Please tell me your David's Bridal horror stories....?

Question

I am putting together an article to send to The Consumerist regarding David's Bridal. My final straw with this train wreck they call a bridal shop was today when my best friend (the bride), called me crying because the inept "bridal consultant" ordered her wrong wedding dress. The wedding is 1 month from tomorrow. A week and a half ago we also found out that they ordered 2 of the 4 wrong bridesmaid dresses. This has been a terrible experience and I feel like everyone should know how unprofessional they are. When my best friend was crying in the middle of the store, they did nothing to comfort her or reassure her that they would fix their mistakes. She left the store not even knowing if she would have a wedding dress. I spent an hour tonight calling David's Bridals all over the country to try to locate her dress. Seems like that is something that they should have been doing.

Answer 1

I didn't have a bad experience with them, but I didn't make and appt.  I also helped myself to the dresses on the rack.  I was the one spending the money and I know what I want.  I had my sister and my MIL in law with me, so I didn't need some sales lady to help me in and out of my dress.

The only thing that I would have done differently was to ask what the price of alterations was prior to buying the dress.  I was going to just buy high heals so that I didn't have to adjust the length but my husband didn't like that idea and told me to just pay to fix it.  My alterations was 276.00.

Answer 2

When looking for my wedding dress; I knew off the break not to go to Davids; because of the stories I've heard. I got my dress made the way I had envisioned.

Answer 3

I get married Sunday August 31st and went to Davids bridal 7 months ago to look at wedding dresses. I told my "wedding consultant" that I was looking at bridal dresses. Because I wouldn't buy a dress that day, she wouldn't help me. Finally after my third visit I was able to try dresses on. However I waited in the dressing room for 20 minutes before she brought me my first dress. I told her that I wanted an A-line dress and every dress she got me was NOT what I wanted...I finally got my dress at Group USA. The sales lady there was awesome.

The thing is, when I went to go look for my wedding dress they didn't let me look unless I gave them pages of information.

Why does it matter who my groom is or where I get married. Why does that matter to them. I am there to buy a dress, end of story....and when I finally picked out a dress that I liked, I said that I needed it altered. The lady was like, no no you need it altered there. Making the interations cost more then the dress.

Answer 4

I have heard so many horrible stories about David's Bridal, how rude they are, the numerous mistakes they make on gowns, and how they treat plus sized women. I would never recommend any one to go there. Did you ever locate the dress for your friend? I know I have also heard that they will not give you a refund for the gowns that they mess up and they charge you more to fix the mistake that they made. Good luck and I hope it works out ok.

Answer 5

I am sorry you had a bad experience. So far, I have had no problems. Our local David's Bridal is pretty good, though.

I actually completed a consumer's opinion poll with them that they sent me.

I think they do need to improve the bad stores, but I think many brides have good experiences. It just depends on the store.

Good luck!

Answer 6

im not getting married but i never even considered davids bridal. i was suppose to get married (x cheated two months before wedding) and i got my dress at a small boutique the people were so nice to me.they just kept bringing in dress till i found my dream dress(which i thought was ok but the sales lady convinced me just to try it on.she said please do it for me lol i still have the dress and plan to wear it if i get married in the future.i also wanted to say how lucky your friend is to have a friend like you do making all these phone calls to find where her dress is.i will keep her in my prayers that she gets the dress she wants.maybe she can go to another store and see if they have the sample they can sell her or if she can find a dress maker who can do it for her in a rush.

Answer 7

I just went there today for shoes, and other than the salesperson calling me "sweetie" and "honey" the whole time, it was okay.

Hopefully the shoes get dyed the right color! Now I'm scared!!

Answer 8

I had an excellent experience at David's Bridal 15 years ago in Philadelphia on the Boulevard.  My consultant was a great, she actually picked my dress.  My best friend bought her gown at Davids in Feasterville, so did my other friend.  They both had no problems.  

I think that there are some really bad stores and some really good stores.  It seems like the ones in PA are great, not sure where you are but maybe you could call Feasterville or Philly and see if they have her dress.

