Sandi's Design

All correspondence between [redacted] and myself was very nice until [redacted] willingly and intentionally changed my business statement that was in a PDF format.  Changing product and services and then manipulating the balance due, as any business person knows isconsidered unethical.  [redacted]’s complaint of waiting for days or weeks on our responses, in her own admission was that her spam file kept “grabbing” mye-mails and she didn’t know it.Any changes made including wedding dates, flowers, style, or colors were all fine by me as I have stated in my correspondence with her many times.  My response of me being more than patient was only part of the statement.  If you read on, the e-mail was the e-mail that included the changes to our statement and this was the reason for the tone and the change in the relationship change.I have tried to educate [redacted] on the cost flowers and why the cost changes when she changes her mind on the flowers in the bouquet.  The statement changes were made every time she changed her mind and reflects the cost of those changes.  She has excellent taste in flowers, but as she has stated, is “just scrapping by” and the cost was more than she expected to pay. I did let her know and as she put in her response, "we do need to let you know if for some reason the date moves after that, or is canceled the deposit is non-refundable". In looking at all the correspondence, [redacted] canceled our services.  For us once the order is canceled for whatever reason, the deposit is non refundable. The sales lead time for wedding flowers can be anywhere from 3 months to two years.  Once a date is given up, it may not be recoverable to another bride.I offered [redacted] a compromise.  I offered to do the bridal bouquet including many of the flowers she outlined in the last e-mail, which still stands. This includes flowers that are premium flowers if available and look nice enough for thebride’s bouquet for the price of the deposit. The cost is based on the flowers, which she had chosen premium flowers.It would be a beautiful bouquet![redacted]’s threats to sue me, even to the point of extortion (at least in my opinion) with this law suit threat has been the most inexcusable. [redacted] and Jared have included their attorney in their correspondence. A Mr. Nate [redacted] who is employed by Sagaria Law. This attorney is the one they have cc’d in our correspondence at least twice, in regards to his advice in furtherlitigation if the deposit is not returned by January 16, 2015.The facts are; Mr. [redacted] is a paralegal and legally can not give any legal advice to them. Mr. [redacted] works for a Law Firm that ONLYhandles bankruptcies and debt litigation for which apparently there is a connection to [redacted] and this law firm in her own admission. I called and talked to the owner personally.  He assures me that [redacted], the client, has misrepresented Mr. [redacted] and I am assured that the firm has nothing to do with the claims of Ms. [redacted].[redacted] wrote in her e-mail on January 13, 2015;“Once again my attorney is copied on this message, I am aware of my legal rights as a consumer, if we do not receive our deposit by Friday January 16th, 2015 we will move forward with both a lawsuit which will include my attorney's legal fees and court costs as well as a filing with the Revdex.com. I am certain as a new an upcoming wedding venue in Sacramento with unlimited possibilities, the last thing you would want is a lawsuit and a Revdex.com claim against you”. In her interpretation of my reaction to her choices and actions (and my offer of compromise still stands even after all of this), I can assure you I have done nothing illegal, and in fact is a standard practice within the industry. However, Ms. [redacted]’s threat to a business not owned by me and outside of my flower company, with lawsuits, complaints or negative social media posts is completely without merit and maybe dealt with by the owner’s legal counsel to the maximum extent of the law.

My decision is strictly based on industry standards, ethics, and trying to compromise and resolve a complaint.The manner in which I have been attacked personally, the lack of responsibility [redacted] has chosen not to take with the deception of her attorney/paralegal, manipulating our statement that is in a PDF format and still continues to call me names is less than productive, but I still am willing to provide the bouquet.  If [redacted] would like to accept my offer of a Bride’s bouquet, which would allow [redacted] to possibly get more flowers from the floristproviding the balance of the wedding, I am still willing to provide it.  Her bouquet would be to value, using flowers from the list of flowers she has provided, with the exception of the Lily of the Valley. Lily of the Valley would add at least $200.00 to the bouquet, which is more than the previous cost.  Accepting my offer would definitely help her budget and move forward with other thingsneeded for the wedding.   A friend of her choice can pick it up at a location agreeable to us both.  I would not in any way be at the venue where the wedding is to be held.I will work with her florist (whom I am familiar with) to make sure the flowers blend with what she has chosen. If [redacted] chooses not to accept my offer and officially cancel our services and the order, a refund will not be given.  It is totally up to you [redacted], I am willing to provide the bouquet.

