Long Before Bridal Shop Owners Vanished, Customers Complained They Were Cheated
Customers at Isabella’s Wedding Center, the bridal store on Coney Island Avenue, described shady business practices years before the owners abruptly closed shop and vanished along with cash and dresses from several wedding parties.
As we reported last week, several brides-to-be are seeking compensation from the store after the owners disappeared with their deposits. The wedding parties are also scrambling to ready new dresses in time for the big day.
A review of the Better Business Bureau’s website as well as the wedding center’s Yelp page reveals complaints against the store go back at least three years, including allegations that the staff sprang hidden fees on their customers and then intimidated them when they protested.
One Yelp review, submitted at the end of August, said one of the owners refused to refund their deposits after an employee ordered the wrong dress.
After arguing with the owners about getting a refund for the dress, he pointed out that his son is a lawyer and if we wish to take him to court we are welcome to do so. Pointing out that we will spend a lot of money on court proceedings and he will be happy to refund the money if the judge orders him to.
The Yelper said the owner then pulled out a Police Benevolent Association (PBA) card, which are given out by one of the unions that represent officers in the NYPD, to show he also had a connection in law enforcement.
According to the New York Department of State, the business opened in 2000 at the corner of West 6th Street and Avenue U in Gravesend. It’s unclear when the store moved to its last location on Coney Island Avenue, between Avenue T and Avenue S. The registration was filed by Isabella Gleyzer, who some former customers said ran the store with her husband.
The Better Business Bureau recorded three complaints against Isabella’s Wedding Center — for issues related to advertising and sales, delivery of products, and problems with service — since 2014. Details about the complaints were not available on the bureau’s website.
However, after scrolling through the business’ Yelp page, a picture emerges of stingy business owners who would lure in customers with low prices and hit them with extra fees when the bill came due.
“If I could give this place zero stars I would,” wrote Yelper Estelí P. “Getting my bridesmaid dress for a friends wedding from this place was one of the most stressful and nastiest experiences of my shopping life.”
The reviewer said the owner refused to hand over her bridesmaid’s dress until the the entire party had paid in full — a detail that was not provided when the party placed their order. The groom was forced to go to the store and put the entire group’s dresses on his credit card before the store gave up the dresses.
“Prices are NOT as they appear online. If you order over the phone or in store he adds on a fee. The only reason we chose it was because it appeared cheaper, in the end it wasn’t and wouldn’t have been worth the $30 savings anyway,” Estelí P wrote.
Yelp user Freddy V. had similar things to say about the business:
This place has awful customer service. Shady business tactics to lure you in for low dress prices on the front end and then hit you off with unforeseen backend fees.
If you want your future wife to cry over the process of finding dresses for her bridesmaids, come shop here and see if you can ruin the entire wedding experience.
Several other reviewers said they were forced to dispute the charges on their credit cards in order to get their deposits refunded after their dresses arrived damaged or stained, or when their orders weren’t even delivered.
Victoria Viviani, one of the brides hoping to reclaim a $1,000 deposit after the owners disappeared in December, said she wished she would have heeded the Yelp reviews.
“They always say go with your gut. And I had gone home that day and I had looked at the reviews and I was like: ‘Oh, god. What did I just get myself into?’ But we happened to have a really great experience with Isabella. So I placed the order,” she said.
This isn’t the first time this year that a Brooklyn bridal shop has closed abruptly — leaving brides stranded. In August, PIX11 reported that Kelly’s Kreations, a wedding store in Bensonhurst, shut down and the owners absconded with at least one woman’s $3,000 deposit on her wedding gown.
That business’s Yelp page is also dominated by reviews about nightmarish interactions with the staff.