Ask any wedding about their bridal gown, and chances are they did sparkle. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for some weddings around in Southwest Florida.
Instead of focusing on their upcoming wedding, they claim to have spent decades attempting to find solutions for their wedding dresses, which always arrived despite paying thousands of dollars for them.
Kat Davis says that’s the case for her child, Tanner. She’s getting ready to marry the man of her desires, Maliq, in May. She sabers when she discusses the youthful partners.
“They’ve been together for about five years and he’s like a child to us”, she stock.
While the proverb says, “Love is patient,” Kat and her daughter claim to be fed up with Benedict Bridal’s Port Charlotte owner doing the right thing.
“I just don’t know how she sleeps at night because she really is a con,” says Davis.
She’s talking about a lady named Elizabeth Brown. Katie claims to have purchased her sister’s wedding dress from the marital store on El Jo Bean Road.
She recalls that the day was beautiful and Brown also posed with her child for joyful pictures, but when she began emailing and calling to find out where the dress she had ordered, she got no where. Time after time.
“I sent her another message, nothing. My girl sent her an email. Everything. I threatened to hire an attorney if I hired her. Little. And so that’s when yeah, I realized that I was out,” Davis explained.
She claims she paid $1,000 for a Benedict Bridal wedding dress. A clothing, Tanner, was beaming about the day she chose it at the store.
I asked Kat, “If you could say anything to Elizabeth, what do you say to her? I just don’t know how you sleep at night,” she answered. It’s just so sad for her to do this on such a personal and unique degree on a wedding that is so special and unique to these weddings.
See she said wives … plural. Not only Kat and her child claim Brown left them without a gown and a lot of money, though. People claim the same thing when they call Fox 4 and say the same thing.
Tia from Englewood claimed when we spoke with her at the beginning that she had paid in full for a Benedict bridal gown but always received it. Ashley from Cape Coral says she’s out about $2600 and still doesn’t have the dress she ordered from Brown. Evelynn, a wife, and Fox 4 shared a comparable tale via text.
I contacted the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, and police confirmed that the Economic Crimes System is handling two scenarios involving Benedict wedding. Katie Davis claims to have filed one of those situations.
“I believe this Elizabeth Brown needs to be found and held accountable for what she’s doing to these young ladies’ hopes and dreams,” she said.
However, Kat and the other wives who were sharing their activities soon discovered that getting rid of Elizabeth Brown was challenging. Her site was down and replaced with images of infrastructure, according to a quick search online. Benedict Bridal’s Facebook page now indicates that the content isn’t accessible when you try to find it.
When I drove to Benedict Bridal on El Jobean Road, where the sign and phone number are still visible, I noticed there weren’t any wedding dresses there. Instead, there were pool supplies.
Reincarnation Pools next door’s Chelsea says they first used the product after Brown left. She showed us the tools and desks that had been present in the open room and explained what had been there a few months earlier.
She explained that when she bought this product, she said, “you come back and see this was lady like the weddings and the mothers,” and that the fitting room and the gowns were also present.
Chelsea claims that it’s been hard to get brides’ inquiries when they walk in with inquiries about the clothes they bought here.
“We’ve had some people come in crying we’ve had the coroner’s office come in looking for her. We’ve had mom’s of brides coming in and they’re crying cause this is their wedding it isn’t something you want to mess with,” she said.
I returned to work because I wasn’t going to find Elizabeth Brown. Some of the brides who were looking for answers also helped me discover that Brown used to work for a motorcycle company in Georgia. I called after a long time, and to my amazement, she picked up the phone and agreed to speak with me.
If Kat and her daughter wanted a compensation, Brown promised to send them one. She then informed me that two of the other weddings I spoke with had received investigations in the mail. By the end of the week, according to Brown, the balances would be ready, and that should be it.
She claimed that when she made the decision to shut down her store, she would provide payments, but she claims that the brides ended up waiting for the gowns. Afterwards, they claim they never received those clothes or checks up until that point.
On behalf of these people who feel they’ve gotten the work around what transpired, I had to question her.
“The firm really failed. She explained on the phone that she made an effort to get them out and have them delivered as quickly as possible, and that when they decided not to accept the payments, they decided to wait the clothing out.”
I told her I would only follow up with the wives at the end of the year to ensure they received their income, and she said I would.
“By Friday everyone should be full repeatedly”? I asked.
“Correct, that should be the end of it”, Brown stated.
That was March 8th. I had hoped that the brides may receive answers or a check before the story would end, but a few hours later I received a word from Brown stating she had gotten a lawyer and any subsequent conversation should go through her.
Attorney Anastasiya Patel called me and told me that Elizabeth should take payments to these wives because her consumer is being harassed.
One did. Tia received a payment for the dress she purchased but not received. $2,343 was mailed to her in the form of a search.
The other brides though, as of April 5th, still have n’t gotten anything. Kat and Tanner, Ashley and Evelyn are all still “out” their wealth, clothes and happiness that came with the practice.
I want to hear from you if you have had a related experience with Elizabeth Brown or Benedict Bridal. Email me:
You can also reach out to her counsel located in North Port, Florida.