Reiss Dress

peterc2609

I wonder if someone can help??

My girlfriend bought a dress from Reiss for £165.

It was this one:

http://www.reiss.co.uk/gb-en/catalogue/women/dresses/8049-lavender



She wore it only once.

There are two problems.

The 'interface' around the neckline, which connects the heavy outer material to the light lining seems non existent, so when she wore it the outer lining kept weighing the dress down so the lining was appearing around the neck. This was really annoying for her, especially when she paid so much for it.

To add to the problems, it rained.

When she looked at the dress when she got in, it had watermarks all over it. i.e. you could see all the mark from the raindrops all over the dress from top to bottom.

We arranged to take it back to the shop, but stopped off at Johnsons the Cleaners first to possibly get the marks removed as we thought this would be the easiest problem to resolve... except it wasn't.

They told us they could do a silk spray clean, but it has risks!! 1. the material could change colour, 2. it could shrink.

So we said we'd leave it and go to the shop.

We went to the shop and explained the issue and they said that they don't deal with problems, they send the dress to Head Office. So we said OK.

Yesterday we received a letter from Reiss stating that there was no manufacturing fault with the dress, and could we email them an address to send it back to us!

So we have a £165 dress, with a strange neckline, and water marks all over it. We can do nothing to the neck and there is a real possibility of totaly ruining the dress should we get it cleaned.

Any ideas what rights we have?

What can we do?

Thanks.

Peter

DrFluffy

Did she not try it on first? Also, wearing a £165 dress in April without a coat???

It's annoying, but if H/O have said that there is nothing wrong with it, then I'm not sure where you can go next... We had a similar issue with a really (well really for us!) expensive throw and Habitat...

soolin

Silk is not weather proof so I am not sure that is something that the shop is liable for. As for the neckline that sounds like a design fault, so whilst the dress is perfect and as designed the design itself is the problem..I'm not sure how Trading standards deal with that?

dmg24

soolin wrote: »

Silk is not weather proof so I am not sure that is something that the shop is liable for. As for the neckline that sounds like a design fault, so whilst the dress is perfect and as designed the design itself is the problem..I'm not sure how Trading standards deal with that?

This is my thinking too on the issue of the watermarks, I had the same problem with a silk skirt.

I'm not sure about the neckline issue being a design fault. Sometimes the way an item hangs (or not!) depends on the body shape of a person. For it to be a design fault, it would need to be a problem for everyone. I'm not sure how you would get this information, but you could do with finding out if other people are having the same problem with the dress.

peterc2609

It's not silk.

It says on the website its 100% viscose. The cleaners just said they could do a silk spray.

BTW, the event she went to was indoor and not the kind of place you could wear a coat!

Its not like she buys expensive dresses all the time, bu this was for 3 parties that we have coming up.... but doesn't look like she can wear it again.

MidlandsMum

How did she pay for the dress? If it's by CC it may be insured.

My OH bought a shirt a few years ago for about 100 pounds. His Mum accidentally spilled bleach on it when she was cleaning so he claimed through barclaycard who asked him to send the shirt to them and refunded his money.

2nd option: If it looks like she may not be able to wear it again it would be worth the risk of taking it to the dry cleaners. If it comes up well then that's a bonus, if not she's lost nothing.

The neckline, however, I dont have a clue.

hollydays

Alternatively go in and try the same dress on again and see if it has the same problem,then take it from there.Its just unlucky rain damaged it before she could return it.Some fashion items made from,this type of fabrics,do not have a long life,its a fact.Iagree with dmg-the problem with the neck could be because the style wasn't suitable for her bodyshape.Looking at the scoop neck-could it also be that she wore a strapless bra which caused a different fit?

pinkshoes

I would get her and several of her (female) friends to try it on (I put female just incase you were thinking of trying it on!), then take photos of the problem with neck line. If it occurs on all the friends, then that would suggest it's a design fault.

As dmg states, it could be that it just doesn't suit her body shape. They design these things on models who often have A or B cup boobs... so some dresses don't suit those with larger boobs, as it makes the material hang strangely!

The rain and water marks thing is irrelevant. Expensive dresses and rain don't usually mix, so she should have had a coat in April. April showers?

peterc2609

Spoke to CS at Reiss.

They have said that because the dress is Dry Clean Only, then it is meant to stain with the rain!?!?

They are going to investigate the neckline.

But surely that can not be true... basically, if any item of dry clean only clothing gets a drop of water or splash of rain, it is ruined?

It doesn't say anywhere on the dress that it should not be worn outside!

mookie

I think, maybe the person at HO has disregarded your complaint about the neckline purely because they thought you are unhappy that you may of ruined the dress and that is why you are returning it. A lot of shops that sell expensive occasion dresses are very suspicious on refunding/exchanging an item that has been worn. You would be surprised how many people buy an outfit or shoes, wear for the day and know they will not wear it again, create a fault and then get a refund. (i worked in retail years ago and you see a lot of it and not at all fair on genuine customers) If I was you I would try another dry cleaners, try and remove the water staining and then return it again. I dont think you have much of a complaint if a delicate fabric didnt go down well with rain, that fabric always marks with water, drink spills or oily food spills.

Looking at the photograph its obvious why the neck sits well on the model....she has her arms tied behind her back! Perhaps they found the same problem when they had her model it hence the pose to disguise it.

peterc2609

pinkshoes wrote: »

I would get her and several of her (female) friends to try it on (I put female just incase you were thinking of trying it on!), then take photos of the problem with neck line. If it occurs on all the friends, then that would suggest it's a design fault.

As dmg states, it could be that it just doesn't suit her body shape. They design these things on models who often have A or B cup boobs... so some dresses don't suit those with larger boobs, as it makes the material hang strangely!

The rain and water marks thing is irrelevant. Expensive dresses and rain don't usually mix, so she should have had a coat in April. April showers?

If we have to get the dress back, I will try that with the photos of different people.

Unfortunately (for me!) she isn't a Double D cup etc etc, so it is not that issue!

The rain thing has really annoyed me.... surely a splash of water, whether is be rain or splash from washing hands should not ruin the dress.