Wedding Dress Problem

alx28

Hi,
I bought a wedding dress six weeks ago from an outlet store. Being six months pregnant, I tried the dress on two weeks prior to the wedding (three weeks after the original purchase date) and it did not fit. I returned the dress and the store swapped it for a bigger one with no questions asked. On trying on the new dress the evening before my wedding my baby bump had again outgrown the dress meaning I had to visit a department store the night before the wedding to get a replacement (the outlet store had closed for the day at this time and so returning was impossible). Here is my predicament and I’d really appreciate some advice:

• On returning the dress six days after the wedding I was told no refund would be offered, despite labels still being attached to the gown and despite me providing photographic proof that I had worn a different dress on the day. I had not worn the dress at all as it was not fit for purpose.
• I also provided till receipts from the department store showing the time and date of purchase of the replacement dress, which I felt would show the company that I could not have returned the dress for an exchange before my wedding as the store was closed. More importantly, the store assistant advised that they would have exchanged/refunded had I returned the dress upon realising it did not fit, but when I explained why this was impossible with the outlet being closed, I was told that as it was after the wedding date no refund would now be offered.
• I have been told that a refund will not be given because they will only refund after 7 days, despite one assistant in the store initially telling me, “it shouldn’t be a problem”.
• I have been told that no refund will be offered as the company needs to show “fairness to all customers” and also because the original date of purchase would be classed as six weeks ago, not the date of the exchange although again, this was not explained to me in store on the date of the exchange and is stipulated nowhere in the exchange/refund legislation.

• The value of the dress is £429 so I am obviously distraught at having not been granted a refund on a dress that was not fit for purpose.
• It seems that every attempt I make to get a refund is knocked back and the general response is that the dress can't be returned under any circumstances after the wedding date. There is a very small A4 sheet in store which states that dresses can't be returned after the wedding date, however it also states that my "statutory rights aren't affected". This "rule" wasn't explained to me at any point prior to purchase nor during the exchange.

Please can someone help in advising me what I can do next.
Thanks


Suzanne

gik

The dress was fit for purpose...you just didn't fit in it.

hollydays

Finding this difficult to believe. You were rapidly growing and left it until the evening before your wedding to check your dress fitted?

marywooyeah

Statutory rights are a refund, repair or replacement for goods that are faulty, eg not fit for purpose under the Sale of Goods Act.

Where the item is just unsuitable or unwanted, there is no legal obligation for a shop to do anything. Most shops offer an exchange or credit as goodwill though. You've already had the dress exchanged once, so another exchange should have been fine, but as you say the shop was closed so this wasn't possible at the time.

The shop is under no obligation to give you a refund, and I don't mean to sound harsh but it's obvious that your bump is going to get bigger as your pregnancy progresses.

You should have either got a bigger size than the one you exchanged for in the first place, or tried it on a few days beforehand and taken it back for a bigger one then. Leaving trying your wedding dress on until the day before the wedding then running around trying to get a replacement at the last minute is just daft.

PlymouthMaid

I think you will just have to sell the dress on to recoup some money as I do not think you have any actual rights to a refund here.

POPPYOSCAR

[QUOTE=hollydays;65324784]Finding this difficult to believe. You were rapidly growing and left it until the evening before your wedding to check your dress fitted?[/QUOTE]



Very very difficult!

Country_Cousin

This is a joke surely...

bris

Your statutory rights weren't affected, you messed up with the size they didn't. Not their fault so they don't need to refund you.

MamaMoo_2

The dress was entirely fit for purpose, so you have no right to a refund. You're entirely reliant on the store's refund policy, and it sounds like they've said no to a refund, so you've no leg to stand on.
I find it incredibly hard to believe that you didn't plan ahead when dress shopping. I too got married when pregnant, and as such bought a dress with plenty of "wiggle room" for my bump. Also, you tend to grow by around an inch a week, so it's also not hard to predict what sort of size you will be on your wedding day.