71-year-old woman scrambles after business cancels days before wedding
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — An Oklahoma City woman wants her money back after having to scramble when a part supplier canceled on her days before her wedding.
Darlene Wilson (now Asbery) at 71 met the love of her life, Eugene.
They dated for several months after meeting online, then they decided to get married.
"He's a kind, loving, great man. He is helpful, honest, and caring," said Wilson.
They set the date for their wedding for September 7 at the Ignite Global Church in Moore.
"At 71, my song with him is At Last My Love Has Come Along. Yeah, that's how I look at it," said Wilson.
What came next was the planning, and Wilson said she hired OKC Tents and Moore: Party Rentals for the tables and chairs.
"They had a website, they seemed very reputable," said Wilson.
She said she paid a $200 deposit and set a date for September 5 for them to come by with over 150 tables and dozens of chairs.
But the day came and she said they were supposed to meet her at the church sometime between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., but the rental company never showed up.
"I called the number they gave me three times, I sent so many texts but nothing," said Wilson.
Then, she said an hour later one of the owners Monica Jozwika told her to push it back to 3 p.m., that they had gotten busy.
"I made a statement that was like, you act like you don't appreciate my business and she said, 'Well, then it's canceled," said Wilson.
She said just like that, Jozwika canceled everything, less than two days before the wedding.
"I apologized and apologized but she just texted me, 'That's not my problem,'" said Wilson.
She and Eugene scrambled and were lucky to find another vendor who was willing to help out last second, but they still had to fork out a couple hundred dollars.
"She is in the wrong, and I should've gotten my money back immediately," said Wilson.
Her deposit still hasn't come back.
News 4 found several reviews online stating similar situations, with some being even worse.
"On event date, they did not show up on time. I called the number and since it was Sunday, there was no answer."
Reviewers, Google Reviews"This company is not very efficient. I experienced the worst customer service ever. They don't answer calls, don't respond to texts or messages to texts calls, The set delivery time was changed and I was not notified until after traveling 30 minutes away and being asked to come back at 3 pm."
"Do not ever use OKC Tents And Moore! They have the worse customer relations I’ve ever dealt with before concerning rental items! We had 8 people have to scrub every chair and every table! It took a good 3 hours! They were so filthy!"
News 4 confronted the owner.
Monica was in the office when News 4 got there but she pushed the blame on Wilson and her, "being rude."
She blamed Wilson's interaction after the rental company didn't show up when asked why they canceled so last minute.
When asked about the lack of communication seen in reviews and with Wilson's experience, Monica said it was a previous employee who no longer works there.
News 4 asked why that employee wouldn't work at the business for lack of communication, but it would be okay for Monica to not communicate with Wilson like that, she said, "I never said it was okay."
Monica said the deposit was still in the mail and would come eventually.
KFOR will update the story when the deposit comes through for Wilson.
"If you can cancel so quickly then you can give me my deposit just as fast too," said Wilson.