Prom Dress Disaster

[Promdisaster]

Sorry, this might be long as to not drip feed. Apologies but could really do with some advice.

Ordered a prom dress for my daughter. Paid around one third deposit. Dress arrived in the shop the week before prom date. Went to try on and collect, but dress was too big. Seamstress made some alterations and said it would be done in time, they were working through alterations in order of prom date and to keep an eye out for an email.

Around lunchtime the day before prom, I got a text from the prom shop saying they were delivering the dresses and asking what was the latest time they could deliver that night or from what time the next morning, so I said up to 10.30pm and from 6.30am next morning.

Got a text early the next morning saying the seamstress had collapsed overnight and gone into hospital and they were trying to find another seamstress but not to worry, the dress would be there ASAP.

I told them I needed the dress by 4pm latest as daughter was having friends round to get ready/photos, then being picked up by another mum to go to a pre prom party/photos before leaving at 6pm to go to the prom.

Eventually, after a couple of messages and a phone call, the prom lady turns up with dress at 5pm. She asked my daughter to try the dress on to make sure it fitted. I was more worried that the dress would be too small now that it had been altered, so when she got it on and it wasn't too small I said it was fine and I could tighten it in with the corset . We were so relieved she had a dress. At that moment the other mum turned up to take them to the preprom party so the prom lady left.

The mum at the preprom party messaged and said the dress was too big and she had tried to pin it in but the dress was still gaping round the chest area and too big round the waist. My daughter spent the whole night miserable in a dress that was too big and is sad when she sees all the photos of the girls looking beautiful in their lovely prom dresses. My daughter is not a promzilla is is the sweetest laid back girl.

I have now had a phone message and an email asking for the balance. I really feel that I dont want to pay for a dress that doesn't fit and ruined my daughter's evening. I want to give the dress back so they can resell it.

IABU - yes the dress was worn
IANBU - it wasn't my fault, the dress didn't fit.

She accepted it as the lateness meant it was that or not go to the prom. That doesn't mean she was happy with the fit or would have accepted it under any other circumstance.

Oh your poor daughter.this is a really big thing at her age and sensitivity.that age,the prom,a dress,looks,body image,boys ugh what a minefield.and just a day you need to be ok for them isn't it. Jeez especially with your daughter weigh fluctuations that must have hit her harder in the body image sense. she's still bloody gorgeous though,remind her of that eh op.
I agree you got a faulty product.which wasn't initially obvious due to rush job,collapse seamstress,different delivery time...vasically sooo many things wrong here with service every step if the way! The problem only but quickly became clear when said product was "used".

How is she now? This could really hit her.could you give her some pampering this evening or help her feel cosied up if she still upset?keep reassuring her this is totally not on her.they fks up
I no a previous poster mentioned getting a few nice photos redone.would she be into this or think that" like totally lame mum"😉

If it was bad enough that she'd spend the whole night "miserable"; as it appears she did, then she must have noticed on trying it on?
Why let the prom lady leave, she might have been able to do some on the spot alterations.

Why let the prom lady leave, she might have been able to do some on the spot alterations.

Sooooo easier said than done!

There's other teenagers around town waiting for their dresses. The clock is ticking.

So now you have to rugby tackle the Prom lady and stop her going. 😆

Perfect!

If it was bad enough that she'd spend the whole night "miserable"; as it appears she did, then she must have noticed on trying it on?

No. Not really.

OP explained why.

Did you see the dress?

Owning a shop is not the same as having the skill to make alterations on the spot.

So now you have to rugby tackle the Prom lady and stop her going. 😆
Eh? She asked was it ok, op said Yes, it's fine, then she left.
Unless you know differently, of course.

I'd like to know the answer to this before I give my opinion on whether the OP has to pay/has paid enough/needs to get the dress altered to fit at no additional cost....

What would you have done had the dress not been delivered?

l

My daughter tried it on in the downstairs loo with the prom lady waiting outside. She had already said she had another dress to deliver to another town half an hour away, I knew she was in a hurry. The corset takes ages to do so I made a start and thought I could pull it in tighter. They were already an hour late and the other mum had just turned up to take them to the preprom party.

