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wedding screw up

October 2nd, 2008 at 06:54 pm

Last night I got a message from my wedding planner marked "final notice." "Uh-oh, what's this?" I thought. Turns out she has been emailing me for 2 MONTHS to get my final payment for her services and I never got a single email.

I had assumed the final payment was due on the day of the wedding-guess not.

Oddly enough I explained to her I did not get any of the emails and she attached about 4 emails she had sent me that never came through. I had once emailed her with a question and never got a response-she did email me a response that never went through! (And here I had been thinking she was a stinky planner.)

So of course she wants her $500 payment immediately. I have $214 in the bank right now. She wont take CC, but says I can paypal her. Sounds good to me.

I open the invoice- she is charging me an EXTRA $125 in late fees! It was my responsibility to get her payment- so I assumed I have no argueing power and pay it. Then she wants an extra 3% of the total $625 payment for paypal fees! Jeez. Cant I catch a break? I was already thinking she is definately NOT WORTH her 1k price...now she's nearly $1200.

I just wish she had called me. Maybe after the second email got no response. She has my number.

And I have been so good paying vendors IN FULL when I can just so I don't need to worry about payment dates.

Lesson learned. These vendors want you to be late so they can charge like crazy. So today I went ahead and emailed the location site asking when they need their 6k. I knew it was 1 month before the wedding but had been waiting to get an email from them before I volunteered my credit card. Now I learned. But the lady was nice and told me to pay her when I arrive in town for the wedding.

Stupid overpriced wedding. I'm really over it. I really hope it is great because at this point I am just writing check after check and seeing nothing but a bunch of expensive promises.

Posted in My November Wedding!! Ouch on $$, fun on planning! | 14 Comments »

14 Responses to “wedding screw up”

  1. merch Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 07:15 pm 1222974912
    1222974912

    Expensive? Expensive is when my wife promised to cherish and obey me for half my stuff. That was an expensive promise and I don't see much obeying going on.

    Seriously, I would ask her one more time to drop the late fees and interest charges. I would explain that you never received an email, call, or written bill. Then I would explain I can pay you in full with credit card, I can pay you in full via pay pal, or you can wait a week for a check. But I wouldn't pay the pay pal fee. I may also explain that your understanding the final bill would be paid at or closer to the wedding date.

    Note: I spelled out other ways should could have contacted me but didn't. Of course she may say no anyway. In that case I would probably just pay her off and be done with it. To me, it's not enough to make a big deal out of.

  2. pretty cheap jewelry Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 07:20 pm 1222975242
    1222975242

    Yes, ask all the above, and be super duper polite (bite your inner demon) and smile while your talking even if on the phone. REALLY, as a service provider she is going to want a satisfied customer no matter what.

  3. dmontngrey Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 08:07 pm 1222978040
    1222978040

    Oh boy, I certainly would ask for a refund for the fees myself. "Proof" that she sent you an email really doesn't mean much - as emails get lost in cyberspace. A mailed invoice or a phone call certainly would have cleared this up in no time - quicker than an email perhaps. She's being quite shady in my opinion and wouldn't be the type of person I'd ever want to do business with. What does your contract with her state anyways, as far as final payment goes?

  4. gamecock43 Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 08:10 pm 1222978246
    1222978246

    It says final payment is due 6 months before the wedding date...which is odd that she disregarded it and did not send me the first bill till 3 months prior....

  5. dmontngrey Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 08:12 pm 1222978376
    1222978376

    You might also find this interesting, from Paypal's terms:
    4.6 No Surcharges. You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as a payment method. You may charge a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge and is not higher than the handling fee you charge for non-PayPal transactions.

  6. monkeymama Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 08:33 pm 1222979602
    1222979602

    From someone who has been self-employed, no, these vendors do not want you to pay late. They are just sick of being taken advantage of. The paypal thing is pretty standard practice. Even if it is against their rules. IT's the only way a lot of people take Paypal.

    Anyway, of course, if this lady was really concerned about collections, yes, she would have called you. Doh.

    Of course, I would still plead and ask. But if she doesn't waive all the charges, I understand why.

    Totally sucks for you, but just explaining the other side.

    OF course, I don't think it is entirely professional to use e-mail for collections. She's hurting herself in that regard. Because you are going to complain instead of give her referrals, and yeah, it's not good all around. E-mails are easy to lose and there should be some understanding there. If it was that important she would have called or used snail mail.

  7. scfr Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 09:22 pm 1222982577
    1222982577

    merch, you're too funny ... There was a restraining order against the word "obey" at my wedding ... It was not allowed within 100 yards of me. As I told my now-DH, I am not a dog!

    I think some people rely way too much on Email. By all means she should have picked up the phone and called or sent a bill by plain old fashioned snail mail. I would definitely discuss it with her, and agree with keeping the tone polite.

  8. homebody Says:
    October 3rd, 2008 at 12:50 am 1222995025
    1222995025

    Did she type your e-mail address incorrectly? She should have called. Nice way to avoid it for her though.

  9. MarianneJ Says:
    October 3rd, 2008 at 03:14 am 1223003656
    1223003656

    I would be irate with this woman. What a horrible business person, and not the type of person I would want planning all the intricacies of my wedding! This is her main selling point as a planner - she is supposed to be ultra-organized and on the ball, and this shows her as anything but.

    If she refuses to waive the PayPal fees after a nice request I would make it clear to her (after the wedding, of course) that she was a disappointment and will not be receiving any referrals from you or your husband. Be prepared to explain your reasoning and maybe she will get a clue for future business transactions.

  10. mbkonef Says:
    October 3rd, 2008 at 03:19 pm 1223047170
    1223047170

    I would speak to her politely and ask her to back off on all of the overage fees etc. She really should have tried to contact you some other way - phone, mail etc., not just assumed that you were getting the message and ignoring her. Also, I might remind her that word of mouth is great advertising and recommendations are nice and you certainly won't be making any if she insists on the late fees. I don't think that is being rude, just honest. If she still insists, pay it but definitely do not recommend her to friends.

  11. gruntina Says:
    October 3rd, 2008 at 08:25 pm 1223065559
    1223065559

    Sometimes when other's email me, it did not make it into my inbox. It instead went into the spam box.

  12. boomeyers Says:
    October 4th, 2008 at 02:07 am 1223086045
    1223086045

    She sounds desperate for money. Don't let her take advantage of you!

  13. sillyoleme Says:
    October 4th, 2008 at 11:12 pm 1223161945
    1223161945

    I think it's odd that she never called or sent you regular mail. I mean, she's your wedding planner, did you not talk to her at all in the last three months? If so, did she never mention the emails that were getting lost?

    I agree with everyone else... she's shady and I'd make it clear that if she keeps treating you so unprofessionally, that she shouldn't expect referrals or anything else.

  14. whitestripe Says:
    October 8th, 2008 at 02:27 am 1223432860
    1223432860

    i would also suggest that, if after you've called and reasoned to her, and she still won't take it off the bill - after your wedding is over and everything is a bit less hectic, write her a letter (an old fashioned one!) telling her that you are disappointed in your dealings with her and her unproffesional billing system (i mean come on, who uses email for billing?) and that she won't be recieving referrals from you.

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