Brandi's Bridal Galleria, Etc.

Brandis Bridal, New Glarus, WI. I bought a wedding dress there and the alterations person ruined it. Not only that, they still charged me $279 for the alterations for the dress that would barely zip up, puckered in the back, front and at the hips. I have before and after pictures (with me wearing it before altering and after). The worst part was the owner disappeared into her office when they handed me the alterations bill and has not returned my emails. I spent hundreds of dollars for the dress and the accessories to go with it. It was un-wearable in the end. All I am asking for is the $279 I paid. She so for hasn't responded to me.

Review: I ordered a bridesmaid dress from them for my cousins wedding, and when I tried it on at home after it was picked up from the store, I noticed some discoloration in the pleated part of the dress that wasn't noticeable when I first looked at it. I contacted Brandi's Bridal about it to see if I could bring it in for them to look at and perhaps get it cleaned so that I could receive the quality product that I paid for. They said they were unable/unwilling to help me and would not pay for a cleaning or new quality product. They said I could take pictures of it and email them to them and they would forward them on to the manufacturer to see if they would be able to help me/compensate me. They said that it was not their fault/problem as I already paid for the dress and it had left the store. I asked them if they had looked it over before giving it to me, and they admitted that they didn't. They said that our purchase/order did not qualify for their service package where they normally look over a dress for a client. I'm sorry, but shouldn't they inspect all of their products before giving them to a client? They made it seem like they did not care about the quality of the products they sell, as long as the client pays for the item. I know it's not the end of the world, but when I pay over $150 for a dress, I expect it to arrive in mint condition - no stains, no tears, nothing. I expect to receive a quality product. So, when I looked at their google reviews and saw that they had a rating of 2.7, with a majority of 1 star ratings, I realized that there were many other unhappy customers out there, and thought I would see if they can be held accountable for their bad service standards and poor quality products. I did email them a week ago stating where the stain was and explained that my camera could not capture the stain - it blended all of the colors together and actually kind of whitewashed them out. I offered to take it in so they could look at it and see for themselves, and have still not received a reply from them. It's been over a week. That is just bad business etiquette and poor customer service.Desired Settlement: I would like to receive a quality product. I will accept either a cleaning to remove the stains already on there, or a new dress without any stains on it. I'm not picky, I would just like to receive a quality/unblemished product for the money I paid.

Business

Response:

To Whom it May Concen:

This bridesmaid dress was ordered by the Bride and was a

Price Match, which means we matched another retailer (internet or store)

price. When we match another retailer's

price, we forgoe our services and policies.

Our policy when those bridesmaid dresses were ordered was that once the

dress comes in, we do not inspect it, we do not unbag it, or even press it (which

are all services we do when you order a dress with us, but if you ask us to

price match, we do not offer those services, since you are not paying for those

services. When the dresses come in, we

notify the Bride (who ordered each of the dresses and paid for them (not the

customer who is filing a complaint here) and the bride is aware of these

policies). It is the Brides responsibility

to let each of her bridesmaids know what is going on and the policies, since we

are only working with the bride, we have not worked with the customer,

Veronica, here. It is a price match and

the bride was aware that if there is anything wrong from the designer, it is

not our reasonability, since doing a price match waves our services of our full

service salon we offer. This was

explained to Veronica when she called on 6/2/14. This order is with the Bride, not Veronica,

and the policies were explained to the bride when the dresses were ordered on a

price match back in January.

I went to Brandi's bridal to look for my bridal gown. I was amazed by the store layout but that was about it. The dress selection is very minimal, they did not have many different styles and the attendants were not very helpful and it felt like they were paid on commission to force you to purchase a dress with them. When looking at dresses the attendant kept putting me in a dress that was not my favorite but got a good reaction from my family. Under pressure to find a dress, after visiting a few different stores and not finding what I wanted, I said yes to that dress. Within a few hours I knew the dress was not for me and that I would like to cancel the order. When I called Brandi's I spoke with [redacted], a manager, who told me there was nothing that could be done. The dress had not been ordered yet but my options were lose the money I put down or order the dress so I have a dress and just try and like it. Very unhelpful! I asked if I could use the money I had down toward another dress at thier store since nothing was ordered yet and the money would still be going to them, I was also told NO. This store is difinately not a place I would ever recommend for their customer service. Choosing a bridal gown is a big choice and having a store that is not willing to work with a bride is not a place that is worth even going to. My recommendation to most brides is to avoid this bad service and this store for thier awful policies. I hope brides consider this review because I would never want anyone else to go through my experience. There are many other bridal stores that have a better selection and better service than Brandi's Bridal. I found the most luck in the Milwaukee area. Beratti Bridal is a small store with lots of merchandise and a wonderful experience with owners and attendatns that care about your wants and needs and will give you the best service you deserve.

