ethics question with dishonest/bad vendor and weddingwire

NewlywedInNewYork

I am wondering what to do and sort of at a loss about this. We booked a very popular vendor in part from her company's reviews on the knot, but mostly because weddingwire had ranked them so highly. I take knot reviews with a grain of salt because sometimes they can be fake, but I always thought that weddingwire's were completely accurate. This was for a DOC. Her company's price was at the very high end of the DOC's we looked at, but the reviews were just so fabulous that I really believed it was worth the extra money. She was fantastic until right up to the wedding, when the ball dropped. She was completely ineffective on the wedding day itself. We had a few major problems and she literally did nothing to correct them. She then failed to do several other things that she had promised to do. I won't get into the details here but they were really big things. We spoke with the owner of the company who quickly went from apologetic to very defensive. She eventually agreed to give us slightly more than 1/3 of our money back because of the DOC's actions (trust me - we deserved WAY more than this based on what went wrong). However, we were willing to settle and take this amount... the only problem was that she said that we had to sign a contract indicating that we would not say anything bad about the company on the knot or wedding wire. We couldn't even say anything that could be INTERPRETED as bad. It made me so angry because NO WONDER their reviews are so great! All the unhappy people are being paid to keep quiet. This absolutely goes against weddingwire's terms of service (not sure about the knot, but it probably does). Well, we didn't take the money because we refused to sign the contract. I think that is absolute BS. It's not fair that I got suckered into working with their really terrible company because of these reviews, and I didn't think I'd be any better than they are if I let them pay me to keep quiet. (The ironic thing is that I wouldn't have been so angry/upset about the situation if they had handled it correctly. I think the worst part of this BY A LONG SHOT is that they are being totally dishonest and are basically buying good reviews.. if they hadn't tried to shut me up, I wouldn't have been so vocal). I tried to contact weddingwire about how they are violating the terms of service. Weddingwire now will not write me back and won't say anything about it, even though it's a clear violation. This is probably because they get advertising money from this company. So.. what do I do at this point? I'm almost reluctant to give all of the bad information on the knot, because the people at this company have obviously shown that they are dishonest and unethical and they have personal information about me like my billing information etc. For all I know they could post everything on the internet. I can't leave an "anonymous" review because anyone with a brain can put two and two together. It just burns me up that they are still hooking people in with their fantastic reviews. Any company can have a bad day or have an employee who screws up, but it's all about how you deal with these problems. Trying to pay people to keep them quiet just really rubs me the WRONG way and is totally dishonest. What would you do?

kimhunter

1) I would report them to the Better Business Bureau 2) I would scream about them (and use the name) everywhere you can, as loudly as you can. If they do anything in rebuttal using your personal information that's a criminal violation and you take them to court.

kimhunter

Oh and also, if they are listed on any city/county business sites (some are members of small business organizations in their community), I'd report them to those entities as well.

jsong

I agree w/ the PP.  Definitely report them to BBB.  I have in the past and they actually helped to resolve the issue and I got my money back in full.  Maybe consider taking them to small claims court?If not, I would tell everyone and write on every review forums available.  Since you opted not to take the money and sign the contract, nothing should hold you back.  Sorry to hear about your experience.

tidetravel

You didn't sign the contract. You can badmouth them as much as you want. If they try to use personal information against you, then they have crossed from bad business practices to criminal behavior and should then be reported to the police. BBB is a start. Continue hounding weddingwire and theknot, although unless you have an actual copy of the contract, you may be SOL.

VickyFlor

NIN, I would post a review.  It would help others.  From your post, you sound like a fair person.  You even said the DOC was great leading up to the wedding.  I think you could write a constructive, balanced review.  I joined theknot and WW to get frank assessments, so I am really ticked off to hear about this vendor gaming the reviews/ratings.  The post sent a chill through me because I have been thinking of working with a planner and have been reading through WW's reviews.  I am really disappointed to hear WW is not being more responsive.  So much for being pro consumer.  Keep at it.  People deserve to know.  Bravo for not taking the hush money!

vitamint

that is terrible. Call BBB. It is not bad mouthing if its true

laredding

I would report them to the BB. It's something that will stay with the company for a long time.

NewlywedInNewYork

Thanks girls!! That is a really great point about going to the BBB. I am going to file a complaint with them for sure. I am still unsure about putting something up publicly here. I guess my main concern is that the owner just flat out denies that certain things happened (even though she was not there and they DID happen). So if/when I do post something, she is just going to call me a liar and it will be my word against hers. Not sure if that will be super productive for anyone. But, if anyone has a question about the DOC they will be booking, just reply to this post or page me on the DC board and I'll let you know if you are in the clear (ie not using the company from hell that I used!).

dmm98

You've got me worried.  Can you please email me at arlva222 at yahoo?  I haven't signed a contract yet, but had a coordinator picked out based on the reviews on wedding wire.  Thanks.

jenmcg

Also - if you paid them using a credit card, you can dispute the charges. Good thing to keep in mind!

tidetravel

Post your review here - vendors are not allowed on these boards, so she can't post a reply directly.  Theknot changed their rules recently on negative reviews (they used to be prohibited).  You can now post negative reviews.  If a vendor wants to dispute the claim, they have to do so in writing to theknot.  In your case, I would be willing to bet that the vendor won't complain, because it would bring your accuasations of their hush money directly to theknot's attention.

2009NOLA

You may also want to consider posting a review on yelp and angie's list.  I have used both in the past to check reviews for various vendors and service providers. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience.  It is very common for companies to ask for a non-disclosure agreement in exchange for a settlement.  I certainly understand your reluctance to go along with that and agree with pp that you are in no way hindered from voicing your opinions as you did not agree to the settlement.  The truth is always a defense to libel/slander charges so feel free to register your disappointment without fear of reprisal. 

LoveLynn1

I am worried I could hire this same person!  Can you at least tell us what type of vendor it was? 

VickyFlor

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