Bridal Registry tips.
Avoiding scams
at the wedding registry.
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Wedding Planning Gift Registry Advice
How To Choose Your
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Bridal registry tips, and how to avoid wedding registry scamsIn This Section: Wedding registry advice to save you time and effort. Warnings and scams that some wedding registries stores will try on you and your guests. Definitions and problems to be aware of, the truth about bridal registry "Sales", logistical issues, and money saving tips. All the caveats to avoid, questions to ask, and what you should have included in your contract. We'll also show you how you can setup your own custom honeymoon registry so your guests can chip in to pay for your airfare, hotels, and excursions. It's the hottest trend in honeymoon planning. Be sure to read our in depth article about online bridal registries: How To Use Online Gift Registries. One area of wedding planning that you the bride may can get taken for a ride is the bridal registry at some department stores. Even most of the better bridal bargain books, bridal magazines, or wedding web sites overlook advice on bridal registries. If they do give you any "advice", it's all fluffed up and completely useless to all but the dumbest of people. Why is this? So they don't alienate their advertisers. Department stores are difficult to deal with sometimes, with verbal "promises" made by store clerks at the wedding registry. That's why many brides have ditched department stores altogether, registering their gift list with online sites. The attraction of these online bridal registry sites is that everything is in writing online, so there are no weasel clauses for salespeople to pull on you, and online bridal registries have the same great products as department stores without the overhead of high mall rent. You can register in online gift registries for china, flatware, barbecue, electronics, DVD players, just like you are standing in a store, while sitting at your home computer. Your wedding guests can view your wedding gift registry online, buy and ship your gifts directly to you, avoiding hassles of visiting the bridal registry at the store, and fighting the crowds. Bridal Registry Time Saving Tip!Before you go running off to Macy's department store and use up your valuable time, it's much easier for you to start your wedding registry online at Macy's wedding registry, or Linens N'Things Gift Registry. Choose your items for wedding gift registry online and build your gift list. Then if you decide to head to the store to see China patterns in person, at least your bridal registry will be created, and you won't have to hunt for wedding registry clerks and wait a half hour while they create your bridal registry and type in all your info that you could have done yourself online from home. You might find one department store in a chain has a better bridal registry than others, better knowledge and skill of the employees in the wedding department. We've heard many brides complain of one store in a chain, while the other stores had great wedding gift registries. With our wedding planning advice, you can overcome difficulties, making your wedding registry experience enjoyable. Some of the bridal registry scams pulled on us are much more than accidental. Our wedding guests relayed common concerns for guests shopping at a bridal registry. View our listing of common bridal registry complaints in our companion article All About Online Gift Registries And Using Them Effectively. Now is the time you should also get your Official New Bride Name Change Kit with easy to use forms and checklists to help you change your Social Security records, drivers license, vehicle title, voter registration, passport, credit cards, banking, insurance, medical, and employment records. Most agencies want to be notified within 30 days of your wedding. Don't put off your name changing until the end, have it ready now. Some department stores did not give us written documentation explaining policy on bridal registrations. Because of this, sales associates can (and did in our case) say whatever they want and claim later you misinterpreted them. I have a photographic memory, being en electrical engineer. Another problem you may find is sales associates in department store bridal registries for some reason have no grip on their pricing. There is no quick way for them to look up prices. That's pretty amazing since I could rattle off the top of my head the price of every bottle of wine and liquor in the wine shop I worked in during college. It often takes wedding registry salespeople forever to lookup a price which they should know anyway, they blame the computer, they can't find the wedding china pattern in the price book. Call me old fashioned, but if I was a wedding registry sales clerk selling the same 20 china patterns from the same display case day in and day out for months at a time, I'd have all the information ready just in case on the off chance a customer were to wonder what the price was on an item in their wedding registry. But that's just me. |
To play the bridal registry place setting price game, you need to know the shifting definitions that some gift registry stores use. If you thought the car pricing game was a scam, wait until you see the suggested pricing games for China at wedding registries. Here is a description of different pricing terms, and how some wedding registry salespeople dance around the meanings:
There should be at least 5 pieces in a place setting. But verify that you and the salespeople at the wedding registry have the same definition for place setting to avoid ugly surprises after the wedding. Verify how many pieces are included in your place setting and for what price, and make sure it's in writing or they'll claim you misunderstood them. It's amazing how someone far less educated than you always assumes that you misread them. God forbid wedding gift registry associates admit they quoted the wrong price. Sometimes they show several pieces on display, but only half those pieces form the place setting, the other half is a-la-carte. Verify a written description of what is included in a place setting. When you register online at Macy's wedding registry, or Linens N'Things Gift Registry this is not a problem, as everything is in black and white.
MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price)
This is just what it implies. It's a shame American businesses still insult shoppers with this terminology, it's a meaningless number. Typically, department stores advertise a price that is less than MSRP to make you think you are getting a good deal. We prefer "street price", or everyday price. BIG SCAM: When you see department stores advertising 50% off sales, your are typically not getting 50% off their normal price. In fact, most of the time you are getting no savings at all! You're getting 50% off the bogus MSRP price that most stores never charge. Online gift registries like the macys bridal registry of course have the price listed online.
Everyday "Low Price"
For lack of a better word. This is the price that department stores will have on the display shelves in their wedding registry and other departments. They may show
the bogus MSRP price as a 'reference', and show their "everyday low price" to create the illusion that you are saving a lot of money. In reality, the price is not
far from their competitor's price up the street, and usually more than a manufacturer's outlet store. Most department store bridal registries have similar
"everyday low prices" on their china patterns. They all tout that their price is the best, when in reality all the local wedding registries might all be the same
price. Again, the price is shown online at
Linens N'Things Gift Registry.
It's all part of the cleverly thought out "make the customer think they got a bargain" game. The bridal registry on the other side of the mall may have it even cheaper. "Everyday low price" should really be called "street price", or their normal selling price. Do not let your brain trick you with the word "low" in that phrase, it does not mean "lowest" price, it just means it's low compared to MSRP. The lowest price probably exists somewhere else, and unless you shop around, you'll never know.
The prices are discounted from MSRP, but don't be blindly swayed by the everyday low price, just because it is far less than MSRP. Especially in Florida, many department stores and furniture stores love to skirt the law by claiming doing this in their ads:
This Week Only! 50% OFF!*
Then when you hunt for the asterisk, the fine print says "Savings based on MSRP. We never sell at MSRP". If truthfully written, their ads would really tell you this:
You're getting 50% off*. then look for the asterisk: *No you're not
How many people would buy then? It's misleading because if stores really don't ever sell at MSRP, then you're really not saving 50%. In fact we monitor many store "sales" inserts in the paper, and some prices never change, so it's really not a sale.
Sales Price:
This is where they get you brides if you are not paying attention. Browse the China at department store bridal registries and you'll see signs next to selected patterns that say "Sale 40% off". Well this "40% off" is really off the overly inflated MSRP. In many cases, this so called sale price is higher than the store's "everyday low price"! We see many examples of this so stay sharp! Watch the prices at all the stores for a month get familiar, watch for their pricing shell games, then go choose the wedding registry store you will sign with. As you browse at each of the china patterns to add to your wedding gift registry, ask the sales associate what price you are getting, and where it fits in the scheme of things. Is it everyday low price, sales price, or an MSRP? Will your guests be guaranteed a price? Will they put it in writing? Where is their written documentation that explains their bridal registry program? As an example, our china pattern is the Royal Doulton Biltmore. The MSRP was $185, which is ridiculous and of course nobody sells it for that, and the store's "everyday low price" was $119 per place setting.
The
Major Brands
The well known brands of
china that most people look for are Mikasa China, Lennox China, Noritake
China, Waterford Crystal, and Wedgewood China. For cookware, the popular
names are Cuisinart and Calphalon. For flatware, Oneida is one of the
biggest names. Some people go for sterling silver flatware, some go for
stainless steel flatware.
