't they contact her for the balance?

AddieCake

Ditto PPs. Find out what the terms were. You shouldn't have to pay for her dress to get the other dresses.

MairePoppy

This makes no sense, at all.

If the store won't allow the other bms to pay off their dresses and pick them up, they would have to refund their deposits. They can't keep the money and the dresses. You should speak to the store owner or manager. I doubt they'd want to lose all those sales over one dress. If you don't get anywhere with the store manager, contact your states department of consumer protection. Or threaten to press theft charges against them. 

I'd also caution all of the bms not to turn over final payments until they have their dresses in hand. I'd love to hear how this turns out. 

zitiqueen

somerlynn87 said:

My maid of honor selfishly stepped down recently. Her dress had already been ordered and at least 1/2 was paid (by her). She has not notified the shop and I am now being told that they will hold the remaining bridesmaid dresses that have not yet been picked up until the balance for the maid of honors dress is paid. It's $95, which isn't going to break me, but my thought is that if all of the other girls pay for their dress, they should get them. I can also see the shops side of the issue too.Also, I am not speaking to the maid of honor any longer and she lives in another state. What should I do? Just eat the $95 or go toe to toe with the shop?

Why did she step down?

singinchick13

This doesn't make any sense unless they got a discount on all of them for ordering X amount of dresses at the same time. That is the only promotion or any reasoning I can think of that would connect her dress to the others. Please let us know the details of the ordering process and what happened with your ex-MOH, we are all curious!

somerlynn87

I have a tux/suit appointment with them this Saturday so I will hopefully have more info then. 

There was no special offered for buying multiple dresses and from what my BMs have told me they all agreed to pay the balance of the dress when the dress came in. 

MOH stepped down from not only the wedding party position buy also as my best friend. I'm still dealing with the emotional stress and upset, so I really prefer not to go into details. 

OliveOilsMom

If they are threatening to withhold all of the BM dresses, if one person's balance wasn't paid, I sure as HELL wouldn't be renting my tuxes from them!

MairePoppy

What? Why would you rent tuxes from a shop that's giving you a hard time with the bm dresses. You should get that straightened out before anyone signs agreements on the tuxes. That shop has much to  lose by treating you poorly. Make sure you get that message across to them. 

somerlynn87

I absolutely agree, if they give me more push back on the dress situation, we will be taking the tux/suit purchase elsewhere. @scribe95 They found out because of my big mouth. I have 5 remaining BM's and 2 of those have not picked up their dresses. One I think is going to try this weekend. To clarify, I was told they will not let the last dress (that has a remaining balance) be picked up until the remaining balance on the MOH's dress is taken care of also (which to my knowledge isn't even in yet, because I haven't seen it). Like I said, I am going to get more clarification this Saturday and I will have my fiance to back me up. Also, the BM with the remaining balance will take care of it when she picks up her dress (but ofcourse she is out of the country for the next week and a half). 

I guess it isn't a wedding unless there is a little drama.

CC0805

What was the outcome?

Rle32388

I don't think the store could hold you to it, but is $95 worth the headache? That's the real question here. If I were you I'd try talking, adding that you will be reviewing them (yelp or social media) and if they don't budge just pay it and be done with it.
Pay up and move forward.

somerlynn87

I bit the bullet and just paid, because like @Rle32388 commented, it wasn't worth the headache. 

So I have a dress for sell right now if anyone wants it. Half off regular price

itslizzzz

They may have done a cash and carry type thing, like my girls did. They all got a discounted price, but all the girls had to be paid in full before they placed the order for the dresses.