On October 8, 2009, I dropped off several items to be consigned with It’s a Bridal Thing. At the time, it was located on 7512 E Independence Blvd, Suite 104, Charlotte, NC 28227. I spoke with the owner, Sonya Fogle, and she agreed to sell three items for me: a wedding dress, a veil, and a tiara.
I then heard nothing else from her, except for when I would email her to get a status update. I wasn’t sure how consigning items worked, but I thought it odd that once she took the items, she stopped communicating. When I would ask her how they were doing, she would simply reply that they hadn’t sold yet but they were still for sale.
On August 8, 2010 (almost a year after I dropped off the items), I emailed her asking for yet another status update and she asked if I’d like to reduce the prices. I’d never even been told what the prices were. I asked her to please let me know what they were on sale for, and she responded that she’d set the prices at $60 for the tiara, $180 for the dress and $50 for the veil. She recommended we not drop the prices, so I told her that was fine to leave them as-is.
I emailed her a few times over the next year, always with the same response: that the items had not sold.
On August 1 of this year, I emailed her for another update. I had a red flag when the email (sent to sonyafogle@metrolivinghs.com) was returned. I googled her shop, found a new email address for her, and forwarded our exchange to her at the new address, sonya@itsabridalthing.com. She responded back that she would research the items and get back to me. On August 12, she emailed me this message:
Melissa: I cannot seem to find a file for you. Did you return the forms. What three items were consigned? Thanks, Sonya
Considering we had been in contact several times during the past two years, I was surprised that she was acting as if she had no clue who I was. But I chalked it up to bad organization skills and I reminded her of the items. She said she would research them and get back to me.
Later in the day, I received this message from Sonya:
Yes, the dress I have located. It is still on display. It has been difficult to sell due to sizing. It is cut very small in relation to the tag size displayed. We usually sell wedding gowns in 7 – 10 months. The gown is liked by many because they think it has a vintage look. I don’t know that we are going to be able to sell the gown. We can release the gown back to you. I need to research the veil and tiara.
I responded back for her to let me know once she’d researched the other items and we would figure out what to do at that point. I was confused by the seemingly conflicting notions that many liked the gown, however, they were unable to sell it. I was also disappointed that the items had been sitting for two years, diminishing their value.
I waited until August 26, and I emailed her again to please give me a status update regarding the veil and tiara. She responded back that day:
I hadn’t forgotten about you. I apologize I am getting down to the wire on a wedding I am planning on this weekend. I was able to locate the veil and tiara… I am leaving at 3pm this afternoon to head to a wedding for the weekend. But as soon as I return, I will be able to assemble these items for you next week to release the consignment back to you. I am to return to the office on Tuesday. I will be in touch at the start of next week. Thanks for your patience.
My patience had waned by that point, and I told her that in a message sent to her that day. I asked her to please get them back to me the following week. I heard nothing in return. I sent emails on Sept. 9, Sept. 19, Sept. 20. I told her if she did not return my items in a timely manner, I would be contacting the authorities. On Oct. 6, I asked her via email to please send $290 to cover the fees in lieu of returning the items.
During the month of September, with my suspicians raised, I did some online research and discovered that others had been unhappy with her as well. Apparently Ms. Sonya Fogle has a habit of taking items to sell and then not selling or returning the items. I found a negative review on their facebook page, which has since been erased. There’s a negative review written on yellow pages.com and yahoo.com from a girl who seems to have had the exact same experience I had. It‘s a Bridal Thing’s web site is no longer working. It was working in August, as that’s how I was able to obtain her new contact information. I had the following phone numbers for Sonya: 800/804-2082, 704/567-2176 (both disconnected), and 704/968-0444 (working.) I left a voice mail for Sonya to return my call on the working number. No response. She has a new facebook page, under the name of It’s a Bridal Thing Too. The information there mentions that she has a shop in Matthews, NC, but does not include an address. I did find her personal Facebook page, which she does seem to keep current.
Additionally, a review written on their google site signed by “Shelly” but with username Sonya (hmm) states that they will rent gowns the day of. Uhm, what? That tells me she could have been renting my items out for the past two years, making money off of them, and I never saw a dime. She never mentioned one word to me about renting my items out. Based on that, I don’t even want the items back – who knows what condition they are in by now. I just want the money, based on what she said they were worth.
Another review left on this site seems to echo my experience:
In September 2010, I left my bridal gown at Sonya Fogle’s store on consignment. It has been almost one year and when I went by to get my dress after she has been eluding me, her business is closed down. I checked with the county’s business office and she officially went out of business in December 2010. She is now claiming that she has a new business in Matthews NC, even giving me an address to meet her. She never showed, there is a different business there, and she does not have a registered business in the county. Now she is avoiding my calls and I cannot get my dress or my money. I am pressing charges against her. Do not trust her. She is a con artist.
