Prom Dress Disaster

*by law they dont have to accept it back... OP viewed it and accepted it so even the 14 day cooling period doesnt count.

if you go in a shop and buy something too big thats on YOU not them.

She also USED it.*

Sorry you've got this wrong.

Say you have a sofa delivered and the company don't give you time to unpack or check but you sign it's received, and then when you do unpack it's damaged. Are you settling for that?

I think what a lot of businesses don't realise as well is that there is a much higher standard when they are dealing with individual consumers than other businesses. Things like "buyer beware" "well you said it was fine when you bought it in the shop" and other things which may be acceptable between two businesses does largely not apply when you are selling to an individual customer.

*Say you went to a resteraunt and ordered Steak well done but they took a while then brought you Steak medium raw and you ate it without sending it back because you where in a rush, when the waitress stopped by to ask if your meals ok you even said 'its fine'.

@mam0918
*

Not the same.

OP had no alternative to have a different dress this was the only one ( unlike a restaurant to order something else )

The shopkeeper was was putting on pressure to be gone before the dressed was properly checked
.
That would be like the restaurant packing up and closing before you'd had a mouthful.

It's so not like Judge Judy saying "you ate the steak"

if you go in a shop and buy something too big thats on YOU not them

Different when it's MADE TO MEASURE and LATE.

It was not fit for purpose. Because it didn't fit. It was not delivered in a timely manner, it was delivered so late that they had no alternative but to accept it.

Nothing to do with what happened with the dress, unless her DD ate the dress. The dress was not fit for purpose - the purpose being a made to measure dress which is supposed to fit - end of story. It doesn't matter if it has been worn once. If they'd had it for weeks before complaining, after having a non-pressurised fitting and agreed that it fitted, then the seamstress may have a point.

It's like with the steak analogy, the food arrives two hours late, the waiter stands over you pressurising you to try it and you eat it because you were starving but actually it was terrible. You definitely still have a cause for complaint!

Also it doesn't remove responsibility for terrible food from the restaurant or mean you can't complain because your server comes and asks you whether the food is ok about 20 seconds after you've received it and you have barely tried it yet. A lot of restaurants seem to think so. A lot of restaurants are wrong.

She didn’t have an option!

how many times do we think something is done in the panic of the moment and then decided it isn’t?

She thought it would be ok with the lace up back but it wasn’t - it wasn’t the right size - and those dresses have quite a bit of give in them to fit snuggly. DD was more concerned about getting her dress .

I think it’s appalling service and the dress should’ve been delivered weeks before to allow any additional alterations. A hour before the even isn’t ok.

by law they dont have to accept it back... OP viewed it and accepted it so even the 14 day cooling period doesnt count.

if you go in a shop and buy something too big thats on YOU not them.

She also USED it.

Not at all comparable

Problem is you accepted, tried on a confirmed then even used the dress.

Lets put in in another context:

Say you went to a resteraunt and ordered Steak well done but they took a while then brought you Steak medium raw and you ate it without sending it back because you where in a rush, when the waitress stopped by to ask if your meals ok you even said 'its fine'.

You dont get to get the bill and say 'Im not paying because it wasnt exactly how I wanted it'. You ate the food and have to pay for it.

She wore the dress. You have to pay for it.

The convenient collapse of the seamstress is neither here nor there, and shouldn't be a factor in your complaint.

At that stage they could have said they couldn't fulfil the order , and refunded you, but unfortunately all businesses are under pressure and some are making poor decisions .

You had no choice to but accept an extremely late delivered dress. My mind has drifted to what the hell the next customer on the delivery drop must have been thinking!

Also, it is totally not unusual to find an item of clothing is not right in a longer time span than 5 minutes.

The very least I would do is use the template email someone has provided earlier..no need to be shitty about it, just point out you won't be paying full price for a dress that didn't fit, delivered very late which caused stress and compromised the event.

You can argue against the cost of the alterations but pay for the dress - you can’t have it, keep it, wear it and then refuse to pay for it.

