I got scammed by Happily EVER After Events INC

[envirosponsible]

If you're thinking about hiring or selling products to Happily EVER After INC in Oakville you'll want to hear my story first http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7oGqjU00VE

Sorry to spread negativity but I want to warn everyone about their business practices.

[ACDCDCAC]

in case there are members who are not able to access youtube, is there a way you could post your story here?

[tropicoflibra]

I cannot see the video that is posted, however I also had a bad experience with them.  

[HAPPILYEVER]

You can view this brides wedding on our facebook page HAPPILY EVER AFTER EVENTS INC.  and judge for yourself, it received many rave reviews.  Its posted under September 2012 as Hanieh and Klaus -Four Weddings Canada.

 

This bride had many vendors walk out on her due to her treatment of others and constant demands.  We remained professional at all times and went over and beyond to try to please her.

[tropicoflibra]

This vendor lies. She said the same kind of stuff to me when I asked about the bad Internet reviews I had seen about her but after my wedding I realized they were all true. Everything she says is a lie. She was supposed to bring 12 trees to cover the concrete walls at my venue. She brought 4 and did not refund me the diff. She showed up 3 hours late and caused my other vendors to fall behind and charge me more. She took things that did not belong to her at the end of the wedding. But most shamefully, I wrote in our contract that I did not want our names used in any social media and as you can see, she has and is further putting links to it everywhere. Shame on you! She sucked the joy from wedding. Don't let her do the same to you. Since my wedding, I have seen many bad reviews about her as she has done a lot of this kind of stuff to other people.

[dovetail]

Wow. I was thinking of renting from this company. Now I will not. The reviews I've seen online are bad enough, but honestly, even worse is the lack of professionalism in the vendor's response to your post. She claims they were professional the whole time, but a professional does not say of a customer, "This bride had many vendors walk out on her due to her treatment of others and constant demands." Running a business 101: the customer is always right. How about, "we're sorry you were disappointed with our services. (Insert explanation for why the service was poor in this case.)"

[scammed2013]

I feel for you... 
I used Happily EVER After Events INC for my daughter's welcoming party. Anneliese Banninger, the owner did not deliver half of the items that were agreed upon in writing and promised. We were promised her whole vintage collection for the decore of the event, half of the items did not make it to the event. 
Just to name a few other issues, she was two and a half hours late. She did not deliver our 60 chairs and tables! Our guests had to sit on park benches, which we, the clients, had to move! In fact we were moving and decorating much faster than her and her team, which was supposed to be 6 people but was only 2 people walking casually around the venue and with no sense of urgency. 

Her service is unreliable and she is dishonest. She lied to my family and to our event planner when asked about the rest of the stuff. She embarrassed us in front of our guests. We asked her not to post any images from our event on her facebook page as this is false advertisement to the actual services she offers, which are not much. She does not have our permission to post images from our event to promote her faulty business. Her, posting these images against our wishes- exemplifies her level of unprofessionalism and inconsideration to her client's wishes.
She did not even apologize to the inconveniences and stress she caused us.

Let this be a warning to all her prospective clients.
I have all documentations to support this complaint. I've also filed a complaint to the BBB. 

Here is a copy of the email that was sent to her: 

Anneliese, 

I am disappointed and embarrassed at the level of service - or lack of- that you and your team provided. The fact that you have not called or emailed or made any attempt to apologize or offer some kind of compensation to Niven and her husband for the events that took place for their first born's special day on June 15 proves to me how unprofessional and unreliable your company is. With that being said, please do not consider posting any of the pictures you were taking on Saturday to your Facebook page. Should we see any of these images being shared on your Facebook page, be assured that we will comment with nothing by truthful comments regarding the "service" that you provided, and I am sure this is not something you want to use to promote your business.

I would like to point out to you exactly what I am referring to so you understand the stress that you caused on Saturday. To begin with, when you first met with Niven and myself, you were quick and aggressive to push us to pay a deposit in order to ensure that the items we wanted to rent from your collection were secured and unavailable to anyone else except our event. Needless to say this did not happen. We specifically made arrangements (based on your schedule and your requested time) to come to the show room and identify every single item that we wanted to be at the event the following day. The only item that you mentioned was unavailable was the 6 Barrels. This was not our original agreement however, you offered no solution other than providing extra tables to replace the barrels and planks. Once again, this did not happen. You actually brought FEWER tables than what was originally discussed and was included on the invoice that you developed.

