My two minor sons rented tuxedos from The Prado Collection, both boys leaving a $45 deposit on each tux. At the time of rental, neither son was given a receipt with a final total but both had been told that all tuxes were one of three prices ($109,119, 129).
When they picked up the tuxes the day of the prom, they each had a large remaining balance (102 and 125, pushing their total expense for tuxedo rental at $147 and $170. The boys paid for the rentals with their own money so they paid the charges and went on to the prom. No problem.
I returned the tuxedos to the rental place and stated to the owner of the place that I wanted an itemized receipt, that I thought the boys had been taken advantage of due to misrepresenting the total of the rental. That was the end of sanity and decorum for Mr. Prado Collection.
The dude went nuts, screaming at me and pointing his mean and miscalculating finger in my face. He repeatedly told me that he had verbally informed the boys of the costs but insinuated that they had lied to me because of the expense. Actually, I think the person who said this was a woman behind the counter holding a little lap dog. I told him that I had been with the younger boy and he insisted that I hadn't been (I had left the deposit on his tux with my credit card).
He refused to give me any type of receipt or documentation of expenses, dismissing me and lecturing me on how I should teach my boys to be more responsible. He actually screamed, "I'm through with you, Longstreth (the boys' surname, not mine) and turned his back on me. When I attempted to clarify the fact that he was refusing to provide a receipt for the rentals, he again screamed, "I told you I was through with you, Longstreth."
I spent over $300 on my daughter's dress at this place then the boys spent over $300 for two tuxedo rentals, yet this man had the audacity to refuse to give me a receipt! And to conduct business with such a begrudging and hateful attitude. He stuck his finger in my face — and screamed at me in front of everyone in the very busy store.
I have two concerns other than my safety when dealing with such a rude and deranged individual:
1) How do I know that I'm getting an actual receipt of rental fees since he knows this is an issue (my husband called him to ask why he treated me so poorly)? Why did he react so violently if he didn't have something to hide?
2) How many poor high school kids has he ripped off because he was unclear about the cost of the rental? Or even if the price is legit, why does this man not supply these kids with an actual rental agreement with total costs?
My boys paid for their own prom so they would have been very much aware that the expensive tuxes were out of their realm had the dude given them a total rental fee.
Another thing, this man screamed at me and intimidated the crap out of me and I'm 50 years old. Think about how easily he could intimidate teens. My boys would never have brought up the difference in perceived price and actual price; they would be embarassed to do so. They simply came up with the money to pay the total like many, many other teens have done I'm sure.
What a jerk! I'm going back today accompanied by a police officier as suggested by the police dispatcher. At least I'll have a witness if he goes off again - and he'll be less likely to spew as much venom as before.
Teens! Beware of people like this!
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