At the beginning of March 2010, a large wedding show was scheduled for the Boston, MA area. Over 200 wedding vendors and wedding dress designers were expected and there were hopes that more than 1,000 potential brides and grooms would attend. Tickets were purchased, booths were paid for, and everything was ready to go.
The problem was that the wedding show never happened. Everything was set up and promoted online; brides-to-be and vendors paid thousands to participate and attend the event. The wedding show venue was never booked; they were never even contacted. The criminals guilty of the scam got of “scotch free” with thousands of dollars.
Here are three things you should do to help protect you from wedding scams.
1. Call specific places on your own to verify that they are legitimate and really are having events. Whether it is a hotel or a hall; place a call to make sure things are on schedule. If you are shopping for yourself you’re probably doing that anyway, but if you’re going through a third party, you should always verify these things.
2. Verify online companies by doing a quick search and and look in to the company. If a company is legitimate, you’ll not only see a lot of references to the company but most of them will be good references in some fashion. While doing your research you will be able to tell whether someone is getting a lot of complaints or not without even having to read all the content.
3. If you ask for a list of references, call at least one of them. No one will give you someone to check on that’s a bad reference, but if someone can give you a list of at least 5 references they’ve worked with it shows they’re a known source or service. True, there are some new people in the market who may not have built up a solid resume yet, but in that case you need to meet them in person, drop by their store or meet them for some coffee – you can learn a lot from meeting someone in person.
See More:
Phony bridal show pitch defrauds thousands