After spending over an hour and a half with you going through all the expectations for the following day's set-up, you somehow managed to forget or make unavailable half the items that were requested. To name a few, "Lots" of mason jars, serving platters, galvanized buckets, harvest tables, pedestal tables, mason jar beverage container (which I know you went running to replace the morning of the event), chalk boards, outdoor benches, vintage sofa, drapes for front entrance (you hung one tiny drape in the front),  vintage silver pitchers, wooden bushels, vintage suitcases, charger tree stumps, lanterns, side tables, and of course the mysterious 60 chairs that are yet to be found with your driver. I did not appreciate you lying right to my face over and over again when I was asking for an update. First they were on the way, then they were stuck in traffic, then you were going to check on them, then the driver disappeared....I am not oblivious to the royal run around you were orchestrating.

From one event planner to another, I still can't figure out how you left me hanging like that with no response until I asked, no update until I texted (because clearly you continuously ignored all my calls), and offered absolutely no solution or replacement for the items that you could not deliver on. We had to wait until half way through the event to realize that these mystery chairs were not arriving. I then had to ask the HOSTS of the event to help me move picnic tables in order to accommodate their guests who were left standing for over an hour because you continuously ensured that the chairs were "on the way" and that you would give us an "update". Had this event not been in a park where picnic tables were available, I have no idea what could have been done!

Finally, the excuses that you gave for being late for the set-up were absolutely ridiculous. After ignoring my calls from 9:30am - 10:15am, you told me that your truck broke down and that you had another one on the way. If this was true (which I am quite certain was not), why would you not call me earlier to advise me of the 2 hour delay. When your first driver finally arrived, he said that he was Late due to traffic. Your daughter said the delivery was late because it took you a long time to load the car in the morning....if you are trying to lie to a client, you should at least attempt to have your stories straight. In regards to the "team" of people that were supposed to be coming for set up.....there was only TWO of you and while I ran to get things done, your team was walking on egg shells and showed no sense of urgency in getting the space set up. The way the on site team behaved was unprofessional. I didn't appreciate your daughter texting away while we are rushing during crunch time, and I definitely did not appreciate her attitude in making light of the entire situation. Set up continued well into the start of the event and not once did you apologize for the inconvenience to Niven and her husband. The most insulting part is when you came to gather all your items and did not say one word to us.

We would never use or suggest your services to anyone and would never want to promote such a chaotic business.

With all this being said, I would like to let you know that regardless of YOUR failures, I feel that we were able to find solutions and alternatives to make the event a special one for Baby Leena. I would hate to see all Niven's hard work and planning come to a halt due to a careless and inconsiderate red flag supplier such as yourself.

I would also like to remind your NOT to post any pictures from the event on any promotional material. I don't think I have to tell you how influential and powerful word of mouth and social media can be.

[jsl714]

My post only contains the truth and my personal experience with this company.  I am only writing to warn potential future customers so they can protect themselves from having to deal with this company in the future.

I rented a few items from Anneliese Banniger, owner of this "company", for my wedding in July.  She was initially very enthusiastic and warm when I expressed interest.  I gave a deposit of about 30% when I met with her.  It then took me a week to receive an invoice for the amount that I paid and then when I wanted to make some changes to my order, she was not responsive at all.  She either did not respond or promised to send me invoices and never followed through.  3 weeks before the wedding, I contacted her to pick up my items.  She said she was going on vacation but she would arrange for someone to be there so that I could pick up the items.  She said she would send me an email with my balance outstanding and the contact information and location for pick up.  This all sounded great but I never received the email.  A week later, I called her to follow up and she said she would send me all the information in "20 minutes".  2 hours later, I still didn't receive anything and we called back.  She told us to come the next day to pick everything up and thank goodness we were able to do so on such short notice.  After driving 1 hour to Oakville, she told me she didn't have all the jars I ordered (we were missing just over 50 jars) but she said she would deliver them to our venue on our wedding day.  I trusted her and paid her the full amount for all the items including the yet to be delivered jars in cash.  

