Bridesmaid Dresses Too Small

niraig

Can someone tell me what rights my daughter has regarding the purchase of a bridesmaids dress. She and another girl are to be bridesmaids at my sons wedding. They visited the shop on two occasions and on the second they were measured. At this time they thought they were getting the dresses made to measure. They were then informed that a size closest to their measurements would be ordered and that they would have to take them to a seamstress to have them altered at their own expense. These dresses cost £190 and they were told they were coming from America. The dresses took 16 weeks to come. When both the girls visited the seamstress for their fitting both dresses were far too small. My daughters by 2.5 inches across the bust and the other girls by 1 inch. My daughter in law to be did complain to the shop by phone, whereby she was met by someone very rude who said there was nothing they could do and said that the two girls must have put on weight. This I know for a fact is not the case. It is too late now for them to get other dresses as the wedding is in 2 weeks. Where do they stand, any advice would be most appreciated.

pinkshoes

Have you got the girls' measurements then and now?

I would use this information above and reject the dresses as not fit for purpose.

How long until the wedding?

bris

Do they still have the measurements, comparing them would solve the problem.

If there are no measurements then a small claims action would be harder but worth the risk.

Remember before court action you need to mitigate the loss, to do this sell both dresses and sue for the difference plus costs involved.

whitewing

Has the seamstress got any ideas? Could lacing be put across the back for instance to gain some space?

Have you got a pic of a similar dress?

kerri_gt

Prob a dumb thought, but did the person who ordered them in store from America did take into account that US and UK sizes differ? I'm assuming they did some kind of calculation since UK sizes are bigger in terms of what a size 8 UK vs 8 US would be for example - but perhaps they calculated incorrectly.

In the immediate future I would look for alternative dresses is possible (that the bridesmaids can actually try on before purchase)

wealdroam

pinkshoes wrote: »

How long until the wedding?

From the original post:

niraig wrote: »

...the wedding is in 2 weeks.

unholyangel

Even if the girls weight had varied slightly, I'd have expected the shop to take this into consideration. If this is the type of thing they specialise in (wedding and bridesmaids dressed) they should be more than aware how sizes may vary. Women can also be different sizes depending on when in the month you measure them.

They shouldve ordered a bigger size than needed.

OP, have you also asked the seamstress to confirm the measurements of the dresses to ensure they have indeed ordered the "right" size and not the wrong one?

Ivana_Tinkle

kerri_gt wrote: »

Prob a dumb thought, but did the person who ordered them in store from America did take into account that US and UK sizes differ? I'm assuming they did some kind of calculation since UK sizes are bigger in terms of what a size 8 UK vs 8 US would be for example - but perhaps they calculated incorrectly.

Other way round - US sizes are a couple of sizes bigger than UK. (Hence why they have a size zero.)

arcon5

bris wrote: »

Remember before court action you need to mitigate the loss, to do this sell both dresses and sue for the difference plus costs involved.

No, they could most likely reject them under SOGA and be entitled to a full refund.

hawk30

Ivana_Tinkle wrote: »

Other way round - US sizes are a couple of sizes bigger than UK. (Hence why they have a size zero.)

No, they're smaller. A US size 0 is a size 4 in the UK. When my wedding dress was ordered from the US it was ordered as a size 4 and, at the time, I was a UK 6/8.

unholyangel

hawk30 wrote: »

No, they're smaller. A US size 0 is a size 4 in the UK. When my wedding dress was ordered from the US it was ordered as a size 4 and, at the time, I was a UK 6/8.

Yes but what they're saying is if the shop ordered by UK sizes - say for example a size 10, and they received a US 10, that would be a UK 14 in that case.