CONSUMER
ALERT
Here are some scams pulled on us at a wedding registry, as the bride and groom and guests buying the gift all pay the price
They
may tell you that your wedding guests can buy china for a low price, but
they get charged MSRP
They pulled that on 2 of
our guests and would not budge from the ridiculously overpriced $185 MSRP
price even though they were reminded that we are registered there and were
"promised" the $119 "everyday low price." A
contract would have come in real handy here. Contracts are good at jogging
people's memory. The guests ended up not buying the china,
and angered, they left the wedding registry, went to a competing department store to buy us a different
gift. Good for them. I would have done the same. This scam is very
easy for wedding registries to pull on your guests, because you can't be there
to police them. This is just one group of wedding businesses that like to
scam brides, whose attention is focused on the whole ethereal aura of their
wedding, instead of watching whose got their claws in your purse. There's
no pricing games online.
This is a big problem for many brides as up to 70% of the gifts in some weddings are not from the bride's wedding registry gift list. This means the newlywed couple is stuck bringing back a ton of gifts that they did not want. Why does this happen? How could this happen?!! The clerks make it seem like everything will be automatic and peachy. So how could it happen? For the same reasons that it happened to us. Too many of our guests told us they were frustrated dealing with the store, the clerks were too busy, they could not find any of the gifts, items had no pricing, the bridal gift registry had inaccurate counts, when people bought wedding gifts they were not deducted from the gift registry. When your wedding guests buy through your online Macys bridal registry, the items are automatically deducted from the gift registry. The complaints go on and on. Usually the guest just leaves, goes to a competing store and buys a stupid glass candle holder. Then you end up with a dozen stupid glass candle holders you never wanted that aren't on your bridal registry. Even worse, guests try to get the "closest" pattern of towels or dish ware off your wedding registry, and it just ends in disaster.
In the week of the wedding, different guests paid different amounts china patterns in our bridal registry. I refuse to believe the price changed on a daily basis, something was just plain wrong. We did not want our wedding guests to remember our wedding from getting ripped off buying us a gift. We had NEVER seen the wedding registry at that store charge $185 for our pattern and we had been watching the price for several months. You can see why guests were insulted, others had just paid $119 for our settings only 2 days before. How do they get "every day low price" from the MSRP of $185? This is why we prefer the factory direct stores, they don't play shell games with the pricing, they just give you one honest to goodness low price. And they have plenty of sets in mint condition. Don't let department store wedding registry clerks dismiss the outlet stores as trash, and all defects, they are not. How could they say that when they probably never went into an outlet store?
They neglect to tell you
the FINE PRINT. That's because
there is nothing in print to begin with, allowing them to make up their
own verbal fine print on the fly. After the wedding I asked the sales
clerk about my "10% discount on the china patterns", this lady who seemed
not so bright 5 minutes before, suddenly became Johnny Cochran: Contract
Lawyer, and informed me that I have to purchase the ENTIRE remaining
items from our bridal registry list to qualify for the discount.
Well heck, that's a lot of stuff to buy since our frustrated guests went elsewhere
to buy most of our gifts. This is not what they told us months before
when we first registered. Don't let this happen to you.
BridalTips.com Consumer Alert: When Is A China Sale Not A Sale?When
they put "Sale" signs on selected china patterns to make you think you
are getting a deal.