It wasn't the dress OP ordered. ( it didn't fit )

It wasn't delivered on
time

no alternative to wearing it

OP wants to give it back

Another vote here for Forestgate’s excellent E-mail.
The “collapse “ of the seamstress seems very dramatic and convenient , or maybe I just have a nasty suspicious mind .
Wishing you all the very best, OP ! 💐

You can argue against the cost of the alterations but pay for the dress - you can’t have it, keep it, wear it and then refuse to pay for it.

Definitely complain and try and push back.

The reality is if they had been honest about the situation with you, the likelihood is you would have went and bought a “back up” dress in case it didn’t arrive on time and then your daughter would have had something to wear that actually fitted. It might not have been the dress she wanted, but it still would have been a lovely dress and she would have been able to enjoy her night without spending the entire time holding a dress up and feeling self conscious.

I think the fact that the seamstress didn't deliver the dress is also an issue, how could any on the spot alterations be made if the seamstress wasn't even there?

I agree with a previous poster who said don't offer any solutions, email your grievances and see what they have to say.

Well of course the dress was worn on the night. What else was OP’s DD supposed to have worn?

Jeans and T-shirt?

Shop promised alterations would be done and it would be delivered in time. Can you take the measurements of the dress and see if it was altered correctly? If measurements are not as requested, they have breached contract.

I’d be inclined to say dress could not be worn after it was evidently too big once it was on properly (assuming she hasn’t split something down it and pics aren’t all over public SM). Bit naughty but so were they with cock and bull story about seamstress collapsing and turning up an hour before Prom rushing her to try it on!

My advice would be for anyone buying a made to measure dress in future would be to specify that time is of the essence to the seamstress, and that if it is not ready one week/two weeks/whatever allows you time to find an off the peg alternative before the event for a final fitting then you will reject the dress in whatever state it is in and obtain a refund.

God people on here are really willing to accept crap service!

of course you don’t pay the balance OP! They didn’t provide what they promised to - a dress that fitted, in time for the prom. They failed on both these points. Therefore you don’t pay as you didn’t receive the service. The examples for emails above are good.

Totally irrelevant that she wore the dress and said it was fine. She was left with no choice due to the failures of the shop.

consumer rights are thankfully strong in this country -use them. I would also be threatening to leave a bad review unless they refunded you the deposit, to compensate for the stress and upset caused to your poor daughter. Totally shoddy business practice.

The seamstress should’ve looked at the dress and made sure it would fit. or spent the time fitting it properly.

A last minute dress would’ve sent my daughter over the edge. Not what you want for prom.

id refuse to pay. Do t lie about the time she wore it. Photos all online.

Don't you? 🙄

I do.

Can you plaster complaints all over social media if they insist the valance must be paid in full?

A good business should at least give you a discount.

Was there a delay in the order arriving at the shop? Did they even attempt to do the alterations if the fit was still so loose that the corset would not compensate? They should not have agreed to do the alterations if they were already heavily committed.

Agree with the points raised by @redtshirt50 and draft email of @Forestgate . They delivered a dress which was not fit for purpose as promised.

The business did give rubbish service- I dont think that is in doubt.

But the one to suffer for not having a back up plan is OP's daughter. Its not blaming the OP for the business being rubbish, if the OP had a back up plan it should not alter the response to the business- they are still to blame for not delivering what they said they committed to- a dress that fitted and was delivered on time.

Oh come on now.

It is miserable wearing something you feel uncomfortable in. Even more so if you spend the whole night worried it's gaping and showing your bra/boobs if you don't move carefully.

x1000 for a self concious teen at an important event

This is one of those situations on MN where a customer starts getting the blame for a business's crap service.

"you left it very late" - shop assured you it was fine

"you should have had a back up plan" - shop assured you it was fine

"you said it was fine" - they delivered late and wanted to leave, leaving no time to appraise the corset. You were under massive pressure of their making.

"you said it was fine" - their shoddy service meant actually you had no alternative.

If this OP was written by the shop, with everything going tits up and getting people's non fitting dresses to them an hour or so before prom would people be saying "oh well, they did say it was fine...."

"