Faulty Wedding Dress

Kingy44

Hi All,

Hoping someone can advise.

A friend of mine got married in June and his bride purchased her wedding dress from a well known designer and paid in excess of £6k for it.

The dress is designed with a lot of ruched material underneath the bodice area and on the day of the wedding, within an hour of putting the dress on, the stitching was coming away from the very bottom leaving a lot of frayed edges, loose material and cotton trailing behind. The dress also started to unpick from underneath the bodice area leaving trails of loose material where it had “un-ruched”.

Consequently, the bride’s mother spent the day following her around with a handful of pins making temporary repairs.

My friend corresponded with the designer 9 days after the wedding and they arranged to collect and inspect it.

After the inspection, they have stated that it is “normal wear and tear with a handmade and delicate fabric”. They have offered, “as a gesture of goodwill”, to repair the dress, clean it and pack it in acid free paper for storage.

My friend has written disputing that it is “normal wear and tear” and asked for evidence of this. The designers latest response is to re-iterate that it is “simply wear and tear” and the offer of a repair is a gesture of goodwill. They then state there is nothing further to discuss.

At no point have they apologised for the distress and upset caused. In actual fact, the letters have been quite aggressive in their stance to deny liability.

Could anyone please advise what his consumer rights are in this instance and what his next course of action should be please.

Many thanks.

somethingcorporate

What do you want out of it?

They are offering to repair it and a few little extras (which cost quite a lot if I remember from when we had our dress packed in a nice box). So as far as I can tell they would be meeting their legal obligations under the SOGA.

Kingy44

Thanks for your response somethingcorporate.

So, the offer of a repair etc is reasonable and fulfils their obligations under SOGA then.

I will let my friend know and let them take it from here.

Cheers.

maninthestreet

£6K for a dress you wear only once??!!

Guardsman

Falling apart after being worn once and that's considered fair wear and tear.
These wedding dress shops must have very large windows so they can see you coming.

pinkshoes

I'd say that their offer is NOT acceptable!

A £6k dress should last more than 1 wear - it should last for say a daughter to wear it in 25 years time!!

I'd get an independent inspection, and if (when) they say it's faulty, I'd ask for the cost of the inspection, a full repair, storage, and £2k compensation for the hassle caused on such an important day.

somethingcorporate

pinkshoes wrote: »

I'd say that their offer is NOT acceptable!

A £6k dress should last more than 1 wear - it should last for say a daughter to wear it in 25 years time!!

I'd get an independent inspection, and if (when) they say it's faulty, I'd ask for the cost of the inspection, a full repair, storage, and £2k compensation for the hassle caused on such an important day.

You can ask for whatever you like at the end of the day but offering a repair they are fulfilling their statutory duties.

pinkshoes

somethingcorporate wrote: »

You can ask for whatever you like at the end of the day but offering a repair they are fulfilling their statutory duties.

Their statutory duty was to supply the "perfect" dress, which they did not do. They supplied an item that was not fit for purpose.

A repair is not good enough, and I would personally take them to court for a heavy discount if they don't offer a sensible form of compensation.

I'm yet to get married, but I'd expect a £150 dress to last more than one day, let alone a £6k dress!

arcon5

I'd be looking for something further due to 'loss of enjoyment'.

Optimist

arcon5 wrote: »

I'd be looking for something further due to 'loss of enjoyment'.

I would tend to agree.

Normally damages are not awarded for non pecuniary loss. The exception are contracts where the purpose is enjoyment or happiness. A wedding dress would seem to fit that requirement well at least until the divorce

somethingcorporate

I am guessing if they want to turn their wedding day legacy into a long legal battle they may be on to something then. Personally, I'd chalk it up but there are far more important things to me than money (and grabbing it from others!).

Ultimately as a layman they would need to seek expert legal advice to pursue this. Suggest if they really want to they should seek advice from a suitably qualified professional (try first home insurance for cover?). Evidently you'd need to convince the courts that this is more than a "dress" and would having someone follow you around with a few pins to fix it up would result in actual loss of enjoyment.

It would be impossible for any of us to make a reliable estimate as to what £ value having someone follow you around all day with pins on the wedding day would be worth.

We had a couple of things go wrong at our wedding day, few issues with the flowers etc some people are unlucky enough to have rain on their wedding days" but in the scheme of things I'd not dream of turning it into a legal battle from what otherwise was the perfect day.