Attention
anyone who needs a dress for any occasion…RUN far away from Ana’s Bridal
Boutique in East Providence, RI. I will NEVER recommend this “boutique” to
anyone…ever. I will be honest, I had read several horrible (not just bad)
reviews about Ana’s before shopping there in November 2012 for my bridesmaid’s
dresses and I ignored them thinking it was just a bad customer, bad situation,
etc. Please heed my warning, DO NOT GIVE THESE PEOPLE YOUR BUSINESS!!!! I
originally went to Ana’s in November of 2012 to look for bridesmaid’s dresses
for my July 2013 wedding. I previously shopped at several other shops for BM
dresses but no one could compare to the selection of dresses that Ana’s had to
offer. This is my first of two positive notes for this shop. Their selection is
enormous…they have two rooms full of bridesmaid’s dresses. My sister and my
grandmother purchased their dresses that day and I narrowed down a few
selections for my BMs (I picked 7 short, chiffon dresses in which my girls
would pick their favorite and order in the light grey version). My second
praise for this shop is the one employee who helped us that day. Her name is Chez
(sounds like Jess, but it isn’t...I hope I’m spelling it correctly, if not my
apologies) and she was fantastic, she helped me narrow down my choices, talked
things over with me, since I wasn’t picking one style of dress she was very
helpful and reassuring. We returned
January 26th with my BMs and family, including my aunt, mother,
grandmother and my cousins, both of my cousins in the party. Each girl picked
out their own dresses and they ordered that day. Before placing the order, we
checked the colors on each of the dresses, signed off on everything, and were
told by the two employees who helped us, that each dress was all set. In total
we bought 6 BM dresses and 1 Grandmother of the Bride dress.
Then it
began…one week later, my aunt contacted me saying an employee from Ana’s called
to tell her they made a mistake on one of the dresses she bought that day (for
my cousin, the junior BM) and that in order to get in the color we needed they
would be charging us $15. I immediately contacted Ana’s…completely dumbfounded,
and spoke to one of the employees that helped us that day, was put on hold 3
times before getting Ana herself on the phone. Ana explained that the dress
company does not make that specific dress in the material or color I requested
and I would have to pay $15 to get the right one. Nothing of the sort was
explained to us the day we ordered. Now, any other time, I’m the kind of person
who would just pay a charge and move on however, the mistake was not on my
hands as I explained to Ana, and I would not be paying the $15 charge for a
mistake made by their employee. Ana continued to explain the situation telling
me, “It’s not as if the dress costs an arm and a leg so $15 really isn’t that
much money” (this is a direct quote...I wrote everything down during this
conversation!). I then went on to explain I’d like to cancel the order, she
told me that was not possible, then I told her I would be letting everyone know
that their customer service is awful. She patronized me by telling me she wants
everything perfect for me and my day and that she would like to fix it. At the
end of the conversation, I asked (she not sure where we stood) who would be
responsible for the $15 and she replied, “Well, sweetie, I think you are”.
Again, I refused and we ended the conversation by me telling her we would have
to, “agree to disagree”. Now before I continue I will explain that $15 is not
the issue. I am paying for an entire wedding, I am a working professional and
have the $15 to spare. If the issue was explained to me the day the dress was
purchased this would not be an issue, we would have paid the $15 and been on
our way! My issue lies in the fact that in order to get her point across she
had to explain that because it was an inexpensive dress ($130) that $15 is
nothing. What she doesn’t know is that my aunt who was paying for this dress was
responsible for paying for 3 girls being in my wedding. Regardless of the
amount of the dress, insulting customers does not gain business. A true
business person would have eaten the $15 and fixed THEIR employee’s mistake
long before a customer should have to defend themselves.
Fast forward
a few months…three of the girl’s dresses arrived (Alfred Angelo 7180) on May 7th.
One of my BMs went to pick up the dresses since she lives in Rhode Island, when
she arrived they brought out the dresses and they were ordered as long dresses.
Each ticket specifically states, “short chiffon, sweetheart, light grey”. The employee began to argue with my BM explaining
that the tag on the dress matched the receipt (which was true) however my
bridesmaid explained that the woman who helped us wrote down the wrong dress
number (or forgot to write a “S” for short). Same dress, same color…long length. No biggie
and easy to fix! To prove her point, my BM showed her the picture of her
wearing the red sample dress she tried on that day. Ana then came out and told
my BM she would fix the length to get the original dress length, $15 to fix the
length. FOR REAL?! My BM said absolutely not and Ana finally agreed to fix them,
no charge. Again the $15 charge is not the issue, the principle of a business
owner charging a customer for the business’s mistake, is a serious issue. A week later, May 23rd, my BM
returned to pick up the dresses around 5:00 (when the shop told her they would
be ready). When she arrived, the dresses were not touched. The employee asked
my BM if she could “go home or get a coffee” and come back in 45 minutes. My BM
explained that she would not go home but left the shop and came back 45 minutes
later. The dresses were still not ready; the employee said they needed 30 more
minutes. My BM waited until the dresses were ready and took them home (waiting
for over an hour and a half). She went home, tried on the dress only to find
the dress was “hacked” off. The hem was uneven and poorly done and now all
three of my BMs need to get their dresses fixed for a problem that should never
have needed to be solved in the first place.
This brings
me to my next and final point. I bought my wedding dress from Melissa Ashley’s
in Westerly, Rhode Island. After purchasing my beautiful dress and trying it on
once it arrived, Denise offered her help with anything that I needed throughout
the wedding process. This woman is a true business person! She went out of her
way to make sure every dress (even ones not purchased from her own shop) were
perfect and ready for July. This woman is truly amazing and I can say in
retrospect, I should have ordered every single dress from her and given her
every penny of my business. All I can do now it send every person who ever
needs a dress to Denise at Melissa Ashley’s in downtown Westerly. These minor
hiccups are not a disaster in my wedding planning, but the way that Ana and her
employees handled every situation that arose is unprofessional and nothing
short of disastrous. After sharing my story with several friends and co-workers
I have heard 4 (yes, FOUR) similar stories of people who had some kind of issue
with Ana’s Bridal. Please…Please….Please! Run, sprint and drive as fast as you
can away from Ana’s Bridal and drive straight to Melissa Ashley’s in Westerly! You’ve
been warned!