behind its pretty facade, wedding site the knot hides a dark side.
At America's go-to website for millions of brides, fraudulent business practices have gone on - unabated - for years...
Speak up and be heard - Contact Senator Grassley’s office and share your story about how you’ve been affected by the business practices of The Knot. He's seeking answers to the industry's petition - let him know you support his efforts to protect the American wedding industry. Complete Form below.
Complete the Form
Share your experience with the Senate Office. Link to Form HERE. *Don't let the standard form format confuse you, it is the form the Senate Office has asked to be utilized.
Years of fraud - and silencing people who know about it.
Common Allegations Against The Knot Worldwide "WeddingPro"
Notice Regarding NDA's:
In our observation, The Knot Worldwide has kept their shady and illicit practices veiled in much the same manner as Harvey Weinstein; through a conglomeration of enablers, a power imbalance, intimidation and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
** ADVISORY:** AN NDA CANNOT PREVENT A CURRENT OR FORMER EMPLOYEE FROM REPORTING CRIMES OR SUSPECTED WRONGDOING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT OR REGULATORY AGENCIES (such as the DOJ, FTC, IRS, SEC) OR ANY OTHER FEDERAL, STATE OR LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL REGULATORY OR LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. NDA's THAT RESTRICT AN EMPLOYEE'S RIGHT TO REPORT ARE ILLEGAL AND NON-ENFORCEABLE. IF YOU ARE A CURRENT OR FORMER EMPLOYEE OF TKWW, YOU CAN CONTACT US CONFIDENTIALLY VIA OUR SECURE PROTON MAIL ACCOUNT: THEKNOTWHISTLEBLOWERS@PROTON.ME AND WE WOULD URGE YOU TO REPORT SUSPECTED WRONGDOING TO FEDERAL AUTHORITIES WHICH IS A PROTECTED RIGHT.
Common Allegations against The Knot Worldwide:
Complaints from American wedding professionals allege high-pressure sales tactics by The Knot and Wedding Wire "WeddingPro" with promises of a quick return on investment (ROI) and that the vendor-advertiser will receive numerous viable leads each month of brides in the vendor's area looking to book wedding services.
Allegations claim - and multiple current and recently departed Knot Worldwide employees confirm - WeddingPro utilizes a industry monopoly position and strong-arm sales tactics to lure wedding professionals into advertising contracts ; agreements that vendors have claimed are difficult to cancel once the credit card information is handed over and that contain fine-print that the businesses claim they did not get to carefully review (instead relying on the promises of the sales person) before handing over their billing information over the phone - or directly contradicts what they were promised in the sales pitch. Many advertising vendors say they were hounded by a WeddingPro sales rep to advertise, only to struggle to reach a company representative after turning over their credit card information. Unhappy advertisers have described the experience as being "ghosted" and their credit cards charged for services after they tried to cancel - even if they attempt to cancel right after signing up. Many small businesses describe that during the sales pitch they were promised "they could cancel at any time" only to later learn that they are locked into a 12-month long, one-sided contract. A number of vendors have described their frustrated attempts to cancel their WeddingPro ad program as a game of "kick-the-can" and state their efforts to cancel go unanswered and ignored. Many claim they had to go to the extraordinary length of contacting their bank and cancelling credit cards altogether to escape. Recent employees have detailed that the company instructs the sales team to deliberately mislead prospective vendors to get them to sign up, and then 'gaslights' or intentionally confounds vendors' efforts to reach the company for help after the sale.
Common WeddingPro vendor complaints describe that advertisements are not appearing on the website in the agreed placements on The Knot's platforms. Many vendors state that they are paying to appear in top ad search results, only to find that their advertisement does not appear as agreed, or sometimes, not at all. This occurrence was well-documented during our tenure and goes back since at least 2015. According to current and recently-departed employees, along with many Wedding Pro advertisers, this is still a regular occurrence.
Other wedding vendors describe a feeling of helplessness related to soaring advertising rate hikes (which many claim is due to an industry monopoly) and WeddingPro refusing to remove their 'Storefront Ads' from its site platforms, upon an advertiser severing the relationship.
WeddingPro allegedly reserves the right to keep the vendor's brand identity on their website platforms claiming that they retain these rights and the rights to the reviews left by brides who wrote about the wedding vendor on The Knot or Wedding Wire platforms. A number of wedding vendors have stated that they believe their reviews are 'essentially held-hostage' and many claim they feel trapped in the relationship for fear of losing access to the reviews left by brides and grooms. Many vendors have stated they feel trapped into paying WeddingPro simply to have access to their reviews and intellectual property - their brand identity that they claim Wedding Pro refuses to remove from The Knot and Wedding Wire site platforms.
Perhaps the most common allegation against Wedding Pro from many advertisers are claims that The Knot and Wedding Wire 'WeddingPro' is knowingly sending "Fake" "Bot" or "Scam" leads to their advertising vendor partners. The account "leads" which are supposed to represent a prospective customer (a bride or groom in need of wedding professionals to pull-off their big day) is of paramount value to a paying WeddingPro advertiser. Yet, scores of advertising vendors allege these are knowingly or intentionally fake, bot or scam account leads - in the opinion of many vendors - as being generated by The Knot and Wedding Wire itself, to give the appearance that the advertising investment in WeddingPro is working.
As insiders at the company for a combined six decades, we observed first-hand what the organization is capable of; the practice of swindling vendors, breaking the rules and silencing employees who could expose the ugly-face concealed behind the beautiful veil. Multiple recently departed employees have substantiated these assertions as ongoing. We believe the "pretty brand veil" aptly explains how the company has hidden malfeasance in plain sight for such a long time and allowed it to continue to rip-off and generally 'give the run around' to many of its American advertising partners and those tasked with holding the company to account.
LINKS TO COMPLAINTS FROM WEDDING INDUSTRY VENDORS AGAINST WEDDING PRO:
BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU BBB :
https://www.bbb.org/file-a-complaint/0241-235980765
iPETITION :
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/the-knot-advertisers
SITEJABBER :
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/theknot.com
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/weddingwire.com
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/weddingpro.com
TRUSTPILOT :
https://ca.trustpilot.com/review/www.theknot.com?stars=1
https://ca.trustpilot.com/review/weddingwire.com?stars=1
REDDIT :
YELP :
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-knot-new-york-3
