Let’s start with a quick story that one of our clients shared with us recently which honestly is what inspired us to create this post.
Our client could certainly tell this story with more passion and emotion but bare with me. Basically, just like any other bride; she was shopping around for her wedding dress. She had her venue, cake, dj, etc. Well how are you suppose to get married without a dress right? Anyways, she took so long picking out a dress because it was the one part of her wedding that she cared about most. I mean who doesn’t want to look like a million dollars in front of all your guests? It was roughly 4 months in advance and she finally found a dress she could see herself loving.
After going back and forth with the company over some purchasing details, our client wanted to wait until the end of the week to pay for her dress because that is when she got paid. The company she was dealing with had told her that it was the last one they were carrying and that they can’t put anything on hold. After going back and forth, the company agreed to do 50% now to hold it and the other 50% at the end of the week. The person she was dealing with ended up being off later in the week and another co-worker had ended up selling her dress to another customer.
As she explained it, she was standing in the middle of this bridal shop with tears in her eyes and ended up just requesting to get her 50% back which is where she was hit with another surprise. The employee she was dealing with refused to refund her the 50% deposit and explained how they would allow her to apply it to any other dress in the shop. That wasn’t what she wanted to do so she ended up leaving the bridal shop that day and once she got home she scanned over the receipt she received when she placed her deposit.
Come to find out, the employee that sold her the dress and took the 50% deposit ended up giving her a receipt but never forced her to sign any contract or paperwork until full payment was made later in the week. Since she never signed or agreed to any terms she was able to demand her 50% deposit back and be done with the company. Needless to say she didn’t use them for her dress.
Moral of the story: Always, know what you’re getting into before you end up getting yourself in a situation similar to one of our clients.
Every vendor is going to have different terms and conditions so not all questions are relevant. However, we have listed below some questions that we get often and apply to our company. We don’t mind when customers ask us questions because the more informed they are, the less headache it’ll be later if there were to be a misunderstanding. This is the main reason we are so honest up front.
- Are you insured?
- What is your cancellation policy?
- Do you set everything up?
- Are there any extra charges?
- Is there a credit card fee?
- Do you give a discount if I pay cash?
- When is final payment due?
- How many years have you been in business?
- Are you running any specials currently?
- How long is the rental duration?
Honestly, what it comes to is requesting to get a copy of the company’s contract and reviewing all of the details. As long as you and your wedding vendor are on the same page from start to end, than you’ll be okay. Meanwhile it is very important to not be afraid to ask too many questions. Believe me, if a company wants your business or deserves your business then they shouldn’t mind answering as many questions you may have.