Complaint Review: Something New Invitations

Who publishes customer's phone numbers on an online website? That would be illegal.



Something New Invitations provides reference information for past customers upon request.

We also provide samples of previous customer's orders upon request.

Who publishes customer's phone numbers on an online website? That would be illegal.



Something New Invitations provides reference information for past customers upon request.

We also provide samples of previous customer's orders upon request.

Who publishes customer's phone numbers on an online website? That would be illegal.



Something New Invitations provides reference information for past customers upon request.

We also provide samples of previous customer's orders upon request.

Who publishes customer's phone numbers on an online website? That would be illegal.



Something New Invitations provides reference information for past customers upon request.

We also provide samples of previous customer's orders upon request.

9/26/05 - I have removed the invitation photo and caption from our wedding website. Originally, I had the invitation design Vavrick presented to my mother, when we signed her contract, posted. I had not made many updates to the site, and neglected to take down the image until recently when it was brought to my attention by Vavrick. If you go to the page Vavrick has mentioned, note that the image of MyWedding Dress was not the one I wore on the day of my wedding. It is quite clear that the site has not been updated frequently. Because we didn't use the invitations provided by Vavrick, and if the site had been updated frequently, I would have replaced the invitation image sometime ago.

9/26/05 - I have removed the invitation photo and caption from our wedding website. Originally, I had the invitation design Vavrick presented to my mother, when we signed her contract, posted. I had not made many updates to the site, and neglected to take down the image until recently when it was brought to my attention by Vavrick. If you go to the page Vavrick has mentioned, note that the image of MyWedding Dress was not the one I wore on the day of my wedding. It is quite clear that the site has not been updated frequently. Because we didn't use the invitations provided by Vavrick, and if the site had been updated frequently, I would have replaced the invitation image sometime ago.

9/26/05 - I have removed the invitation photo and caption from our wedding website. Originally, I had the invitation design Vavrick presented to my mother, when we signed her contract, posted. I had not made many updates to the site, and neglected to take down the image until recently when it was brought to my attention by Vavrick. If you go to the page Vavrick has mentioned, note that the image of MyWedding Dress was not the one I wore on the day of my wedding. It is quite clear that the site has not been updated frequently. Because we didn't use the invitations provided by Vavrick, and if the site had been updated frequently, I would have replaced the invitation image sometime ago.

9/26/05 - I have removed the invitation photo and caption from our wedding website. Originally, I had the invitation design Vavrick presented to my mother, when we signed her contract, posted. I had not made many updates to the site, and neglected to take down the image until recently when it was brought to my attention by Vavrick. If you go to the page Vavrick has mentioned, note that the image of MyWedding Dress was not the one I wore on the day of my wedding. It is quite clear that the site has not been updated frequently. Because we didn't use the invitations provided by Vavrick, and if the site had been updated frequently, I would have replaced the invitation image sometime ago.

Elizabeth Pavlikdoes not know anything about our dedication to customer service If Vavrick was TRUELY DEDICATED to customer service, SHE WOULD HAVE RESOLVED THIS SITUATION by offering a solution/trying to rectify the situation 3 YEARS AGO, so that it didn't get to this point.



There is no proof that the Testimonials section of Vavrick's website are not fictitious. Ms. Vavrick how about some phone numbers to contact your past customers?



I do not know why Ms. Pavlik changed her mind. What a ridiculous statement! WHY would I change my mind about my invitations so close to my wedding date? I was IN TEARS over my ruined invitations, and had 1 WEEK to have entire new set printed. IN TEARS over having unusable invitations and wasting over $1000!



When a customer lies You may something about being DISHONEST, Lisa (Vavrick). Remember meeting my mother and I at Bordersbefore we signed your contract? It was quite clear that we were your FIRST customers EVER! You had just started Something New Invitations! We signed a contract for invitations with you because:



1. You graduated from LaRoche like me and I respected the fact that you were trying to start your own company.



2. My mother and I honestly BELIEVED that you would produce quality work. Not based on any references (which we SHOULD HAVE requested), but based on the fact that you were young and just starting out. Remember, you said you had many problems during your employment with American Eagle, (based near Pittsburgh)? Maybe that was symptomatic of other problems you've had with peoplespecifically my mother and I as your customers.



