Little Bridal Shop of Horrors - 'Magic Moments' IL

[hotpot]

Thanks pegtho, I am very interested in pursuing this and especially getting the word out about this store. However, I am going to wait until after my dresses have safely arrived before I file any formal complaints because it is hard enough to deal with these women, in the meantime, I shall do my best to keep you informed.

I went in on Wednesday to see if they had a shipping date for the dresses. The employee told me that sometimes the owner writes them down on the info cards and sometimes she doesn't, of course, it wasn't on mine.

She told me they had just been ordered so it 'would probably be awhile.' I had to remind her we rush ordered them and she questioned, 'Are you sure?'

After I told her that I had two receipts to prove it, she said it would probably be at the end of October. Initially, they told us it was an 8-week rush, but the last dress order was placed on the 28th of July. So I corrected her that it would be at the end of September and not October to which she replied, 'Right, they should be here by then if not sooner, but they really work 'odd' hours over there.'

She warned they take Friday through Mondays off and that they have only recently been informed 'it's getting really bad over there' with customs, so it could be delayed.

She then further went on to say it was a good thing we got the rush order otherwise we would have most likely got the dresses after the wedding. I think I showed great restraint in not jumping over the counter and throttling her right then and there. She was the same woman who argued we didn't need to put the rush on the order. 'They would be in with plenty of time.'

My fiance swears that they kept the extra $120 from three rush orders and put the order in as usual, which would explain it not showing up on the card that I had paid for the rush. I am still unsure since I have the copy of the order forms and the receipts from my credit card that show the extra charge for the rush was added and identified as being for that.

I feel like I am not going to get my dresses. I talked it over with my sister about what we will do if they do not come in and we agreed that we can purchase some off the rack black evening gowns if it comes to that. I have started a detailed log of events for every time that I go in there, so I will have everything clearly written down when I need it.

I have a million questions running through my mind. What do I do if my dress shipping date keeps getting pushed back? What if they don't arrive in time or not in the time specified by the rush? Is there anything else I need to do?

The only consolation I feel at this point is relief in the knowledge that after this ordeal is indeed over, I will be pursuing this and not resting until there is some kind of action against this woman. She may be taking advantage of me at the moment, but she doesn't have a clue what's in store for her at the end.

[llescio]

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Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2004 10:26 am

llescio
TBR Newbie

Joined: 04 Sep 2004
Posts: 2
I had to send this to you so you will know how terrible these store owners are to the brides, it truly should be a crime, but, you are not alone
ps I am taking the advice of sending this to the ny legislator as someone mentioned in the reply.

