I am very angry right now with the customer service I have received. I will take some ownership of this problem however let me set the stage for you. How excited are you when you are trying on wedding dresses? If you were anything like me then you were pretty anxious to find the right dress for you. I went to David's Bridal and I tried on several dresses looking for just the right one. Let me ask you this, when you are trying on dresses do you read the walls in the dressing room? Who thinks to do that, I mean I guess some people would. For the most part all that is on your mind is finding that perfect wedding dress! Now for the most part people go home and think about all the dresses they looked at and decided on one. Well I was pretty happy with one from David's Bridal. I wasn't quite ready to purchase the dress yet but they had the deal going with a David's Bridal credit card. My sister and I talked and she decided to go ahead and get the credit card and buy the dress. Now I don't care what the store says, the sales representative that I spoke to advised us that the dress could be returned only if :
1. No alterations had been done.
2. ALL of the tags were still on the dress.
3. It had to be returned in perfect condition.
4. There was to be no type of odor on the dress ie. pet, smoking, etc.
We made sure to take special care of it just in case something happened. Listen I am not stupid I know things happen sometimes. I am a woman and just like everyone else you tend to change your mind from time to time. That is exactly what I did. I changed my mind. My grandfather passed away and the funeral was scheduled at the same time my wedding was. I love my grandfather very much and that was the appropriate place to be. My fiancee and I just decided to elope and save our money. I traveled a long way to be present at my grandfather's funeral and honestly just didn't feel like having a ceremony. I didn't think it was going to be a problem because I hadn't paid a whole lot of up front costs and I was under the assumption that the dress could be returned. Well I WAS WRONG! My sister went to return the dress and for starers she had to wait 45 minutes for someone to help. On top of that when the lady went to help her she didn't even look at the receipt she just said our policy states you can't return it. I called corporate and actually spoke with someone. You want to know what that got me? A lady who I will say maintained a nice tone while trying to make me out to be stupid. Her words were "it states it in the dressing room, by the cash register, on the walls, and on your receipt so I just can't believe that you didn't see it" mind you being someone sarcastic. Well HELLO I was told it was returnable so I wasn't paying attention! I will take ownership of the fact that I didn't see it, especially on the receipt but not because I am stupid it is because I wasn't paying attention. That is beside the point and the reason being is because they need to learn the golden rules of customer service. I am in a call center environment and customer service is our number one priority. Regardless of what policies state every wisely ran business puts customer service first. Please understand that I am not doing this just to get my money back because I can pay for the dress. It is about principle now. It is about receiving great customer service. I know that I am only one person and that I can't bring a corporation that big down. Even if I can reach one, two, three, or even more people then I feel that I have accomplished my goal. My desirable outcome of this whole disaster is that someone from David's Bridal who actually cares for their customers reads this and does something about it. It is hard enough when you already have tragedy hit you, then to deal with something of this nature makes it even worse.
An Upset Customer in Indiana!
David's Bridal was my worst experience of my life. The attendants are very mad. The dresses are dirt and they sell them dirty. I bought a gown and then when I return to iron it, they told me that the dress had alterations.
I was very upset because I never touched the dress and they tried to say that I am a liar or something worst. How it comes that I bought a new dress and already came with alterations? What's going on? And the dresses as I said before are always dirty and sometimes broken.
It was a very bad experience. This was at David's Bridal from Carolina, Puerto Rico, Escorial Shopping Center.
I will not recommend them to anyone. PLEASE BEWARE!
You will not find a store in the world that will allow you to return a wedding dress, no matter what the condition. If a sales person really did tell you that then they are dumb, but every bride should know that fact before dress shopping. I guess now you do. If someone tells you something is returnable, make sure you have it in print on the receipt. You'll never be able to prove what "so and so said".
I also had a very bad experience at David's Bridal. I purchased my dress and all my accessories as well as all of my bridesmaid dresses from David's. First of all I bought the dress off the rack because they refused to order a new one for me. They promised to clean and press the dress for me so I was satisfied with this. I was told to bring my dress and veils in a week before the wedding and they would get everything ready to go. So today I am a week from my wedding and finishing up a few last minute things one of them being taking my dress to David's to be cleaned and steamed before the big day. I had previously taken my dress elsewhere to have it altered as David's was going to over charge me for alterations. They refused to steam my dress saying because I did my alterations elsewhere they would be held liable if anything went wrong with the alterations while steaming? I told them this was not made clear when I bought the dress and that since I was a week from the wedding I'd really appreciate it if they could help me out. After waiting and waiting for a manager I was once again told they would not help me and was referred to a place down the street. I ended up taking my dress to the only other bridal store in town, Candice Bridal, where even though I did not purchase my dress from them offered to help me out as I was in a pinch.