Lisa (Vavrick) - Why would anyone want to do business with you after you've conducted yourself so completely unprofessionally? I am a professional graphic designer, and I know what goes into production! If I had a business, especially a relatively NEW one, and a customer wasn't happy with my product, I would do WHATEVER IT WOULD TAKE to make them happy. ESPECIALLY if I had made the mistake! You are wrong, Lisa, the customer IS RIGHT. Maybe, if you understood this concept, this report wouldn't be here.

Leticia To clarify, I wasn't AWARE that Rip Off Report was available three years ago. If I had known, I would have written this complaint then. In fact, I wrote my complaint the day I found Rip Off Report.

Since our rebuttal on 9/26/05, in which we mentioned that Ms. Pavlik displays a picture of her wedding invitation on her wedding website, Ms. Pavlik has removed the picture from her website.



The picture of her invitation was captioned "These are our invitations. They were exclusively designed for our wedding."



You may view a screen capture of the original webpage prior to Ms. Pavlik's editing here:



(((REDACTED)))

Rip-off Report REDACTED the copy below. According to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), allegedly the copy that was provided below infringed upon the copyrights of others. Rip-off Report will comply with these laws when put on notice that there was a violation. A demand was made by the owners of that website to remove the image that was here.



* * *

Something New Invitations and Lisa Delu Vavrick will not be filing any additional rebuttals to Ms. Pavlik's untruthful, slanderous claims on this website. We feel that the facts presented in the previous two rebuttals are enough to show the truth in this unfortuante situation.

Misleading? Incorrect? Wrong? I have presented FACTS. Please, by all means, check the paperwork. It has been filed with the Better Business Bureau. It's all there- every date, email, FACT.



1. To reiterate, Ms. Pavlik signed a contract stating that she understood that, among other things, if invitations were damaged in shipping, there would be NO REFUNDS MADE by Something New Invitations. The contract she signed also stated that if an order was received with damages, Something New Invitations should be contacted immediately so we could work together to remedy the problem. If there are damages to a shipment, we work with the customer to file a claim with FedEx in order to recover money for damages. Despite Ms. Pavlik signing a contact agreeing to these terms, she did not contact Something New Invitations and instead contacted FedEx directly in an effort to receive money for "damages" that WERE NOT FOUND BY FedEx. (because no damages were found to the shipment, FedEx did not pay Ms. Pavlik's claim.)





2. The Better Business Bureau considered the case "resolved" upon Something New Invitations presenting Ms. Pavlik's signed contract, all email correspondence between Ms. Pavlik, her mother and Something New Invitations and the FedEx final report on the so-called "damages" claimed by Ms. Pavlik. We can't imagine ripoffreport.com could conclude anything different among seeing these documents.



3. Again, Ms. Pavlik was denied a refund due to the CONTRACT SHE SIGNED WITH SOMETHING NEW INVITATIONS AGREEING THAT ORDERS COULD NOT BE RETURNED FOR A REFUND (even if the items were damaged in shipment, which they weren't.) Due to the customized nature of our invitations, we cannot accept returns. This was clearly explained to Ms. Pavlik before she placed (or paid for) an order with us.





4. The TRUTH is that I had to contact FedEx to find out why Ms. Pavlik's order was delivered to my door 2 weeks after I shipped it to her mother's address. Ms. Pavlik DID NOT CONTACT ME ABOUT HER ORDER UNTIL AFTER SHE CONTACTED FEDEX.



5. FedEx DID NOT say there were "no damages by FedEx". They said there were "no damages found to outer packing carton or to the contents of package." In fact, their report also states that "contents were packed sufficiently" to avoid damage. NO DAMAGES. By FedEx OR by Something New Invitations. NO DAMAGES FOUND AT ALL. Please, reference the final report by FedEx, this information is clearly listed there.