I am rejecting this response because:Although our wedding date did change more than once, we gave our vendors plenty of notice, sometimes six to eight months, not to mention we recommended Sandi to our dear friends who in turn used Sandi for their wedding. They too have stated that the flowers were very disappointing for what they paid for, that Sandi was on many occasions difficult to get a hold of and they openly admitted they would never refer anyone to Sandi in the future as they just felt they didn't get the full treatment for what they paid for. From the beginning we were lead to believe that we were welcome to change our minds, ask questions, etc afterall the the sole purpose of hiring a professional is because you lack the knowledge. As Sandi herself says in her initial emails, "remember, you can change whatever you want. We are flexible. If you find something better down the road it is not a problem". Which is why when I received a scathing, unprofessional response to my politely delivered proposed changes stating, "I'm sure you will have your changes too, I look forward to your response". This statement indicated that I was certain there would be changes. I did not however expect a nasty letter starting with "I am beyond patient with ALL of your changes, in which there have been many", which is a direct contradiction of her initial welcoming email.  As you will see from the attachment of full correspondences and the vast changes in the quotes, we tried to work with Sandi in a polite and professional manner. It is my belief that she is hostile, rude and does not know how to conduct business with consumers. After several threatening emails from Sandi, I have decided to stand my ground as it is only fair that since she stated in our last correspondence in regards to the final wedding date change, "we do need to let you know if for some reason the date moves after that, or is canceled the deposit is non-refundable". Our wedding date did not change and was not canceled, Sandi simply conducted herself in a hostile and unprofessional demeanor (which you will find in the attachment I have provided). After discussing her email with my fiancee we BOTH agreed that our wedding day would not feel comfortable and loving with Sandi partaking in a portion of it. Sandi says she offered me a $350 bouquet for my wedding day (which is absurd given my whole bridal party'w bouquets are not costing less than that) and refused, after reading the attachment I am sure you will agree that NO ONE would trust such an unprofessional florist with a very bad temper and hostile demeanor to get within ten miles of the most important day of their life. We have been given no choice but to escalate this situation and will continue to do so until we have either our deposit back, or much more. I do believe the stress, anger and sadness that this has caused us, not to mention having to miss days of work to hire a new florist and having to come up with yet again ANOTHER deposit, we will be seeking far more that just our deposit if this matter is not resolved.

I am rejecting this response because:I do not want Sandi's flowers, anything to do with Sandi and I definitely do not want Sandi anywhere near my wedding day. NONE of my flowers will be done by Sandi as I certainly do not trust that it would be the quality I deserve, not to mention after experiencing her bad ethics and God awful business practices I refuse to place a shard of trust that she will actually stand up to her word. She was given PLENTY of notice with our date changes and even pretended to be a caring person and showed an attempt at sympathy, clearly she can't book other brides because she is not a good florist and she does not have a good reputation. If Sandi could not book another wedding with the amount of notice we gave her that is her fault and not ours. Even when we could not get a response from her we were patient, her responses were at best one to two weeks (if you're lucky). At one point we thought she was going to flake on us all together. Sandi has continuously contradicted her statements and was misleading from the beginning of our correspondences. You do not tell someone that is it okay to change your mind and that change is welcome and then tell them that you are tired of all of their changes. Perhaps Sandi should realize that customer service is a key function when working with clients. We did not cancel or move our wedding date, we simply could not work with such an atrocious person. The unprofessional rants and raves about how she's had it was the last straw for us. Yes, I did get my attorney involved, then shortly after received an email correspondence indicating that Sandi called the owner of the law practice and ranted and raved about me to my own attorney who in turn told me he didn't want to deal with her, that he could not represent me on and outside case but also agreed that after reviewing all correspondences Sandi was practicing unethically and I should "fight her with the full extent of my rights" which is exactly what I intend to do. Regardless to how long it may take. I absolutely refuse to have this woman anywhere near my wedding date. I'm sure as you review the attachment provided you will see that we remained polite, even when I realized that I offended her with a very common practice. I am an office person, EVERYONE in the office uses Adobe to review and create documents...which is exactly what I did. I also politely apologized for this shortly after realizing how it offended her. I guess by including in my closing "I'm certain you will have adjustments to make to this too" wasn't enough for Sandi to realize I was simply sending her a proposal. Even after her foul email I remained apologetic and polite. I refuse to go back and fourth on this issue. Her statement is clearly outlined in the correspondence, "we do need to let you know if for some reason the DATE moves after that, or CANCELED the deposit is non-refundable"....agreeing that until the point where she blew her top and lost what was left of her professionalism, the deposit was REFUNDABLE. I'm sure you will agree after reviewing our case, no one in my situation would dare allow someone like Sandi to even come near my wedding ESPECIALLY my bouquet!