So, I’m not sure what to do next. I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I’m sending a copy of this to Action 9, since I’m not the only one with this issue. I hope they can help me get the money that Sonya Fogle owes me!
*Update: After I filed the complaint with BBB and they contacted the business, I finally got a voice mail from Ms. Fogle – from a blocked number. She said “I hope you haven’t been trying to email me, because I’ve been out of town for a month.” She asked me to email her to her personal email (this makes the third email address I now have for her) with my address and she would ship me the items. As she’s had the items for two years, she’s likely been renting them out this whole time without my consent, and who knows what condition they are in, I responded to this third email account that she should just send me the money. I got another call from a blocked number with no voice mail around 8 pm last night; no voice mail but I suspect it was her. Have not heard back from the email yet. Will keep you posted!
Comments
19 responses to “Action 9? Better Business Bureau? All I know, is don’t trust this woman with your items …”
Wow, doesn’t that just burn you up. My photographer fell off the face of the earth with out a refund and 2 of my albums. I was just thankful I got my one wedding album and my negatives. Then I couldn’t find her again. I also contacted Action 9 but they couldn’t help me. I hope you get better results!
Man, you just can’t trust people anymore!!! I hope you get your money!
The same thing happened to me. Let me know if you go to Action 9 – I will go with you!
@Stephanie, I’m so sorry to hear that happened to you, too. Sonya emailed me yesterday saying she was going to cut me a check. I will believe it when I’ve cashed the check and have money in hand.
Here is the link to my better business bureau complaint – I basically copied/pasted this blog post. I wonder if you can update it with your complaint as well?
http://charlotte.app.bbb.org/complaint/view/427484/c/t2hv3x
When did this happen to you? Have you heard from her at all?
@Melissa – I saw one number that you listed that I didn’t have (the working number) and left a voicemail today. I have not emailed her since September since I was getting no replies. Did you ever have any contact with someone named Leah? I had emails from her, too. Please let me know about the check if you get it. I’d like to know that SOMEONE has some justice! Which email did you receive a response from? Did she say your items sold, or is she just refunding you?
I already complained to BBB, but will tag on to yours if the site will allow me. Hopefully, my complaint will support yours and we can get something done. If she does not refund me, I will press charges. She has more than $500 worth of items from me.
I have been “working” with Sonya since September 2010. My troubles with getting my money started in May.
http://www.charlotte.bbb.org/complaint/view/427687/c/f72n7e. is the link to my complaint with the BBB that I filed yesterday.
@Stephanie – I read your complaint, omigosh it makes me so mad she did that to you too! Especially having sold your items! The next email address she gave me was [email protected]. I emailed her yesterday to confirm she’d mailed the check and she replied saying she’d “heard” it had been sent through UPS and she’d get the tracking number. I haven’t spoken to Leah but Sonya referenced “the other owner” a couple of times (when she called back to tell me where to email her, and when she emailed me saying she was sending the check) since my BBB complaint so maybe that’s who she’s referring to. Try that new email address – hopefully you will get a response. This is the third email address I’ve had to track down for her over the years!
Melissa, I will do that now! I have also filed a complaint with Action 9 – after I saw how many women who have been ripped off, I got so angry that this woman was taking advantage of us. Especially brides like me, who were planning a wedding and never made it to the altar. 🙁 I posted your blog link on the It’s a Bridal Thing, Too Facebook site where I have seen other women be taken advantage of – your post gave me hope and confirmation that we could get our money/items back.
@Melissa – I just wrote to her at this address and told her I knew she was replying to other customers. Told her I had filed complaints with BBB and Action 9 and she needed to contact me ASAP to avoid further public defamation of her fraudulent business. I am LIVID.
Awesome – let me know if you hear back from her and/or action 9. I never heard back from Action 9 but maybe with multiple complaints they’ll be interested in covering it. Just realized I never answered your question about my items – no, they had not sold, but I told her I had no interest in them anymore and to just send the money. As she’s had them for so long, who knows what condition they are in. Also, I saw on a google sight where someone with the username “Sonya” mentioned that they would rent gowns out for the day of. I never consented to that, and I certainly don’t want my stuff back if who knows how many people have been renting it! That also tells me that she’s been potentially making money off of our stuff even if we haven’t …
Heard from Sonya via phone today – she was very hateful and refused to give me the name of the other business partner. She said that it went out of business and the other partner left everything hanging and she was doing me a favor by being willing to go through boxes. She said her “Christian faith” would not allow her to give the business partner’s number and she was trying to do right. She also said I threatened her as an individual by filing complaints and that she would make my return process harder if I followed through with them because of the time it would take to research and produce documentation. She said there is no business, they are not operating, and she is under no obligation legally to produce anything for me. I asked her to provide the tracking number that she had (said all my stuff was shipped to me via UPS) and it was not her fault if it was not received. I asked if all packages were insured, and she said yes. She is supposedly going to send me the tracking number via e-mail. I don’t believe her. After the way she talked to me today, I am completely infuriated. I REFUSE to let someone treat me like this, but I am halfway tempted to take the more than $1,000 loss not to deal with this dishonest, hateful woman ever again. What a crook.
