Our youngest daughter is getting married in two weeks. The bridesmaids live in New Mexico, Florida, Kentucky and Michigan. Our middle daughter is standing as Matron of Honor and lives six hours from the David's Bridal in Santa Fe. It was because of my encouragement that we decided to use David's Bridal but I deeply regret that decision now. All of the bridesmaids have experienced problems with David's Bridal. When our middle daughter drove up to be fitted, we were told that they could not fit her without an appointment, even though they told her in January (when she purchased her dress) to drop in anytime in June (since she was pregnant and due with her first child in May) and they would fit her. We started planning this wedding over a year ago and yet we are running into such problems. Our youngest daughter (the bride) has been told they could not alter her dress without an appointment and they are far too busy to do the alterations. Basically she is going to be left with us having to perform the alterations a few days before the wedding as she lives in Nashville, TN and the wedding is in Chicago. I looked for a place to complain about David's Bridal but found no such site on their website! I am extremely angry about this!! DO NOT USE DAVID'S BRIDAL!! I wish I could tell every bride, bridal party member, and anyone else who would listen!!

To Whom it May Concern:
A couple of months ago my twin sister and I went to pick out the maid-of-honor dress for her to wear to my wedding, which we found easily and loved. She paid for it that day. (She also bought her wedding gown there as well as all 6 of her bridesmaids dresses) Several weeks later I went back with the rest of my bridesmaids to try on the dress with them. I was told by the salesperson that the dress was discontinued. I was upset that the store never bothered to let me know that the rest of my bridesmaids wouldn't be able to get the same dress, I just happened to find out when I walked in. Had I known I would have had all the bridesmaids order and pay the exact same day or asked the salesperson which dresses were older versus newer.

Nonetheless, I tried to let it go and figured that the maid of honor could wear a different dress than the others, in the same color. (cognac) That day all of them ordered the dress except for my cousin Danielle, who had driven several hours to be with us to try it on. She planned on going back to her house and ordering it from a much closer store. She went to the store 2 weeks later and was told that the dress was discontinued. Now I have a maid of honor in one dress, and the rest of the girls in matching dresses, except for one girl. It is noticeable b/c the bridesmaids dresses that were already ordered have a train on the back, while the rest I saw in the store did not. (the bridesmaid dresses I saw in cognac at least) I understand that dresses become discontinued frequently, however the bride to be should be made aware of that, at least given a few days warning to get everything ordered. I am furious because now two of the dresses I picked out are discontinued. I was able to deal with one different dress, but 3 different dresses was not what I had in mind. Davids Bridal should be doing the best they can to help their customers, especially during stressful wedding planning, instead of making everything incredibly difficult. If this situation is not fixed, not only will I be unhappy with what my bridesmaids are wearing on my wedding day, but I will also make a complaint with your supervisor and the district manager.

Surely a dress can be found in the color cognac, style # 81026, anywhere near a size 8, or perhaps another similar dress in the same color can be altered in time to match the other girls. We are willing to pay more in order to make this happen. Please get back to me as soon as you can. I apologize for being so angry, I am just not sure what I can do in this situation as the wedding is pretty close, October 24, 2008. Thank you.

Katy Dyer
(631) 909-2323 home
(631) 764-7611 cell
(631) 727 ext. 210 work
119B Hot Water Street
Manorville, NY 11949

I have had a bad experience trying to get a dress from David's Bridal in Colma, CA. I had no trouble buying my bridesmaid dress from the store, and thought that I was ordering it in the correct size. It was a little tight, but I thought that alterations would be able to take care of that by letting it out. WRONG! They don't tell you up front that they cannot let out their bridesmaid dresses. The alterations person was wonderful, telling me what she could do with the dress I had, and also offered me the option of re-ordering the dress in a different size (if they had it), and that it could be overnighted. I chose the latter option, and I thought it was a done deal. Wrong again! Someone at the store dropped the ball on getting the dress from another store, and had to order it to be made (b/c they're cut to order)...so it was going to take a while for it to come in. Then, I had to call almost every day for three or four days in a row to see when the dress would be in. Finally, I got an answer: first week in June. However, by Thursday of that week, no dress...and they said it wouldn't be in until the 12th! Luckily, it came in on the 9th, but I wasn't able to get an alterations appt until the 14th. The alterations people have been wonderful the whole way through. When I got my bill for alterations, I was stunned at the price. Over $80 for shortening the straps and doing the hem. So I talked to the customer service person that I had dealt with previously and explained to her (very politely, I might add) that because of all the hassle I had to go through to get this dress, I would like some sort of compensation on the alterations. She got very defensive and said that they don't do that. And, she made a point to tell me that it was MY fault in the first place, because I had ordered the wrong size and that they DID compensate me b/c they had not charged me for another dress. Luckily my friend was with me, and she told them that no one had told me when I had gotten the smaller size that a larger size would have been better. The customer service person then replied, "Well, if you were with her at the time, why didn't YOU say anything?" My friend and the rep kept going back and forth, and finally I gently put down my card and said it was fine, I would pay for all of it, and that I would be sending in a letter. The rep seemed to understand (finally) that I meant business. "Hold on, I'll call my district manager." After a few minutes she got off the phone and said, "You won't have to pay for the alterations." I had not intended for it to be free, I had only wanted a percentage off.