I am rejecting this response because:Although I think it is amusing that Sandi is stating that she has done nothing wrong, keeping someone's money after sending them an outrageous email that not only made her clients uncomfortable, it made them request their deposit back simply out of shock and fear. We never "canceled our date" and she should re-read her statement carefully. Her statement insists IF we CHANGED or CANCELLED our wedding date, we would then lose our deposit....up until the horrendous email from Sandi ranting on about ethics we both decided we would prefer to never correspond with this woman and yet again politely requested we part ways. We did NOT change our date or CANCEL our wedding. We simply requested our deposit back after the hostile and inappropriate email blast telling me to go find someone else to do my flowers. This case has made planning a wedding not only a nightmare, it has ruined the entire experience for both myself and my fiancee. It is this simple, she made up her own rules as she went along practically holding my fiancee and I hostage with our deposit of $350 in hand. She promised services in which we both have decided we would rather NEVER experience with this individual again. Holding someone's money hostage without providing services is BAD BUSINESS and it is UNETHICAL. Although I have not taken to social media as Sandi has ill informed, it is well within my rights as a consumer. There are laws that allow me to practice my first amendment rights as a consumer as long as I stick to facts and make a statement without defaming one's character, which in this case, anyone who can fully afford to refund a deposit and chooses to hold it against a young couple she is fully aware have been polite and "scrapping by" would serve as a challenge not to say something to discredit her ethics. Not to mention that after the ridiculous blow up and constant battling to receive our rightful deposit back, we took it upon ourselves to hired a POLITE, helpful, ETHICAL florist who is very happy to work with us and "all of our changes" which is what most professionals do when hired to provide a service. All we are requesting is that Sandi honor her statement to return our deposit as we have not cancelled or moved our wedding date, we simply refused to work with a hostile tyrant.

Company states: The wedding date was for 9/22/13....

She did forget that she changed her wedding date twice. So she also had a wedding date of 06/1/2014. Then again changed to 03/15/2015. I was fine with moving the date. The security deposit was $350 for my services. That was paid and correct. As far as a contract we have a simple statement. Here is the services we are providing and record of payment. She reports rude and hostile behavior but sometimes inquiries would take days to receive. The problem came in with the last statement that we PDF any response. Anytime things change whether the description of bouquets we always change it because that is also our delivery check off list. After the last statement we sent her which was in December of last year. What she did was changed the description of the flowers and what was to be delivered and went through and actually did the math and took off things. It shows the quantity of each one and she went through and added on her own and came up with the balance of what she was paying. I wrote back was that I am done. She went it and put in very expensive flowers. The flowers that she added were 17-20 dollars a stem. She highlighted the flowers she wanted and costs. So I written back because I was angry that she had done this. So she also accuses me of high jacking the prices. We based it on the manipulation of prices on flowers. I went to great lengths to explain her how expensive the flowers. I wrote back a compromise what the bouquets and it will include some of the flowers you wanted excluding the lily of the flowers. She refused it.

Review: We hired Sandi Allcut for our wedding on 2/25/2013, our wedding date at the time was for 9/22/2013. This date has now changed and the wedding will be held on 3/15/15 all vendors were fine with moving the date due to the unfortunate circumstances that forced us into doing so. A $350.00 deposit was paid to Sandi for her services on 2/25/2013. We did not sign a contract, but having been highly recommended by our wedding coordinator we figured it would be okay not to do so. Since hiring Sandi and her husband Greg we have experienced rude, hostile and unprofessional behaviors, sometimes responses to inquiries will take days and sometimes weeks to receive. They have continued to hike up there prices with no warnings and all of the sudden implementing a $1,000 minimum on their services. They are not practicing ethically and they are now ignoring us while holding our requested return of the $350.00 deposit so we may use a professional that knows how to treat clients. We are barely able to pay for our wedding as is, having an unprofessional florist ignore us while keeping our deposit of $350.00 is unethical practice. All we want is our deposit back so we may hire a florist that does not make our wedding planning a dreadful experience. Thank you in advance for your assistance!Desired Settlement: We are asking for the return of our $350.00 deposit.