Answer 9

Thats really interesting to hear because in this section alot of people always ask for opinions on dresses from them..i live in NZ and wondered what this Davids bridal was all about, looked on the website and thought "man i wish we had one here" but it looks as though we are lucky not to!!

Sorry for your friends pre- wedding stress :(

Answer 10

We went to Davids Bridal about a week after I got engaged. It was about 14 months out from the wedding, so we had plenty of time to shop around and just wanted to get some ideas. I was (and am) losing weight for my wedding, so I wasn't really ready to look at wedding gowns yet. I wanted to find my bridesmaids dress first. You would have thought I was committing an act of heresy the way they reacted to me wanting to find the bridesmaid's dress first, but I was persistent enough that they begrudgingly let me do it.

After a visit or two, I had chosen a bridesmaid's dress and was ready to start preliminary looking for my dress. I went in and my consultant pulled dresses for me to try on. I *hated* everything she picked for me. The only dress I liked was the one I had pointed out and asked to try on. I really loved that dress and was 95% sure it was "the one", but wanted to see more options since I hadn't liked *any* other dress at all.

So, we made an appointment one morning for soon after store opening so it wouldn't be as crowded. When we got there, my consultant hadn't arrived yet, so another lady pulled me to the table to get my information together and was going to help us until she arrived. When she looked at my sheet, she said " . . . You've already been here trying on dresses, I don't understand why you're here again. Didn't you like *anything* you tried on?" When I told her that I had only liked the one and wanted to put that one on again and try on others, she rolled her eyes and said "Well we don't usually let brides try on so many dresses.", but unwillingly "consented" to let me try on more dresses. She asked me if I knew what size dress I had tried on, and I told her I was a size 16. She looked me over head to toe, frowning, and said "You mean a 16*W*, I'm sure." I gave her a look and said "No, I am a *regular* 16." She gave me another look over, said "Believe me, honey, you *need* those extra four inches." as she added a W to the 16 on my sheet.

I walked out of the store and we never went back - they lost the business of my wedding (which would have been a good sum of money between my gown and accesories, plus a moh, 3 maids, and a flower girl), but they also lost the business of my family (and I'm the oldest of four girls). But, I found *much* prettier dresses in the end. Her comments really hurt my already delicate self esteem, but I have to smile now that I'm down 4 sizes and have my size 14 wedding dress hanging in the closet. :)

Answer 11

print out this page and overnight express mail it to the president of this company. also the specific store where you were given such an outrageous lack of help.  

your story is unbelievable.  no bride who bought a dress in good faith should be tortured like this.  

it is said that a person who gets good service tells three people, a person who gets bad service tells three thousand people.

Answer 12

I had a great experience with them so I don't have a horror story for you! I went to the store in Orlando, FL. I have heard some bad things about David's bridal though. The only thing that bothered me were the people in the front of the store. They acted like you knew what to do when walking in the door. I asked the lady where to go to for my alterations and she looked at a screen and walked away. When really I was supposed to be following her. I'm sorry I don't have anything else for you!

Answer 13

Wow. That really sucks for your friend!!!!! They are a very unprofessional company. My bridesmaids and I went their to get bridesmaid dresses on a Thursday at like 2:00 in the afternoon There were two other groups in the store (one was trying on wedding dresses and the other was looking at bridesmaid dresses). Our "consultant" was of no help for us. The only thing that she did was show us to our fitting room. We had to find all the dresses ourselves and if they didn't fit I was the one doing her job and getting the girls the right sizes. We did end up purchasing dresses from them, they haven't come in yet, but I really hope everything turns out ok ( the horror stories from this forum have me kind of worried).