On our wedding day, my coordinator told me she couldn't find the jars that were supposed to be delivered by Anneliese.  She called her many times but no one picked up and the voicemail was full.  She and the waiters searched high and low at my venue and could not locate them.  We had to improvise last minute and find other items to use.  I called Anneliese after the wedding and she said that she had a delivery slip that said the items were delivered to my venue and a person named "Mark" signed off on the delivery at 11:30am.  I emailed my venue and the coordinator said no one by the name of Mark was on their payroll.  I called Anneliese again and she said "Oh, I have a slip that it was delivered to the street of my venue but maybe not the venue itself - it could have been somewhere else".  I then got an email from her saying they "recovered the jars" but I have yet to see the "signed delivery slip", speak to "Mark", or hear about where they allegedly picked the jars up from.  She couldn't tell me where they were dropped off at but somehow have the jars back in her possession.  My guess is that she never had the quantity of jars I ordered in the first place but charged me for them anyway and never had any intention of delivering them.  Again, this is only my best guess at what happened.  We will never know the truth at this point.

I then told her I wasn't delivering the other rental items back to her since she failed to live up to her end of the bargain and she accused me of using the undelivered jars as an "excuse" for  not returning the items.  Actually, it is the exact reason.  She said she would refund me for the jars but wasn't going to send a crew out to pick up the items.  To this day, I have yet to see a refund.  

I sent her an email after our conversation saying that if she wanted her items back she would have to come to pick them up and I also expect my refund back for the jars.  I only asked for a refund of the undelivered items and not everything which I thought was reasonable.  Any reputable company that knows how to run a business would be apologetic and offer to refund the entire amount.  In this case, I have also yet to hear any sort of apology from her.

In the midst of this, I wrote a review on Yelp which has since been taken down.  In her response to my email, she threatened me with legal action if I did not take my reviews down.  We set a date to meet to transfer the items back to her and I expressed that I expected my refund.  When we met yesterday, she did not have the money with her and I refused to give her back the items.  She physically opened my car door and tried to forcefully take the items back.  I slammed the car shut and asked her not to touch my car.  I also informed her that she is trespassing and asked her to leave.  She stood in front of my car and would not let me leave.  She then proceeded to call the police to report her items "stolen".  She clearly has no grasp of the law since this is entirely a civil matter at this point and the police (a) were not coming any time soon and ( once they got here they wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

We waited with her for the police to arrive but after an hour, my husband and I decided that despite our rage, it wasn't worth it and that I couldn't waste my time any longer.  We offered to give her the items back without the money.  She asked us to drive it towards her because the police told her to get off our private property and so we did.  She asked us to unload everything and put it on the curb but we refused and insisted she move it herself.  She then asked me to call the police to tell them they no longer needed to come.  Yes, you read that right.  She called the police on us then asked us to call them back to tell them that they no longer needed to come.  She then said we would be receiving a letter from her lawyer offering to give us our refund for the undelivered items if we agreed to take no further legal action against her and to remove all negative reviews of her company.  Since we never received the letter like we were promised (no surprise there), I can share this with you.  Even if we had received such a letter, there is no way I am relinquishing my right to sue her for damages or my right to free speech.  Everything contained in this post about my story is true and does not constitute libel or defamation.  Any censorship will be regarded and treated as a infringement of my Charter right.  Good luck, Anneliese - I hope to keep you on your toes at least for the next two years during which the limitation period on my right to sue you runs.  

[jsl714]

My post only contains the truth and my personal experience with this company.  I am only writing to warn potential future customers so they can protect themselves from having to deal with this company in the future.