6. Please check with the BBB if you have any questions about what they do and why the handled this case as they did.





Elizabeth Pavlik obviously does not know anything about our dedication to customer service or how successful our company has become in only 4 short years. Please visit the TESTIMONIALS section of our website if you have any concerns about the quality of our services or the success of our collaborations with other brides and grooms. http://www.somethingnewinvitations.com/testimonials/index.htm





I am saddened that Ms. Pavlik feels it necessary to lie about this situation and resort to illegal slanderous statements about myself and my company. I put many hours into creating a beautiful custom-designed invitation package exactly to the specifications Ms. Pavlik requested, from choosing exactly the right font combinations to dying 200 skeleton leaves by hand to match the color of her bridesmaid dresses. I do not know why Ms. Pavlik changed her mind on her order and chose to lie and say that her invitations were damaged and unusable. This simply is not the case.



Something New Invitations wishes it could have been of more assistance to Ms. Pavlik, however, we simply cannot refund money on a customized order that is NOT DAMAGED, just because the bride changes her mind. We are sorry that Ms. Pavlik does not understand this. Perhaps if she someday finds herself in a similar business (a small, customer-driven company that depends on the satisfaction of its clients and takes pride in the services it provides) she will understand that WHEN A CUSTOMER LIES, THE CUSTOMER IS NOT RIGHT. Thankfully, all of our customers before Elizabeth and all of those after her HAVE been right- they did not make unreasonable demands, they were respectful of deadlines and schedules and they truly appreciated the time, energy and talent the goes into creating custom wedding invitations.

You mention that ripoffreport.com wasn't available 3 years ago. Then why have I been reading about ripoffs from 3 or more years ago if it wasn't here? They been here since 1998



That put a big stain on your credibility and now I'm siding with the company on this one.

1. Signed contract agreeing to our "No Return" policy. I signed a contract for undamaged/usable invitations!



2. I'm filing this report three years after the fact because www.ripoffreport.com wasn't available when the incident happened with Something New Invitations.



3. I requested to return the damaged invitations for a full refund and was denied on more than one occasion by Vavrick. I didn't return them because I had paid for them. If she had issued a refund, I would have returned the invitations.



4. Nor was I ever contacted by Ms. Pavlik regarding the "damage" to the order; That is a complete lie. Vavrick knows the truth.



5. FedEx stated on their final assessment of the package that "NO DAMAGES; NO DAMAGES by FedEx! That's why FedEx wouldn't pay for the claim. The invitations were clearly damaged BECAUSE Vavrick packed them insufficiently.



6. I DID file a claim with the Better Business Bureau, but was unsuccessful. Unfortunately, the BBC stated that it serves as a moderator not a judge. It protects its members not consumers! The fact is that Vavrick received my complaint, and refused to refund one penny of what she was paid to produce the invitations.



Finally, would you do business with someone like Vavrick? Instead of trying to rectify the situation, over and over again, she has done nothing but argue HER points. If she spent as much time developing her customer service skills, she would likely have a much more successful business. I was employed by the Ritz-Carlton, a consumer driven industry such as Vavrick's business. We provided the finest services to the public, and treated them with respect and dignity. Apparently, Vavrick doesn't practice these principles. Or believe in the credo, the customer is always right.

1. Signed contract agreeing to our "No Return" policy. I signed a contract for undamaged/usable invitations!



2. I'm filing this report three years after the fact because www.ripoffreport.com wasn't available when the incident happened with Something New Invitations.



3. I requested to return the damaged invitations for a full refund and was denied on more than one occasion by Vavrick. I didn't return them because I had paid for them. If she had issued a refund, I would have returned the invitations.



4. Nor was I ever contacted by Ms. Pavlik regarding the "damage" to the order; That is a complete lie. Vavrick knows the truth.



5. FedEx stated on their final assessment of the package that "NO DAMAGES; NO DAMAGES by FedEx! That's why FedEx wouldn't pay for the claim. The invitations were clearly damaged BECAUSE Vavrick packed them insufficiently.



6. I DID file a claim with the Better Business Bureau, but was unsuccessful. Unfortunately, the BBC stated that it serves as a moderator not a judge. It protects its members not consumers! The fact is that Vavrick received my complaint, and refused to refund one penny of what she was paid to produce the invitations.



