Woman struggles to get refund on wedding dress after broken engagement

Stephanie D'Amato already had picked out her dream dress and secured the venue for her wedding. Two months later, she broke off her engagement.

"I tried to put it behind me," D'Amato said. When she explained her predicament, she quickly received a refund from the venue. But getting a refund on her wedding dress proved to be the most stressful part of unwinding the event.

Although her contract with Kaira's Bridal in Phoenix said no refunds, D'Amato asked for one anyway. She wound up with a store credit instead.

The first time she went to the shop near Interstate 17 and Bell Road to redeem her credit, she didn't find a dress she wanted.

The second time, she sold the credit to her friend. That friend found a wedding dress at the store but was not allowed to use the credit to order a dress.

"She went to place her order and handed them the certificate and was told no because she had to choose a dress from their inventory," D'Amato said.

The third time, D'Amato decided just to go in and pick a dress, any dress.

"I took the dress and the certificate up to the counter and I was told by an associate that they are no longer honoring store credits," D'Amato said. "At this point I was upside down, so frustrated."

Tammy Malone, the owner of Kaira's Bridal, disputed D'Amato's account.

"I don't remember her ever coming in here again. I'm the owner and my daugher is a manager, and we don't remember her ever coming in to get a dress with store credit," Malone said.

Malone may not remember that last visit. But shortly after Call 12 for Action got involved, D'Amato got a call from the shop. She was allowed to come down and finally use her store credit, which totaled more than $700.

She picked out a wedding dress that she plans to donate to charity.

Malone calls the entire exchange with D'Amato a "miscommunication" of sorts — one the shop owner said she tried to resolve.

Both D'Amato and the friend who bought her store credit were advised that the credit could be redeemed only for dresses at the store.

"I made that very clear to both women," Malone said.

When bridal shops like Kaira's order dresses from manufacturers, they typically are responsible for the payment on that dress, even if the bride backs out.

"When a bride cancels, we have to pay for that dress no matter what. We lose money, so we can't take that chance again.

"Store credit on inventory dresses is the best we can do, and that's not even our policy anymore."

Malone said, "We do try to help out our brides, and things happen. Weddings get canceled. Unfortunately, we get bridezillas."