House of Brides online?

[jennpalmer]

I have not used this online resource but did order my dresses through www.chadwicks.com. They have a whole line of bridesmaid dresses and if you do a google search you can find 40% off coupons to apply to your order. I was able to buy dresses for $31 each including shipping and they are the quality that you see in the bridal stores.

[sarahfab]

Hi,

I am wondering about HOB as well (they have a watters and watters gown that I like for about $500 less than Pricsilla of Boston) so I looked at the Better Business Bureau www.bbb.com. I dicovered that while they seem like an upstanding member of the online community, they do have several complaints over the past 36 months. There are two locations listed, don't know why. The first has 15 complaints in the past 3 years, and the second listing has 74 complaints. However, it looks like many have been resolved, which is a sign of good faith on their part, I guess. I don't know their volume, so I don't know if this number of complaints over the last 3 years is a high percentage or low percentage.

Anyone else had experience with them? I'm SO curious!

[kelly01024062]

Why don't you go to this online store
www.weddingdressonline.com
Wedding Dress Online is not a typical stock, but a full-function online store. It is carrying more than ten thousand pieces of dress in stock. Now it developed to be a complete online store where you can not only buy a stock dress in several minutes, but also place a special order for your dream styles. In this only store, all transactions are processed safely; it can not only save more money, but also much time.

[leeni8]

I'm looking to order my bridesmaids' gowns online and House of Brides online has the best price. Has anyone used them - not in the store but online?

Please help - I'm almost ready to order!

Thanks!

[entropy8098]

Don't do it!!!! I ordered my dress from houseofbrides.com and have received zero as far as customer service is concerned.

I currently am awaiting word on my bridesmaid dress. Their site claims that after your order it you should receive 3 e-mails, the first one to confirm your order, the 2nd to acknowledge that your payment has been processed, and the third to send you an estimated shipping date (these are supposed to have been received within 5-7 days). I have only received the first e-mail and my credit card has already been charged. It's now getting down to crunch time for me since the wedding is June 30th.

I have called their 800 number several times and have yet to reach a real person. I have waited on hold for over 30 minutes at which point I just get cut off. There is an option to leave a message, however the last time I tried, the mailbox was full. One of the other girls in the bridal party has told me that she has left several messages and not one has been returned. I have also sent an e-mail through their contact form on the website and no one has replied to that either.

I finally just tried calling one of their stores in the Chicago area and actually spoke to a person, but this person said that they couldn't help me as the website is a completely different department. She refered me to a different store, and I have yet to get a hold of someone there either.

So that's where I'm at. Heed my advice ladies - it's not worth the money it will save you.

[Cindermaid]

Don't use HOB's even if you go to a store. My friend ordered her bridesmaid's dress there. The people weren't very nice. They tired to make me order a lager size so I would have to pay for alterations.

Now we find out 2 of the dresses aren't in and they don't know if they will be in on time. They told my friend she should have lied about the date to ensure delievery. They weren't helpful at all. They won't do anything about it. From all the complaints I have found on line looks like my dress and the other one won't be in on time.

[whimsicalfool]

I'm the bride in question, and I can tell you they are horrible. It's a month to the wedding and the whole thing is in shambles. I have bridesmaids out of town and all will lose tons of money if this thing doesn't get resolved.

The clerk I've dealt with changes her story, accuses my mother and I of being liars, insists there is nothing she can do, refuses to answer questions, and is rude and unapologetic.

Additionally, there is no "corporate number" so there is no one you can complain to. It's basically a tough luck situation, and nobody cares. They're in the business of selling things for weddings, yet they can't guarantee it'll be there for the wedding. Fat lot of good that is.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY, unless you want you and your girls to lose money, and have endless hassle.

