A Dallas-based wedding videography company is under fire for refusing to refund a couple after the bride-to-be passed away before their wedding day.
Justin Montney and Alexis-Athena Wyatt were set to tie the knot in May. Tragically, Wyatt died in a car crash in early February, leaving Montney heartbroken.
Montney soon began contacting all their vendors to cancel arrangements, the majority of whom gave him refunds. One of their vendors, Copper Stallion Media, refused to refund the $1,800 (R31 241) fee the couple had already paid as it was against their policy and the couple had signed a legally-binding contract.
“We replied and expressed our sympathy and explained to him that all of our wedding contracts are non-refundable,” said the company online. “He kept emailing us trying to get a refund and we kept reiterating that the contract is non-refundable. We eventually stopped responding since the issue was moot.”
Montney continued to reach out to the company and after not hearing from them for months, said he would post about their refusal to refund him on social media. Copper Stallion Media then threatened to sue Montney, as well as Wyatt’s family for a negative review Wyatt’s mother had posted on The Knot.
Montney then reached out to a local television station to share his side of the story, along with screenshots of the conversation between him and the company. According to the screenshots, Copper Stallion Media had a few harsh comments, writing “we hope you sob and cry all day for what would have been your wedding day. Sorry, not sorry.” The story quickly sparked outrage.
there’s really people like this in the world. I hope no one hires them and they lose their business pic.twitter.com/OosZZcYaX6
— Tyler. (@Tyler_Macin17) May 24, 2020
According to Buzzfeed, Copper Stallion Media allegedly retaliated by creating a website called JustinMontney.com, on which they state they are building a case against Montney and accuse him of fueling a smear campaign against them, as they have received many negative reviews online since the story broke.
“We will NEVER refund Justin Montney even with the online threats and harassment… If we knew he was going to shake us down, we would have charged a higher deposit,” they allegedly wrote on the site. “Life is a b**ch, Justin.”
The content on the site has since been removed and replaced with a Youtube embed of the song ‘Disillusioned’ by A Perfect Circle.
Buzzfeed also reports that The Knot Worldwide recently discovered that the accounts for Copper Stallion on The Knot and Wedding Wire sites were created under a false identity by a man named Jesse J. Clarke.
There are suspicions that Jesse J. Clarke, the creator of those pages, may also be Jesse J. Clark, a videographer who in 2013 was accused of scamming about 90 couples by not delivering wedding videos as promised, while pocketing their payments.
“As soon as we became aware, we took immediate action and removed Copper Stallion Media from our marketplaces on The Knot and WeddingWire,” the company said.
“We are conducting a thorough investigation across our sites to determine if there are any other businesses that have been created under false identities by individuals associated with Copper Stallion Media and will take quick action to remove any listings that are found,” the Knot said.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family pay for funeral expenses, and over US$15,000 (R260 349) has already been raised.
Feature image: Unsplash