@Johnnysgirl 👆just read the thread. 🤷‍♀️ The shop owner ( not even the seamstress) couldn't hang around

And I would guess it was tried on over underwear and possibly tshirt which were subsequently not part of the outfit. Was it even altered according to the fitting?

It's a bit odd that OP didn't notice it didn't fit but the other mum did.

If it was that hasty the dd may well not have got ready until at other girl's house, taking her outfit, makeup etc with her to put on there.

Unfortunately it's a difficult situation as your daughter tried on the dress and you then accepted it.

However, you could politely argue that you obviously had no alternative and your daughter was literally about to leave for the prom.

As long as you are extremely polite about not paying the balance, and include phots which show your DD next to better fitting dresses, I think they will accept.

If you're rude and blunt though they'll instantly get on the defensive, particularly as it sounds like a staff member is seriously unwell (if they're being truthful).

It's a bit odd that OP didn't notice it didn't fit but the other mum did.

What in all the keffuffle and then straight out there the door with the other mum, who was there waiting?

The other mum spent longer with DD at the pre prom party.

I would definitely advise that I (as OP) had thought that the corset part could be winched in sufficiently to close any gaps but was unable to check that first because the seamstress did not leave me enough time to be sure of the fit before she left. It seems reasonable to suppose that a dress with a corset fitting at the back will, if correctly sized in the first place, allow that adjustment to be made.

Since it did not and the dress gaped unbecomingly and caused OP's DD distress, I would not be clearing the balance of the invoice. All the excuses they give are irrelevant, they were tasked with making a dress fit a particular person and they failed spectacularly and caused a great deal of stress to their customers. If they were overwhelmed with volume of work they should have contracted some out in order to fulfil their obligations. You don't get to just say "Tough shit, we supplied you with a dress, now pay up!"

We may feel sympathy for the dress shop for the difficulties they encountered, but that's not the fault of their customer. They had options open to them, even say advising OP that they felt that they couldn't complete the job in time and to find another dress while there was still time. Not ideal, but better than leaving OP and her poor DD in the lurch.

I think my issue is a business offering prom dresses (usually at huge costs) not completing alterations until such a late stage. Most reputable ones would not be delivering on the day and would have the altered product to the customer at the very least a week before to avoid these issues. You were put in a very difficult situation- even getting it to you the day before, let alone earlier in the day, is very poor customer service. I would complain and also leave an honest review. The fitting, alterations etc are all built into the cost-effective otherwise why not get one from the high street?

i mean… she could have done that anyway, as a back up, returned it if it wasn’t needed..

@Mamapep
I already said, there are no local clothes shops selling anything suitable to wear to a prom.

The text on Monday lunchtime made it sound as if it was being delivered that afternoon/evening. They repeatedly said not to worry, that we would get the dress in time 😒

@AnnesBrokenSlate
I did notice it was big, I just thought it needed pulling in tighter. I literally had 5 mins with her before she had to leave. I thought her friends/other mum would help her with her dress as I didn't get the time to do it since the prom lady showed up at 5pm instead of before 4pm.

The dress was supposed to have a gap at the back of 3-4" where the corset was, instead there was no gap at all and the dress was still baggy. They obviously hadn't altered it correctly.

Never been a teenage girl then, have you?

@LookItsMeAgain @toomuchlaundry
I was on the phone to my friend who has a DD a year older who had prom last year, who was suggesting friends of her DD who might have a dress in a similar size to my DD. That was the route we were going down when I saw the prom lady pulling up outside.

Whilst acknowledging that this is poor service, and that one outcome would be for the dress to be taken back and some partial refund, this whole thread re-affirms my view that school proms should not happen.

What do you mean when you say they should not happen? In many schools the students organise their own. Not everyone gets expensive fitted dresses either.

Thank God you haven’t paid the balance!

I would take pics/video of dd in dress showing how big it is. Hopefully you won’t need them and the email will suffice.

I think you should also have said you needed the dress a few days before you actually did.

This. So I think yabu.