I'm seconding the complaint already listed about the bridal registry at Michael Fina. My basic complaint is the same: that they charge buyers immediately for backordered or out-of-stock items without telling the couple who registered and without telling the purchaser that the items are not available.

Two guests at our daughter's upcoming wedding were charged immediately when they ordered china place settings and not told that they were out-of-stock. Nothing online indicated the out-of-stock status, nor did a phone salesperson say then that some of items wouldn't be sent for possibly 12 weeks after the wedding--no date given. All they said was that they would go out "after the wedding." Fina gave purchasers the impression that the registrants requested the items to be sent later. NOT! In fact, the registrants wanted and expected purchased items from the registry to be delivered right away so they could send thank-you notes. The couple was told nothing of this delay and only found out inadvertently. Fina had everyone's e-mail addresses and phone numbers to send information about the out-of-stock situation. Witholding this information made it impossible for the registrants to tell people to buy the place settings elsewhere, which works out fine for Michael Fina but not for people shelling out the money.

It is standard practice on most major online sites to indicate at point of sale that an item isn't in stock or is backordered. However, Fina doesn't share that information with anyone unless you call and get one of their incredibly rude Customer Service people or their clueless bridal person who says that's their policy. Well, my policy is to publicize their bad policy so that people can take their wedding business to a company that provides transparent information to the registrants and people buying from the registries. Probably my daughter would have simply made substitutions from Fina's other merchandise. Now we're both shouting from the rooftops what happened so other people can avoid this problem by setting up registries elsewhere.