Melissa, I have full names of both business partners if you’re interested.
Stephanie, I can’t believe how rude she was. I’m so sorry to hear that! I emailed you to get the business partners names – yes, absolutely I’m interested. I emailed Sonya yesterday to ask again for the tracking number for my check. She sent me the tracking number and the package is supposed to arrive by the end of the day. Problem is, it weighs 6lbs, and last I checked, a check shouldn’t weigh that much … I’ll keep you posted …
I am sad to see this. I worked with Sonya for awhile at the store on Independence. I AM NOT the other owner. I was just a store employee. The other “owner”, lives somewhere in SC. I saw her a total of 3 times in my 4 months of working with Sonya. She supposedly was doing floral consultations but, never came to the shop and never helped Sonya financially that I was aware of. I think her name was MOnique but, she did go by another name.
When I came into work one day I was shocked to find half the store packed up. Sonya had told me she was planning on moving locations but, I never suspected it would happen so fast.
This same day she let me know she wasn’t going to need my help until the new location was ready and she would call me.
I haven’t heard from her since…
I know that she has closed her other business, house cleaning, because my inlaws were using her and she abruptly stopped coming to clean.
I am not sure what is going on with her but, whatever it is is not good….
I hope you all can find some resolution to this situation but, with the way I was shoved to the side, I am not sure you will.
@Leah – I have an email from you that said Monique sold my gown. How is this possible if she never came to the shop? I have spoken with Sonya on Friday and she claims I will receive items today that she has shipped to me (despite the fact on Thursday she told me they had already been shipped to me). She also says she doesn’t know if my gown sold or not and that she will be sending me a check if it did. I will believe it when I see it. If you agree that Melissa and I have been duped or taken advantage of, I encourage you to help us by telling us what you know about the bridal items and how they were kept/handled. I have also spoken with the other owner, Monique, by phone on Friday, and she told me she had not spoken to Sonya in over a year. She blamed Sonya, and Sonya blamed you for things “falling through the cracks.” I am not accusing you at all – just reporting what was told to me. I only want everyone’s items to be returned or our money we are owed to be paid to us. This is an easy fix if the business and its owners are, in fact, truly honest people.
@Stephanie-I dealt with many people when I was there so,If I sent an e-mail, saying your gown was sold, it was on Sonya’s request.
As far as I saw, when I was there twice a week, all the items were handled well and kept in good condition. I am not sure about the items once she starting “Moving” to her new location.
Sonya can blame me all she wants but, I only followed through with the directives that she instructed me.
I was really only hired to deal with social media promotion. Sonya started leaving me at the store alone more and more. She would leave me a list of people to call/e-mail and what to tell them. So, if things did “fall through the cracks” it was because I was not given them to deal with.
It’s easy to blame the part-time worker when she was so flustered with things going on with Monique and her house cleaning business.
Like I mentioned in my previous post, I was let go so abruptly that I really had no idea of what her true situation was other than Monique never helped her and she was getting behind on bills/rent.
I will be happy to give you any answers I can.
This situation is so weird and messed-up. I feel sorry for all of you that have been given the run around.
@Leah – thank you so much for your reply. I am starting to get a clearer picture of what happened at this store. I’m sorry for your experience, as well, and I appreciate you replying to my post. I have been amazed with Melissa’s support, and had I never found her blog post, I would have never have known that others were going through what I was going through with this business. It sounds like the business partner did drop the ball, and it got too much to handle for Sonya. I can imagine things get hectic when you are pretty much the sole manager of a business with one part-time employee. While I do not condone what has been done to us, I certainly can see how it could happen. The ethical thing to do, though, is to let people know what is going on. Clear communication would have prevented any of this from happening to Melissa, me, or the other brides I’ve found online complaining about Sonya Fogle. To Sonya’s credit, she sang a different tune when she talked to me on Friday and it seemed as if she was trying to reconcile this situation. Whether or not that’s true, or if that happens, I don’t know. In any case, thank you for your reply, Leah. I really appreciate it and I am sorry that your work with this business was not appreciated or valued. It means a lot to me that you wrote on this post to try and help. Thank you.
Leah, thank you so much for talking to us. I wrote an update on my blog this morning regarding what’s going on, on my end. I’m so disappointed with the way all of this has turned out.
http://melissaoh.com/?p=3830
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