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Alfred Angelo Want half your dress hemmed? Like being overcharged? Do you like to argue? Shop here!!! Houston Texas
This was the letter I wrote to Alfred Anglo's customer service:
To whom it may concern,
While I love the style of wedding dress I chose from Alfred Angelo, I am appalled at the poor treatment I have recieved at your 8066 Westheimer Store in Houston, Texas. I am writing this letter as a record of my formal complaint.
I ordered my wedding dress (Style 1774NT) on January 12, 2008 from my Houston store. I paid an additional $50 for the shorter version of the dress. The dress was received twelve days later, but no one called to tell me. I finally called them nearly a month later, and had my first fitting February 22, 2008. I ordered the dress in a size that made it three inches shorter all the way around. When I tried on my dress on the twenty-second of February, it was the longer style. The lady in the store argued with me, trying to convince me that this dress was indeed three inches shorter and that I needed to pay to have it hemmed. She showed me the order where we specified the shorter style, as if that were proof. Finally I was frustrated enough that I grabbed my same dress off the rack and held it up to the one I had on. Sure enough it was the long version. The woman never apologized. I was charged upwards of $150 to have the dress altered, and promised that I was not being charged to the hemming since it was the company's screw up.
My step mother then called more than three times on different days trying to pay for the alterations that were ordered with a credit card. No one she talked to knew where my dress was, what was being done to it, a total amount, or if I was even a client. Finally I had to call them to straighten it out, and my stepmother called back one last time where she was finally permitted to pay for the work we had ordered.
When my alterations had finished, again, no one called me. Finally I called in mid-March to see where my dress was and schedule a fitting for April fourth. I showed up on the fourth and to my surprise, my dress was three inches shorter... but only in the FRONT. They had only hemmed HALF of my dress. On top of that, the dress material that was attached behind the lace trim on the dress was so long, (on the portion that was hemmed) it was visible from the front of the dress.
I asked to have the dress taken in again, and the seamstress kept pinching in along the sides of the dress, along the seam. This caused an unsightly pucker. I asked if it could be taken in from the zipper or the darts. She said no, that was not possible. I pointed out the puckering and the bagginess that existed just above my rear and she told me that my strapless dress "was not supposed to fit tightly." Exasperated, I told her that they could fix the hem for free and I would take the dress to my tailor in town to have it taken in the way I wanted it done. It was only then that she stopped arguing with me and began to take in the dress along the darts. Once again, I received no apology for the argument.
On april 7th I called to see what all my charges were. It seemed strange to me that to take a dress in from the seems was nearly $150, and to take it in along the darts was only $50. When I called to see why the first total was so much, the assistant manager told me that hemming was around $100, and the seam work was about $60. which would have added up to my last total of over $150. When the assistant manager asked if I was calling to pay for the alterations I had ordered on April 4th I became irate. She Informed me that Hemming the dress was $100, and that since I had already paid $50 when I ordered the dress to have it 3" shorter, that the store had deducted $50 from my total.
"But hemming it cost $100. So I paid $50 for hemming?" I said.
The manager never could give me a straight answer. Instead, in true Alfred Angelo form, she argued with me. I was never offered a reimbursement if the charges were wrong. In fact, the manager admitted that she had no idea if they were wrong or not, as she could not read the seamstress's pricing book.
My wedding is now a month and five days away. I just want my dress, I want my money back from the hemming I paid for that looks so bad and was half done, and I want to go to another tailor. I am frazzled and unsure of how to proceed. I am not an ugly bridezilla, but having a dress hemmed all the way around just shouldn't be too much to ask for.
Jennifer
houston, Texas
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Jennifer
houston,Texas,
U.S.A.
NEW DISTRICT MANAGER IS MAKING HUGE CHANGES!
#3Author of original report
Wed, August 13, 2008
I just spoke today with Houston's new district manager. She has been with the company for twelve years and just recently took the new position of district manager. Wow- the difference is night and day. She apologized on behalf of the company and informed me that the Westheimer store now has new management and a new seamstress. She also refunded all the money I spent in alterations, since I never actually got what I wanted. She offered me a free heirloom kit which I chose to decline since my dress is no longer heirloom quality, but it was still very gracious of her. Overall, I'm very pleased with the outcome. This new DM seems to actually know what she's doing and things seem to have turned around.
Jennifer
houston,Texas,
U.S.A.
Three Months Later...
#3Author of original report
Mon, August 11, 2008
I am still emailing people trying to get an apology and my money back. I resent the first email again and added the following:
"To Whom it may concern,
I sent this letter on 4/7/2008 and have heard back from no one. I
will send it again to every email address I can find until someone
pays attention, and actually addresses my problems. I have also
posted this letter to rip off report at
I had less than two weeks to find a decent tailor, and have her fix
everything. The work the your seamstress did was so bad- you should
be embarrassed. There were huge holes in my netting where pearls had
been ripped out from the machine running along the seams. The line of
beading and appliques that were supposed to run horizontally from one
hip to the other was on caddy-corner. It ran above one hip and below
the other. The line of appliques and beading that was supposed to run
down the center of my dress was off center by a full centimeter. I
found a wonderful seamstress who managed to recreate my entire dress.
(She sewed on where you all had ripped off beads/pearls; she removed
every applique off of the tulle and reapplied it where it was supposed
to be, she trimmed the trash you left on the hem, she re-hemmed the
underneath solid "slip" layer so that it no longer hung longer than
the lace that was supposed to cover it. She repaired lace, repaired
my zipper, she actually took in the dress so that it would fit and
corrected the crappy work you guys did that left puckering along the
seams. We also discovered that there was more material (by a few inches!) on the right side, which was what was making it fall strangely. Oh, and she charged me half of what you all charged me for ONE
of your visits with a seamstress.) She did all this work less than two
weeks before my wedding. I didn't even get to see it before it was
picked up and flown to my destination wedding. Do you understand that?
I had ONE fitting with this woman, and then never saw my dress until
the wedding. My step-mother had to pick it up. I want someone,
anyone to call me and I want that person to beg for my forgiveness
since I actually had to pay money to be treated like this. It has
been months and no one has responded to any of my complaints. My money has not been refunded, and I'm getting more angry by the day.
Luckily,I'm at an age where all of my friends are getting married, and I have
already saved three of them from even browsing Alfred Angelo's stores.
Who knows how many more I have saved after they read my internet
post. My phone number is 281-713-1015. I am not going away."