A Valley woman says one of the most special moments of her life was nearly ruined by a local business.
"You know every bride kind of wants that experience with their mom, wants that mother daughter moment," said Theresa Norris. Norris says that moment was supposed to happen inside The Wedding Apparel Superstore off Cave Creek Road.
They went in for dress alterations but instead of being helped, Norris says she was fat shamed when the dress didn’t fit.
"They just kept telling me I needed to come back when the dress fit, they couldn't give me any estimates including the neck drop, basically kept asking me, 'Are you sure that the dress fit when you bought it?'"
Norris admits she had gained a few pounds prior to the fitting, but was shocked when the seamstress continued to reference her weight in front of other customers and refused to give any estimates for the alterations.
"It was embarrassing to say it nicely, it was embarrassing," said Norris. "I definitely felt fat shamed while I was there."
Norris says she left in tears and had the alterations done elsewhere. The wedding came and went, but months later while scrolling through her Facebook feed, Norris came across an ad for the store and couldn’t hold back.
"It just kind of brought it all back at that point and that's when I was like, 'I'm just going to put in the comments, this was my experience,'" said Norris.
But instead of an apology, she says the store fought back, telling her in a post it was a language barrier with the seamstress and they would never fat shame anyone. An excuse Norris reluctantly accepted, until a reply to her comment from the store a few weeks later, this time a link to a local Planet Fitness gym.
"I was like, 'Oh my gosh,' they deleted their comment and literally gave me a link to the gym," said Norris.
ABC15 tried to get answers, but the store owner would not go on camera. She told us she was either hacked or a former employee maliciously posted the link. She says that employee was recently fired and was in charge of the store's Facebook page.
According the BBB, the store has an A rating. But, many on Facebook still question the store's excuse, especially Norris.
"To me the hacking story was just an excuse, just garbage," said Norris.
The store owner insists she was hacked and has since changed her Facebook password and is in the process of having an IT company look into the issue. She also says she'd like to extend an invitation to Norris to come into the store to apologize directly to her.
