Arizona-Phoenix

Phx buyer beware - dresses


Ok here is the scoop. I fell in love with a dress at David's Bridal. It's a mermaid fit, satin, and has a bow on the right hip. However, we had gone to the Phx Bridal expo the day before, and rushed to put a non-refundable $100 down on a completely different dress that my mom liked, at a smaller boutique. (Mistake #1.)

 

 Since we had that money down, we went there after we left DB, just to see it, and decide what to do (dress I love vs $100 at this store). I had a bad feeling about this the whole time. Anywho, we get there and were greeted with bad customer service. No one helped us for the first 20 min, even though we had an appt, and the other girls there just sat around and gossiped.  Ugh. Finally, I go find the dress myself  in the racks, and helped myself into the dress in the dressing room. My parents were kinda eh about that dress (with said deposit). My mom decided to ask the lady if they had anything similar to the dress I fell in love with at DB. They did! I liked it, esp more so because it had a corset and came with a free veil and tiara. So... we ended up buying the dress for an even better deal than advertised at the expo. (It seems too good to be true). This is the dress that you have seen pictures of recently.

 

 The next morning after buying the dress I had brunch with my Phx girlfriends.  They were a little concerned about my dress because they had heard of other boutique stores in Phx going out of business. On the drive home I tried to read reviews and didn't find anything good, but I was driving, so I tried not to think too much. I called the store several times that day (within 24 hours of the purchase) and no one answered, and the voice mail box was full. That night I read through every review I could find about the store.... and the reviews are horrifying. (Google "Once in a Life Tyme" AND Phoenix AND reviews). Even the Better Business Bureau gave them a grade of F! They are so bad that I wanted to cancel my order. I called my parents, crying, asking them to read the reviews and cancel the order that day. They refused to go that day, but they did go to the store the next day to cancel in person. They were too late, you have to cancel within 24 hours  of the purchase, in person. Good thing we never knew that! Ugh.

 

My mom then decides to tell them that the wedding has been moved up, just so we can get the dress in on time for alterations and customization, and not a week before the wedding (read the reviews, apparently this is common).  So they put a rush on the order and say "5 weeks."   Since then they have refused to give us an order number, an estimated shipping date, a confirmation number, or even a price for the "rush order" in writing. Everything is making us stress about this dress and think this company may be horse ***, or going out of business. To top it off it wasn't even the dress that I fell in love with at David's Bridal.

 

So... we signed a contract. One of the lines on the contract said that it cannot be cancelled in any circumstances. We've spoken to contract lawyers and our credit card company, and they all say the same thing: that unless they fail to deliver within the original ship date on the contract (which was never stated), that we can't do anything to cancel the order or even submit a claim.

 

 I'm so disgruntled. I want to go to David's Bridal and go purchase my dream gown... but can't because I can't convince myself to waste my parent's money and be a bridezillabitch.

 

I called the manager of the store and spoke with her myself. I politely, but sternly, told her that we needed information because we were considering further legal action. After 30 minutes of bull *** on the phone, she finally emailed my dad a copy of the order reciept with our purchase order number on it as well as an estimated ship date.  However, it looked like a photo copy of an excel spreadsheet... which anyone could put together. There was nothing official on it implying an order exists, and the important stuff (like the designer's name) wasn't even on it. Oh... and guess what... in the last 3 weeks the quoted "rush fee" has changed 3 times, and the estimated shipping date has been different 4 times.

 

 So now we have a purchase order number and a "ship date". I feel a little hopefull... but still cant stop thinking about the DB dress...

 

My FI thinks this was all a mistake, and I and my family agree. We are at a loss. Do we wait to see if it shows on time (for the fake wedding date)? At all? If we wait to see what happens we risk the chance of it being too late to order my favorite dress through DB. Either way we are out $500+ from the first order because the lawyers and credit card company have told us that unless they fail to deliver within 30 days (of the non existant shipping date) there is nothing we can do to get our money back.

 

My fiance wants me to be happy and has implied that if we have to he will buy me the other dress... not that I need him to (YAY MASTERCARD!) but the thought is sweet.

 

I'm sad. I have no emotion for my wedding dress, and to top it off, there are NO samples where I live to try on again (southern AZ). I would have to drive all the way back to Phoenix and go back into that horrific store just to try it on. 

 

This place is a joke and has made nothing but my entire family (and FI) extremely frustrated and angry. Do NOT go to Once in a Life Tyme bridal.

www.nurseyk.weebly.com

Re: Phx buyer beware - dresses

  • brittandjpbrittandjp member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Sorry that you've been having such a tough time with them. I've heard a couple other brides talk about how horrible the service is, so I specifically didn't go there. :(

    I know you reaaally don't want to lose out on the money, but honestly, I'd go buy that dress at DB. If you loved it THAT much and it's your dream dress, do it! You'll only have one wedding, one wedding dress, one special day like no other. You want it to be perfect. When the Life Tyme Bridal dress comes in, try to sell it somewhere online, perhaps on the classifieds board here, in the attempt to get at least a little bit of your money back.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
  • edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_arizona-phoenix_phx-buyer-beware-dresses?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:71Discussion:7999c673-2c77-4e89-9335-1e13ab6279c3Post:2cbf9113-1c24-496d-8c9c-fd302e07fbff">Re: Phx buyer beware - dresses</a>:
    [QUOTE]When the Life Tyme Bridal dress comes in, try to sell it somewhere online, perhaps on the classifieds board here, in the attempt to get at least a little bit of your money back.
    Posted by brittandjp[/QUOTE]

    <div>I agree if you have the cash buy the dream dress you really want. You can always sell the other dress. You may not get the full value (but it sounds like you got a good deal anyways) but it's worth having what you want. You aren't being a bridezilla btw, I would be horrified if that happened to me! You can try selling it on EBAY, craigslist, wedding wire and on here in the classifieds section. Trust me people are always looking for a good deal on a brand new dress. I dont think you will have trouble selling it. Good luck!</div>
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  • sld0618sld0618 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Here is my advice to you after months of their BS.....forget it, don't worry about them. Dispute the charges on your cc now because if you wait longer, it will be out of the window like what happened to me.  They screwed up on my dresses, they're a piece of crap store and I had to pay double alterations because THEY ordered a dress without my consent and then couldn't change the size.  Also my hair piece was broken 2 times, took 8 months to get a veil in, they altered another dress behind my back that they ordered the wrong size in (that's 2 of 3 dresses ordered wrong) and there was PEN on dress when it came back to me with a different zipper than the rest that broke.

    Trust me on this....dispute the charges on the cc and go buy your dress from DB.  Show your cc company all the horrible reviews, not to mention their F on BBB and I will PERSONALLY get on the phone and explain my situation to help you dispute the charges.

    THEY SHOULD BE PUT OUT OF BUSINESS!!!!!!  Seriously, no other bride should have to go through the crap the rest of us have been through with these lying people.  Also, they lie about their names if you try to keep a log of who you speak to.

    They literally threatened to call the cops on me and four other girls because we wanted to know where our dresses were and manager was hiding in the back of the store from us.  That crap you're dealing with, will never end with them! 
  • belgirlbelgirl member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Word to the wise to all women - research and read reviews on bridal stores FIRST before going to buy a wedding dress.  I can't emphasize that enough.  People have been complaining about Once in a Life Tyme Bridal for over 2 years now, so if you dont do your homework, unfortunately, you can get burned. 
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