Bridal Expo Spam and Scams Part III
March 7th, 2006 @ 2:17 pm by Mrs. Bee
Last week we received an email from a bride who recently attended a bridal show and subsequently received 3 phone calls about free trips she had won. All she had to do, they said, was come pick up her voucher.
Being a savvy bride, she used her googling skills to find out that these companies were actually in the business of selling cookware. She also found that numerous complaints had been filed against one of the companies that had contacted her. So she asked us to delve a little further into bridal show spam and scams.
I was fascinated by this topic and immediately started researching it. The companies I kept coming across were Royal Prestige, Carico Healthy Lifestyles, Bridal Registry Healthy Lifestyles, and 21st Century Today’s Bride. I found negative stories about all of them but also some good experiences and even very positive reviews of the products too.
After reading through tons of accounts, I pieced together the details that were similar throughout each of their experiences with these companies:
- Brides register for a wedding website, sign up for a newsletter or attend a bridal show where they enter contests.
- Someone contacts the bride via phone telling her that she has won a free trip and/or a $500 gift certificate for a shopping spree (from a site such as keshoppingspree).
- In order to claim her voucher, she has to go to a local hotel room with her fiance (couples are mandatory) where they will sit through a presentation anywhere from 90 minutes to 5 hours. They are told there is no obligation to buy.
- The company presents a very hard sell on their cookware, china, knives, etc.
- The bride receives a travel voucher, but there are many restrictions: you must pay for your own airfare, you can only travel on specific dates, you must book well in advance and you must send in a $50 deposit.
- The shopping spree voucher requires that you pay shipping and handling for each item that often exceeds the value of the product you’re ordering.
- Most contracts offer a 3 day cancellation period after your purchase, but customers often have a difficult time reaching a customer service agent to do so.
A lot of brides seemed to think that their information was provided to these companies by theknot, weddingchannel or David’s Bridal because they had never attended a bridal show and these were the only sites they had registered with. But I have no idea whether or not this is true.
However we do know that many bridal shows and wedding websites often sell “lead lists” to vendors and this is how these companies are able to obtain your contact information.
Are these cookware companies a scam? Find out in our fourth and final installment of Bridal Spam and Scams tomorrow.
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20 Responses to “Bridal Expo Spam and Scams Part III”
Thanks for the info! I started getting calls from this 21st Century Bride company and I have NEVER attended a bridal show. They said I registered to recieve their information but the ONLY place I have registered on was theknot.com. I told them to take my name off the list and I was not interested! Thanks for posting!
I know for a fact that the Royal prestige invitation is given to all of those who register with David’s Bridal and Afterhours formalwear.
I went to a Bridal Show at Danversport Yaht Club and I won a $300 dollar gift certificate for American Laser Centers. I also supposidly won a lunch for 12 from Ameritrade and a 3 night four day trip, this place sells China and cookware not sure the name. I only went to American Laser Centers, they suckered me into a contract and financial loan for $80 a month for the next year and a package of 6 treatments. I thought it over and decided I really could not afford it. They will not let me get out of it. Don’t go to American Laser Center! Unless you have up to $2,000 to spare in a year!
My fiance and I attended a Carico presentation and wished that we had read this website prior to going. We were excited about the 500.00 shopping spree that we were going to get from KEShopping spree and the vacation. However, we soon found that the shipping and handling was an absurd amount of money and we would pay more for the product getting it through thats website than going to a store. I am not sure about the Carico products…they seemed good but I’ve been reading all kinds on consumer report complaints online. By the way, they wanted around 1500 for their cookware. Brides beware!! Nothing is as good as it seems.
This is true this just happened to me. And Its SO David’s Bridal. Its the only place ive gone to and given all my information ( including my phone number) since i gave them my info ive been called from a tuxedo shop, and now the 21stcenturybrides place. Sort of pisses me off that they sell your info. Makes me think twice about wanting to spend my hard earned money on one of their dresses. I hate telemarketers and they should let you know that if you fill out their forms you will have your info sold.
This just happened to me! But because I went online and did research I’m not going tomorrow to get suckred in! I just wanted to say thanks for this blog!! And I hope other brides will research and find this too!
