The Town Shop Formal & Bridals

Review: I ordered a bridesmaid dress from the Town Shop for my sisters wedding. When I originally purchased the dress my measurements were taken by a sales associate. When the dress arrived I picked it up and brought it home without trying it on. I assumed it would fit since I had been measured for it. However when I did eventually try the dress on it was literally falling off of me so I went back for alterations. The seamstress met me and pinned my dress. She told me to make an appointment to pick up my altered dress on September [redacted], 2013. She took my dress and I went to the counter to make an appointment to come back and pick up my dress. At the counter I was asked when the event date was that I would be wearing the dress. I replied that it was the **th but I was leaving the morning of the **th. I was told to come back on the **th to pick up my dress! I was also told to come as close to 4pm as possible. I explained that I worked until 4pm but would come straight from work. I was told it was important to get there as close to 4pm as possible as the seamstress needed to leave by 5pm. On the **th I RUSHED out of work to pick up my dress. En route I realized I had missed a call from the Town Shop. A voicemail message stated that the seamstress needed more time to work on my dress and to come between 4:30-5:00! Luckily my sister, the bride, needed me to pick something up for her at store nearby the Town Shop so instead of running that errand AFTER getting my dress I did it beforehand. I arrived at the Town Shop at 4:45pm. I checked in at the counter and was told to go get undressed while they got my dress from the back. I changed out of my clothing and stood in my underwear for almost 5 minutes! Finally the sales woman came in and apologized stating that my dress would not be ready until 5:30. She told me to change back into my clothes and that I could wait at the shop for my dress (how gracious of you Town Shop! Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to linger in your establishment while you continued to alter my dress way past my pick up time!). I went outside and waited for 50 minutes and as I decided to go back in and find out what was taking so long I received a call that my dress was ready. I went back into the dressing room to try it on. The sleeves fell off anytime I moved. But what could I do? The seamstress had left and I was leaving the next day to travel for my sisters wedding the following day! The saleswoman asked how the dress fit and I sighed "fine" as I went to take the dress she told me it was a $75 alteration fee! I asked for a discount for the inconvenience of waiting and for the rushed and poor craftsmanship. She said she would ask. She asked [redacted] (? A tall, thin man who was always there. I assume he is the manager or owner). He told me that that is just the nature of the business and they do not give discounts. I told him I was very disappointed and that I felt it was poor customer service to arrange for me to pick my dress up the day before I needed it, knowing there could be issues with the dress and leaving no time to fix it! He avoided making eye contact with me and just repeated that that was the nature of the business and that they are very busy! The saleswoman apologized as he walked away (yes, he walked away while we were having a conversation! Just said what he had to say and walked away!). She told me I was not the only one complaining that day. I told her I knew that because I had been in the shop to hear a woman try on her dress that was altered to be too tight in the chest, as well as another customer who wondered why her new garment had a mysterious stain on it. Unfortunately for all of us the "seamstress had already left and there was nothing that could be done". She must have run out the back door the second she finished her shoddy work on my dress because by the time I tried it on and then removed it and changed back into my clothes she was gone! I was told I had to sign for my dress and then pay for the alteration before I could actually take it home. I signed under duress (I even made a frowning face on the receipt which they did not give me a copy of. I know that sounds childish but I didn't know what to do. I needed the dress for my sisters wedding but I was so unhappy with the quality of the work AND the extremely poor customer service. At the wedding I became even more upset because the sleeves would not stay up for the life of me and then after I gave my Matron of Honor speech and my sister and I hugged in the middle of the dance floor she and I both felt one of the altered seams on my dress break! Mid-hug I whispered in her ear "oh my goodness I think my dress just broke!" to which she replied "I do too! I felt it!" At which point I said "When we let go and stop hugging please check it to make sure I am not exposing anything!" I honestly cannot express how extremely disappointed I am with the Town Shop!Desired Settlement: I want my alteration fee waived.