What? How can this be? Our $185 Royal Doulton Biltmore had the store's everyday low price of $119. Three guests bought the place setting for $119 and I went in after the wedding to buy one also. I saw a "30% off sign" next to our pattern. Foolish me, I thought 30% off the every day $119, I would pay $83. The sales clerk said "Oh, no, that's 30% off the $185 MSRP". That's $129.50, more than their so called $119 "everyday low price"! When I complained loud enough she finally caved in and offered to sell them to me for the everyday low price of $119. But too angry, I left and paid $72 (40% less) over at the Royal Doulton outlet store at the Sawgrass Mills Mall. We bought more at the other Royal Doulton outlet store in Orlando when we went to Disney World a few months later. GO online where the pricing is known. |
Why all the pricing shell games at wedding registries? They all know your wedding is a once in a lifetime event and that makes gouging justifiable. Sometimes the sales signs are a way for them to squeeze more profit out of you and your guests, while at the same time making you think you saved money. They have marketing people whose job it is to think of new ways to draw you into the store using advertising terminology that causes your brain to trick you. Every one in a while the Attorney General of your state steps in and fines a few of them, gives them a slap on the wrist, reads them the riot act on what they can and cannot say in the advertising, then forces them to sign an agreement promising they will never do it again, or else they will get another angry letter from the state Attorney General. The whole charade is a joke. Until some cake eating marketing VP at one of these companies is sent away for some serious jail time, these scams will go on indefinitely.
Issues you may
face while shopping for your bridal registry:They
don't tell you the stores keep no stock of china
When I wanted to buy a place
setting from the wedding registry, they told me it would be 6 weeks! I had to keep interrogating
her, why don't you have stock? Why don't the other stores have stock?
Why does your central warehouse not have stock? I was asking the same questions
from different angles before she admitted the stores do not keep any stock.
Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but what if a guest showed up
at the last minute to buy a setting and wanted to give it to you at the
wedding? Ask your sales clerk how many place settings are in stock when
you are there. At least if you go to a factory outlet store, they
have the stock. Don't waste your the time of your wedding guests.
Let them order your china and other wedding gifts off your online wedding
registry from the store you choose.
When
your wedding guests shop the store to buy your gifts, many items on your bridal
registry won't be found
This was a huge source of
frustration for our family. I went with my sisters to the wedding registry to buy some of the gifts. But figure our outrageous fortune, when
not one item on the list was in stock! Not one! Not one single
item on a 2 page list. The salespeople
were not much help either on a busy Saturday. It took them longer than it took us to determine
the items just were not there. We only registered 4 months before, how
could they not be there? We ended up helping my sisters choose alternate
gifts for us. This may happen to you, so try to find out if the items you
choose will still be there when your guests go shopping for them. Usually
wedding registry salespeople wont know, they are just pawns in the vast retail game.
If they really had any insight into the bigger picture of inventory, they
would not be sales clerks; they would be buyers or managers. We learned
our lesson. Next time, don't register until 1-2 months before the
wedding. Inventory changes rapidly so don't register too long in
advance, the items may not be there come judgment day.
Bridal registry service is usually slow, avoid them on
Saturdays and Sundays
I know it sounds like we are
whining, but many salespeople are so slow. They sell the China and glassware
every day so why don't they know the prices, and why can't they find them when
guests print out the list to buy the gifts? Saturdays and Sundays are the worst
days to go, because they are packed with guests buying gifts for the day's
wedding, all of whom are vying for the sales clerk's attention. Then you have
other brides who want to register and you usually see a few pairs of brides and
moms looking very impatient, and there is no where to sit down, and feet get
sore. Every single time we've been to a registry at a store we hear some
woman either swearing out loud that there's no help, or they are yelling at the
help for being no help. Sometimes there's only one or two wedding registry sales clerks
running all over the place, and if they were more organized, they might be able
to answer questions in a timely manner. Forget about the stores hiring more
sales people, retail America is down sizing to save money. Your best bet is to
go register online first, then go in on a week night or afternoon, or best case, opening time during the
week. If you must go on the weekend, visit when
the store opens. Call ahead to see if you need an appointment first. You would
hate to drive out there to find the "Bridal Consultant" at the wedding
registry is out today.
It's not all doom and gloom. Register with online sites, where it's all in black in white, the guest sees one price on the screen that does not change at the whim of the salesperson, it's easier, and saves your guests time and money.
Ask the store for a written policy.