Review: I bought a bridesmaid dress from this store in a size 10, when I received the dress it did not fit so I took it to have it altered, it was unalterable as told to me by 3 different alterations specialist and 2 bridal boutiques, due to not having any material to let out. I called the bridal store and they stated that because I took the dress out of the store there was nothing they could do for me, I had the measurements taken and the measurements are not even close to a size 10 and others in the wedding party had no difficulty letting out their dresses (keeping in mind no dress that was purchased by them fit correctly). I received a call back from this store that was undesirable stating that again there was nothing they could do for me and that it was my fault it did not fit. (keep in mind this was them calling me)Desired Settlement: I believe that in this case because there was nothing this store could do for me and it was a dress miss-size on the designers behalf that I should be able to at least get a full or partial refund. This dress is unworn and has the original tags and garment bag that came with it.

Business

Response:

On 1/27/15 [redacted] called our store to order a dress for [redacted] wedding. At the time we asked her for her Bust, waist and hip measurement and height, she declined to give us those measurements. We asked if she had been professionally measured and she said she had not. (In the bridal industry we take the 3 measurements and determine with the customer what size she should order. Every time a customer calls in her measurements, we asked if she has been professionally measured, 98% of them are, if they have not been, we always tell them we definitely suggest you be measured by a professional (like another bridal salon, tuxedo rental, or a formalwear business). Most will then have that done so we know exactly what size to order. If a customer says she just wants to order a size (with no measurements) again we always suggest for them to be measured, but if the customer declines like [redacted] did, then we let them order whatever size they want. We always suggest getting measured because bridal sizing is so different that ready to wear clothing, and every designer is different also. So [redacted] gave us no measurements and just said to order a size 10. We indeed ordered her a size 10 then. [redacted]'s dress was taken out of the store on 6/13/15. On 9/11/15 [redacted] called our store saying her dress did not fit. [redacted]'s story changed several times with us on the phone that day. At that time she was reminded of our sales policies that once a dress leaves the store, it cannot be brought back in. We require at least 12 weeks prior to the event date, and her calling us on 9/11/15 was less than 4 weeks also, so alterations at that time could not be accommodated. Since it was less than 4 weeks until the wedding now, we cannot get fabric in from the designer in time either so there honestly wasn't really anything we could do and we explained that to her. She states above "she has the measurements taken and they the measurements are not even close to a size 10" which is false, she did not give us any measurements at all. We feel badly her dress doesn't fit, but in January when she ordered the dress, we explained that we take the measurements and order accordingly, the dress was taken out of our store 6/13/15, she called us on 9/11/15 (3 months later), the wedding is 10/10/15. We did order exactly what she wanted us to order and all bridal stores are All Sales Final, that is our #1 policy on the paperwork they have. If wanted I have paperwork here stating all of the above, the sales policies, etc, and she does have a copy of them also.Thank you,[redacted]?

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below min response to their claim that I called in with no measurements and was not measured is false. I was measured by David's bridal in davenport Iowa I told the customer service specialist that which is why I knew to order a size ten. The dress was taken out of the store by another bridesmaid because I live around 6-7 hours away from this store and do not have the ability to pick it up. I was give the dress at cassi's bridal shower at the end of July so I made an appt to have it altered in a town close to me and it was at that appointment that I was told it wa unalterable. It's my understanding after talking with bradis that if I brought it into the store they could measure the dress to see if it fits the designers sizing chart. At this time I felt that was not going to be worth the (14 hour there 7 and back 7) for them to be able to do nothing. I was also not at the dress fitting which is why I ordered the dress over the phone so I do not have any copies of their policy, so that is false as well. I did not pick my dress up so I personally was not called or told that if it was taken out of the store that I could not return or have anything done for me. I was able to have a different bridal store in davenport Iowa order the same dress for me through the designer and it will be in next week. It's just too bad that Brandis was not able to make that same accommodation for their current customers.

