DBS order placed through store, per letter

[mandy]

My DBS letter informed me that my order has been transferred to a store, namely Clara Milas in West Seneca New York. I spoke with them and they say they have my order, confirming all the info, and that the dress is due in within a month or two. They would charge barely above what DBS was going to charge (but of course I need to pay) and are offering half up front and half when the dress comes in. They seem legitimate but I don't know who to trust anymore. I don't know what to do! I can't decide if it's worth another $200 to order from a retail shop and not have to worry as much!

Is anyone else in the same boat, where your order was transferred? I am ordering a justin alexander gown and am not sure if it would be a good idea to talk to the manufacturer as they seem strict about whom you can deal with. I haven't tried to call them directly because I am afraid they will cancel my order if they find out I got it through DBS.

[Jean dbsqueen]

Mandy, Clara Milas is a Full Service Bridal Salon in good standing with Justin Alexander, that's why your order was placed with them. Odds are if you call them directly and tell them you bought it at a discount they will cancel your order and all other orders from Clara Milas and no one else will get a dress either. Do what you want, but if you feel you have to call just tell them you bought it directly from Clara Milas, they are good people. If you are uncomfortable, pay by credit card. Ask for Joanne, she is wonderful. Good luck.
Jean dbsqueen

[Suzi- Q]

My wedding gown is a JAI- which is under Alfred Sung. I spoke with them about the situation and they will be calling me when my dress comes in and I can pay them wholesale for it. I am missing 1 of my 5 bridesmaid dresses. Mori Lee told me the same thing, they will give me the dress for wholesale. They both told me not to worry and they were really reassuring.

I have also filed a dispute with the credit card company to get the money back for the bridal gown and bridesmaid dress I did not receive.

As for the "Comparable" dress they sent....HA HA HA thats a joke right. My dress is supposed to be a 1 peice JAI. They sent me a two piece Lamour... So if any one is missing this style of dress email me and we can talk.

I hope everyone else is able to get things situated with the companies that have the orders... I say call the designer...the worst they can do is get mad that you ordered from DBS... they know they existed and they sold to them. At this point many do not have anything more to lose by calling the designer.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL

Suzanne
[email protected]

[panthur]

With no definitive evidence of the reputability of Clara Milas, besides a few resolved and a few unresolved claims to the better business bureau, I decided to call Justin Alexander. They were very helpful and said that unauthorized transfer of orders is against their policy and is unethical. They didn't have my order in their system from Clara Milas. Ralph, who I spoke to said he would speak to a the owner of a local shop who could process my order and would try to get me a discount or at least free alterations to make it easier for me.

I understand that Clara Milas may be reputable in the end, but the manner in which my order was handled was unethical and innapropriate. In the end, my personal information was given without my permission to a different vendor. I have been jerked around enough by DBS and I am not going to risk it again. Also, how could I trust any vendor recommendation that they gave? They already ripped me off for $800 and I refuse to work with a vendor who is "a longtime friend of the owners".

[sept24bride]

I am in the same boat as you, except that I am dealing with much tighter deadlines.

I ordered my dress in February through a DBS dealer and was told that it will come September 3rd, if not sooner. And that was for a September 24th wedding - somewhat close, but I had close to three weeks, so I figured alterations would be fine.

Now with the whole DBS debaucle unraveling, the third-party store that my order was placed through says that they do not expect my gown to get to me until September 16th!!! According to them, DBS didn't place the order until MONTHS later after I ordered it and paid for it! In other words, if DBS had not gone out of business and were really delaying their orders through third-party stores, I would have FOR SURE not received my gown by the wedding because it would have had to be shipped from designer to third-party store to DBS to me, elongating the whole shipping process by at least 4 days!

So this third-party store is telling me that they 100% guarantee that I will have my dress by the 16th, but now I don't know who to believe. What if the dress doesn't get here even though they 'guaranteed it' in writing? Plus, as one of the posters said, DBS already jerked me around so how do I know that this is a reputable vendor? I don't have a contract with this store - all I have is a sales slip from a now-bankrupt company and a receipt from an independent dealer.

Any advice?

[panthur]

Here is what I did. I called the manufacturer directly (Justin Alexander) and they were helpful and friendly. They said unauthorized tranferring of orders is unethical and that I didn't have an order in the system with the store that DBS claimed to have tranferred the order to. I assume the store was either going to 1) rip me off or 2) order the gown for me and give me an awesome practically wholesale price. I couldn't take the risk of it being #1. Justin Alexander rep offered to call a local store and try to get me a discount. The store offered to give me my gown for $1000 ($200 above the DBS price), cheapest I've heard of for local retail when I have been quoted at other local retailers for $1400.

I have time so I am still thinking about the decision. I just found out i am being laid off in December (and I'm getting married in Feb) so I need to be smart with my money. I've been trolling the internet for used gowns for sale and found one online by the same designer and am considering ordering a gown using escrow services (check it out at escrow.com) so I can try the gown on before buying and have the finances verified.

If I were you I'd call the gown manufacturer.. many of them are giving dbs brides breaks. Don't be embarrassed that you tried to buy from a wholesaler, the manufacturer will either be understanding or undeserving of your business. Figure out which it is and then if you need to you can find a gown retail or off the rack..

And get your money back from your credit card company if possible. Mine's credited my account, in 45 days it will be final.

[rrjaj]

My daughter ordered a dress through DBS and we were devastated to find out about the bankrupty. However, we can count ourselves among the lucky ones because we already have the correct dress thanks to Clara Milas Bridal. My daughter received a terrible substitute dress from DBS along with the letter identifying Clara Milas as the shop that actually ordered her gown. We contacted them last Thursday and they were extremely helpful. They located the correct gown within a couple of hours and shipped it immediately. It arrived yesterday. Although we've had to pay again, we are optimistic that the credit on the chargeback will be permanent. It will just take a couple of months to sort that out. Clara Milas actually charged less than the DBS price for the dress and we are SO relieved that it is safe in our possession. They could not have been nicer. It was refreshing to deal with them after this scare.