Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  09/26/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My fiancee and I contracted with the Red Twig to provide flowers for our wedding planned for on September 1, 2024. Unexpectedly, last summer my fiancee started having significant mental health issues after covering the war in the ******* twice for his job that required and still requires intensive outpatient therapy. At the same time, my brother, who was walking me down the aisle and in our wedding party, developed a rare genetic autoimmune disease leaving his shoulder paralyzed and leaving him in intense pain. He also is still under medical treatment and has been in the hospital for this condition. Given these unforeseen circumstances, I had to cancel my wedding. We immediately notified our vendors and they were sympathetic and did not charge us for the services that were not rendered. We also immediately (with well over 30 days advance notice) notified the Red Twig. They did not incur ANY expenses -- the flowers had not yet been ordered, and in addition, no labor costs were incurred. The Red Twig had only sent us a proposal. The hourly consult fee is $50 but the initial consult was free. We asked the Red Twig to refund us our deposit of $4,000 since no costs were incurred by them and we gave ample notice. They refused to refund us any of our deposit even though it was very inequitable for them to keep this amount. This was one of larger expenses and we believed we were entitled to a refund. We then sent the owner an email offering to give them $1000 (more than enough to cover the proposal writing) if they would refund us the balance of $3,000. He did not respond to our email but had told me on the phone that they would be keeping the full amount. We are not postponing the wedding at this point but cancelling it due to sickness in the family. We believe under legal principles of equity and fairness, we are due a full refund given they did not need this for an expenses whatsoever.

  Business response

  10/09/2024

  We reached out to this client on the 17 of July to schedule their final consultation, which happens thirty days out from their wedding. In response to this email, we were informed the client would be having to postpone their wedding. We expressed our compassion and sympathy, and let them know we would hold whatever date they chose for them in the future. We also stated we would send along our change of date forms whenever they were ready, but there was no rush. We also said we would waive the change of date fee, and further offered an open ended postponement. They replied with thanks and said they would be in touch soon.  The client reached back out on the 23 of July, stated that they would hire us again at a future date, but wanted the a full refund, again regardless of the contractual terms. We informed them again we would be happy to postpone, but there are no refunds on monies paid. The client then stated they wanted a full refund regardless of the terms agreed upon, became aggressive, and threatened legal action and submitting complaints to the bbb should we not refund their payment. Our contract states three times in its terms that no payments are refundable. Our terms are half is paid upon agreement to terms and the remainder is due thirty days out from their final meeting. Retainers for time sensitive industries are not related to the amount of work done at the time of payment, it is for reserving the time/future date for services stated within the terms of the contract. . We stand behind our contract terms, and wish this could have been resolved amicably. As a business that survived covid with many pivots and struggles on behalf of our couples having to change dates, we moved 52 wedding/fundraiser/event dates around so we are well versed in preparing to move dates with no issues. Again, we wish them full recovery in their health struggles and still extend the offer of a postponement to any future date they choose.

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