To think this major high street retailer is wrong and the store manager was out of order

[Notalone]

I have been looking for a dress for ages and finally found one on Friday that makes me feel amazing. It is pretty much a bog standard dress really but with clever folds and a belt that sets it off perfectly. Except when I wore it at the weekend I realised the belt is stupidly small and squashed me that much I had to take it off. It didn't look the same without the belt though.

I went down to the shop to ask them to exchange the belt for a bigger one and the cashier said that a lot of people had said the same thing but she would have to check with her manager. The manager comes out and refuses saying that if she gives me a different belt then it would make another dress faulty so no she won't exchange the belt. She can't order another belt from the manufacturer either but would give 20% off the dress. I explained that no, I just wanted a belt that actually fit me because the dress is just not the same without it and I want to keep the dress. She looked me up and down and sneeringly said that SHE had tried the belt on, was the same size as the dress and it wasn't big on her at all. I retorted that my friend who is a size 8-10 struggled to fasten the belt too so therefore it wasn't me buying a too small dress. She then said it was only me with the problem and no-one else had complained. I said that is not what her cashier had said so she glared at the cashier and said she should have fed that back to her.

The end result I that she refused to swap the belt and I now have a dress that just isn't the same. I am sorely tempted to go to another tore, try a bigger dress on and just switch the bloody thing over myelf even though I know this isn't right really.

I know there are bigger issues than this but I feel really peeved because the dress cost more than I would usually spend and I really love it with that frigging belt

[cumfy]

Ah but Arnie, she sort of has given them £7 and a small belt for their large belt.

[Arnie123]

Shit happens it is only £7

[Arnie123]

Sorry did not read all the thread...am quite interested to see what it says now

[StuntGirl]

A male is very unlikely to fit into clothes cut for a female shape, I'm sure a cross dressing male deals with this frequently and has solutions. Like buying bigger belts.

[Feminine]

cumfy huh?

What on earth made you think that?

I am totally perplexed.

We were talking about a dress the item of clothing normally chosen by a female. Sorry if you are a bloke and love them too!

[Arnie123]

Jeez dickheads accusing someone of theft

[Feminine]

How would you describe the situation then Arnie?

[FunLovinBunster]

OP you asked for people's opinions.
Your attitude and behaviour are unreasonable.
Taking the belt off another dress is theft.
If you haven't got the guts to put up with the feedback from this post then perhaps you should return the belt to the store.
Stop whining and stop shoplifting.

[TwoMuchTwoYoung]

Op has explained, as has another buyer of the same dress, that the belt is faulty. It is the wrong size for the dress. River island have admitted they have had a lot of complaints.

Therefore the op exchanged a faulty belt for the correct belt.
Please read the whole thread before posting.

[FunLovinBunster]

I have read the post.
OP has taken a belt that did not come with the original dress she purchased.
She intends to keep it.
That is theft.

[TwoMuchTwoYoung]

Please read the whole thread before posting.

[FunLovinBunster]

If the belt is faulty then return the whole dress.
Don't steal another belt. Two wrongs don't make a right.

[cumfy]

Two belts make a fight, though.

[candycoatedwaterdrops]

If it wasn't theft, then why did the OP do it sneakily in the changing rooms and not in the shop store?

[Catsize]

twomuch, not sure who you are addressing re:reading the whole thread, but I have. It seems a feature of this dress that some people have had problems with the belt. Perhaps it is smaller than usual. Perhaps as others have said, it is just designed for a different shape. The fact that the OP has only had to go up one size is indicative that the belt is fine but not suited to everyone. River Island seem to have had some complaints to one particular staff member, how many is unclear. I have quite wide feet. Doesn't make narrow shoes faulty. Likewise, this belt is not faulty, just too small for some. OP wore it initially and had to take it off later due to discomfort. Seems it is not that way off at all.

[jessieagain]

It is theft because the op originally asked the sale assistant if she could swap them but the sale assistant said no.

She then went and swapped them herself without the sale assistant knowing.

This makes it theft.

[primallass]

not sure who you are addressing re:reading the whole thread, but I have.

