Wedding dress scammers con brides out of £12k for ‘bespoke handmade’ gowns – but scam is uncovered by the dodgy LABEL
Brides were conned out of nearly £12,000 after a boutique in Newport, Wales, claimed their dresses were 'hand-made' but were in reality knocked up in China
BRIDES were conned out of nearly £12,000 by a rogue wedding dress boutique that promoted “hand-made” white gowns but were really made up in a factory in China.
The owner of Anna Sara Bridal in Newport, South Wales, Melanie Bishop, 36, and mum Patricia, 60, tricked 13 brides into thinking they were buying bespoke gowns for their big day.
The pair advertised bridal dresses that cost up to £1,000 and were made in their workshop in Wales but a court heard that in reality they were stitched up in China.
Furious brides first realised they had been duped when they spotted "made in China" labels on their dresses - and started a campaign to get their cash back.
But the Bishops quickly closed their shop leaving more than 100 other brides worried they would be left without their white dresses on their big day.
One bride Nichola Pakau, 34, said: "It has been an awful experience. It has affected my home life and work life."
Another bride's mum Kim Burroughs, 55, said: "You expect everything to be perfect for your daughter's wedding. I didn't expect this."
Bishop and mum Patricia pleaded guilty at Cardiff Crown Court to 18 counts of engaging in unfair commercial practice between March 2015 and April 2016.
Melanie Bishop claimed her customers should have known their dresses from £700 to £1,000 were manufactured in China - and said she was the victim of a campaign of "abuse and lies".
Bishop said: "In the space of three weeks my reputation is in tatters and I believe I will lose my house, my livelihood and the business I worked so hard to build up from scratch.
"I haven't stopped crying since it all spiralled out of control.
"The reality is that these women have rallied together and whipped themselves up into a hysteria that is only based on one thing - the fact that my dress suppliers are based in China.
"The dresses are not worth £40 and from ebay as these women believe. That couldn't be further from the truth.
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"We own a factory that is staffed by 15 seamstresses. We run a legitimate business and I am devastated that this Facebook campaign of hate and lies is stopping my genuine customers from receiving their dresses.
"It's not that we set out to deliberately mislead people, that's not it.
"When I said our dresses were all our own designs that was true.
"The only thing I could have done differently was be explicitly clear about the origins of the dresses, but so many shops outsource their materials and labour from China.
"It's not uncommon and I never hid it. I left the made in China labels in.
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"And yes there is a mark up. As a company we pay around £200 for each dress and sell them to the customer from £700-£1000.
"That's how a business operates. That's how I paid my rent, taxes, import fees and overheads but that markup does not take away from the quality of the product offered."
But an investigation by Newport Trading Standards ended with Bishop and her mother being charged with fraud.
They were each given a six-month jail term, suspended for 15 months, and ordered to pay £500 each towards prosecution costs.
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