Lack of communication? (Vent)

I went through the same thing with several venues and florists mostly. It's crazy because it's such a time sensitive response. If I don't get answer within 3 days I just move on. I've had vendors email or call me back weeks later. I'm like hey it's kinda late now.

In their defense, they are swamped this time of year. Should they practice better time management? Definitely. I think some vendors don't even respond if they already have the date specified booked.

I had a few issues with this. If I didn't hear back in a week or two, I went above their head to a manager and even up to the owner in one case. There isn't a big vendor selection in my area so finding someone else isn't always an option. Walking into an office or storefront to speak to someone face-to-face has been pretty effective for me.

I completely get this. I think for most of our vendors we have been lucky but some I've never heard from. We booked our venue almost a year ago and a venue I contacted months before booking (so a year if not more ago) contacted me this week asking about my venue needs. I was so tempted to email them back and point out that my request for information was over a year old.

Nothing beats my vendor late response....I almost peed from laughing so hard about it. Yesterday, September 18th, I got a call back from a venue we wanted to look at back in December. When I hade left my message I had stated that we were looking at September 24th of this year. When they called me back yesterday they asked me if I had found a venue yet for my wedding this weekend! I died laughing. How are you going to call a couple the week of thier wedding and ask if they are still looking for a venue? When I told them we had booked a venue months go and had already made the final payment they told me if we changed our mind they have an opening. I laughed so hard when I got off the phone. I couldn't believe they had called for that!

For me, florists were the worst when it came to this. We had a phone call with one, she said she was going to send us some thoughts, she sounded nice enough, she didn't send anything followed up with her, said she was going to send something and I've never heard from her again. I was exchanging emails with another one who I all of a sudden stopped hearing from, I followed up, via email with my name in the email and she responded with a, "hi Denise." I had horrific visions of my wedding flowers going to someone named Denise on the day of my wedding. It blew my mind. I literally hired the first florist who returned my emails and was within our budget. I have no idea how these people stay in busy. I get that they are busy working on weddings they've already booked, but how do they book these weddings in the first place? They don't get back to people. We also had a venue that never got back to us, so we just cut it from the list. All I could thinks was, "I'm trying to give you thousands of dollars, why are you not calling me back for this?!?" I totally hear you, I don't know how people stay in business. I'm getting married in March, typically a time when there aren't a lot of weddings going on, so I thought that would make them want my business more. No.

Yep. I had a lot of this happen to me as well. If I don't hear back within a couple of days, I forget them

Holy cow, Jenn! That's crazy! They were probably booked your day and the couple cancelled last minute and they wanted to make sure the day was filled for profit.

Deirdre, that would make me nervous. Not florists, but I'm going back and forth between caterers and two are TERRIBLE at responding back. One was like, "we need your menu ideas for a quote." So I sent them my menu ideas and, silence!

One videographer I was looking at and fully intended on hiring, I asked him how to pay deposit. He said, yes they accept personal checks but gave no indication of where I was supposed to mail it to. Not to mention it look like a week for him to email me back each time. Luckily, I went with a different videographer who always responded within 24 hours.

I understand that it's peak wedding season and people are busy. But it makes me nervous when vendors are SUPER SLOW to respond, which makes me less likely to throw thousands of dollars in their direction. And at least for the vendors that gave me no response, SOMETHING would have been appreciated. "I have received your email/call and will respond to you in x amount of time."

Coming from a vendor, I, too, think it's infuriating. It's bad customer service and terribly disrespectful in general. Poor communication (or lack thereof) is one of my biggest pet peeves! My advice is if you don't get a response within a week, follow up. If still no response after a few days, look for someone else. If this is how they treat you before getting your money, how will they treat you after they receive it?

I feel like a lot of vendors ignore my inquiries because my wedding is like 22 months away. It's kinda annoying but I get it. I don't think I ask too much, just basic pricing. Whatever...I figure if they take me serious now, they'll be fantastic when the time comes! Good luck in your vendor search

The coordinator for my ceremony venue is the most difficult person to get a hold of - and I had a lot of questions over the course of the year. It would take her weeks to respond via phone, and she never responded to emails. I think the photographers I reached out to were the most punctual. I agree with PP, after about a week or two I'd reach out again and if I didn't hear anything I moved on.

Time management is KEY to running a business - if you're busy, please just inform them and say you'll respond at a later time. I hate never hearing from people.

The photographer I finally went with is wonderful so far. She is always willing to listen, offer ideas, and responds promptly! A possible coordinator I contacted told me she would be out of town for a few weeks working but would be happy to get in touch when she returned for a consultation. I'm more than happy with that response.

I wedding is in December and the vendor that my dress is coming from hasn't responded back to the bridal store of what process my dress is in. The store keeps saying that I have to wait till 11/24-12/1 to get another dress since that was the week I was promised it would come in. I keep saying I should get an update at what point of the dress making it is at. This dress isn't even custom and I still need to get alternations after because I ordered a bigger size since I have hips and a small waist. As of today the store has even stopped emailing back to me. I am going into the store later this week and ask for some type of update. So I totally get your annoyance of not getting a response.