Business

Response:

This is in response to a customer statement with the above ID#:

We have reviewed the customers concerns thoroughly. Alteration work is a highly skilled and labor intensive art form that cannot be

rushed and does not stick to any ridged time schedule no matter how much we hope. there are many variables

that can conspire to delay even the best of intentions .when it comes to pick up times. Common sense tells us to be patient

with those who have the handicraft skills that we do not. In other words, walk a mile in a dressmakers shoes before becoming

impatient and demanding that they take a pay cut for their work. If they are responsible enough and on top of their game enough

to call the morning of regarding a delay (as they did in this case), be appreciative instead of scornful.

As for the quality of the work, this customer was clearly asked if she was happy and satisfied with the work before taking it from the store.

She indicates that she was, that the fit was proper and all was in order. If we were told she was displeased, we would have addressed every

issue she had and spent as much time as was necessary until she was pleased. Once the work is approved by a customer,

there is little else for us to do but say thank you and wish them well.

We would however, like to invite this customer to bring her dress to the store so we can take a look at it in light of her claims. If upon examination,

there is something we should address, we would of course be more than happy to.

Business

Response:

The seamstress did not leave the building until she was told by the sales associate that the customer was satisfied with the fit. Yes, by the time

the customer did, in fact, change OUT of her dress and leave the fitting room, the seamstress left for the day. If the customer in question had asked

to see the seamstress, she would have been able to, and the seamstress would have addressed any concern.

Perhaps if she had tried the dress on in the store (as we encourage everyone to dol) when it came in, rather than taking it home and "eventually"

trying it on at her leisure, she would not have been in such a time crunch. Customers are free to have alterations done wherever/whenever

they wish - they are not compelled to have the work done here, Also, she did get a copy of the alteration charges at the time of her fitting so she should

not have been surprised at the charge upon check out.

We understand that a good number of bridesmaids do not like the style, color, etc. of the dress that they must buy for a friend or relative's wedding and

that bridal stores tend to be the whipping post for these disgruntled customers, especially in light of the fact that most never wear the dress again.

Trying to recoup costs in whatever way they can, as this person is trying to do, does not work.

We have offered to have this customer bring the dress back to us so that we may review the workmanship. We have also offered to address any

problems and were open to any and all possible solutions, as stated in our first response. We would ask that the bureau make note of our offer and

also make note that this offer was refused.

Town Shop

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[Your Answer Here]

This approach to the dispute is going nowhere. Almost every statement the Town Shop makes is fraudulent (as evidenced by their claim that they called "the morning of" when they called close to 1pm).

The seamstress left while I was in the changing room. I know this because another customer asked to see the seamstress because they too had a problem with their dress and that customer was told the seamstress had left.

I brought my dress in 3 weeks before my sisters wedding and if that was not enough time to alter the dress you should have told me so and I would have gone elsewhere or made the time to alter it myself. You accepted my business and took care of it and the last possible minute, making me wait almost 2 hours for you to sew my dress after the time I was scheduled to pick it up.

I am tired of you insulting my "common sense", "knowledge of handicraft skills", and now my sisters fashion choices in the color and style of the dress (the style of which I chose so believe me I like the dress. It's a beautiful dress. I paid you $250 for it and I am fine with that. What I am not happy about is you altering it at the last minute, making me wait, the sleeves being too big, and the seams ripping at the event!). And now you are insulting my integrity by indicating that I am trying to "recoup" the cost in whatever way I can instead of acknowledging that my complaint actually has merit!

You are not "open to any and all possible solutions" because if you were the option of giving me a refund would be one that you are open to. The solution I rejected is having you look at and fix the same dress that you didn't care enough to take the time to sew properly when I had a very important event to wear it to!

I have contacted my credit card company and disputed this charge. I agree to pay SOMETHING because I acknowledge that my dress was altered but I refuse to pay in full for an alteration that fell apart!

And just for the Revdex.com: I found a number of other dissatisfied Town Shop customers when I complained via social media Its quite overwhelming the number of people they have disservice! Here are my friends, colleagues, and acquaintances stories and opinions of the Town Shop. Amazing to think that I know so many people who had problems there. Imagine if you spoke to each one of them and found how many people they knew who had bad experiences there! To think of the enormity of that web of people...this is a terrible business! I see why they are not a Revdex.com endorsed company!