[salsa12345]

This is just my experience. I bought by dress from houseofbrides.com on Sunday, September 17, 2006 around 10 pm. I received my dress in the mail YESTERDAY, October 11, 2006. I was absolutely FRIGHTENED from all the bad reviews. But my dress from Mon Cheri - normally goes for over $800 bucks. At a discount store in NYC, RK Bridal, I found it for $620 - but they said alterations would be like $350 and they treated me like crap. I found it on house of brides.com for $520! That included shipping and tax! I looked online at MANY other places and this was by far the cheapest. My wedding isn't until July of 2007 so I thought, what the heck, I will risk it because I have all this EXTRA time. Now I have a dress 9 months BEFORE the wedding. I had heard on different boards, such as ripoff.com that 1. they give you a sample dress, 2. the dress comes late, 3. they make the dress themselves, 4. they give you the wrong dress and all sorts of other stuff. My dress IS NEW and had all the tags on it from the manufactor. I fully inspected the dress. I checked the underarm area and it had never been worn. At a minimum I have saved $151.15 from the DISCOUNT place. Since I picked a brand name know for good quality, Mon Cheri, the material is beautiful. It is the right size and in Ivory just like I ordered it. It has gorgeous beading and swarkoski crystals and a long train. I am WAY too excited as you can tell. My only wish is that I would have waited to order the dress because now I have to store it carefully! The reason I am doing this post is because I was sooo scared to order from HOB. I called them at least five times making sure everything was ok - yes you have to wait 30 minutes to get through. I was told the dress would arrive late December and yesterday it was at my door. HOB online has been my BEST wedding experience so far. (Booking the ceremony location being the worst.) My opinion - I HIGHLY recommend HOB online. I have not been to the store.... so no opinion there.

[kasi2004]

I also ordered my dress from HOB online. But I had tried it on in a store before. It took 4 months to get to me but it was worth the wait. It was beautiful, with tags, never worn and the right color. Also it was way less then I would have paid in a store. In the store they wanted $2500 (canadian) and I got it for $469 (US). So, you see for me it was really worth it!

[piggipiggy]

DO NOT USE THEM! THEY ARE SHADY!!!

I read online and found really mixed reviews about HOB. But I went ahead and ordered through them since they had the lowest price and free shipping for my Wtoo bridesmaid outfits. Things went well and the package arrived on time. I was all happy until I opened the package. First of all, the package came damaged, it had to be retaped up by my post office. I gave them the benefit of the doubt since that's not really their fault but rather the mail carrier's fault. Once I opened the box I realized they sent me the wrong color!!! I ordered Powder Blue and the color they sent me was Sweet Tarte (a light lilac color). So I called up HOB and after 20 min on hold I got to a live person. The person gave me an authorization code and assured me that they can exchange the color correctly for me if I send the gowns back to them. I sent the gowns back the next day first thing in the morning.

So I patiently waited for them to exchange my gowns for the right colors until I got this email:

Piggy,
We gave you authorization on May 21 to return the dress as you stated you rec'd the wrong color. The authorization has expired as the designer will no longer accept the dress back as too mich tome has passed.
Thank You,

HOB Website Department

I was really confused so I called HOB and again I was on hold for 30 min before finally reaching someone. I explained the situation to the lady and her response was beyond rude. She said I should've read the policy that they don't do exchanges or refunds. I explained to her that HOB sent me the wrong color, it wasn't my fault. Then she accused me of taking too long to send the gowns back. I sent the gowns back the next morning as soon as I can! So for awhile basically she told me I wasn't getting a refund or the dresses I sent them back. I was beyond furious!!! The 3 gowns costed me $450 and they were just going to screw me over because of their own incompetency?? The lady told me to call back since it was lunch hour over there and no one there can help me. I asked for her name and a direct number to call to bypass the 30 minute wait time. She refused to give me her name because she said she wasn't the one who authorized the authorization in the first place and that I'd have to wait through the 30 min phoneline when I call back. I blew up at her and HOB still refused to refund me back but finally agreed upon sending me back the gowns in the wrong color. So now I'm stuck with 3 gowns in the wrong shade. Anyone looking for Watters Wtoo #135 in sweet tarte? HOB is shady!!!