Please do not go to David's Bridal in Springfield, IL. They are rude and unhelpful once they have your money. Please go to Candice Bridal instead as they were super helpful and understanding.
I had a similar experience at David's bridal, though not as a bride. I was supposed to be a maid of honor to a friend when, five weeks prior to the wedding, the groom broke things off. Now I know when you buy a wedding dress it is for keeps, but bridesmaids dresses too? Seriously, the attendants take all information regarding the wedding including *date* down long before anyone purchases anything. If I need to return a dress five weeks before a wedding, it obviously hasn't taken place yet. While the initial attendant was a sweetheart, everyone I spoke with when I called about my problem, and the problem of the other five bridesmaids and JR bridesmaids, was extremely rude. Each person I spoke with talked down to me. I work in retail and understand return policies, but i also understand customer service comes first. When I attempted to contact their customer service line I was told, by recording, to leave a message with all my information and that someone would get back with me. This never happened. I have left three messages so far. DO NOT VISIT the DAYTON OHIO DAVID'S BRIDAL if you expect customer service or helpful employees. This does not include Melissa, our attendant, who was as stated above wonderful.
It is sad and unprofessional that David's bridal makes exceptions for some people, but not for all. I wonder what David's bridal's rules to these exceptions are based on...is it income, race, location etc? On several blogs on the internet, for example...a bride wrote on David's bridal in Richmond that she was allowed to exchange her accessories twice on 2 different occasions. ...yet the David's bridal in Norfolk refuses to exchange wedding gowns stating a reason that obviously didn't apply to the bride in Richmond.
The truth is that you can find beautiful designer gowns for prices that are comparable or better than David's bridal at some of your local boutiques. I think that it is time to BOYCOTT David's bridal because for every one good comment that I have read online, I have read a dozen bad experiences. I think that David's bridal's standards are questionable because one can find a perfectly new David's bridal gown online or ebay just because they have refused to allow a bride to exchange within 30dys even for a more expensive gown. It's a pity !
The quality of the wedding dress was poor. I felt that (not my sales gal) but another one was pushy in having me make a purchase that evening... and I did but by the time I got home I felt that it was not really what I wanted. Well I was at the store they had a seamstress come and show me the adjustments they could make to the dress for my wedding coming up this November of 2009 and I asked if she could make a few other alterations to the dress other then just taking it in a whole size, since I felt it was a little big in the chest. They said that your store dose not offer that service. Really? I have another wedding dress that I originally wanted to replace but now I am thinking that I will end up using it instead since I like it more then I the new dress. I called the store to ask about exchanging the dress for in store credit and the manager on staff said that the store was very picky about taking back dresses and how they have to be in picture perfect shape...that's funny since when I bought the dress it already had ware markings on the bottom of the dress, from other people trying it on in the store. I asked my sales girl about it and she said that when I have the dress fitted they would clean it for me and if it didn't come out that they would order a new one. The manager also said that I could not exchange it for anything else in the store other then another dress. But I don't want another cheap dirty wedding dress from this company. I would prefer to use a in store credit for a wedding veil, some stockings, a Bolero jacket... or something for the grooms men. I know that people are not honest with a business like this so that's why do they give so much push back, but my wedding isn't till November 28th of 09 I have not had my alterations yet. In fact I still have an appointment for in there books for the dress alteration that I bought two weeks ago on July 27th 09. The manager that I talked to made me feel like I was being interrogated ... that was ridiculous! No one should be made to feel that way. I am upset with the way the "manager" treated me with there so called company procedures. I feel that it is a very unprofessional and even more just plain out rude.
I THINK POOR STEPH PROBABLY NEVER HAD A BOYFRIEND. AND AS FAR AS THE OTHERS I FEEL WE SHOULD HIRE AN ATTORNEY ...beckasparks@yahoo.com
I am putting my article in all of the papers and also contacting a few other people. I hate to see people treated like this. And I have the money and a boyfriend that is an attorney. please feel free to contact ME>