Bridesmaid Dress Dilema

niff321

Hi all

I have been trying to get hold of the lady i have ordered my bridesmaid's dress from for nearly a week now and after no answer on the phone or reply to emails i got a friend to check out what was happening at the shop on her lunch hour only to find that the shop was closed!! My friend went a spoke to a neighbouring shop who said that the owner had been seen out and about on crutches. There is no note on the door or answer machine message explaining why the shop is closed. :huh:

I went down there myself today and again it was closed. I called another bridal shop in the town and asked whether they knew anything about the shop i had ordered from. They told me that they did not think that the shop i went to would be opening again :eek: but i could go to them if i needed to sort out another dress.

Stupidly i paid for the dress in full on a debit card and now i dont know what to do and i am really worried i wont be able to get my money back or the dress if the shop i used has gone down the toilet. Does anyone have any ideas on what i can do? I have written a letter which i will hand deliver tomorrow. Thought about sending it recorded delivery just so i have proof of corresponding with them.

Oddly i am quite calm about this! I just hope that i have the wrong end of the stick and that the other bridal store thought they were going to get another customer but i doubt it!!

Claire_Bear

If the owner was seen on crutches that doesn't seem like a serious enough reason for the shop to close down forever. If there hasn't been a big closing down sale, and all the stock is still inside, and there's no signs of removal vans and stuff I wouldn't worry yet. Did the other shop give you a reason why they thought they wouldn't be opening again?

I'd probably just wait and see whether the shop either opens again or starts to show signs of closing, there's probably not a whole lot you can do at the moment apart from keep ringing them up and hope that it's just a misunderstanding

nikki2804

If its a visa card can you not ask your bank to do a "charge back" ? Worth a phone call to find out.

Hope it gets sorted chick x

fastbargins

Niff, a couple of suggestions for you. First off, check out the company name at companies house, you may be able to find an home address for the director (likely in one-person businesses), if you can find it - go and ask what’s going on.

I'd also contact your local council trading standards office, they will be able to help with this. If you have paid for the dresses and the company is going down the pan, then you have legal rights and the trading standards office will be able to advise what you should do.

You might also want to have a look around for another dress in places you may not have thought of. When I got married, we got our bridesmaid dresses from Debenhams (just really nice ball gowns) at an absolute fraction of the cost of a 'bridesmaid' dress. Add 'wedding' to any purchase and you can expect the cost to double! so don't think 'wedding' think fancy togs!

When's the wedding by the way?

niff321

Thanks everyone.

I have checked on Companies House but could not find the shop on there. They may be trading under another name.

There were Land Registry letters on the floor which worries me as someone may have put a charge on the title (I work at a solicitors so have some understanding of these things).

The wedding is Jan 2 so i dont have much time to get one made. I have looked around at Debenhams etc but couldn't get the right colour to match with my dress.

I cant understand why the shop is closed if she has hurt herself. When i initially went in there there were two sales girls so i would have thought that she would keep the shop open. I paid extrato have it delivered early so i should have got it two weeks ago and not heard anything. I will give Trading Standards a call today and see what they say. Will also speak to one of the solicitors at work.