Problem with Coast return

moneypuddle

Ok, I'll be quick

I am a bridesmaid on 2nd June (so 2 weeks away). The bride bought the bridesmaid dressed in Feb 2011 (15 months ago) and I've ended up with a size 14, which, even though I'm 5 months pregnant, is still a size too big. I've taken it to a tailor and she can't alter it because its quite intricate across the top. The front sticks right out (like a crumb catcher) because it too big, so I desperately need a size smaller.

I called Coast and they said they have a size 12 in stock, to come in and try it on and they would swap it. Hurrah. However I had to travel an hour to the nearest store, and when I got there they said their tills were down, it was completely out of their control and they couldnt make the swap. This was on Saturday just gone. I was annoyed, but knew the bride was coming through today so gave her the dress and asked her to make the swap instead. Same thing again tills still down and they can't help.

I dont know what else to do? I might not be thinking logically here as I'm all baby brained, but what if their tills don't go back up (they have been 'down' for almost a week already), and I can't keep travelling back and forth to the shop. I've been on the website to look for a tel number for customer service and can't find one, but have submitted my details for them to contact me.

Am I missing anything?

Thanks

shell_girl

If you're on twitter it might be worth bringing it to their attention online, or posting on their facebook page.

I bet it will be sorted out quickly then!

There's no way the tills can have been 'down' for over a week- how would they sell anything? They must have some ay of overriding a till malfunction, they've just chosen not to...

mynameistallulah

Call before you go next time, but be aware that they are not obliged to offer you anything, so don't get annoyed with them.

moneypuddle

Thanks, but they have already told me they WILL exchange but just that they CAN'T because of the tills. Ridiculous.

SqueekyMouse

Would their dodgy tills allow you to buy the size 12 dress now and return the size 14 next week or whenever?

Presumably if you made the purchase on a credit card you'd be no worse off financially in the interim

If time is of the essence and your desperate for the dress that's all I could advise although you'd have to trust them to accept the return and give you cash rather than vouchers (unless you actually want to buy more clothes from them in the future anyway).

Person_one

How is the shop up and running if the tills are down? That makes no sense!

moneypuddle

They can serve people (as in selling) but have no means of exchanging or refunding. Ridiculous!

sexymouse

Are they able to transfer the dress to a concession in a store such as House of Fraser, John Lewis or Debenhams? When I worked for Coast in college (quite a few years ago now) we did something called Coast by Post, where the item was posted to the person's address for them and the person paid over the phone. I don't know if they're still able to do this due to security of card transactions over the phone, but it may be worth finding out if they can do this for you and you send the dress back in a return envelope or something.

veekay

May I just share my experience recently.
I was a bridesmaid in April and the bride bought the dresses in Nov while I was pregnant. After giving birth in Feb, I realised the bust was not big enough as I was breastfeeding.I needed to go one size up.

I called Coast and they basically said sorry, you cannot return after the six week period. Even with the receipt and in spite of the fact that the dress was still in stock at the exact same price.
And they did insist that they would not even swap sizes.

Very unhelpful, considering the £180 price tag!!!!!

Pollycat

If the bride bought the dress, shouldn't she be the one running around to get it changed?

The contract with the shop is with her, not you anyway.

Are you sure the shop are just going to do a swop?
What if they want to put the exchange through their tills (which it sounds like from what you say) for stock control purposes?
If the dresses were paid for by card, they'll more than likely want the card originally used for payment - which you won't have.

Why did she buy you a size 14 over 15 months ago (when presumably you weren't pregnant) and it's too big now even though you're 5 months pregnant?
Not relevant to your issue, but it just sounded a bit daft on the bride's part (unless you lost a lot of weight before you got pregnant).

jetplane

I have a friend who manages a coast store and she tells me that this happens repeatedly. Brides / bridesmaids come in and buy a stock of dresses way ahead of the wedding either because they are on offer or they are just perfect and then a few weeks before the wedding there is a frantic search for a dress because someone has put on / lost weight.

She has gone out of her way and rang the warehouse for old stock and coast stores around the country. They can have them shipped to any store for you. However she says it drives them nuts. It is a lot of extra work for the assistant. Customers are usually desperate, sometimes frantic, become angry and can be downright rude. And when it's the third one that week sometimes their patience runs out.

Maybe in this case the store are just fed up of the same scenario and are making excuses not to swap your dress. And why do brides buy these so far in advance and then expect an exchange, when it's the bridesmaid who changes shape, nothing to do with the store :huh:

You keep referring to them as ridiculous and while I agree that it seems unreasonable to say we can sell but not exchange I also think it's unreasonable to expect an exchange from the store after buying any dress 15 months ago. However I would ask to speak to the regional manager.

If you desperately need the dress that much then buy it. Sell the other one on ebay. Sorry it may not be the helpful advice you wanted but how many examples could anyone give of goods being exchanged over a year later because they no longer fit the owner?