Police in Durham region have laid criminal charges against an employee of Sherwood Bridal in Ajax. Detectives allege Yanique Miller, age 19, defrauded consumers at the store. Police say the charges follow a six-month investigation. Investigators say the woman "committed unauthorized and duplicate charges on customers' accounts, even after her termination date", acccording to the Durham police press release.

I started getting complaints about problems at the store back in the summer of 2006. At the time, store ownership (Jeremy and Rose De Mel) said all was fine. Customers were rightfully angry that their dresses were not showing up on time and, in many cases, had never been ordered from suppliers.

Scores of unhappy customers will be curioius to see how this story develops.

Just an update about the story we did on Global about the name change at the famous (or is it infamous) bridal wear store in Ajax called Sherwood Bridal. The store is now known as Lucia Bridal. But the ownership is the same as ever. If you want to see my story, go to http://www.globaldefenders.com

 

My blog is a bit behind, but I'm back with another exclusive, as reported on Monday and Tuesday.

Wal-Mart has a little problem at its store in Brampton, Ontario. Some bullets that were being stored at one of its stores there, prior to the company getting a license to sell ammunition, are missing.

I first got word of this from a former Wal-Mart plainclothes security employee, someone who works in what's known in the company as "loss prevention".

He'd tipped off his employer that an audit of the ammunition in a storage room didn't add up. His bosses said they would investigate. The employee told me at Global that a few days after his report to Wal-Mart superiors, he was first suspended and then terminated. He says he was canned because the company said he broke a confidentiality rule. (Wal-Mart denies this is why he was fired.) The source, who went on camera for my story on Global, said that as many as 1200 rounds of hand gun and rifle bullets were not accounted for when he hand-counted the inventory.

Whatever the reason for his dismissal, the former employee called police with his information about the bullets. Wal-Mart says it too, filed a report with Peel Regional Police in Brampton, citing the possible missing ammunition.

Wal-Mart now acknowledges that there was a security breach at the store. The company's vice president of corporate affairs, Andrew Pelletier, told me that a hole was discovered leading into the locked room that contained the ammunition. A hole that would have made it possible for someone to enter (and conceivably) to retrieve ammunition that was stored within.

The Peel Police Criminal Investigations Bureau has an investigation ongoing into this case. A source told me that it is possible no one will ever know whether, or how many bullets, went missing from the store. Wal-Mart Canada's Pelletier says that when the company discovered the security breach, it removed the balance of ammunition from the store to another location.

All the while, the company did not have a license to sell ammunition at the store. It was awaiting permission from the federal government, which regulates the sale and storage of ammunition in Canada.

Wal-Mart strenuously explains that it is a good corporate citizen and something like this has never happened before. Some would ask why it happened at all, and why a company (which sells ammunition at about half of its Canadian stores) would be storing ammunition when it did not yet have permission to sell it. This, while the Brampton store was under renovations and a major expansion.

Was this the best environment in which to be storing a stash of firepower?

My Blackberry beeps several times a day with new emails from those stressed out about their weddings. The mails all describe one chain of stores: Bridal Wardrobe and Sherwood Bridal.

With stores in Ajax, Whitby, Belleville and Mississauga, the chain is under fire from customers because dresses are not being delivered on time as expected by the customers.

Latest news: The company is still in business. It's taking new orders. It's not fulfilling all of its existing orders in a timely way. Many suppliers are still doing business with Sherwood (like Princess of Montreal) and Alfred Angelo of Toronto (at least the company was as of Tuesday).

And, the company is giving refunds, in cash, to some consumers who complain. My previous television story reported on how employees were told to lie to customers and give them various excuses about why their dresses hadn't yet arrived.

If you are considering placing a new order at Sherwood Bridal? Read my previous stories, here or at www.globaldefenders.com. You may also want to search a web chat board. The answers may lie there.

