I just wanted to send a line about a few different things
regarding your store at:
10515 N. Mopac Expressway
Shops at Arbor Walk
Austin, TX 78759
My first two visits to AA were great. My
associate, Julie, was great and helpful.
I knew the gown I wanted before I walked in, but she was patient, let my
family and friends pull others, and explained why or why not those gowns would
work. She also was familiar with my
ceremony location, which was great to know.
She also was incredibly patient when I made a follow-up visit as we hadn’t
discussed veils at my first appointment.
My complaint, however, is this.
When I went in to pick up my gown, it wasn’t Julie helping me (which wasn’t her
fault, I didn’t realize I needed an appointment to pick up my gown; that might
be useful information to put on a website.
As a first time bride, I had no idea), but someone else, which was
fine. In that area, and in regards to
being helpful and polite and nice, she was.
But, I had NO idea there was a serial number inside of my gown. That might be useful information to share
with brides.
And the ONLY reason I know about the serial number is I realized yesterday, I
hadn’t gotten my Certificate of Authenticity with my gown. And this particular store is one of your
Signature Stores, which I find incredibly frustrating as well as
disappointing. Up to this point, I’d
been incredibly happy with my AA experience.
I shouldn’t have to chase down the certificate that should have come with my
gown. It should have been given to me,
or included with the receipt for my gown when I picked it up that same day. But instead, I’ve had to place a call with
the store (and leave a voice mail, as I do understand they might be busy, so I’ll
know within an hour what happened, as the message said my call would be
returned in an hour).
As a reference, my customer number is 1526550 and my gown’s serial number is
0003006265.
And, I have a suggestion.
I am not having my gown altered by your seamstresses, for a simple reason; I
couldn’t even get a ROUGH estimate as to what alterations would cost.
As a chain company, with a specific number of gowns that I understand rotate
out, shouldn’t there be SOME kind of idea what each style might cost for the
most basic of alterations?
My gown, as an example, is #1516. I need
3 alterations; a bustle, the hemline lifted, and the bodice taken in.
I understand bustling can go MANY different ways, but, no matter what the gown,
there are only so many different types of bustle. For each style of gown offered in your
stores, could you not have some kind of rough price list that a French Bustle
on a #1516 would cost X and a Ballroom Bustle on a #1516 would cost Y? That a bodice needing to be taken in on a
#1516 would cost Z.
And so on through the various styles.
Couldn’t this be something set by corporate? I find it INCREDIBLY frustrating that I had
no idea if alterations would cost me $500 or $5,000 without having to make an
additional appointment to talk to a seamstress.
What I was told is the cost would depend on how long it took the seamstress to
do the alteration. I don’t want to pay
by the hour; I want to be able to pay by the alteration. You know the styles of gowns you offer, you
know the variety of alterations that can be done (including removing a train or
even turning a ballgown in to a tea-length gown, etc), so it seems that SOME
kind of price list, at least for the most basic of alterations, could be made
available.
Instead, I just took my dress and will be having someone else do the
alterations because they could give me an idea as a starting point.
Mostly though, if someone can get me my certificate of
authenticity, I’ll be satisfied. Because
right now, I’m rather annoyed and not particularly happy that I’m having to do
this additional work that I shouldn’t have had to do in the first place.