First dress problem (sorta long vent)

[FLgirl41]

I am very happy i decided to order my dress two years in advance. I received my dress in the mail via UPS last wednesday. I opened the pourly packed box and quickly looked at my dress to ensure it was the right one and make sure I still loved it.

Well I still really love the dress but...

When I closely inspected it on Saturday I saw several (like every few inches) areas on the dress where the gold embroidery is starting to unravel and where beads are falling off. There is huge part of the symmetrical design that is missing beads on one side. I was very upset when I saw this. It took me only less than a minute to start noticing this throughout the entire dress.

Not only was I upset about the condition of the dress I was irritated on how the dress shop shipped my dress. It was loosely packed and th e box was not fully taped. At first I thought I was going to look in the box and my dress wasn''t going to be in there because it looks like someone opened the box after it was taped shut.

This is just all very odd concidering that this is a reputable dress shop in Minnesota twin cities area and I can''t beleive they would ship a dress in that condition. The condition is blatantly obvious.

I spoke with the customer service people on Saturday right after I noticed the condition. I was told to leave a message with a woman and she would get back to me. Well she has not gotten back to me and I am getting frusterated.

Is there anything I should demand from the shop. Should I ask for my shipping costs back and for them to pay for the shipping back to Minnesota from Florida? Do I ask for a discount on my dress?

The one good thing is that I have time. If they have to reorder a dress (which I am hoping they do with what the condition of the dress is in) it will probably take four months and then another two months until my mom flies to come visit, where she will just fly with the dress because I do not trust the dress shop to mail the dress again. Or should I just have my mom ship it?

Thank you for listening and sorry if I am being a bridezilla.

 

[FLgirl41]

I don''t know if this matters but here is a pic of the dress for you who have not seen it. The entire dress has a ton of bead work. This is the dress I tried on at the store so it is just a sample dress.

 

[Mandarine]

1) I love your dress

2) I will definitely demand either a new dress or a discount!. I ordered my dress from RKBridal and it came packaged perfectly. The dress should go through an inspection before they ship it. Did you get the sample or was this supposed to be a new gown?

3) You''re not being a bridezilla!. You are paying for this and should get what you pay for!!

M~

 

[FLgirl41]

Date: 10/1/2007 2:52:26 PM
Author: Mandarine
1) I love your dress

2) I will definitely demand either a new dress or a discount!. I ordered my dress from RKBridal and it came packaged perfectly. The dress should go through an inspection before they ship it. Did you get the sample or was this supposed to be a new gown?

3) You''re not being a bridezilla!. You are paying for this and should get what you pay for!!

M~

First thank you for the compliment! I saw your dress earlier this morning and just love it as well

As for the gown, I bought the gown new, that is why i am upset right now. I am just utterly shocked. I know at least three girls who have gone through this shop and from what I know they had no problems. I am just grrrrrrr

. I know it will get figured out in the end and I have time but this is just things you don''t want to have to deal with expecially this far in advance.

 

[Chels7]

What dress shop is it from? I am in MN.

 

[door knob solitaire]

Your figure is perfect!

You are going to be stunning in that dress...bead or no bead...you really look fabulous

!!

Have you ever heard the quote...The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Grease? Get on the phone this instant and call her-SQUEAK!!! Your relationship with her is not as a friend...it is business. No need to worry about sounding pushy or demanding. Get on the phone and attempt contact with her again. If she isn''t in, ask when she will return...what her hours are...and when you can expect a return call. This is no error you made...no wrong decision on your behalf...the dress is falling apart and was not packaged correctly. THOSE are her issues...not yours.

Now I am not endorsing your tone as rude or demanding ....I am just encouraging you to be persistent-and not wait for her to call you.

If you bought this on a credit card... I would call the c company and request the dispute letter/form. The will make a record of your request...and it will be added in the dispute file. You may not need their help...but get all your ducks in a row...and in position.

Get emotion out of the mix. Another dress can be purchased from another vendor...if need be. You know the model, style, and size. If this vendor is not going to be cooperative...don''t forget your have other options.

I agree that dress never should have left that way. Frankly I would be most hesitant to continue with a shop with that experience you have had.

Call. NOW!! Kay?

DKS

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

Whatever you do, don''t let them offer to repair it. You must get a new dress. I am trained as a beadworker, and they will have used the same thread to connect a number of beaded areas, so if they repair it then the beads will come off the original thread further down the line. The other thing you should do is take a close look at any silver beads. If they are clear glass with metal on the inside, look to see if the metal is turning a little black around the edges. Poorly made beads will oxydize with time and turn black, so look out for that too. Let me know if you have any beadwork questions.

 

[TravelingGal]

Zazazoom! You look awesome in that dress...I''m sure you could have beads skittering all over the aisle on your wedding day and no one would notice because you''ll look stunning!

That being said, you did not pay for skittering beads. I agree with DKS. Squeak and stop the skitter!

 

[Harleigh]

You posted pix of you in the dress before, right? I still think it is absolutely stunning on you, but you should NOT accept the dress the way it is. I agree with everyone else...you MUST demand a completely new dress, and if that isn''t an option you will have to insist upon a refund. I highly doubt they want to lose your business, but I would get not only your shipping costs refunded, I would also insist upon a discount. I am so very sorry that you had to experience this, and I sincerely hope you get it worked out to your satisfaction. You are in NO WAY near a bridezilla, but you DO need to stand up for yourself. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[FLgirl41]

Hey all, sorry i did not get back more quickly. Thank you all for your support and suggestions. I know I need to be more assertive in situations like this.

But I talked to the dress shop on Monday. She told me to ship it back and she would look at it and decide from there what we will do. After that was said I got upset. I told her that I will not wear this dress as it is now. I should have said I wouldn''t wear a repaired dress either, but I didn''t so I will make that clear in the next conversation.

I then told her about the packing job of the dress and that when I received the dress you could see it throught the box and it looked like the dress was going to fall out. She blamed it on UPS. I told her NO it was pourly packed before it went out because the box WAS NOT tapped tightly shut. After this she told me she will send an UPS packing sticker so I do not have to pay for the shipping.

I know I have to be demanding about this dress and get what I want. I don''t think the crystals are going to pourly made because they are swarovski crystals. But I will check that out! As for a discount I will ask for one, but I don''t think I will in fact get one because when i purchased the dress I got 20% off since I would not be doing any of the alterations or storing my dress there. Weird concept I know but I was not going to reject a 20% discount.

I will also bring up my refund for my original shipping since they will not be shipping it to me again. Do not trust them on that.

Also I do not want to disclose the dress shops name because they are a very reputable shop, and I would rather wait to see how the situation pans out.

I will keep you all posted. i will try my hardest to be assertive. One thing I know is that I will in fact demand a full refund if they will not get me a brand new dress. My mom told me to take pictures of all the problems of the dress so I can have that if need be.

I love that I can turn to PS to vent about situations about this, i can''t discuss it with my fiance because I don''t want him to know what my dress looks like. and my girl friends in florida don''t like wedding talk because they think it is funny I will be getting married at 26 (when we get married in 2009) and they cringe at the thought of marriage. Thank god for PS!!!!

P.S. Thank you all for the wonderful compliments on the dress as well.

 

[Mandarine]

Well, it''s always easy to look back and say "I should have said this". I think you are handling this perfectly and did what you could... hopefully this people will just do the right thing!!! Keep us posted!!!

M~