If you are awaiting a dress at Sherwood Bridal/Bridal Wardrobe: you may wish to pay a personal visit to Rose de Mel at the main store on Church Street in Ajax. The store is open Tuesday to Saturday. It closes at 7 p.m. each weeknight. Brace yourself: there is often a feisty group of dissatisfied brides-to-be in the stores each night. Some are demanding their dresses; others are looking for their money back.

There is much more to this story that I have not reported, but to those who call me at work at 416.446.5467 or via email at sos@globaltv.com I am glad to know about what you're experiencing.

I will continue to post and do what I can to answer questions about the predicament many are facing during the wedding season!

Tonight we aired a follow-up story on Sherwood Bridal/Bridal Wardrobe, a chain of bridal wear stores in Ajax, Whitby, Mississauga and Belleville, Ontario. The story dealt with the massive number of complaints against the stores for not delivering wedding gowns/bridal dresses on time. This is the second story (our first aired in late June).

 As blogged earlier, we are receiving complaints about these stores daily - about 80 lengthy written complaints so far. These are coming from brides-to-be and others in bridal parties who feel betrayed because they say Sherwood Bridal/Bridal Wardrobe has not lived up to its promises in its purchase agreements.

Our Global Defenders unit was contacted by several former employees at the store who shared their inside insights into what happened at the store. They told me they were told by Rose (the owner) to lie to consumers in order to explain why their dresses were delayed. These lies often included statements like "your dress is still in China" or "the supplier hasn't received it yet". The employees told us these stories were all patently false.

Many employees have not been paid their wages. In at least one case, their salary cheque was returned NSF.

More on this story can be found on my Global Defenders website at www.globaldefenders.com

Please feel free to send me your comments via the Global Defenders website.

 

 

 

 

In the 19 years I've worked at Global, the story about Sherwood Bridal in Ajax last month got the biggest response.

I've received no fewer than 40 detailed letters of complaint about this bridal store;  most viewers documenting claims of terrible customer service at the shop, or one of its sister stores operated by the same owner. The similarity of the stories, all from different brides-to-be, or members of bridal parties, is remarkable.

The complaints talk about poor service, bad attitude of those working at the store, and broken promises relating to alterations, appointments, and deadlines. Those are typically the types of complaints.

I'm planning a follow-up on this story, but it will have to wait until I return from vacation in late July. I hope the brides with wedding plans in the meantime don't run into troubles like the ones I've gotten by email.

As always, feel free to email your stories to me at sos@globaltv.com

 

I got married 5 years ago this July and purchased my dress from Sherwood Bridal store. In the beginning the woman Rose was very accommodating. Every two weeks since I ordered and PAID for the dress in September of 2000 I visited the store to see how the alterations were coming along on my dress. Up to two weeks before my wedding there was NOTHING done to my dress. I took my dress - unfinished - and took it to another store in Oshawa (Athena's Bridal) and spent another $400 to have the dress altered. This store usually does not take other people's dress and do alterations but because of my desperation they were kind enough to help me out. When I first tried on the dress for the new alterationist she advised me that the dress was not ordered to my size and that there was no way they could alter the length as Rose had told me she could at Sherwood because of the beeding at the bottom of the dress. I had to end up wearing a 5" heal shoe as a result. Sherwood Bridal is the worst for service, quality and delivery. The gentleman that is speaking out on behalf of the store - who is Rose's son - says that they can get letters of recommendations from past customers but I wonder how many of them will be written by himself and forged - just like everything else that store does and represent - false promises/product/service. I think he got his facts mixed up and the 99% of customers he claims are satisfied with their service is in actuality 99% of DISATISFIED customers. It's about time they got the publicity they deserve!

Since I reported on the Ajax, Ontario bridal store that was the focus of complaints from customers alleging dresses not delivered on time, or not at all, I can tell you I've received a tonne of emails. Non stop comments from consumers irate about the way they were treated. Many who emailed are fearful they will not be getting their dresses as promised. I will have more on this....

Lots of brides buying wedding gowns or other attire at an Ajax, Ontario dress salon have complaints about the service and product they've received. Here's my Global story on their plight.   more »