Wedding dress may not arrive in time..or very close to the wire.

AfterAllThisTimeAlways · 27 August 2016 at 1:01PM

Hi all

Just wanted to ask some advice on what to do about my wedding dress. We’re getting married on the 21st December this year & I left it quite late to go dress shopping (totally my fault I know). I ordered my dress on the 23rd July. The shop told me that normally they do recommend ordering at least 6-9 months before, so I was really hesitant on going ahead with paying a deposit. However the sales assistant reassured me over & over that she had checked with the manager & that with the particular stockist I had chosen, the dress would be here in ‘plenty’ of time. It also needs alterations, so again before paying or signing anything, I questioned again are they sure I’ll have enough time. They were very reassuring that it would be here.

I was told the order would go in on the Monday, the 25th July and to contact them in a couple of weeks for an update on delivery. So on 10th August I contacted them on Facebook, here are the messages without names etc;

10/08/16
Me; Hiya. I was in on the 23rd July and ordered my wedding dress with xxx. It was the xxxxx dress. I was told to message in a couple of weeks to see if there was any update on when it should be delivered? Thanks x 
Shop; Hi xxxxx, when is the big day and I will check your paperwork ️xx

Me; Hiya it's the 21st December this year thank you x 

Me; Hiya just wondering if there was any update on my dress thanks x

Shop; HI xxxx we are closed now but i will check tomorrow for you x

11/08/16

Shop; Hi xxxx its due around dec time but i have asked them to put it on a chase to see if we can get it sooner . 
Me; OK just it needed alterations done as well & xxx assured me it would be here well before then so I would have time to get them done. Do you think it's likely they'll get it here sooner? Thanks 
Shop; I can't promise as it's out of our control ...it's on schedule as delivery is approximately 16 weeks ...and it was only ordered at end of July . You are best to book your dressmaker as late as possible and we will keep it on our chase list x 
Me; Okay just worried that it won't be here on time. Would 16 weeks from July not be around November timeI know it's been left late but that's just the way circumstances left us unfortunately. X 
Shop; It was the end of July so it goes into the Aug slot for delivery ... and that is start of Dec .. x 

26/08/16 
Me; Hi there- just wondered if there was any update on the chase put on my allure wedding dress? Thanks ☺

Shop; no there will be no updates until closer to the time

So thats where I’m at. No idea when the dress is actually going to be here. It could be literally a week or two before the wedding & I wont know until closer to the time. I’ve paid 50% of the dress, its non-refundable. I’ve no idea whether to just accept it, wait & hope it arrives and then pray that I find a dressmaker with time to do
all the necessary changes or try and fight for a refund & get a dress off the rack elsewhere. I don't think there is anything else I can do legally, as I signed to say I understood the deposit was non refundable etc. however it was in good faith that they said it would be here with loads of time to spare. I don't honestly know when they ordered it either, I have a feeling it wasn't ordered, and only that I messaged them about it, did the order actually get placed. Any advice on what I should do next?

P.s. I dont care if I have to wear jeans & a hoodie as long as we get married, but it would kind of suck considering I’ve forked out the money & put a lot of time, money & effort into the rest of the day.

DomRavioli · 27 August 2016 at 3:00PM

Put in a formal complaint. Get everything from them in writing.

Do the store not do alterations, or know anyone locally who can? you need to get this sorted ASAP as you will struggle to find someone.

7roland8 · 28 August 2016 at 2:15PM

Well you don't want to be stressed out worrying all the way to Dec.

You should really have got their assurances in writing -then if they backed out you would have grounds to ask for a refund.

If you only have an assistant's assurance -and they'll probably say anything for a sale, which they will deny now anyway, you don't really have much recompense.

Say you want copies of when the order went in - its ridiculous they only order once a month. Knowing that they should not have accepted your order. I'd fight for a refund and get one off the peg somewhere else.

cashewnut · 28 August 2016 at 10:21PM

I don't have anything to offer on how to handle the shop but...

As a back up budget dress you could go to monsoon (some of them have bridal sections in store so you can go in and try the dresses on - bond st and both Westfields in London have a large selection) and then close to your wedding date order online, and you can simply return it unused if you don't need it. I *think* their returns policy is six weeks but you'd have to check.

Good luck!

I had a monsoon dress for my wedding in march and it was gorgeous.

AfterAllThisTimeAlways · 29 August 2016 at 11:59AM

The only thing is my mum was with me, so I do have someone else, albeit a relative, who could vouch for what I was told.

It really doesn't bother me that much if I have to get a dress from Monsoon etc. as they're lovely anyway, it's just the fact that I won't know until closer to the time whether thats the case.

I was maybe going to drive up there next weekend & ask to see the order form. I have a feeling over the phone they would just make it up, as I suspect this is what they're doing via Facebook chat already.

Plus they may take my concerns a little more seriously face-to-face, and I'm a lot braver in person than I am over the phone lol! If I really don't get satisfactory answers then I'll demand a refund before I leave.

The joys of wedding planning, next time I'm going to Vegas...kidding! :rotfl:

fairy_lights · 30 August 2016 at 2:09PM

AfterAllThisTimeAlways wrote: »

Shop; I can't promise as it's out of our control ...it's on schedule as delivery is approximately 16 weeks ...and it was only ordered at end of July . You are best to book your dressmaker as late as possible and we will keep it on our chase list x 

This sounds like terrible advice - if you know the dress is going to be coming in late and will need altering then I'd get your seamstress lined up ASAP and give her a rough idea of what is going to need doing.

ani*fan · 17 September 2016 at 4:46AM

Wow, this sounds very stressy indeed.

I think you need to go in to the shop. Explain to them that you understand 6-9 months is recommended, but that the reason you bought the dress was that they told you it would be there in plenty of time. Tell them you would just like to know that it has been ordered. Tell them you would really appreciate better communication and via email, don't use Facebook, it's not suitable for such an important thing. Tell them you live quite a distance away so it's important that you can communicate without having to come into the shop.

Try not to tell them that in their line of work, they should understand how important the dress is and try to be a bit more helpful. Try not to tell them that they are causing you undue stress at an already stressful time and that you don't appreciate that. Try not to tell them that if they screw this up for you, your bad feedback will be all over the internet in the blink of an eye.

Please let us know how you get on.

I tried on dresses the other week and was shocked to find out the young woman helping me was 16 years old!!! :eek: I imagine that in email chats, she might say the same unhelpful things, purely 'cos she's so young and doesn't understand the situation.

Btw, I found my dress, 'cleverly' (or so I thought) left the shop without ordering it and then found it half price in a sale from a shop hundreds of miles away (still several hundred quid but I saved a lot. Still feeling smug at this point.) Watch my smugness drain away as they took my cash over the phone, promised me they would post it immediately and email me a tracking number, as yet I have had no email, no tracking number and no dress. They could be a bunch of cowboys for all I know. It's only been a week so they'll get an email this weekend but really, we could all live without this kind of strain.

Best of luck. I really hope it gets sorted in time.

Oh, and I agree with the other poster who said get a seamstress sorted out NOW. Get her lined up ready for when the dress arrives. The reason they want to leave adjustments til the last minute is in case you lose/gain some weight and the dress doesn't fit so well any more. Do you have an idea of what adjustments will be required, and detail about the dress? Maybe you could give her some info so she can estimate how long it will take to alter.

Wedding dress may not arrive in time..or very close to the wire.

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