BIRMINGHAM, Mich. (WXYZ) — In October of 2022, Olivia Toma went to Birmingham Bridal in downtown Birmingham to show for her wedding dress.
"I booked an appointment at Birmingham Bridal and I went with my mom and I found like my dream dress," she told us.
Filled with excitement, she splurged.
Going above her budget, she said the store owner Nadica Ristivojevic made her a deal and convinced her to pay for the dress, veil and alterations in full for $5,294.
Ristivojevic assured Toma the dress would arrive in six to eight months but Toma said as her wedding date drew closer, Ristivojevic began to ignore her.
"I said to my fiance, ‘I want to drive by, something is going on. I want to talk to her in person,'" Toma said. "That’s when we pulled up and there were no more dresses left in the store. My heart just dropped. I’m like what’s happening?"
Toma said Ristivojevic was packing up the store and closing it but still insisted nothing was wrong.
Not buying it, Toma reached out to the dress designer directly and found that Ristivojevic submitted her dress order five months late and never paid for it to be made.
She filed a police report and a small claims report but was told by her credit card company that it was too late to get any of her money back.
We reached out to the Better Business Bureau to ask if this was common and what can be done.
President and CEO of Eastern Michigan Better Business Bureau Melanie Duquesnel told us that after six months, the best you can do to get your money back is file a claim with small claim court.
She also informed us that since the pandemic, bridal companies have been struggling. Birmingham Bridal specifically has an "F" rating with them.
The Birmingham Police Department has released that Ristivojevic has scammed at least nine brides out of $40,000 to $50,000 and is now being held on a $750,000 cash bond.
To avoid being a future victim, Duquesnel recommends checking where your dress is coming from, picking a more reputable bridal shop and "If at all possible, pay in payments, pay in progress payments."
Toma is now two weeks away from saying "I do."
Luckily, she did get a different dress in time from Piera's Bridal Couture, but having more than $5,000 taken from her has deeply hurt.
She wants to make sure any other bridal victims know the truth.
"Those brides won’t even know that this is happening until they go back to the shop when they don’t hear from her," Toma said.
If you have been defrauded by Birmingham Bridal or if you know someone who was, you're asked to reach out to the Birmingham Police Department at 248-530-1870.
