Wedding dress shoppers - beware the Wedding Chapel in Crystal, MN!!!

Just a quick note to any girls out there thinking of buying a wedding dress from the Wedding Chapel in Crystal, MN.


DON'T.


They have terrible business practices and it is only by luck that I am not dress-less for my wedding.

I bought my dress at the end of July. I told them when I was looking at dresses, "I'm getting married at the end of October. I can only look at dresses that are available to be rush ordered so they will get here in time." (At the time we were thinking we were getting married in October -- yes that has since changed but it was the case at the time of ordering the dress.) I narrowed my selection down to my top choices on July 25th and my consultant had the manager, Diana, call the manufacturer the next day to see if any of the dresses could be rush cut.

Again, I repeat, I told them that I was getting married at the end of October. It says so ON MY ORDER FORM. I was informed that my number one choice was available as a rush, so I went back in on the 27th of July to buy the dress. I was told, in front of my Mom and Sister that my dress would be arrive at the end of September so I would be able to get the alterations done in time for my wedding at the END OF OCTOBER. I paid an extra $60 to have the rush order processed.

Time passes.

I called the Wedding Chapel on THREE separate occasions during the last couple months checking on the status of my order. Why? Because it was a rush order and it was supposed to be arriving at the end of September. The first two time they called me back assuring me that my dress was still scheduled to arrive "on time". I called on Thursday last week (the third time) because it is now WAY PAST the end of September. The woman who answered the phone said she'd have someone check on the order and get back to me. They called yesterday with this voicemail message:

"[super chipper] Hi, this is so-and-so from the Wedding Chapel! I'm just calling back with the status of your order. Everything looks good! It looks like it's still going to arrive on time, by October 31st. That should be in time . . . [I can tell she is now actually looking at my order form] . . .for your . . . end . . . of . . . October wedding. Oh. [pause] Oh dear. [pause] Um. Yeah. You might want to call us back."

OCTOBER 31st!!!!! EXCUSE ME?!?!?!?!?

So I called them back last night and the woman said that she didn't know what to tell me. I told her, "Well, I would like my $60 back since it has turned out not to be a rush order." She said that she'd have the manager Diana give me a call today to talk about it.

Well Diana did call me back. All I wanted was my $60 back for the rush order. I felt it was only fair since my dress didn't arrive when they said it would. I was promised a dress at the end of September in exchange for that extra fee. I did not get a dress at the end of September for that fee. Diana didn't see it the same way. After trying to be pleasant and respectful for the first part of the phone call, it started to go downhill. It went something like this:

D: "Well, according to our order form this dress has ALWAYS been scheduled to come in on October 31st. This dress usually takes six months to get here, so the 31st IS a rush."

K: "What does my order form say for a wedding date?"

D: "The end of October."

K: "WHY would I order a wedding dress for a wedding at the END OF OCTOBER if the dress wasn't going to arrive until the 31st???"

D: "I don't know. But our order says that we've told you each time you've called that it would arrive on the 31st."

K: "What? I can assure you the FIRST time I heard '31st' was two days ago. They have always told me that the dress was going to arrive 'on time'. TRUST ME when I say I would have called you sooner if I has heard October 31st at ANY other time."

D: "Well that's what it says here. And it says that the 31st was the expected arrival date from the time we placed the order."

K: "Again, I PURPOSEFULLY chose THAT dress because I was told that it would be here in time. I would NOT have purchased that dress if I didn't think it would be here in time. I would have picked another dress."

D: "Well, like I said this dress usually takes six months to arrive so this IS a rush so I don't think you are entitled to any refund."

K: "Well, there isn't much I can do about this because I have no way to prove that I was lied to. Any reasonable person would realize I would NOT have bought a dress that was supposed to arrive AFTER THE WEDDING.

D: "Uh huh." [At this point she's just waiting to get off the phone. I can see her rolling her eyes at her co-workers.]

K: "So I guess my only resort is to let people know what kind of business you run and how you treat customers. I ASSURE you I will tell my friends that are getting married that your business is not to be trusted and that customer service is your lowest priority."

D: "Uh huh."

K: "You are LUCKY that my wedding date got pushed back. I will be in to pick up my dress when it arrives, and I will NOT be using your services for my alterations. I will see you when it arrives."

D: "Bye." [click]

I was FURIOUS.

So . . . a-hem [clearing throat] . . .

WOMEN OF THE TWIN CITIES METRO AREA --

IF YOU VALUE YOUR TIME, ENERGY AND MONEY, DO NOT SHOP AT THE WEDDING CHAPEL IN CRYSTAL, MN.

NOT ONLY DO THEY NOT CARE ABOUT YOU AS A CUSTOMER AND LIE TO YOU ABOUT ARRIVAL DATES, WHILE GLEEFULLY TAKING YOUR MONEY, BUT BASIC LOGIC AND RATIONAL THOUGHT ARE BEYOND THEIR CAPABILITIES.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be standing outside their store striking up conversations with people heading inside about what kind of service they can expect.


[I'm not really, but wouldn't that be FANTASTIC to do???]