The OP has said that the belts on different sizes of the dress were random, so a size 16 belt was smaller than a size 12 one. To be fair if she had done it before she bought it, having tried different sizes on at the same time, no-one would have batted an eyelid.

[LeoandBoosmum]

Haven't read the whole thread but worked in RI when I was a student circa 96 and the CS was shit then...I see nothing has changed!
Had an idea though! On their site do they have a size guide? If they do (waist measurement given) then measure the belt on the loosest hole and see if it is smaller than the statistic given on their site. If it is then it's false advertising and they have to do something!
Call HO...be really polite but unhappy and firm (telling them that the cashier said others had the same issue..so it's not just you!)...see if they will be able to provide you with a larger belt.

[LeoandBoosmum]

Ps...I'm wondering if another customer took the belt off yours?

[nooka]

It's too late for any reasonable solution now as the OP has already stolen another belt. If she had been caught doing so she could have been prosecuted for shoplifting.

Normal people just don't buy clothes that don't fit them. It's not really very difficult.

[LeoandBoosmum]

Just read the whole thread... Honestly, if the belt measured less than the waist statistic on RI's own site (no idea if it did) then the belt was not fit for purpose. I've tried dresses on without trying the belt that accompanied it because you assume the belt will be the right size for the dress.
I think RI are skimping. I worked for them years ago and I know what they're like... I'm not saying taking another belt was the right thing to do -and I'm not sure I would have taken that route - but, honestly, some posters here are acting as if they purposely ran over a child or something.
Okay, the OP's solution may have been legally and morally questionable but so was RI's! I don't buy all this 20% off rubbish! The OP had the right to a belt that was the same circumference as the stats on the site...and it sounds like she didn't, going on what others who also have the belt have said...unless all the others are 'thick-waisted' (give me a break!) Time to get a bit of perspective here and to stop being so damned judgemental... So many people in ivory towers on this thread!

[nooka]

If the dress was faulty then the OP should have taken it back for a refund. If too small then she should have exchanged with the next size up. She wasn't obliged to keep the dress, or for the store to keep her money.

If the belt is a part of the dress but too small to do up then that should be very obvious in the changing room, and so the dress will be rejected by most shoppers. No one buying the dress will quickly alert the store to the fact here is a problem. If in fact it fits most people then the store will go on neither knowing or caring that their dress doesn't fit everyone (what does?)

[LeoandBoosmum]

Nooka, I would be pretty pissed off if I bought a dress that fitted and the belt didn't...whether I tried it on without the belt in store. Surely it should be safe to assume that the belt would at least match the waist measurement of the dress? In this case it sounds like the belt was shorter than the waist measurement of the dress...which is bizarre! Others had the same problem but stores like RI will do all they can to avoid rectifying mistakes so as not to lose profits. I think it said enough that the store manager glared at the SA who was honest with the OP about others complaining about the same thing. I worked in RI years ago and even then witnessed managers doing all they could to avoid refunds even when the customer had a valid point. Though the dress was pretty and the OP is not well off I would suggest she save and shop in John Lewis (one of the concessions like Oasis or Warehouse in there) as IME their CA is second to none. I avoid stores like RI like the plague... The clothes in there are now rubbish quality so the OP will probably only get a few wears of it.
I am not saying the OP should have swapped the belt herself but I think people have been very harsh on this thread and RI should make sure their belts fit their dresses!

[LeoandBoosmum]

sorry, CS, not CA

[nooka]

Oh I agree that it sounds like a badly made dress/belt combo. I'd be annoyed to find something almost but not quite right, but it's not exactly an unusual experience is it? I just don't buy it. If I don't have the time to try something in the store but think it's probably OK then when I get home I try it on. If it doesn't fit/I decide I don't really like it after all then I'd wrap it back up and return it.

No problem. In this case the OP made an unusual request, asking to exchange part of the outfit (I assume because she thought that the belt supplied had been accidentally swopped with another dress). Not surprisingly the manager said no, and when her pretty generous goodwill offer was turned down was annoyed (at this point I totally agree she was very rude). The OP could still have returned the dress and got her money back though, as the other person who contacted the head office confirmed.