Okay, so I bought my dress at David's Bridal. My bridesmaids bought there as well. This was not a choice...we didn't have a lot of options for frugal in our area. But the experience with them was overwhelmingly bad.
The first time I set foot in the Chico, CA store (which is the one closest to where I live), I was required to register prior to being able to simply look at dresses. I had no desire at that time to try any on, merely to look. But I registered, because it was company policy, and was assigned to a very pushy sales associate, and was talked into trying on several dresses. When I got home and for every week after, I received no less than a dozen emails from David’s Bridal. I’ve also received a myriad of “wedding related” spam due, I assume, to them selling my information to other parties.
When I returned to the store to buy, I brought with me three photos of dresses printed off of the David’s Bridal website that I wished to try on. My consultant pulled out about 8 dresses, none of which were the ones I requested. When she went on break and I was assigned a new person, she actually LISTENED to me (what a concept!) and brought out the dresses I requested, one of which I ended up buying.
My dress required a simple hemming up of about 1 inch. There was no decoration at the bottom, yet the price quoted was around $120, plus the train needed to be bustled permanently which was quoted at around another $100. I instead found a reputable local seamstress to do the work for me for a much more reasonable price.
When I picked up my dress I was told that I was entitled to a free steaming of the top layer of my dress. When I arrived to have that service rendered, I was told that as I did not pay the exorbitant fees for their seamstress, I was no longer entitled to that service. However, at no time was that mentioned to me, that was nowhere on the receipt, nor did the young lady that I picked it up from mention that. Yet, the store refused to provide the service promised to me, even when I asked to pay for it, as doing so would present a “liability” to the store.
My bridesmaids’ dresses were another huge letdown. One of their dresses was a floor model from another store. My bridesmaid paid for it sight unseen, and the salesperson at the other store assured us that it was in good shape. It arrived with numerous snags and makeup stains. She did not get a discount, and now will have to pay for a cleaning.
Living in a rural area means that I have few choices in wedding dresses. But what should have been a pleasant, memorable experience turned into irritation, anger and frustration at all turns. I will NEVER recommend David's Bridal to anyone I know.
They may very well be the source of a lot of the "bride-zilla" behavior exhibited by some women. What should have been a beautiful experience turned into a stressful and frustrating one.
Rant over.
No comments:
Post a Comment