Answer 14

It's not so much a horror story, but bad experience nonetheless. I was told David's Bridal was a good place to start looking. So, it was the first store I went to look for my wedding gown... I'll just give a narrative:

I made an appointment to go in and try on gowns. When I got there, we (my best friend and sister) were asked to wait. After about 15 past my appointment time, I was told to go over to the shoe area and pick one out. (mind you I had no idea where the shoes were, nor did she tell me why I was picking shoes). So, I went over and didn't see any shoes I liked. Finally after waiting for 20mins by the shoes, the girl who spoke with me first came by and says "Oh, she hasn't come to get you yet?!" then walks off to go 'find' the woman who was to help me. Five minutes later a woman walked over with a catalog and told me to go ahead and look through it to pick gowns I liked. After looking for a couple mins, the woman was AWOL and I only picked three. Finally she came back and took the catalog to go get the dresses. She came back with one dress and then brought over the corset and skirt to try on. While I was changing into the undergarments, she disappeared again. When she finally came back, she put me in the dress and just stood there staring into the abyss. When I decided I was done with that one, she had to leave again to get another one....    later she returned with two dresses and helped me switch. So... long story short... she just kept leaving, then when she came back while I had the last one on, I asked her if she could suggest another dress and she pretty much said "No, what you've picked is pretty much all we have that is that style". So I asked if I could try a different style and she just handed me the catalog and disappeared. I always thought wedding gown shopping would be so fun, but this really made me not want to go looking again. It took me over a month to go look again and when I did I went to Alfred Angelo and it was amazing! What my first visit shopping should have been, but oh well. I was meant to get my gown at Alfred Angelo! Sorry to hear about the bad experience and hopefully she can get this all worked out. I would do exactly what you're doing---  raise H3LL!!!!

Answer 15

Wow that is so terrible I am so sorry that happend to your friend. If I were your friend I would demand a discount a huge discount and write the company a letter demanding a discoutn or even get the dress for free log in all the hours and the cost of your phone bill to call all over bring those items in to the store and demand to see a manager.....you are so right they should be doing the calling not YOU!!! You have a right as a consumer...by the way did you sign a contract stating any information about returns or if the dress comes in wrong something like that??? if you didnt then you have a really great case your friend can even sue them for emotional trauma!!! So keep really great records who you talked to and times and bring it all into the manager....good luck

Answer 16

I ordered my shoes from them. I had no problems.

I think their dresses are kind of cheap looking so I didn't shop there.

Answer 17

I don't recommend David's Bridal at all.  My sister went there for her bridesmaid dress.  I told her I didn't care what dress she got as long as it was navy.  When she got there, they didn't have any navy dresses but told her their marine dresses were the same color as navy.  I looked it up on-line and their marine dresses are too greenish to really be navy.  I was upset about that, but didn't say anything since my sister had just spent over $200 there for a dress and shoes and was told it was non-refundable.  I figured I could live with it.

Then, today, she called to tell me that her dress had arrived, but didn't fit her.  (Since they didn't have her size, they had her try on a similar style dress and assured her it would be exactly the same thing.)  Now they are charging her a whooping $115 to altar the dress and make it fit her!

Also, my friend had been upset at David's Bridal before because she made an appointment to try on dresses and when she got there, they wouldn't even acknowledge her appointment.  My mom and I stopped by without an appointment, and they told us it would be several hours of waiting before anybody got around to us.

Plus, I know at least one of the wedding books I bought which ranked wedding supply stores gave David's Bridal really low remarks, and I have seen other message boards where people spoke about having bad experiences with them.

Some discount stores still offer good quality service.  David's Bridal is definitely not one of them.

Answer 18

I didn't even stay in David's Bridal long enough to order anything! I drove an hr out of town to go to the over glorified *David's Bridal* only to leave minutes later! The second I walked into the door they stuck my maid of honor in a catalogue and grabbed me for all my info. When released to browse they paged a "consultant" to follow us around the store bugging us with every detail and showing us dresses we had no desire to see. We barely had a minute to say a word to each other! It was worse than being in a jewelry store!

After reading this I'm very glad I didn't stay and I will never try to tough it out and go back! Good luck with your cause that is absolutely horrible! And thanks so much for saving me and my wedding! And hopefully the weddings of everyone I talk to!