I rented a few items from Anneliese Banniger, owner of this "company", for my wedding in July.  She was initially very enthusiastic and warm when I expressed interest.  I gave a deposit of about 30% when I met with her.  It then took me a week to receive an invoice for the amount that I paid and then when I wanted to make some changes to my order, she was not responsive at all.  She either did not respond or promised to send me invoices and never followed through.  3 weeks before the wedding, I contacted her to pick up my items.  She said she was going on vacation but she would arrange for someone to be there so that I could pick up the items.  She said she would send me an email with my balance outstanding and the contact information and location for pick up.  This all sounded great but I never received the email.  A week later, I called her to follow up and she said she would send me all the information in "20 minutes".  2 hours later, I still didn't receive anything and we called back.  She told us to come the next day to pick everything up and thank goodness we were able to do so on such short notice.  After driving 1 hour to Oakville, she told me she didn't have all the jars I ordered (we were missing just over 50 jars) but she said she would deliver them to our venue on our wedding day.  I trusted her and paid her the full amount for all the items including the yet to be delivered jars in cash.  

On our wedding day, my coordinator told me she couldn't find the jars that were supposed to be delivered by Anneliese.  She called her many times but no one picked up and the voicemail was full.  She and the waiters searched high and low at my venue and could not locate them.  We had to improvise last minute and find other items to use.  I called Anneliese after the wedding and she said that she had a delivery slip that said the items were delivered to my venue and a person named "Mark" signed off on the delivery at 11:30am.  I emailed my venue and the coordinator said no one by the name of Mark was on their payroll.  I called Anneliese again and she said "Oh, I have a slip that it was delivered to the street of my venue but maybe not the venue itself - it could have been somewhere else".  I then got an email from her saying they "recovered the jars" but I have yet to see the "signed delivery slip", speak to "Mark", or hear about where they allegedly picked the jars up from.  She couldn't tell me where they were dropped off at but somehow have the jars back in her possession.  My guess is that she never had the quantity of jars I ordered in the first place but charged me for them anyway and never had any intention of delivering them.  Again, this is only my best guess at what happened.  We will never know the truth at this point.

I then told her I wasn't delivering the other rental items back to her since she failed to live up to her end of the bargain and she accused me of using the undelivered jars as an "excuse" for  not returning the items.  Actually, it is the exact reason.  She said she would refund me for the jars but wasn't going to send a crew out to pick up the items.  To this day, I have yet to see a refund.  

I sent her an email after our conversation saying that if she wanted her items back she would have to come to pick them up and I also expect my refund back for the jars.  I only asked for a refund of the undelivered items and not everything which I thought was reasonable.  Any reputable company that knows how to run a business would be apologetic and offer to refund the entire amount.  In this case, I have also yet to hear any sort of apology from her.

In the midst of this, I wrote a review on Yelp which has since been taken down.  In her response to my email, she threatened me with legal action if I did not take my reviews down.  We set a date to meet to transfer the items back to her and I expressed that I expected my refund.  When we met yesterday, she did not have the money with her and I refused to give her back the items.  She physically opened my car door and tried to forcefully take the items back.  I slammed the car shut and asked her not to touch my car.  I also informed her that she is trespassing and asked her to leave.  She stood in front of my car and would not let me leave.  She then proceeded to call the police to report her items "stolen".  She clearly has no grasp of the law since this is entirely a civil matter at this point and the police (a) were not coming any time soon and ( once they got here they wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

We waited with her for the police to arrive but after an hour, my husband and I decided that despite our rage, it wasn't worth it and that I couldn't waste my time any longer.  We offered to give her the items back without the money.  She asked us to drive it towards her because the police told her to get off our private property and so we did.  She asked us to unload everything and put it on the curb but we refused and insisted she move it herself.  She then asked me to call the police to tell them they no longer needed to come.  Yes, you read that right.  She called the police on us then asked us to call them back to tell them that they no longer needed to come.  She then said we would be receiving a letter from her lawyer offering to give us our refund for the undelivered items if we agreed to take no further legal action against her and to remove all negative reviews of her company.  Since we never received the letter like we were promised (no surprise there), I can share this with you.  Even if we had received such a letter, there is no way I am relinquishing my right to sue her for damages or my right to free speech.  Everything contained in this post about my story is true and does not constitute libel or defamation.  Any censorship will be regarded and treated as a infringement of my Charter right.  Good luck, Anneliese - I hope to keep you on your toes at least for the next two years during which the limitation period on my right to sue you runs.  

[Recy]

Wow!