I am so glad I found this on the internet I had an oppointment tommorow with them and was unsure about going. They had called me and gave me the same speech.
thank you! i just got the call today from royal prestige! the lady on the phone actually told me she got my name from davids bridal. i KNOW its davids bridal thats giving out our info. because this is the second place to call us say i won something from a drawing i entered at davids bridal. NOT including the mary kay person that also called to set up a makeover party for me, also claiming it was a drawing i won from davids bridal. now that i know these are all scams, i will make it a point to let every new bride i come across know NOT TO GO TO DAVIDS BRIDAL!!!
Thank you so much for the info. I was thinking of going but somewhat skeptical about the whole deal. You guys did a very good job. As a soon-to-be bride I’ve been busy enough with all the planning, I certainly don’t appreciate this kind of scams. I’m not sure where they got my info from but I registered with theknot.com & also went to David Bridal once.
Thank you so much. My fiance actually found this site…just one of the many reasons why I love him (so resourceful). We have already been suckered into a timeshare that we can’t afford so this would have been horrible.
I just received a very similar phone call from 21st century brides; I came online to research it a little before I made any choices! THANK YOU all for posting and letting me know NOT to contact that person again!!! In life I’ve learned that NOTHING is free! Thank you to all of you for posting and getting the word out! They were offering me a 3 day two night vacation with $1000 certificate. All I had to do was attend some cooking show this weekend!
I have been saved from the scams!! I got a call from Carico and Royal Prestige the same day–5 minutes apart.
Glad to know all this info!
I just received a call from 21st century today’s bride, and the woman give me the exact offers they offer you guys, i was a bit excited thinking this might not be a scam because they mentioned davids bridal. I called my fiance and we both decide to do a search on this thing. I decided to call Davids bridal but luckily i did a web search before i did. Who knows maybe davids bridal would have just encourage me to go to the 90 minute thing they have. I am so glad we did a research on this before making a mistake. Got to remember all the scams that are out there.
DO NOT TRUST any of these stupid promotions that call you telling you they “have exciting news about some wonderful gifts that you won and congratulations on your up-coming wedding” it’s all a bunch of BS and not only that but when you figure it out and call them out on it, they turn evil and rude and one guy from Celebrity China even admitted to me that they were un-ethical and a SCAM!!! BEWARE!!!
Just got one of these calls today. I’m a member of both theknot.com and David’s Bridal. I got another call about a month or two ago as well. I usually just erase them from my answering machine since I know I never entered in any contests. Good to know I’m not the only one with these problems. Any tips on how to stop them from happening?
THANK YOU so much! I got the call today and am so happy I decided to be a skeptical bride! I was excited about my possible free trip, but am again reassured that “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. Thank you LOADS for your research! :]
VERY ACCURATE!!! I went to a presentation by 21st Century Bride - they demo Royal Prestige products - and want to let as many people as I can know that it’s a scam. I did not buy anything (nor did I ever have any intentions too) but would pity anyone who does get sucked in. The “prizes” were scams - being exactly as the article above describs with the added bonus that the $50 dollar deposit on your hotel stay must be sent to Canada as a Money Order. Check out http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/royal_prestige.html for more information on Royal Prestige.
21st Century Bride and Royal Prestige are scammers! DO NOT go to their presentations. And if you do buy the cookware, be aware that you have three days to give WRITTEN notice of cancellation. You have to send them the form on the back of the contract filled out. (I got suckered in, but was able to cancel in time because I read the contract thoroughly.)
We just went to the Royal Prestige show last night. We didn’t buy anything and we definitely got our trip. Yes, you have to send in a $50 deposit and pay for your airfare, but oh well! You were going to have to pay for a honeymoon anyway, so why not be happy with 2 free nights?!
Mrs. Bee, New York
Age and Occupation: 29, Weddingbee Publisher
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Internet
Engagement Date: May 7, 2004
Wedding Date: March 5, 2005
Venue: Westside Loft, New York
About Me: Yes, my name really is Bee! I love my blogging, wikis, and tabasco sauce!
OMG, this is such excellent detective work. Thanks for the info~!!!!!! I have been directing friends and family to your investigation.