Business

Response:

To Whom it may concern,I responded two weeks ago, but for some reason I just now read the actual complaint.Would it be possible to actually talk to someone?There is so much information, it would be quite lengthy.Thank you,Sandi Allcut###-###-####

Business

Response:

Company states: The wedding date was for 9/22/13. She did forget that she changed her wedding date twice. So she also had a wedding date of 06/1/2014. Then again changed to 03/15/2015. I was fine with moving the date. The security deposit was $350 for my services. That was paid and correct. As far as a contract we have a simple statement. Here is the services we are providing and record of payment. She reports rude and hostile behavior but sometimes inquiries would take days to receive. The problem came in with the last statement that we PDF any response. Anytime things change whether the description of bouquets we always change it because that is also our delivery check off list. After the last statement we sent her which was in December of last year. What she did was changed the description of the flowers and what was to be delivered and went through and actually did the math and took off things. It shows the quantity of each one and she went through and added on her own and came up with the balance of what she was paying. I wrote back was that I am done. She went it and put in very expensive flowers. The flowers that she added were 17-20 dollars a stem. She highlighted the flowers she wanted and costs. So I written back because I was angry that she had done this. So she also accuses me of high jacking the prices. We based it on the manipulation of prices on flowers. I went to great lengths to explain her how expensive the flowers. I wrote back a compromise what the bouquets and it will include some of the flowers you wanted excluding the lily of the flowers. She refused it.

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because:Although our wedding date did change more than once, we gave our vendors plenty of notice, sometimes six to eight months, not to mention we recommended Sandi to our dear friends who in turn used Sandi for their wedding. They too have stated that the flowers were very disappointing for what they paid for, that Sandi was on many occasions difficult to get a hold of and they openly admitted they would never refer anyone to Sandi in the future as they just felt they didn't get the full treatment for what they paid for. From the beginning we were lead to believe that we were welcome to change our minds, ask questions, etc afterall the the sole purpose of hiring a professional is because you lack the knowledge. As Sandi herself says in her initial emails, "remember, you can change whatever you want. We are flexible. If you find something better down the road it is not a problem". Which is why when I received a scathing, unprofessional response to my politely delivered proposed changes stating, "I'm sure you will have your changes too, I look forward to your response". This statement indicated that I was certain there would be changes. I did not however expect a nasty letter starting with "I am beyond patient with ALL of your changes, in which there have been many", which is a direct contradiction of her initial welcoming email. As you will see from the attachment of full correspondences and the vast changes in the quotes, we tried to work with Sandi in a polite and professional manner. It is my belief that she is hostile, rude and does not know how to conduct business with consumers. After several threatening emails from Sandi, I have decided to stand my ground as it is only fair that since she stated in our last correspondence in regards to the final wedding date change, "we do need to let you know if for some reason the date moves after that, or is canceled the deposit is non-refundable". Our wedding date did not change and was not canceled, Sandi simply conducted herself in a hostile and unprofessional demeanor (which you will find in the attachment I have provided). After discussing her email with my fiancee we BOTH agreed that our wedding day would not feel comfortable and loving with Sandi partaking in a portion of it. Sandi says she offered me a $350 bouquet for my wedding day (which is absurd given my whole bridal party'w bouquets are not costing less than that) and refused, after reading the attachment I am sure you will agree that NO ONE would trust such an unprofessional florist with a very bad temper and hostile demeanor to get within ten miles of the most important day of their life. We have been given no choice but to escalate this situation and will continue to do so until we have either our deposit back, or much more. I do believe the stress, anger and sadness that this has caused us, not to mention having to miss days of work to hire a new florist and having to come up with yet again ANOTHER deposit, we will be seeking far more that just our deposit if this matter is not resolved.

