House of Brides Couture - Chicago Don't let them ruin your wedding too! Chicago Illinois

LOOK AT ALL OF THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS!!

DO NOT SHOP HERE!!

My wedding is August 6, 2016.  I ordered my dress on November 8, 2015 so that I would have enough time to receive the dress and have it altered.    

The dress I chose was also listed on HOB’s OWN WEBSITE for a much less money. The manager begrudgingly “price matched” their own website (Which says that this dress will arrive in 14-16 weeks)

I was told the dress would arrive in April or May. No updates at all until I call the store at the end of May (25+ weeks).

This is my first experience with Nadia, the store’s “manager” who made a number of excuses and tells me that the dress will come in 3rd week of June! Obviously, this is a problem because I still need to have the dress altered. Finally, Nadia offers to email the manufacturer for an update. I asked to be copied on the email and Nadia refuses!

Nadia calls me with an update that the dress will come in mid-June, and that she’ll get a tracking number the first week of June and will let me know. I call again in the first week of June for the tracking number update--no number. They say it has been delayed a week. I call the beginning of the 2nd week of June, no tracking number, but “the dress will be in no later than Friday.” I get a call Thursday that the dress won’t come in that week after all, that it’ll be next week--now the 3rd week of June!

All I heard repeatedly was “your wedding isn’t until August, you’ll be fine.”

My dress finally arrives June 20th (they told the manufacturer on the order form that my wedding was June 26!). My fiancé comes with me to help me talk to the manager about my bad experience and late delivery, and request a discount for the extra rush fees I’ll have to pay to get my dress altered in 5 weeks now. Nadia refuses. Nadia wouldn’t even acknowledge that it was late or that it was promised to me by May.  

When asked about compensation for the rush alteration fees, she said she couldn’t possibly give any other discounts because she already discounted the dress (remember from earlier: she price matched her own website!). Nadia claims that the only thing she can do is not charge us the $27 for the garment bag (which again, online is only $15). Any time my fiancé asked her a question where the answer would make her look bad she would just say “no” and not answer the question. It was like arguing with a 4 year old.  

Nadia could tell that we were visibly upset, and so when we go to pay the remaining $325 balance of the dress she tells us she accepts only Cash or Debit. This is incredibly ironic because I had just read another dissatisfied customer’s Yelp post explaining this scam while I was waiting in their store (See “Jezail L.’s Yelp post from 4/13/16). Obviously Nadia has had a lot of trouble with dissatisfied customers cancelling their charges. Hilariously enough, Nadia still has the two clear signs on the counter (as referenced in the other post) that says they accept all major credit cards. At this point, my fiancé told Nadia we would pay her by credit card or walk out with the dress.  All of a sudden she took credit cards again.  

I had to search all over Chicago to find an alteration shop that could handle my dress in such a short time frame, and as a result have had to pay extra because of House of Brides. It is obvious that House of Brides is not worried about repeat customers (and it’s the perfect business for that).  

If you didn’t get it already, I’d recommend you go ANYWHERE else for your dress.