horrible experience with Estelles dressy dresses in Farmingd

Ladies, brides to be, I must make known to you what happened to me at Estelle's so that future brides can be informed and warned of the type of so called business they run there.
I purchased a bridal dress at Estelle's and I had to order it of course. The dress came in sooner than we expected, so we came in as soon as we could to pick it up.
We brought the dress home and left it in the bag because I still had quite a few months yet and alterations weren't yet.
Of course, every once in a while I would open the bag to have a peek. But, I never tried the dress on at home. The reason I am telling you this is to emphasize that the dress was barely touched.
One day a few weeks after picking it up, I noticed some beads were misssing on the back by the zipper.so, I called the store. I was told not to worry, they would put them back on. Well, I figured that this was a one time thing, guess it happens but, weird since i only tried it on once in the store.
After thinking about it though, I realized that I still had to have a lot of alterations done and the dress had to be opened up, so it would be silly to fix the beads before that as we don't know what would happen then, so, I waited.
A week or so later, I noticed more beads missing!, this time on the bottom of the dress! The thread was open and the beads were streaming off! This time I knew I had a bad dress, this should not be happening obviously, My mom is a seamtress and she noticed the thread, she said the thread they used was a cheap thread not supposed to be used for beading and that's way this was happening the thread is too thin!
So, I call the store, I get the bridal department, they tell me that the manufacturer knows about the thread problem, it has been brought to their attention and they are going to fix it. So, I asked what are they going to do for all the brides that bought the dressses with the bad thread to which I got the response:"nothing", "we can put the beads back on for you." WEll, this didn't settle right with me, the thread is bad, all the beads could fall off, but, all you can say is we will put the beads back on for you, what about after the alterations, what about all the beads that will fall off every day until the wedding... no! my mom paid good money for this dress, this is not right!
So, I asked to speak to the manager of the department, she was away, I was told to call back in a few days to speak with her.
I hang up but, thought more about this, I decided to call back and speak to the manager of the whole store!
They finally put me on the phone with this person, she was very nice and said she was not aware of this situation and not to worry that she would do anything I wanted. I told her I would like a new dress, but, after hanging up I noticed even more beads in another section missing and thought, what if the next dress has the same problem, so I called her back and asked for my money back to which she responded:"no problem, I said I would do whatever you want, no problem" I went straight to the store, asked for this manager. At this point I was hysterical crying because now I don't have a wedding dress! WEll, she came out was very nice and told me not to worry, I would get my money back as she promised. WEll, she took my receipt and dissappeared, I figured she was just getting my refund, She never comes out again!
They send out the woman from the bridal department who said that the first lady was now :"in a meeting" she tells me that she can repair the beads to which I stated:"I was told I would get my money back" she said"I can get you a store credit" to which i stated:"i came to get the refund as your employee, the manager above you promised" Now, this woman disappears. She comes back and tells me that they don't usually do this, they are nice people here. I said:"I didn't say that, I was told I would get a refund, the dress is damaged" They walk me to the front register. THe girl at the register proceeds to process the transaction, but, there was an older woman standing next to her, real staunch like, all of a sudden this woman says to the girl:"THROW ON A 20 PERCENT RESTOCK FEE I HAVE TO RETURN THIS TO THE MANUFACTURER. " and then, she conveniently walks away...
I tell the girl, I am not going to pay that, a restock fee is for a perfectly good item that the customer just doesn't want and the manufacturer has to take back. This is a damaged item, so I know the manufacturer will give the store a full refund, this was a lie!
I said I wanted to speak to this lady. The girl goes on the phone and when she comes back tells me;" she is in a meeting!" I said I will not leave till I talk to her. She goes back to tell them on the phone.
Now, I call my mom in hysterics crying, I don't know what is going on, this is so not right.. as I am on the phone, this older man comes out , I get off the phone he says he is part owner and he starts saying:"YOU LISTEN TO ME , WHEN YOU TRIED ON THE DRESS YOU LIKED IT DIDN'T YOU, YOU LOOKED BEAUTIFUL DIDN'T YOU?" to which I stated it didn't matter, the point is the dress is defective, damaged, sitting in a bag and the beads are falling off, he repeats himself loud in front of a line full of customers, to which I repeated the same line. HE next says: 'YOU TRIED IT ON DIDN'T YOU, YOU SAW IT HERE RIGHT?" of course, I said,but, the dress is damaged. he next yelled:" I DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU ARE DOING! YOU PAY THE RESTOCK FEE OR LEAVE MY STORE!" And then, he conveniently leaves me there in sobbing tears. I call my mom, we don't know what to do, I wish I had a lawyer with me or a big man or someone who would have stayed with me to help or a newscaster or someone, but, we didn't know what to do, They had the dress, I couldn't leave without that and i shouldn't take it back because it is defective and what would I do with it, the dress is bad. and now he is threatening me to pay or leave the store. If I stayed, I don't know what would have happened and I was alone and unsure and so upset. so we paid 140.00 of my mom's hard earned money for a dress we don't have , which was defective and had to be returned. We know there was no such thing as a restock fee, this store just wanted the money for themselves! they had no right to take it from me... when the dress was bad and needed to be returned anyway and to boot, his employee told me to come down to get a refund! I still get choked up when I tell the story, I will never go to Estelle's again, not after they did such a terrible thing to me, this was made to look like my fault, when It was the manufacturers, How horrible to treat a customer , especially a stressed out bride like this! they shouldn't have a business. please pass this on to everyone as I am to all my friends. I think it was the worst experience a bride could have and so unneeded! I had to go for another dress the next day. I wrote the better business bureau and channel twelve news and shame on u, can anyone tell me who else i can go to who can help me legally or report them or by miracle at least get the money back that they shouldn't have taken from us? thanks, remember brides BEWARE OF THE OWNERS AT ESTELLES! Lisa

[hotpot]

Hi. I am a newbie and this is my first (and very wordy) post.

Despite having some of my December wedding already planned, I purchased Bridal Bargains today and could not stop smirking in disbelief at the things I read about shops to be wary of because it just proved that I should have bought this book sooner.

I first went into Magic Moments Bridal located in Southpark Mall two years ago just to take a look at wedding dresses since I knew my wedding wouldn't be for a few years (I wanted to graduate from college first). Well, as luck would have it, I spotted a beautiful asymmetrical Private Label gown and fell in love even though I knew it would be two years before I would actually get to wear it.

I told the lady (who is also the owner) that I was wasn't sure about buying it with my wedding being so far off, but she kept insisting that the dress had been out awhile and could be discontinued at anytime, 'at the end of this week even.' Needless to say, I was a bit turned off by that, c'mon, my wedding wasn't for two years ... there would be other dresses.

Four months later, I bought it at another bridal shop when I could no longer get it out of my mind.

I had pretty much forgotten about the place until my sister flew in from out of town to help me find bridesmaid dresses (she is my maid of honor). We looked all over the Quad City area, going into numerous shops but not really finding anything that made us go 'Ooo, this is it!'

We took a day off from BM dress shopping to take our mom MotB dress shopping. My sister suggested we go take a look in the store to see if they had anything.

Oh, that was the beginning of the end.