Now you won't be stuck with
any empty verbal promises. If there is a problem, you will always have
something in writing to fall back on that they cannot get out of. If they
quote you a price for the china, get it in writing. If they say the
bride gets a discount, get all the details in writing. If they don't
give you anything in writing, go to a store that will, or try the online
sites. If they say they don't have a written policy, then run, don't walk
out of there now! How can you trust a business with a $5000 registry for
goods and services if they don't have a contract? Quite simply, you
can't. It does not matter how "big" or how "reputable" the store
is, or that they "have been doing it like this for years with no problems",
get it in writing.
Advance
shop BEFORE you register.
The bride and groom should
spend a Saturday going to 3-5 department store wedding registries, just to get a feel for
what they want together, and price the expensive items they want like china
and cookware. Once you know the general pricing and who has the best
price, that's the store to thing about registering with. You should
also choose your pattern before you go to register so your appointment
will go quick and smooth. Try to know in advance which items you'll
want on your gift list.
Try
to negotiate prices and have them put in writing.
Some stores my be running
promotions, and you will want to lock in the price. Maybe if you offer
to purchase a minimum number of place settings they will cut you a better
deal on pricing.
If
your registry or department store is not being honest, or you don't like
them, don't sign up. Register
for china in an outlet store.
After our bad experience, we went to the Royal Doulton factory outlet store and bought
more of our place settings for $72, including tax. This applies to other
manufacturers like Mikasa, Waterford, etc. If you have outlet malls nearby,
I bet you'll find a factory outlet store. Here in Fort Lauderdale the Sawgrass
Mills outlet mall has Royal Doulton, Mikasa, and Waterford Wedgewood. Near
Disney World in Orlando off the turnpike is the Belz Factory outlets, several
blocks of outlet stores that have china outlets too. Some items supposedly
did not make the grade from the factory (that's why they are in the outlet
stores). But we had no problem at
all finding the our last 3 place settings in perfect shape, plus additional
a-la-carte items that were half the cost of the department store. So if
department store clerks pull their Jedi mind tricks on you and tell you
that the outlet stores have all flawed china, and you won't be able to
complete your set, they are lying big time. All of our pieces were
in mint condition, and yes the outlet stores do have some items with a
small imperfection, but they are usually on the bottom, and small enough
that you really have to search to see them. But most of their stuff
is in mint condition, or just plain old closeouts, and it's easy to complete
your set. Register your china in the outlet stores, and register the rest
of your wish list of gifts in the department stores. You'll save your guests
lots of money, headaches, and you may end up with more place settings.
Use
gift money to go buy your china after the wedding
Don't register for china
at all, and use the gift money from the wedding to go to an outlet store
afterwards to buy whatever china you want, at half the department store
price!! Man, I'm a genius! Or is it genuine ass? Of course, I still
think you're better off putting that money to work in an investment account and
buy a house with it later on.
Try
registering at Target Bridal Registry or similar discounted stores
Many of these stores have
bridal registries now. They sell plenty of kitchen utensils that are of
competing quality with department stores. Home Depot is very practical
as many couples are moving into their first house, and could use a bunch
of tools, or garden supplies, tiles, carpeting, etc. Also try the bath bed
beyond bridal registry.
Watch
for genuine sales at the department store you registered in
If you see them have the
word spread tactfully amongst your guests that now is the time to go buy from
you wedding registry.
Ask
for gift certificates.
Many times the guests cannot
find items on your registry and a gift certificate really takes the pressure
off them. Then you can go buy what you want when it goes on sale.
Don't
register until 2-3 months before your wedding.
This will reduce the chances
of the store not having items on your list when the guests go to buy your
gifts. Don't worry about guests that will go to buy gifts 3 months
before the wedding because that just does not happen. Most guests wait
until the day before the wedding, or the day of the wedding on their way
to the ceremony to buy the gifts anyway, so 60 days is plenty of time.
Remember our motto, if they don't put it in writing, it means they won't do it!
