Absolutely terrible customer service experience. I dropped off my bridesmaid dress for my sister's wedding on July 15th. The owner was at the desk and I told him I needed it dry cleaned as well as altered. When scheduling what day to pick up, he asked me when the wedding was and I said August 27th, so he said he would have it ready by Monday, August 22nd at 5:00pm - which is the date and time printed on my receipt, and right beneath it are the store's hours (7am-7pm M-F). I drove out there on Monday August 22nd and arrived at 5:10pm to find the place closed, with a piece of paper taped on the door saying they now close at 5pm instead of 7pm. Annoying but not the end of the world. I drove back this morning, August 23rd, at 12:00pm and handed my receipt to the woman working at the counter. She ran around the store for over 20 minutes trying to find my dress, checking every single rack. She called someone on the phone to ask about it, she checked in the computer, and she finally came back to the counter and said very nonchalantly, "Oh, we went on vacation so we got a little backed up and it's not done yet. Can I get it ready for you to pick up tomorrow?" This was extremely frustrating, as I brought this dress in six weeks ago. I told her I had to leave to travel to the wedding early tomorrow morning and that it needed to be done today. She took my phone number and said she'd give me a call later when it was ready. Already frustrated that I've driven out there twice and wasted so much of my time, now I have to go back a third time. Just as I arrived home, I received a call from Charlie's, and it was the same woman I spoke to at the desk. She then proceeded to try to tell me that it was ME who had the date screwed up, and that I "must be reading the date on the receipt wrong", because on the computer it says it will be ready by September 8th. I told her there was absolutely no way this was my error, as the only receipt I have specifically says 8/22/2022 5:00PM - which she literally took from me and read in front of me when I was in the shop. I told her that I absolutely did not get my sister's wedding date wrong and there's no way I would ever have agreed to any date in September, insisting that the date on the receipt that I had was for yesterday, and once again recounted the conversation I'd had with the owner when I brought the dress in initially. She again tried to ask me when I have to leave tomorrow morning and I told her I was leaving before the store opens and that I had already told her I needed it done as soon as possible today.
Frankly I'm very frustrated that she tried to blame this on me when it was VERY clearly their mistake. My girlfriend has used Charlie's in the past and had a good experience and this is not at all what I expected from them. Not having the dress done on time and using the excuse "sorry we went on vacation" when it was dropped off 6 weeks before is bad enough, but then to straight-up lie about it by saying I actually just can't read is beyond rude.
I just went back to pick up the dress and the owner was there instead of the woman I interacted with earlier today. He was not apologetic about the dress being late, or how I was treated, and when I mentioned how I was freaking out earlier when she couldn't find the dress and then that it wasn't ready because I have to leave tomorrow morning, all he basically had to say was "Yeah, the date was wrong in the computer, but it's done now so don't worry."
I wouldn't have even been that upset if they had called me last week to say it wouldn't be ready by Monday at 5pm but that they'd get it done on Tuesday (at least that would have saved me driving out there multiple times). Getting the dress one day late isn't that big of a deal. It's how I was treated -- being told that I can't read, trying to blame their own computer screw-up on me, having to leave work twice in one day, no apologies, etc. I'll never use Charlie's again after this super unprofessional experience. read more