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Review: I went shopping at the Town Shop in Poughkeepsie on March [redacted] 2013 to could find a dress for my daughters wedding. I ordered a dress from this shop that day placing a deposit of $350.00 down and was told that it would about 3 months for the dress to come in which would put it toward the end of May. I called a couple of times in June to check the status but no one returned my calls. My dress arrived on June 20th and I was on vacation so I was able to go in the following day for a try on. I noticed that my dress was a size 14 which I thought was odd because I will normally wear and 8 or a 10 but I thought that maybe the sizing was different for this line. The dress was way too big and literally fell off of me. The seamstress had a moment and measured me against the receipt measurements which were off by several inches all around. They did not record my measurements or check a size chart as the seamstress was trying to evaluate if alterations were possible. I went to the front desk to see what we could do. As I approached the desk, I saw that a man was looking at the sales receipt, as I got closer he started to walk away from me stating that he would have to call me about this… as he was walking away! He never even gave me his name I had to ask for it. He dismissed me by walking away from me leaving me without options and not knowing how to proceed. When I arrived home, I called [redacted] to see if I had options and a representative told me I could open and investigation to dispute the charges which I decided to do. That same day I got a call from “[redacted]” who I believe to be [redacted] the CEO of the business, did call me to say that they would order me a dress in a size 12 and that it would be here in a week to 10days. This is without ever addressing me to see what options there were or measuring me for a correct size. I truly think the sample dress in the store was a 12 and he would just switch it out and still get a big fee for alterations. Feeling extremely uncomfortable , I called and left a message stating that I was uncomfortable with the transaction , had asked my card company for a credit and that I did not want a dress in size 12. On Thursday, June [redacted] , I received a call, again from [redacted], stating that my dress was in and to come in and pick it up. I called an spoke with him on Friday June [redacted] to ask why he had gotten another dress after I had called to say I wanted to go in another direction. He got angry and said that was not an option that I had to take the dress and should be glad that they had gotten me a smaller size at all. When I said that they had not measured me for size he got louder and said size did not matter that all dress needed to be altered. I asked for some other options and he began to YELL at me and to make untrue assumptions that I was lying and had obviously lost a great deal of weight and was trying to be deceitful with him. I again asked for options and he very gleefully shouted that I had none said I was being “duplicitous” and would forfeit my deposit and then hung up the phone! I work in customer service and can not believe how I was treated by this individual. I feel that I was treated rudely and unfairly and in addition the Town Shop did not deliver the correct merchandise and then, because there receipt says that deposits are final tried to force me to accept something that was not right for me. Due to these circumstances, I do not feel I should lose my deposit. Thank you for your assistance.Desired Settlement: I would like my depost to be refunded to my credit card.

Business

Response:

When our customers leave deposits, they are advised in writing that the deposits are non­ refundable. They sign both the credit card receipt with the policy clearly noted, and the sales slip, with the policy clearly noted. The exact gown in both the style and color requested was ordered for this customer and received. No size was specified as gowns are ordered according to each individual manufactuter's size charts. That said, if a customer requests a particular size we will be happy to order it for them. In this case, she did not. Some times a customer may think she's an 8 but inreality their bust may be a IO, their waist a 14, and their hips a 12. All gowns are tailored by our professional seamsttesses to the exact requirements of our customers during the fitting phase of the process. Our obligation to each and every one of our customers is that before a gown leaves our store, our customer must be 100% happy with the tailoring and fit of the garment. Inother words, every gown is custom fit to each customer. The appropriate action would have been for the customer to allow us to finish our job, doing the necessary alterations and fitting the gown perfectly.

This customer had changed her mind about the style of gown she wanted. This has nothing to do with size. We completely understand a change of mind, however, we special ordered a gown based on a coutract, and brought that gown iu for our customer, and now we have her gown, for which we paid the manufacturer, and the customer does not want to take any responsibility for the commitment. Her deposit is non refundable.

