Rights over faulty bridesmaid dress

ellielou_2

We got married on 31st July 2010. Back in May we ordered my 12 year old daughters bridesmaid dress from a well established bridal shop in Manchester City Centre.

It came in good time for the wedding and was altered at my expense to fit her. Taken in slightly around the bust & about 2 inches taken from the bottom.

On the day of the wedding she put the dress on at around 1.30pm, we had the service, the meal & by early evening she was complaining that the dress was 'digging in her' where the bones ened at the top of the dress. By 9pm the bones had popped out of the material. We kept trying to put them back in but bay 10pm she gave up and went to her hotel romm and come back in the reception in the track suit she'd brought to go home in the next day.

The folling day she had 2 red marks where the bones had obvioulsy dug in although they hadn't broken the skin.

I returned the dress to the shop to see what they would do. They apologised and said they would mend the dress and have it cleaned.
This dress cost £150, it didn't last the evening & it was understandably really disappointing for my daughter that she couldn't wear it for the whole day.

Clearly she isn't going to wear the dress again so a full refund would have been much preferable than a fix & clean however at the time I excepted this as I didn't really know if I could insist on a refund & I didn't want to look like 'we've had the use out of it now so give me the money back'.

Was I right in accepting this, would others have done the same or have I been too soft. If so could I go back & tell them it's unacceptable - the shop have had the dress for 2 weeks now.

Many thanks

RadoJo

To be honest, I wouldn't have thought they would give you a full refund, and when an item is faulty you are generally entitled to a repair, refund or replacement at the retailer's discretion, so it will be down to their goodwill if they actually do offer you anything else.

4743hudsonj

How about a replacement? Insist on this so they dont lose your money, but you gain a evening dress.

go_cat

Congratulations on your wedding

Are you sure it wasn't the alteration that was done incorrectly and then it sat wrong on your daughter causing the boning to dig in ?

ellielou_2

The alterations appeared fine but I'm no expert.
I'm ok with having it repaired & cleaned because it is a beautiful dress. It's just a little annoying when you pay £150 plus alterations for a dress that doesn't last more than 8 hours. And really disappointing for the 12 year old bridesmaid who has to spend some of the evening in a tracksuit when everyone else is dressed up.

I just wondered what everyone else would have done & what were my rights. x

Equaliser123

If it is faulty and has been worn just once, I can see no reason why a refund cannot be obtained.

smcaul

RadoJo wrote: »

To be honest, I wouldn't have thought they would give you a full refund, and when an item is faulty you are generally entitled to a repair, refund or replacement at the retailer's discretion, so it will be down to their goodwill if they actually do offer you anything else.

It is NOT at the retailers discretion, it is the consumer who can choose, the retailer only has the right to refuse on certain grounds.

ellielou_2

Thanks for all the replies.

They've had the dress for just over 2 weeks now & I've heard nothing from them - I'm thinking of leaving it till the middle of next week and then ringing them to chase. Would I be right in saying that after looking into my rights the dress clearly hasn't lasted a reasonable amount of time, my weddinng day was marred by the dress being so uncomfortable for my daughter to wear for the full day. You have had the dress now for over two weeks which is reasonable time to repair & fix, I'm now so disappointed with everything that I would just like a full refund.

What do people think? Am I within my rights to request a refund?

I was initially happy with the repair and clean but am now thinking that she'll never wear the dress again & £150 would be better in my pocket than being spent on a faulty dress that'll never be worn again. I would have nornally demanded a refund but as the dress was specially ordered and would only be worn once I didn't want them to think I was scamming them.

pinkshoes

£150 refund is a little out of order! It wasn't 100% useless

I would ask for a repair, clean, and say £75 back due to the dress causing strong discomfort on the day, then breaking (and thus the bridesmaid having to change into tracksuit), not what you expected from a custom made dress.

the_insider

To be fair, she wouldn't have worn it again if it hadn't been faulty and you wouldn't have asked for a refund just on those grounds. So I would say chase up the repair, just give them a call and see what's happening with it, if they play silly beggars then put it all in writing.

Equaliser123

pinkshoes wrote: »

£150 refund is a little out of order! It wasn't 100% useless

I would ask for a repair, clean, and say £75 back due to the dress causing strong discomfort on the day, then breaking (and thus the bridesmaid having to change into tracksuit), not what you expected from a custom made dress.

Why? It didn't even make it till the end of the wedding festivities!