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| - I was looking at possibly having balloons for some of the decor at my wedding reception. I found a picture of an idea that I liked, and I called Balloon Art to get an idea on price.
I called (during normal business hours) and Lori the balloon lady answered the phone and told me I was interrupting her hike and she would need to call me back. So I'm thinking, why are you answering your business phone during your hike then? She asked me if she could call me back when she was finished, and I obviously had no issue with that. But before she hung up she told me that if I didn't hear back from her in about an hour, I should just call her back because that meant she forgot about me.
At this point I'm thinking, alright, I could not care less if this woman doesn't call me back. To my surprise, she did. I told her what I was looking for. She asked for a picture and the event address, both of which I provided immediately. She said she would take a look and call me back with a quote by the following day.
About a half hour later I got a text back from her. She gave me a RIDICULOUSLY high bid, almost $5000, and said it was going to take 30-40 hours of labor to get the job done. I won't argue with her on her trade, but all I was asking her to do was fill balloons with helium and float them to the ceiling of the event space to cover it. I was not aware that would require 40 hours of labor.
So, I asked her if she had any ideas that would maybe be more conservative, thinking she could design something else since she is a balloon artist. Her response was that she couldn't do it without seeing the space, and that was a 55 mile round trip. So basically - NO. I was appalled that someone in business would not want to go the extra mile, or even make any effort at all to gain a customer.
I would not recommend Lori the balloon lady to anyone. She is incredibly unprofessional. And if you do call, I hope your event is right around the corner from her business and that you don't interrupt her hike.
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