Regards,

Business

Response:

"[redacted] did not give us any measurements as she is stating she did. We have no measurements on her order form, which we do ask EVERY customer when they order a dress with us and she did not give us any. David's Bridal is their own bog box store, therefore they do not carry normal bridal designers like we do, so therefore their sizing is different, just like any other clothing designer (nothing is universal). Our contract with [redacted] states she wanted to order the size her received, and did not give us measurements. If she told us she was measured at David's Bridal, we for sure would've informed her their sizing is different. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do to make [redacted] happy, she told us to order her a size 10, she did not give us measurements like the other 99% of our customers do, and at the end of the conversation, we of course order whatever size our customer is asking us to do, which we did in this case. We even told her she could bring it back in to be measured, and she was not happy with that answer either. We ordered exactly what she wanted. We are glad [redacted] went into an independent bridal salon and was able to be measured and choose a size with the designer's size chart."

First of all what bride comes into wedding store and pays for their wedding dress up front with cash right away. Well my sister did cause she thought they were oh so nice there until it came up with the bridesmaid dresses. The bridesmaids all order there dresses and when they finally came in two of the dresses came in wrong colors. Then [redacted] the Manager contacted my sister and told her what was going on and said they were going to ship them back out and she said sense the company messed up on two of the dress then they would do alteration free for the two dresses that had to be shipped back out. Well so we made appointment to get the alterations done when we got there they took us back in the fitting room and started pinning the dress after words we went up to the desk and [redacted] that was working at the desk a very nice young lady!!! she was like okay we will make another appointment for the final fitting I said okay. Then I said I only owe the other half of the dress right and she said and the alterations and I said no [redacted] told the bride it would be free cause of the company messing up on the dresses. So [redacted] went into the back to talk to [redacted] and she said no I told the bride we would be get you a percent off on the alteration well Lie number one horrible. Then [redacted] came up to me and said no it would be A percent off and I said well how much would it be she said at a high end 115.00 I said umm no I am not paying that much that is almost as much as what we paid for the dresses. I will take that dress and the other dress out and take it somewhere that it isn't going to cost me that much. How in the world can a alteration go to free to 115.00. NOT once did [redacted] come out of the back to talk to a customer that she lied too how horrible is that. [redacted] you are a bad manager and I don't recommend anyone giving you business!!! You really need to check your work. Sense when do Managers Hide in the back!!! By the way we took the dress somewhere else and it wasn't even near a 100.00 dollars. Also all of the bridesmaid had to get a lot taking in cause they over measure you they measured all of us with sweatshirts and jeans on that were measured there.. Really who wears clothes on under the dresses well not me. [redacted] was the one that measured us in February!!! I don't recommend this place to anyone

: Not impressed email sent to owner......We had picked out brides maids dresses from your store. The girl that measured three of us ordered all two sizes two small.....manager [redacted] agreed said the girl no longer works there...seamstress fixed them and at pick up I was told there were no more fixes cant come back and was under the impression AGIAN that we were being an inconvenience. ...!? This issue was the companies issue and fault, not ours. I then get home and was fairly satisfied until I went to hem the dress....! The split up the front was completely unraveling on all the dresses that were fixed in store. These dresses have three layers let me mind you and all three layers were un raveling....there had been no back stitch done on any of them. I secured all of them and when I went to turn layers so I could secure them with right sides to right sides....I noticed every seam that was presses open was partiallyserged and then that all the tails were still hanging...6 inches of threads from every strip?! Iv attached photos. I find this unprofessional. Our experience had been a night mare and im seeing several reviews like ours. I will never suggest this company to anyone and feel so sorry for my best friend who has had to deal with this night mare and be stressed about what is supposed to be her big day. I strongly feel that all three dresses that we have had several issues with shouldwarrent some type of refund. Having a bad review is one thing but from years of working in retail I know there are ways to make things right and we are sick of being told there is nothing anyone can do. I took my own time with a baby at home to fix all these dresses after they were supposedly fixed...they haven't even seen the wedding day and I have to pack all my supplies incase anything else comes unraveling at the wedding! I could see if we had one bad dress malfunction. ...this however is ridiculous. From this response we received an email changing their story again..after admitting original issues were their fault the owner now stated they werent and that any issues we had once home we created. That funny bc all the dresses had same un raveling issues and had major bust malfunctions at wedding...were the mesh fabric was tacked to bust cups it pulled inside layer so everyones right cup was double the lwft by the time we made it to dinner because the top fabric bunched up the inside fabric. IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY YOUR BIG DAY OR UR BEST FRIENDS BIG DAY DONT GO HERE FOR A DRESS...OR ANY CUSTOMER SERVICE WHAT SO EVER