I dropped my wedding dress off at Tailored Threads on August 14th, 2017. The woman who helped me said that it would take about a week to hem my dress for me, which was perfect as my wedding date is Sept. 9th. All that needed to be done was a couple inches taken off the front of the dress while leaving the back longer, as is (which is what my order read). I called them on August 21st, exactly a week later, to check the status and was told they had not yet started my dress but it would be finished by the end of the week. I understand they are probably busy and I was fine with this and hung up.
This morning, August 22nd, I received a text message saying my dress was ready. I went in on my lunch hour for a fitting and to *hopefully* pick up my wedding dress. Once I arrived the woman told me there was an issue with my dress and she had accidentally hemmed my entire dress because she had not read the order saying it was only to be hemmed in the front until she had finished working on it. I was devastated as this was not what I had asked for. I tried the dress on and to make matters even worse, due to my body shape and the back never having been measured while it was on me (as it was not supposed to be hemmed), the back of the dress was even shorter than the front!!! It wouldn't even touch the ground unless I tugged on the back of it, nearly choking myself with the high neckline of my dress. I was absolutely furious and devastated that they could allow this to happen. The woman said she could sew the fabric back on my dress but there would be an obvious hem line that wouldn't look good, or she could hem the front even shorter which would cause my wedding gown to look as though it was "flooding" on me. I said she had ruined the dress enough. She asked how long it would take to get a new dress ordered and delivered. My dress had been discontinued so she said I did not have to pay for the alterations since she did them wrong and I left with my dress.
I spent the next 40 minutes crying in my car having no idea what to do as my wedding day is only 2.5 weeks away. I decided to attempt to find my dress elsewhere online and got lucky. It was still available at two stores - Saks Off Fifth and Lord and Taylor. Lord and Taylor still had the dress priced at full value of $330 while Saks had it available for $150. Once you add in the rush delivery fee to be sure I can have it delivered in time to have it altered before my wedding the total cost was $185 and some change. I called the store back with this information and they said they would give me the funds to purchase the new dress so I went back to the store to collect the money. Once I arrived she gave me the money and had me sign a receipt stating that they gave it to me and she asked if she could at least have the damaged dress back. I was in an emotional state and rushed due to needing to return to work (still on my lunch hour). I gave her the dress back and returned to work.
After speaking with my family and coworkers about the experience they said that I should not have returned the original dress when they gave me the money. The more I thought about this, I agreed. Also, after speaking with my sister she had left a 1 star review on the business Facebook page since I was so distraught and they blocked her for doing so (they have since unblocked her, after much complaint). I contacted them again to express my feelings and the owner of the store, a male called me back stating that the funds they gave me were to "purchase" the damaged dress and that this was policy, so I could not have my old dress back, but if I chose to bring the replacement there it would be altered for free (why would I trust them with my second dress?). Nowhere was this "policy" posted or given to me in written or verbal notification. This was the first I was hearing of it. The owner said they keep the damaged dress to try and sell it to make their money back for having to pay me for their mistake. I even offered to come sign a contract with them stating that I would receive my old dress back today and when my new dress was satisfactorily altered I would return it to them and he refused to do so.
At this point I am failing to understand how it is my fault and why I am being held responsible to make up for the funds they've lost due to THEIR mistake??? I told the owner that I wanted my dress back or I would speak to the authorities about the incident. He then said that if I did come back to the store to please bring the police with me since I would not "meet in the middle" with him. I asked how what he was asking me to do was meeting in the middle. If he sold my dress at value he could not only make the funds back that they paid me to get a replacement dress, but also enough additional funds to cover what I would have paid for my alterations PLUS some!!!! He scammed me!!!!
(The rest of my review would not fit but can be read on their Facebook page) read more