Naturally, they had exactly what we were both looking for and had been unable to find being sold together anywhere else. They had the flattering top that she liked as well as the slim pencil skirt that I preferred all in the color we needed as well.

When we decided to go with it after knowing we hadn't found anything close to comparing and the end of her trip was drawing near, we asked the lady (not the owner this time - the only other employee) when the dress would be in. She told us, 'Ohhh, probably sometime in November.'

This was in mid-July and my wedding is in mid-December. That was cutting it a little too close in our opinions.

We asked when a rush order would have them come in and she kept telling us that we didn't need the rush order, the dress would come in with plenty of time to spare. Knowing that my wedding dress was supposed to take six months to come in and almost took eight coupled with the reputation of this store, we said it was fine; we'd pay the rush fee.

'No, you don't need it,' she kept insisting. Finally, I don't know how we got it through to her or why it was that big of a deal, she relented.

I'm not sure how rush orders usually work for dress separates, but we had to pay $20 per piece i.e. $40 total. That seems kind of fishy to me seeing how it is one outfit, but maybe I'm wrong on that one.

My sister and I went in the next day to see if we could get a picture of the dress. Despite the fact she paid in full for her dress and I had written down the name of the two other girls that I had to bring in, we were not allowed to take pictures in the store.

It violates the copyrights on the dress she said. While I thought it was ridiculous, I was like whatever-just-get-me-far-far-away-from-this-store at that point.

At the beginning of the next week, I took my 13-year old Jr BM in for her fitting. It was no less irritating as the previous visit up until the point my Jr BM needed to be re-measured because the measurements the lady came up with didn't make any sense.

The employee wrote down three different waist measurements before my mom, BM, and I all agreed the final one was the correct one, but was that the one she put on the order form? I watched as she wrote down the size needed for the original and waaaaay too large top on the order form that I feel I should also point out had my name misspelled.

Thankfully, I caught it and pointed out that we needed the size for the other measurement and not that one.

Later, my BM produced a signed check from her parents to pay for the gown. The lady then said they did not accept checks. Cash or credit only.

I couldn't believe it because she had never mentioned that nor were there any signs located anywhere. She went on to tell me that she remembered telling me specifically they did not take checks.

I had to bite my tongue from telling her that was pretty impressive considering I had not been up at the counter when my sister had paid for her dress, not to mention the fact that when my sister and I went in to see about getting the picture the very next day after buying the dress, she had no clue who we were despite having waited on us for the better part of two hours the previous day.

Finally, and to much relief, I took my final maid in for her fitting and it went fairly quickly right until the point she was ringing us up and could not find anymore receipts.

While I nervously watched her attempt to make her own receipt and order form for the last dress with two sheets of computer paper and an old piece of carbon paper, the owner came stalking into the store and proceeded to basically demean her only employee in front of us. She sighed heavily, impatiently threw papers and pens around, and finally told the other woman, ‘I’ll take care of this’ and shooed her away.

As the owner printed off more receipts (thank God for small favors), she was ringing us up on the register and told us the final amount. Since I agreed to pay the rush fees for my maid's dresses (it's not their fault I'm a little behind on planning), I asked if that included the $40 rush fee.

She snapped the total again at us saying 'It's $64.10. I don't care how you do it, but before you leave, I need $64.10.' Since we were paying by seperate means, all we wanted to know was if she included that or not, she could have spared the biting of our heads off.

What compelled me to come to this forum and leave this message was the fact that she is also breaking the law. I realized since I couldn't take a picture of the gown despite having brought in every single one of my maids for their fitting, that I could check out the tag to find the maker and possibly look for a picture on the internet.

When I looked in the dress, imagine my surprise to see the tags cut out. I didn't know stores actually did that and I asked the employee who the maker was and told her my plan for looking up a picture. (This is what made me laugh when I read through the beginning of the book today) She told me that they didn't know who the makers were, they call just call the manufactory and they know which dress is it supposed to be. Creative, eh?

The nice thing is telling vendors like the place we rented tuxes from that I don't have a picture of my dress or even know who the maker is much less a swatch of fabric to try and match the vests to. Thankfully, I picked an excellent formal wear place in Moline that gave me a swatch of the vest to take into the death store.

Usually, when I go to that mall and walk by Magic Moments, no one is ever in there. It's not surprising considering that when I posted this on a local board, many would be bride's had similar tales to tell, one even saying she complained to the mall office about the store and the mall office told her they receive complaints about them all the time.

Apparently, one of the local news stations did a Consumer Report on the place, calling attention to several previous customers who had bad dealings with the store.

The day I took the swatch from the formal wear store in to match to the dress, there was a young woman with her mother trying on a dress. At the time, I was thankful that the owner was too busy to come see if I needed assistance, but the minute I left the place, I wanted to go back, pull that girl aside and tell her to run like hell and never look back.

Like I have told everyone that will listen to my rant about this place, after those dresses have been closely inspected and the remaining CASH ONLY deposit is paid, that is exactly what I will be doing.