I had been looking to find a wedding gown. I had found heard that there were great stores in New York that had carried beautiful wedding gowns so I thought it was worth a trip down there to get something very special! And that special store was thought to be Le Bella Couture Atelier of Dobbs Ferry. I had called the owner Michelle M Mears and she convinced me to come to her store with her kind act she had assured me that no one else had carried what she had in her store and she said that she was a designer, all of her dresses were custom made.
I travelled and spent allot of money to come down to her store to meet her. I went to the store and found a dress that I loved. She had informed me that it was her own design and it was a one of a kind. Undoubtedly I believed her because the price was pretty hefty. She had told me that she needed 2500 now and 2400 later when the dress was finished. This was on May 08. After her letting me know that the dress would not be available the next day because of high demand.
I was nervous about not being able to get it and went ahead and had paid the deposit 2500 with my Master card. Everything seemed very normal we filled out some papers and did some measurements too. I made her sign the contract stating my dress would be done in 14 weeks and then the deal was done I left thinking I was happy and was going to receive a dress.
Since the visit I had E mailed her numerous times and I had called everyday. I also left many messages on her phone. I tried calling her because I was wondering why she was not calling me for the other deposit of 2500. So after trying to call her again I started getting worried, After I did a little online research with the Better Business Bureau and found hat she had 12 disputes I didn't know if that was normal so I checked out other bridal stores and they had 0 complaints. Then I looked at another website that had reviews and found to least 30 horror stories about people being scammed.
After all the research and to make matters worse I found that she had lied and the dress she had ordered that she said was her' own creation 'was actually from a company that had made the dresses Michelle had ripped the tags out of my dress and had claimed that is was a one of a kind. I found out the dress only cost 1000 and she is trying to charge me 5000. Another disturbing fact is that I also found out that Michelle had moved location and packed up and left changed names and didn't bother to call to let me know she had moved?
I franticly searched all over the net for her and finally found her new Website and store location now called Alexia Bridal Couture Atelier in Yonkers. She had not even called me and let me know that she had moved. Michelle had promised bi - monthly meetings on the phone. She still has not called me. So when finally got a hold of her by calling her appointment line with a private number, a woman picked up and I started crying. The woman said that Michelle and the others do not work there anymore and she does not deal with them. She said the bad reviews were other bridal stores writing blogs and none of them were true and that they were jealous.
She said she would find my order and call me back. I hung up and didn't really believe the story so I called back and asked for Michelle in a different voice and to no surprise the ' worker' said oh one minute!!! I had caught her in a lie!!! Michelle is still the owner and no one took them over. I started crying to Michelle because I was feeling scammed. She hung up on me and I proceeded to call back several hundred times until the worker picked up and she said Michelle ran out of the store.
My dress was to be done in October and I still have not received any phone calls or E mails. After realizing I had been scammed of my deposit of 2500 shockingly I0 days later I was surprised to find that Michelle M. Mears had STOLEN my Master Card number and unlawfully charged $4000.00 USD without permission or cause. She had just crossed the line now and had committed credit card FRAUD! Now we are disputing the case with MasterCard and I will be pressing charges against her ASAP. This is very said because this woman has preyed on countless venerable women.
I will be pressing charges and notifying the authorities to what this woman has done.in all of this so far I have lost 7000 (because I have to buy a new dress now) due to this fraud. The woman's name is Michelle M Mears but she also goes by the name Lena or Lee. She pretends that Michelle 'herself' does not work there anymore...
I have a very disturbing website for you to check out to see all the unlucky ladies such as myself. I just want the public to know about her and to protect themselves from such a terrible person, thief and scam artist.
How she is still in business baffles me???
Angry Bride
Lauren Thomson
Similar Horror Stories-
Project Wedding Website with complaints
Wedding Wire
Old store
Le Bella Couture Atelier
Neighborhood: Dobbs Ferry
24 Main St
Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522-2121
New store
Alexa Bridal Couture Atelier
1900 Central Park Avenue
Yonkers, NY 10710
Www.alexabridalcoutureatelier.com
Alexa Bridal Couture Atelier
Tannedbeauty80
Windsor, Ontario
Canada
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