While the Knot wedding website and Wedding wire are still the go-to for brides-to-be, there are many good reasons to avoid them and use an alternative.
Firstly, Their advertising practices are completely Unethical.
According to an article in Forbes Magazine, (link below),
“Former employees and vendors charged that the company has falsified national advertising reports, sold prime ad space for a premium that ultimately delivered little for vendors, and surreptitiously altered contracts with major advertising partners after terms had been finalized.”
While The Knot wedding website has denied the allegations, all one has to do is google the knot reviews to see all the angry vendors AND brides horror stories.
This article from Forbes really says it all:
Here’s a personal horror story from a vendor on the knot wedding website who didn’t sign a contract but who was told she couldn’t cancel her account because her contract stated that she couldn’t!
https://www.dreamweddingshawaii.com/the-knot-scam-dont-buy-into-their-advertising-opportunities/amp/
If they’ll do this to vendors you can bet your boots they’ll do it to brides.
The knot/wedding wire is extremely expensive for vendors (4K a year.) By comparison I spend less than that on all my other advertising combined) and they seem to be overly dependent on automation. It’s very difficult to get in touch with a human being with their company.
I myself tried to get in contact with them in order to discuss the possibility of having a category for live artists, including caricaturists (what I do - see the rest of
my site here ) and wedding painters.
They completely blew me off.
And if you have a complaint about a vendor, guess what?
It might just get mysteriously removed.
Here’s a review by a bride who had her one star review of a Wedding vendor removed by the knot:
“I recently had an honest, legitimate one-star review of a horrendous vendor taken down from the Knot. The Knot told me it was because I didn't have proof of a contract with or payment to this vendor (I actually do). Regardless, their review system allows you to select
"I didn't end up going with this vendor" as an option when you leave the review, and if you make that selection, you are allowed to still leave the review. Also, their terms for reviews state that "... a review is allowed at any point before or after the wedding has taken place."
So, I don't understand why they would allow this option for a review and include that language in their policy if you aren't allowed to give a review prior to your wedding actually taking place.
I also noticed that the Knot deleted another one-star review for the same vendor that was posted after mine. This seems highly suspect. I am wondering if anyone else has had their legitimate, honest reviews unfairly removed by the Knot.
I feel it is a violation of FTC regulations to remove honest reviews. Both my review and the other review were responded to by the owner of the vendor company (in a rambling, name-calling, threatening manner) in which they confirmed everything we each had said in our reviews and made it clear we did, in fact, have those interactions with her and were not bots or other malicious fake reviewers.
Furthermore, since the Knot has a close to monopoly-status with regard to reviews of wedding vendors, it is highly concerning if they are deleting one-star reviews as to not present an accurate picture of vendors. I am also curious if vendors pay the Knot to be featured on the site.”
Jebinmel543, Reddit user
I really can’t understand why they’re still in business. Google all the unsatisfied vendors and brides and you will see that they get a score of F (the worst score possible) from the better business bureau! I myself was SHOCKED to see this, and I already knew they were bad.
Also if you dig deeper youll see that those 30 complaints are only for one local branch of the Knot. There are MANY more that go completely unanswered in other areas.
There are plenty of good alternatives.
There’s Zola
There’s the wedding chicks
And there’s
heck theres even Gigsalad.com
And of course you can just let your wedding coordinator help you find vendors. That’s a big part of their job.
OR you can google “wedding vendors near me”. Ignore the knots big ad on the front page and go find some five star vendors.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
(Yours truly)
———
I’ve found in life that if someone is dishonest in little things they’ll be dishonest in big things.
If the knot/wedding wire is deceitful in their advertising practices, how can you trust they’ll be honest about their vendors?
The answer is you can’t. You can’t trust them.
They’re dishonest with their vendors by selling them nonexistent ad space, by locking them into contracts they never signed, and by refusing to cancel those contracts.
They can and do delete one star reviews at the request of their vendors and they do this because it’s money on the line.
If you can’t trust their reviews then I would honestly say you can trust any of their vendors either. No matter what "special award" they got from the Knot wedding website. An award from the worst rated online wedding site is kind of like saying you got the best food from the worst rateds restauraunt in the area. Is it worth it?
Probably not.
The upshot is:
Not the knot.
Anything but the Knot!
————
Hi my name is Kathy Buskett. I run Caricatures by Kathy, a top-rated caricature company that procures caricature artists for weddings and other events around the globe.
I have an A+ rating with the BBB and I may be available to draw caricatures at your next event!
If you want to check with me about your date to see if I am available, check with me at kathybuskett@gmail.com
YOU can also check out the rest of my website at www.caricaturesbykathy.com
make sure to click on my wedding page!
And finally if you want more wedding tips and tricks and want to hear stories from my events, Or just to follow me, follow my blog HERE
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