Wedding photo booth vendor catches cheap 'momzilla' lying to cut costs.
Anyone who has ever worked in the wedding industry is familiar with cheap and greedy clients attempting to haggle down the price tag of everything from the booze to the band to the cake...
Unfortunately when it comes to a beautiful romantic celebration, you still get what you pay for. Begging your friend who happens to own a fancy camera to take Instagram-worthy photos of the happiest day of life for free might sound like a good idea, until all the photos have his thumb in the corner and the flash doesn't work.
So, when a frustrated former wedding vendor decided to vent to the beautifully vengeful Reddit thread, 'Wedding Shaming,' about a scamming Momzilla, people were ready to hear the tragic tale.
Momzilla wants a refund, but caught in a lie...
I previously owned and operated a successful photo booth rental business a few years back where weddings made up 75% of my business. I never got in to the business to do weddings, but that's where the money was...along with the headaches and stress.
After several years I was thinking of stopping the business and this particular momzilla/wedding is the one that ultimately made the decision for me.
For this event, someone else was working the wedding. Anytime a tech would work an event I always ensured that everything was ready to go for them in regards to photo layouts, custom texts, props, backdrops, etc. I checked in on the tech during the evening via text and he says all was going well and everyone was having fun as usual.
The wedding reception ended at midnight and the tech shut down and took everything back to our storage facility. But around 2am I receive an email from the bride's mom stating the wedding reception was ruined because of us and wanted a full refund. I was totally perplexed by this as the tech mentioned nothing out of the ordinary. I inquired with momzilla for more information.
She goes on to say that there were no props for anyone to use. I was completely puzzled by this as our booths included a separate kiosk for guests to post their images via social media. So this means I had access to all the photos online to view. I viewed the photos and see everyone using the normal set of props.
I responded back to momzilla advising of this and she said there weren't enough props and proceeded to say there was only a couple of boas, sunglasses, etc.
I decided to look up momzilla's name on social media and found what she looked like. I then searched all the photo booth photos and came across several of her using props and one photo especially stood out was her wearing about 8 boas which differs from her claim of only having a couple of boas available.
I responded back with the photo evidence and her response back was another excuse, which was that backdrop color was incorrect. She was correct, it was the wrong color; however, I asked if she notified the tech of this and she said no and it would've been too much of a hassle. I told her the tech had that correct backdrop and it would've taken a split second for him to simply slide on the correct cover.
We went back and forth and I finally gave in and decided to give her a partial refund just to shut her up and told her to allow 2-3 days for the partial refund to process. This is where she let the cat out of the bag. She responded back with 'Why will it take so long? The other vendors were able to give me a refund the next day.'
I asked her to elaborate on that and she then just asked to speed up the refund. I messaged the hired bartender which I'd met a few times before at other events and he said 'Yeah, she overspent on the wedding and was looking for money anyway she could.' He said that she demanded a refund because no one got drinks from him during the last hour.
After I give the partial refund she took to all the sites I advertised on and social media and put the worst reviews ever. Business started to slow down because of this and then that's when I said 'F*ck it! I'm done!'
Later, they provided more details:
* Fortunately for me, this was the first, and last, time I had to deal with a refund. So it's not like I was handing out refunds left and right to everyone over 8+ years.
*After the partial refund I did ask her to take down the reviews or update them and she refused. She then had others post bad reviews soon after that, which I knew she had to be behind as they all showed up within a few days of her review.
*For the one that asked, the contract was through the bride, but her mother is the one that paid for it.
* NOTE * This incident was absolutely a blessing as I was looking to stop the business anyways. This situation is what made me say 'F*** it I'm done!'. Having my weekends free since has truly been great after 8+ years of not having them free.
Of course, the jury of wedding shamers was eager to weigh in on this slimy, lying momzilla. Here's what people had to say:
GenX-IA said:
This is why I check the percentage of bad reviews to good. There are always people looking to just be dicks. I would have commented, 'would I have gotten a better review if I'd given you a full refund? Like you were demanded from all the other vendors you used?'
Suitable_Orange_1772 said:
My jaw hit the floor when I got to the “other vendors” part. The audacity!?!
[deleted] said:
Ugh, some people. I think I may have just pretended to not see the email and ignored all calls - you provided a service, no one complained during said service, the transaction is complete! Especially since she left you bad reviews anyway.
napsdufroid said:
You're nicer than me. I'd have never refunded her a dime.