Wedding dress altered incorrectly-my rights?

mrsg2b

I was recently married and my wedding dress had been altered by an independent dress maker. There were several faults with the alterations, most of which were not discovered until the day itself, and I'd like to know what my rights are in regards to receiving some recompense.
I bought my dress from a highly respected local shop, who unfortunately don't do alterations. I had decided to change my dress from a zip to a lace up, and have it taken up. They recommended a local dressmaker and when I took her we decided that with the shoes I had it did not in fact need taken up. I was quoted £130 to change from zip to lace up.
I had 3 fittings, unfortunately on the third my maid of honour was stuck in traffic. The dress maker got me into the dress, pulling me far too tight. I explained I was concerned that the dress didn't fit very well at the bust but was told she had pulled the laces tighter than they normally would be and that's why, and that my dress actually still needed taken in at the bust.
I was invited to collect the Thursday before the wedding (which was on the Saturday). When we arrived I was given no opportunity to check the dress, it was thrust at me and payment asked for (it actually cost £185).
Once we went home I tried on the dress only to notice there were several things wrong. I immediately called the dress maker to be told they were now closed. I left the next morning for our wedding so had no time to get her to rectify the mistakes.
We have now returned from Honeymoon and Im not prepared to forget that my beautiful dress did not fit properly and was actually damaged by this woman. The fit was so bad I was actually left with cuts under my arms where the dress dug in!!
I would like some money back, the alterations were not worth £185, what are my consumer rights with something like this?
I have called and left messages with the dress maker and guessing I should put my complaint in writing to her?
Any other advice/help?

mountainofdebt

tbh I think you're going to have to take the hit on this one - as you wore the dress it could be argued that you accepted the alterations.....of course had you written to them before you left (and yes I know time was of a premium) your case may have been stronger.

what may have more effect is if you contact the dress shop and tell them - perhaps they would stop recommending the dressmaker?

Takeaway_Addict

As above, if it wasn't good enough to wear you should have complained at the time. The fact you wore it weakens your case

mrsg2b

I agree but as I say most of the faults only became apparent when I put the dress on on the actual day, and I couldn't rightly say oh well I wont wear it then lol.
I don't expect a full refund, but I would be happy if she offered even £50 back and an apology.
I had called several times on the Friday and left messages but could not get hold of her and then as I said I had to leave to get to the venue.
Its not even that the alterations were not of a satisfactory quality, she made several changes to the dress that were not necessary, were not agreed to and ended up changing the look of the dress and damaging it!

mrsg2b

This are the problems with the dress as listed in a rough draft of a letter to dress maker.
1. The modestly panel which was added had noattachment at one side meaning that it was difficult to place correctly, andmoved while wearing it.

2. The modestly panel was also too small, whichmeant the laces had to be pulled much tighter than it should have been to ensure there was no gap between the paneland the dress. This not only affectedthe shape of the dress, it dug in and caused sores in two places on my body andwas very uncomfortable while wearing.

3. The laces themselves were not finished at the endsleaving them look very messy and were quite thin so they did not sit flat.

4. The hoops to which the laces go through were differentsizes down the dress, and along with the frayed ends of the laces meant theywere very difficult to thread.

5. The lace overlay was altered without permission,changing the look of the dress. The lace was originally meant to come along thewaist and attach at one side. Without mypermission or knowledge the lace was changed to come across one breast.

6. The lace was also altered uneccessarily andagain without my permission or knowledge, damaging the bottom of thedress. The lace originally fell over thedress naturally towards the bottom of the dress. At no point was it discussed that it would beattached to the dress with stitches. However during the final alteration it was sewn onto the base of thedress, leaving it bunched up at the bottom, altering the fit of the lace.

7. The dress bag I provided was damaged while inyour care

paddyrg

Getting clothes fitted/made is always going to be a bit of an iterative process (tightening it here may loosen it there, etc). It's a shame brides often leave collection until the last minute when for something so central it would pay to err on the side of caution. As above, you may have to swallow the fact you accepted the goods.

Getting a dress adjusted is never going to be ideal, especially if it's a (frequently Chinese-made) off-the-peg one - the adjuster has limited things to work with, no spare fabric in the seams, etc. It may be that she did a brilliant job with what she had to work with - just that it wasn't what you had in your mind as being your ideal dress? I don't know, I'm far from an expert, just these things are seldom absolutes.

mrsg2b

paddyrg wrote: »

Getting clothes fitted/made is always going to be a bit of an iterative process (tightening it here may loosen it there, etc). It's a shame brides often leave collection until the last minute when for something so central it would pay to err on the side of caution. As above, you may have to swallow the fact you accepted the goods.

Getting a dress adjusted is never going to be ideal, especially if it's a (frequently Chinese-made) off-the-peg one - the adjuster has limited things to work with, no spare fabric in the seams, etc. It may be that she did a brilliant job with what she had to work with - just that it wasn't what you had in your mind as being your ideal dress? I don't know, I'm far from an expert, just these things are seldom absolutes.

At £900 my dress was far from a Chinese knock off!
Fair enough if she was letting it out there is only so much she could do but as my above post she completely changed lace covering my dress, with no reason to do so (it wasn't part of the alterations) and small things like finishing the laces so they were not frayed and attaching fasteners on a modesty panel are just good standards!
I am not a fussy bridezilla however I expected the dress to fit, to not cause injury and to look the same as it had before (at the front at least where no alterations had to be made!). She had no reason whatsoever to move the lace or sew the bottom. I paid £35 for a good dress bag but while it was with her she managed to rip it, without any apology!
If you had paid someone a lot of money to fix your dvd player and it came back playing VHS would you be happy lol

bris

For 50 quid is it really worth the hassle, the big day is over just remember the good times and put it behind you. You are in for a fight anyway so why spoil things now.

tinkerbell28

She wasn't saying it was a knock off, just that many of these bridal labels, are made in china.

mountainofdebt

If she did such a bad job of the alteration then surely its more important to point out the bad workmanship to the bridal shop who's recommending her?

The other thing that strikes me is that the refund you are asking for is the same as what you were quoted and what you paid. So the question has to be asked, if she had charged you what she originally quoted how much would you be looking for ?

Valli

mrsg2b wrote: »

I agree but as I say most of the faults only became apparent when I put the dress on on the actual day, and I couldn't rightly say oh well I wont wear it then lol.
I don't expect a full refund, but I would be happy if she offered even £50 back and an apology.
I had called several times on the Friday and left messages but could not get hold of her and then as I said I had to leave to get to the venue.
Its not even that the alterations were not of a satisfactory quality, she made several changes to the dress that were not necessary, were not agreed to and ended up changing the look of the dress and damaging it!

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why you didn't try the dress on when you collected it...or why it wasn't sorted well before the big day.