OK ladies, gut feeling - it's all helsbels fault!

sal-ad_daze

The saga of my daughters wedding dress has been acted out in great detail here - as you all know :rolleyes:

Helsbels, knowig my daughters' taste suggested a dress for us to look at and it is gorgeous!
It's an ebay seller based in the US, so I checked his feedback. The last dated feedback was over a year ago and was questioning delivery!
Consequently I wrote and asked him to explain, I pointed out that buying a wedding dress was one of the most important decisions you make and it has to be right.
Below is the link to the ebay page and I've copied his reply to me.
what are your gut feelings please?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=280376804950

"thank you for your inquiry. your concerns are understandable, our non ebay feedback for some time is due to the signifant changes that have happened to ebay of the last few year higher commission fees, more selling restrictions etc. we chose to focus our efforts on building our product assortement and offerings within our online boutique instead. clarification the last feedback was not negative, but showed concern for delivery date and not the product. again feedback is subjective and involves many aspects. it is recommended to consider the majority for a better gauge. kindly provide an email address where a size guide may be sent we are happy to answer any questions you have and are well versed in shipping to uk brides. thank you"

aimee21j

Lovely dress but personally, I wouldn't be too confident. It's too much money to take the risk imo.

paddingtondoo

I just had a look - what a beautiful dress.

Did you notice that the feedback before that one was from 2005? :eek:
If they had been building up their website why didn't he mention it in his reply?

Could you afford to lose the £400 or so if it didn't turn up?
Mine came from Landy and despite their excellent feedback I still contacted several of their customers and that was for a £90 dress. I would be a bit wary can you not get a copy of the dress from somewhere else?

morag1202

This is the dress on his website.


http://www.divabydesign.net/Diva-Bridal-Gowns-Custom-Couture-Wedding-Dresses/Top-Voted-Most-Wanted-Wedding-Dresses-Best-Selling-Bridal-Gowns-Trends/Grommet-Laceup-Back-Chiffon-Sheath-Art-Deco-Magazine-Bridal-Gown-Most-Wanted-Top-Wedding-Dress-p462.html

He offers no returns under any circumstanses :eek:

My gut reaction is that he is on the level but I'd be too scared to buy myself. Good luck.

alfiesmum

HIya everyone,
It's a stunning dress, but not really a 1940's style though if that's what your daughter is after? Sorry I know it's not answering your query, but its an art deco (1920s - early 30's) feel to me. 1940's dresses had to be useful again (war and all that), so would rarely be that ornate - unless your the queen of england and she got half of her stuff from the Austrailan girl guides, so she doesn't count!!

I would go a bit closer to home, with someone who at a push you could go bang down their door if something went wrong. It's a lot of money to walk away from, and a very upset bride to console if it goes wrong. Could you not maybe take that picture to someone local who might make something similar for you perhaps?

Mrsday2Be_2

Sal-ad Daze -my gut says RUN A MILE!!
This guys gives no guarantee of quality,no refunds and no real valid explanation for the absence of recent feedback.
When was the last time you heard of an 'on the level' business deciding to turn down the immediacy and highly visible promotion they get by listing on Ebay?

In my view, this guy is extremely dodgy - also noticed that almost none of his garments on the website show HIS versions of the dress, only the 'I'm breaching Copyright and I don't care' Designer website images.

It's up to you, but I wouldn't be wasting my time or money - at least Landy and Milly guarantee their work and I know Milly will refund your money AND let you keep the dress if it's not EXACTLY what you ordered from them, or if the dress is faulty in any way ( we got my niece's dress from Milly for her birthday and it was better than the Alfred Angelo that she wanted but could not afford), at least with them, you risk nothing.

Kel
xx

Horace

I would be very wary - he has no returns policy - his website is a bit vague if you ask me. Surely, if he was proud of what he sells on ebay then he would be shouting about it and not making excuses

You may be better taking a picture of the dress that she has fallen in love with to a dressmaker here and ask if she can make something similar - if your DD wants 40's style then there is no point in a dress from the 20's/30's.

karen_newcastle

If you pay by paypal and it doesn't turn up - you can get your money back.

It's a stunning dress!!

lindaatno9

Sal, it says Packham inspired on the e bay link. Are you gonna get what you are looking at or something else? Doesn't say "inspired" on the website.
Too many warning flags popping up for me.

picklepick

If you look at the original jenny packham on her website theres a lot more detailing than in the image on his website. the birds have eyes and theres little dangly crystals along the bottom of the birds body. It also says that the image is of the actual product (bottom right hand corner of the photo) so what you see on the website is what you're getting. Thats their copy. I have to say its a very good copy, im quite impressed. I think id risk it on ebay through paypal. his previous feedback, all be it from 4 years ago is fabulous. Lots of very happy ladies there i think!

mshelsbels

it wasn't me!

(This isn't going to help either - is it?)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320405175296&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

Helpful Hels
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