We hope this information addresses the concems your organization has about this customer's complaints and our appropriate customer service.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, I have not been contacted by The Town Shop Formal & Bridals regarding complaint ID [redacted].

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

This is in response to the above complaint. We couldn't find the place to enter this information on the website so are forwarding it to you in hopes that you can put it in the system where it belongs?

The exact gown, in style, color and appropriate size, that this customer requested was ordered and delivered in a most timely manner. This customer changed her mind about the style of the gown she wanted after she tried it on. We understand a change of mind, however, we special ordered a gown based on a contract, and brought that gown in for the customer. We now have her gown, for which we paid the manufacturer, and the customer does not want to take responsibility for the commitment to our store. Her deposit is non-refundable as stated and signed for on the store receipt as well as the credit card receipt.

Thank you,

The Town Shop

Review: I have dealt with them in the past, and had issues however my best friend is getting married and she wanted to go to them, so I wanted to make this easy and painless for her so I went. We got fitted for the dresses on May *th, 2013. We all started asking the bride when the dresses would be in because if there is something wrong we need time. I got there today to pick mine up after getting a call this week (one month before the wedding) I paid the balance and left because when they fitted us in May I was told I was between a ** and **, they told me it was up to me on what size however I am not in the professional dress industry so asked the girl that measured me what she thought, she then turned to the owner [redacted] and asked him he said the ** should be fine for me. So I went with it. Today I went to put it on and the back would not even zip up!!! I called them, they put [redacted] on the phone he obviously as I learned a 2nd time does not believe in the customer being right! He told me they did "nothing wrong" I said I do not care, I just need an **, he proceeded to tell me because the wedding is in one month there is no time to order another size it will not be here in time. But come back have his seamstress look at it, and then I can have them fix this when I live an hour away. I said well if I do that I will be charged by then to do so, he laughed at me and said well of course you will be. Next I went to the alterations shop he did his measurements realized the dress is a 14 with a ** label on it!!! Furthermore it was labeled a petite ** when if anything the dress needed to be woman's. [redacted] was continuously oblivious to the idea they messed up and would not fix it. Now I have to pay another $125 to have the dress taken out and extra material put under the arms!! This establishment is a scam because they wait till last minute to get orders just so that they give the consumer no choice but to use them for everything!Desired Settlement: I will no longer step foot in this place and I make sure I deter anyone else! I simply want the $125 I now have to pay for alterations which I am sure is too much to ask being that the owner does not EVER believe int he customer being right!

Business

Response:

Please consider this as a response to the above mentioned l.D. number complaint

The customer directed the store to order her a specific size, which she signed for at the time she placed

the order. When a customer instructs the store to order a specific size, the customer assumes full responsibility for that decision. This customer received the exact

dress she instructed us to order, style, color, and size (receipts available upon request). Customer signed for the dress when she took it from the store WITHOUT trying

it on(again,receipts available upon request). When customer called concerned about the fit, we encouraged her to bring in the dress.

She asked if there would be a cost if we needed to do alterations. We said there would be based on the work involved. She said if that was the case,

she would have the work done closer to home.

We do however, wish to accomodate this individuals desired settlement request of never setting foot in our store....done!

Business

Response:

Regarding the above dispute, the only way we can address this customer's complaint is to see her in the dress in the store BEFORE she has her dress altered by someone else. There is nothing we can do if she chooses to have it altered elsewhere before we have a chance to look at it.

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because

This is unacceptable as I have in writing after $125 more dollars later that this dress was the incorrect size! It sized to a 14. Another bridemaid in the same wedding party got an incorrect size as well! Wether it be a company mistake and they mislabeled or it be The Town Shop. The Town Shop should take responsiblity for their vendors that they deal with but as we all know the customer to them is never right! It is very sad not the 1st time but I do want this on file since of course they do not plan to reimburse me this money! Then the owner laughs at me when I ask if they will charge me for alterations!

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,