To the rep's credit, during this almost month-long debacle, she had done a lot for me to make sure I was getting my needs met. She was the one I talked to the most, and she made several apologies and was often very friendly. I just wasn't happy about how I was treated re: the alteration fee.

While I am happy with the end result (thus far), I think it would have been better if they had inquired as to what kind of compensation I was asking for. Maybe then it would have saved us some time and energy.

I won't be going back to David's Bridal in the future, if I can help it. Good customer service, and a nice dress, should not be worth this much trouble.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND DAVID'S BRIDAL. First of all, don't fall for their very effective advertising tactics of a wedding gown for $99. You want to look great on the best day of your life, not wear something that was too ugly for them to sell. Very clever, but in my opinion, most unethical. I am sure that you too have heard of their $99 wedding gowns. It is right on their home page . They have this "come one promo" all the time. Except that no matter where you click on the home page, t here's NEVER a gown you can actually see. That should tell you something about their business practices right away.

Well, it is only human to hope to find a bargain, so not seeing a picture online, forces you to drive to their store. There, you will find high pressure tactics . They had lots of gowns. What I didn't realize at first, is that quantity does not mean quality. Don't buy one of their gowns until you go to a local bridal shop in your area . You need to be able to compare quality and price. If you go to regular bridal salons, you will find that David's Bridal dresses are VERY over priced for what they are offering. The fabric is also substandard. It just doesn't feel good or fit really well. Still, with all the horror stories I had heard, I wanted to check it out for myself. I am glad that I did because it made me go back and buy my gown in a downtown shop in my city.

At a downtown bridal shop in my city, the store had more than 500 different styles. Granted they were not all in my size, but they sure had a lot and I knew what they could order would come to me brand new! They explained that David's Bridal actually has less styles than many of the privately owned stores. It is just that David's Bridal has, for example, Style A in 3 colors and 16 sizes. In other words, at least 16 x3 (48) of the same gown.

They were, by the way, also more expensive than my local store. I would say around $200 to $300 more for the same gown. Still, you would not have been as happy with the dress I got had I not had a comparison to go by. Good service over bad service; pushy vs. not pushy, etc. You are not a mass produced bride, so why go and buy your dress in a FACTORY.

The salespeople at David's Bridal must be on commission because every dress any bride would put on received these comments: "Oh My God, You Look Beautiful, " "This is the perfect dress for you" "Well, is this the one?" etc. The one good thing I can say is that the salespeople had great training in how to compliment a bride when she looks ugly : ) And the $99 dresses? I expected it to be a way to get me to go from Chico to one of their stores in Sacramento: about 90 miles.

It worked. You probably would also think that their $99 dresses were UGLY and OVERPRICED if you saw them. Their advertising is the only thing that is good about this chain. Save money on gas, avoid poor quality gowns, stay away from high prices and pushy salespeople. You can't return or get a refund, so do not buy from them until you check out other stores first. Also, don't go alone because they are very aggressive and you might be sorry for buying what you thought was a bargain gown. The only one to get a good deal is the salesperson that gets her commission when she sells the wedding gown!!!

I went to pick up my dress today, 7 days before the wedding and it was a disaster. There were dirt marks, the alterations looked like anybody could have done them... and they were horribly rude to me when I asked about the alterations. I was treated like I had no idea what I was speaking about, when I, myself, am a seamstress. The alterations were sloppy, amateurish and rushed. I would recommend this store to purchase your dress, but DO NOT have your dress altered by David's Bridal.