Finally, would you do business with someone like Vavrick? Instead of trying to rectify the situation, over and over again, she has done nothing but argue HER points. If she spent as much time developing her customer service skills, she would likely have a much more successful business. I was employed by the Ritz-Carlton, a consumer driven industry such as Vavrick's business. We provided the finest services to the public, and treated them with respect and dignity. Apparently, Vavrick doesn't practice these principles. Or believe in the credo, the customer is always right.

1. Signed contract agreeing to our "No Return" policy. I signed a contract for undamaged/usable invitations!



2. I'm filing this report three years after the fact because www.ripoffreport.com wasn't available when the incident happened with Something New Invitations.



3. I requested to return the damaged invitations for a full refund and was denied on more than one occasion by Vavrick. I didn't return them because I had paid for them. If she had issued a refund, I would have returned the invitations.



4. Nor was I ever contacted by Ms. Pavlik regarding the "damage" to the order; That is a complete lie. Vavrick knows the truth.



5. FedEx stated on their final assessment of the package that "NO DAMAGES; NO DAMAGES by FedEx! That's why FedEx wouldn't pay for the claim. The invitations were clearly damaged BECAUSE Vavrick packed them insufficiently.



6. I DID file a claim with the Better Business Bureau, but was unsuccessful. Unfortunately, the BBC stated that it serves as a moderator not a judge. It protects its members not consumers! The fact is that Vavrick received my complaint, and refused to refund one penny of what she was paid to produce the invitations.



Finally, would you do business with someone like Vavrick? Instead of trying to rectify the situation, over and over again, she has done nothing but argue HER points. If she spent as much time developing her customer service skills, she would likely have a much more successful business. I was employed by the Ritz-Carlton, a consumer driven industry such as Vavrick's business. We provided the finest services to the public, and treated them with respect and dignity. Apparently, Vavrick doesn't practice these principles. Or believe in the credo, the customer is always right.

I am sorry to hear that this situation has caused such distress to Ms. Pavlik that she is filing complaints three full years after receiving her order. Unfortunately, Ms. Pavlik is failing to tell the facts regarding this order.



One, her "damaged" order was never returned to Something New Invitations, nor was I ever contacted by Ms. Pavlik regarding the "damage" to the order. The only reason I knew of her claim with FedEx was because they mistakenly returned the package to me upon inspection for the "damages" claimed by Ms. Pavlik. (Ms. Pavlik had requested the package of unusable items be returned to her, which would have completely left Something New Invitations out of the loop.) I only heard from Ms. Pavlik once FedEx denied her claim. To be correct, FedEx stated on their final assessment of the package that "NO DAMAGES" were noted. I also inspected the shipment, and failed to find any damage to any of the items in the package. If Ms. Pavlik could have pointed out specific items that to her appeared "bent" "creased" or had "ink marks from bleeding", I would have tried my best to remedy the situation, either by replacing those items with overrun on hand (we overrun all jobs by approximately 10%) or by ironing out a fold or crease. However, as mentioned, Ms. Pavlik never gave me the opportunity to remedy this situation, instead she went straight to FedEx in an effort to recover money on the order, then demanded a refund from my company when FedEx did not come through.



Two, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, the contract that Ms. Pavlik signed with Something New Invitations clearly outlines our policies, and must be signed stating that the said policies are understood and agreed to by the customer. The contract signed by Ms. Pavlik states that:



"Something New Invitations insures all shipments for your protection. Something New Invitations is NOT responsible for shipments that are lost, damaged or delayed by the carrier (the carrier refers to FedEx, DHL Airborne Express, UPS, USPS or other shipping company). Furthermore, Something New Invitations is NOT liable for damages/costs incurred as a result of your shipment being lost, damaged or delayed by the carrier. If your shipment is not received or is delivered late or in damaged condition, please contact Something New Invitations immediately. We will provide proof of shipment & tracking information and will assist you in filing a claim with the carrier. All shipments are insured and are therefore covered under the carrier's insurance. Something New Invitations is NOT responsible for refunding or replacing your order; REFUNDS WILL ONLY BE PROCESSED THROUGH THE CARRIER. (Something New Invitations will accept a new order to re-create your designs, but this order will not be provided free of charge- It will be billed as a new order.) Something New Invitations accepts no legal responsibility for lost, delayed and/or damaged packages, or any damages or costs incurred as a result of lost, delayed and/or damaged packages. ALL DAMAGE/LOSS CLAIMS MUST BE FILED EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH THE CARRIER."



