I
bought my dress from David's bridal and had it altered there. I paid $1150.0 for the dress and $318.00 for
alterations – almost $1,500.00 for my wedding dress! The only 2 times I have tried on my dress
were for my 2 alteration sessions at the David's Bridal store in Natick,
MA. I am very unhappy with the service I
received, and the rudeness shown to me by the manager on duty Wednesday 1/13/16
when I went to pick up my dress at 5pm.
On
Wed January 6, 2016 I went to try on my dress after my first alterations
appointment. There were a few things
that needed to be fixed which included an uneven hem, an uneven bustle, and the
stay band needed to be tightened. That’s
fine, my mom was with me, and saw the dress, and noticed no other problems with
it. Last night, January, 13, I went to
pick up my dress after these alterations were complete for a 5pm
appointment. I drove 1 hour from my work
to get there. When I got there, I was
asked if I wanted to try on my dress which I declined since I forgot to bring
my petticoat and bustier with me and I assumed that the dress would be fine
since nothing major was done to it, and that I could trust the alterations
department at David’s Bridal since this is their job and the only thing they do
besides selling dresses. I then drove an
hour to get home with my dress. I
brought my dress to my parents’ house because that is where it is being stored
until my wedding which is this Saturday 1/16.
As soon as I got there, my mom and I opened the bag and were horrified
at what we saw. There were pink, brown,
and grey stains on the dress, as well as picks in the fabric, and
discolorations in the fabric (which I am assuming from pressing the
dress). The most prominent stain was a
pink stain on the front of the bodice – very noticeable – I don’t know how the
alterations department even let it out the door looking like that (I have dated
and timed pictures of these if you need me to send them to you (so you can see
how little time elapsed, considering I live an hour away) ).
After
thoroughly examining the dress, I called David’s Bridal, where I spoke with an
associate, who then told me a manager would call me back. I then spoke with the alterations manager,
who said she couldn’t do anything unless I brought the dress back and she could
look at it. At this point, it was almost
7pm. I drove an hour back (you can see
in my David’s Bridal account how far away I live from your nearest store!) to
David’s bridal with one of my bridesmaids for moral support, and was not helped
upon entering the store – we were actually ignored by multiple associates while
standing in the entryway holding my dress.
Eventually, we found the alterations manager who brought us back to the
alterations department, and we showed her the dress. She didn’t apologize, or comment, just took
the dress in the back “to go over it with a fine toothed comb”, and left us to
wait. After 30-45minutes, she brought
the dress back out, and it was still covered in stains. We went through the dress again, marked the
dress with at least 10 more pins where it needed cleaning and she went back a
second time to clean. Keep in mind,
there are still picks in the fabric that can’t be corrected.
The
second time, the dress was brought out, it looked better, cleaner, and the
alterations manager took it back to re-steam it. She offered a new bag, which
was helpful. I am appalled I did not
receive an apology or acknowledgement that this type of situations should NEVER
have occurred. I paid a lot of money for
this dress and expected it to be treated with care, and trusted David’s Bridal
to do so. I was obviously wrong to do
so. I also want to note that while we were there, another bride was getting a
final fitting and she asked us why were there so long where we politely just
said they are adjusting a few things. Out of courtesy to your brand and staff,
we did not make a scene. I was obviously wrong to do this too.
We
didn’t end up leaving the store until 9:45pm, 45 minutes after their closing
time. Before we left, we spoke with the manager
(unfortunately she didn’t tell us her name, but she was tall, with dark brown
hair in a ponytail, wearing black pants and a black shirt with white details on
it). We asked her if anything could be
done since this this situation never should have happened. She proceeded to be extremely rude to us,
spoke to us in a very unprofessional tone, snapping at us, and indicated that
it was my fault because I didn’t try on the dress at the time of pick up.
Regardless of looking at it or not, your job is to make my very expensive dress
look good and the fact that it went out to a customer that way is completely
poor business practice. Additionally, the fact that she was still arguing
despite the alterations manager having to go over it twice to remove the stains
is ridiculous. When you had the opportunity to fix the situation, the attention
to detail was NOT there and it was brought out with stains still on it.
Eventually, she said she would “look into it,” but got no definite answer, and
still no apology or acknowledgement that it was the fault of David’s
Bridal. Regardless of the fact that I
did not try on the dress, IT NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN COVERED IN STAINS!! I shouldn’t have received a dress in anything
less than perfect condition, especially when spending almost $1500.00 on
it…from a company that only focuses on WEDDING dresses the details of your
wedding, and making your “dream dress perfect.” I shouldn’t have had to drive back to
David’s bridal because they did not take care of my dress. I shouldn’t have been put in this situation 3
days before my wedding – extra stress, extra driving, and not to mention
wasting everyone’s time. I didn’t get
home until 11pm last night, I am very tired, very angry, and will never use
David’s Bridal for anything ever again, nor will I recommend it to anyone. Your
customer service has been way below par, and I have never been treated so
rudely in a store before – EVER.
I am requesting that someone from your
Corporate location contact me regarding this experience, and attempt to rectify
the situation. I will also have you know that a friend of mine had a very
similar experience to this with this exact alterations department and David’s
Bridal location so perhaps you should look into this store and their employees
further.
Someone
from David's Bridal corporate contacted me the NIGHT before my wedding -
proceeded to talk to me like i was stupid, and say since i didn't try
my dress on at the time of picking it up, it was not the store's fault
that my dress was covered in stains and
had thread pulls. She said they normally offer 10% off the dress in
situations like this which I find highly unacceptable. I SO did not need
this aggravating phone conversation the night before my wedding, on my
way to our rehearsal. The woman I spoke with said she would get back to
me that evening with an answer, and of course she never did. This
situation is still unresolved, and I am still very upset with my
experience shopping at your store....still awaiting a resolution.