Business

Response:

All correspondence between [redacted] and myself was very nice until [redacted] willingly and intentionally changed my business statement that was in a PDF format. Changing product and services and then manipulating the balance due, as any business person knows isconsidered unethical. [redacted]’s complaint of waiting for days or weeks on our responses, in her own admission was that her spam file kept “grabbing” mye-mails and she didn’t know it.Any changes made including wedding dates, flowers, style, or colors were all fine by me as I have stated in my correspondence with her many times. My response of me being more than patient was only part of the statement. If you read on, the e-mail was the e-mail that included the changes to our statement and this was the reason for the tone and the change in the relationship change.I have tried to educate [redacted] on the cost flowers and why the cost changes when she changes her mind on the flowers in the bouquet. The statement changes were made every time she changed her mind and reflects the cost of those changes. She has excellent taste in flowers, but as she has stated, is “just scrapping by” and the cost was more than she expected to pay. I did let her know and as she put in her response, "we do need to let you know if for some reason the date moves after that, or is canceled the deposit is non-refundable". In looking at all the correspondence, [redacted] canceled our services. For us once the order is canceled for whatever reason, the deposit is non refundable. The sales lead time for wedding flowers can be anywhere from 3 months to two years. Once a date is given up, it may not be recoverable to another bride.I offered [redacted] a compromise. I offered to do the bridal bouquet including many of the flowers she outlined in the last e-mail, which still stands. This includes flowers that are premium flowers if available and look nice enough for thebride’s bouquet for the price of the deposit. The cost is based on the flowers, which she had chosen premium flowers.It would be a beautiful bouquet![redacted]’s threats to sue me, even to the point of extortion (at least in my opinion) with this law suit threat has been the most inexcusable. [redacted] and Jared have included their attorney in their correspondence. A Mr. Nate [redacted] who is employed by Sagaria Law. This attorney is the one they have cc’d in our correspondence at least twice, in regards to his advice in furtherlitigation if the deposit is not returned by January 16, 2015.The facts are; Mr. [redacted] is a paralegal and legally can not give any legal advice to them. Mr. [redacted] works for a Law Firm that ONLYhandles bankruptcies and debt litigation for which apparently there is a connection to [redacted] and this law firm in her own admission. I called and talked to the owner personally. He assures me that [redacted], the client, has misrepresented Mr. [redacted] and I am assured that the firm has nothing to do with the claims of Ms. [redacted] wrote in her e-mail on January 13, 2015;“Once again my attorney is copied on this message, I am aware of my legal rights as a consumer, if we do not receive our deposit by Friday January 16th, 2015 we will move forward with both a lawsuit which will include my attorney's legal fees and court costs as well as a filing with the Revdex.com. I am certain as a new an upcoming wedding venue in Sacramento with unlimited possibilities, the last thing you would want is a lawsuit and a Revdex.com claim against you”. In her interpretation of my reaction to her choices and actions (and my offer of compromise still stands even after all of this), I can assure you I have done nothing illegal, and in fact is a standard practice within the industry. However, Ms. [redacted]’s threat to a business not owned by me and outside of my flower company, with lawsuits, complaints or negative social media posts is completely without merit and maybe dealt with by the owner’s legal counsel to the maximum extent of the law.

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because:Although I think it is amusing that Sandi is stating that she has done nothing wrong, keeping someone's money after sending them an outrageous email that not only made her clients uncomfortable, it made them request their deposit back simply out of shock and fear. We never "canceled our date" and she should re-read her statement carefully. Her statement insists IF we CHANGED or CANCELLED our wedding date, we would then lose our deposit....up until the horrendous email from Sandi ranting on about ethics we both decided we would prefer to never correspond with this woman and yet again politely requested we part ways. We did NOT change our date or CANCEL our wedding. We simply requested our deposit back after the hostile and inappropriate email blast telling me to go find someone else to do my flowers. This case has made planning a wedding not only a nightmare, it has ruined the entire experience for both myself and my fiancee. It is this simple, she made up her own rules as she went along practically holding my fiancee and I hostage with our deposit of $350 in hand. She promised services in which we both have decided we would rather NEVER experience with this individual again. Holding someone's money hostage without providing services is BAD BUSINESS and it is UNETHICAL. Although I have not taken to social media as Sandi has ill informed, it is well within my rights as a consumer. There are laws that allow me to practice my first amendment rights as a consumer as long as I stick to facts and make a statement without defaming one's character, which in this case, anyone who can fully afford to refund a deposit and chooses to hold it against a young couple she is fully aware have been polite and "scrapping by" would serve as a challenge not to say something to discredit her ethics. Not to mention that after the ridiculous blow up and constant battling to receive our rightful deposit back, we took it upon ourselves to hired a POLITE, helpful, ETHICAL florist who is very happy to work with us and "all of our changes" which is what most professionals do when hired to provide a service. All we are requesting is that Sandi honor her statement to return our deposit as we have not cancelled or moved our wedding date, we simply refused to work with a hostile tyrant.