I am not sure what part of this policy is misunderstood by Ms. Pavlik. We do our very best to make our policies clear to our customers, and ensure they understand them by signing a contract which states just that. I apologize that Ms. Pavlik failed to read or understand our policies when she signed the contract, which states "I have read, understand and agree to all terms and conditions listed throughout this contract, particularly those listed in Item 10 above." (item 10 lists our policies in full).



In regard to Ms. Pavlik's comment that I stated "I do not deal with customers out of my home" - she is correct. I made it very clear from the start of this order that, despite Ms. Pavlik living within an hour's drive from my home, her order would be shipped by trackable carrier. This is our policy with all orders, so that we have a record that the item was received in good condition except as noted. Please note that the order was received and signed for by Ms. Pruitt (Pavlik's mother, who requested the order be shipped to her address in Ohio), THEN shipped by Ms. Pruitt to Ms. Pavlik's address in Pittsburgh. A full 2 weeks passed from the time the order was received by Ms. Pruitt until the damage claim was filed by Ms. Pavlik with FedEx. On the claim, Ms. Pavlik stated that the order was received at her address in Pittsburgh, although their records show that it was received in Ohio.



I did respond to Ms. Pavilk's emails on 10/01 requesting to come to my home to pick up the package which was delivered back to me by FedEx. However, at that point I had already talked with FedEx and had been advised to hold the package until FedEx could pick it up the next day and return it to Ms. Pavlik. I explained this to Ms. Pavlik each time she emailed me inquiring about picking up the package. (In fact, Ms. Pavlik did not even have the courtesy to ask to pick up the item- she invited herself to my home and told me a specific time she would "be there" to pick up the package, despite my explanation detailed above.)



In regard to Ms. Pavlik's comments about the poor service I provided: One, the order contract was between Something New Invitations and Ms. Pavlik, not Ms. Pavlik's mother. Receiving numerous emails from both parties (sometimes providing conflicting information) added confusion to the order process for all parties. Two, the electronic proofs were sent as detailed previously in the contract. Had Ms. Pavlik asked us to send hard copy proofs instead, this would not have been a problem whatsoever. All she needed to do was ask. Three, Ms. Pavlik's comments that I "delayed the order so long that we became concerned that we wouldn't get them mailed in time" are completely off base. (For one thing, Ms. Pavlik filed a damage claim with FedEx on 9/5/02 after she had received the invitations. Her wedding date was November 16th. Most would agree 2+ months is plenty of time to mail out invitations.) Most importantly, what Ms. Pavlik fails to mention is that she repeatedly missed deadlines (which were clearly outlined in her contract), made changes to her order several times throughout the process and let her mother handle most of the communication for her. In her contract, it specifically states:



"CUSTOMER TAKES FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR NOTING SPECIFIC DEADLINES OUTLINED IN THIS CONTRACT AND FOR MEETING THOSE DEADLINES IN A TIMELY MANNER. Customer understands that, although every effort will be made to meet the assigned delivery deadline, Something New Invitations DOES NOT guarantee delivery on or before the assigned delivery deadline unless ALL deadlines are met by the customer. Customer understands that if he/she misses an outlined deadline, Something New Invitations cannot guarantee a specific delivery date and can only give a rough estimate as to when the order will be completed. A customer-missed deadline can throw off the production schedule by days or weeks, depending on several factors."



Again, I apologize that Ms. Pavlik failed to read or understand our policies when she signed the contract stating that she had read and understood our policies.



Ms. Pavlik has previously filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, which was dismissed by the BBB upon our response to the complaint. You may view the information online at: http://www.pittsburgh.bbb.org/nis/newsearch2.asp?ID=1&strBCode=01410000&ComID=0141000004001490&ComName=Something+New+Invitations



One final note: Ms. Pavlik says her invitations were "ruined" and "unusable", yet she proudly shows them on her wedding website, saying "These are our invitations. They were exclusively designed for our wedding." You may view it here at: http://www.lizzandjim.50megs.com/indexpage9.html

(images take some time to load- the invitation image is shown at the top right of the page.)