Business

Response:

My decision is strictly based on industry standards, ethics, and trying to compromise and resolve a complaint.The manner in which I have been attacked personally, the lack of responsibility [redacted] has chosen not to take with the deception of her attorney/paralegal, manipulating our statement that is in a PDF format and still continues to call me names is less than productive, but I still am willing to provide the bouquet. If [redacted] would like to accept my offer of a Bride’s bouquet, which would allow [redacted] to possibly get more flowers from the floristproviding the balance of the wedding, I am still willing to provide it. Her bouquet would be to value, using flowers from the list of flowers she has provided, with the exception of the Lily of the Valley. Lily of the Valley would add at least $200.00 to the bouquet, which is more than the previous cost. Accepting my offer would definitely help her budget and move forward with other thingsneeded for the wedding. A friend of her choice can pick it up at a location agreeable to us both. I would not in any way be at the venue where the wedding is to be held.I will work with her florist (whom I am familiar with) to make sure the flowers blend with what she has chosen. If [redacted] chooses not to accept my offer and officially cancel our services and the order, a refund will not be given. It is totally up to you [redacted], I am willing to provide the bouquet.

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because:I do not want Sandi's flowers, anything to do with Sandi and I definitely do not want Sandi anywhere near my wedding day. NONE of my flowers will be done by Sandi as I certainly do not trust that it would be the quality I deserve, not to mention after experiencing her bad ethics and God awful business practices I refuse to place a shard of trust that she will actually stand up to her word. She was given PLENTY of notice with our date changes and even pretended to be a caring person and showed an attempt at sympathy, clearly she can't book other brides because she is not a good florist and she does not have a good reputation. If Sandi could not book another wedding with the amount of notice we gave her that is her fault and not ours. Even when we could not get a response from her we were patient, her responses were at best one to two weeks (if you're lucky). At one point we thought she was going to flake on us all together. Sandi has continuously contradicted her statements and was misleading from the beginning of our correspondences. You do not tell someone that is it okay to change your mind and that change is welcome and then tell them that you are tired of all of their changes. Perhaps Sandi should realize that customer service is a key function when working with clients. We did not cancel or move our wedding date, we simply could not work with such an atrocious person. The unprofessional rants and raves about how she's had it was the last straw for us. Yes, I did get my attorney involved, then shortly after received an email correspondence indicating that Sandi called the owner of the law practice and ranted and raved about me to my own attorney who in turn told me he didn't want to deal with her, that he could not represent me on and outside case but also agreed that after reviewing all correspondences Sandi was practicing unethically and I should "fight her with the full extent of my rights" which is exactly what I intend to do. Regardless to how long it may take. I absolutely refuse to have this woman anywhere near my wedding date. I'm sure as you review the attachment provided you will see that we remained polite, even when I realized that I offended her with a very common practice. I am an office person, EVERYONE in the office uses Adobe to review and create documents...which is exactly what I did. I also politely apologized for this shortly after realizing how it offended her. I guess by including in my closing "I'm certain you will have adjustments to make to this too" wasn't enough for Sandi to realize I was simply sending her a proposal. Even after her foul email I remained apologetic and polite. I refuse to go back and fourth on this issue. Her statement is clearly outlined in the correspondence, "we do need to let you know if for some reason the DATE moves after that, or CANCELED the deposit is non-refundable"....agreeing that until the point where she blew her top and lost what was left of her professionalism, the deposit was REFUNDABLE. I'm sure you will agree after reviewing our case, no one in my situation would dare allow someone like Sandi to even come near my wedding ESPECIALLY my bouquet!