My wife and I have been married a year now, and she recently told me about a horrible experience that happened to her at a David's Bridal in Arlington, Texas. She didn't tell me about this until recently, becuase she didn't want to upset me, and sure enough, I was extremely upset and disturbed by what I heard. In the summer of 2005, my wife and her friend went to the David's Bridal in Arlington, Texas
3801 S. Cooper St.
Arlington Park Plaza
Arlington, TX 76015
Phone: (817) 472-9699
Alteration: (817) 472-9253
My wife found what she thought was a great deal on a wedding dress. The dress was $300, and my wife left a $150 deposit on the dress. There was a 60 day limit to pay the other $150 to David's Bridal. However, my wife had to deal with some unexpected financial difficulty. She tried to get David's Bridal to give her an extension due to this unexpected difficulty, but David's Bridal STOLE her $150 dollars. Can you believe a bridal company stealing $150 from a bride-to-be, knowing how much it costs to fund a wedding.
My wife eventually found a dress at a local boutique after this experience, and didn't tell me about it until recently. I was infuriated so I contacted David's Bridal and got this response.
Hello Eli,
From what you describe it sounds like your wife put a dress on Layaway in our store. We do offer Layaway as an option to customers who choose to spread their payments over a 60 day time period rather than paying for the merchandise outright. This is considered a final sale as the dress has been removed from the selling floor ,is held in our back room until payoff and pickup. This dress cannot be sold to anyone else.
The policy about completing the layaway within 60 days is stated very clearly on the purchase receipt; the customer is also required to sign it after reading it to insure she both acknowledges and understands the terms of the Layaway. It also informs the customer that should she change her mind at any time during the 60 days and decides to cancel the Layaway,a 25% forfeiture fee will be deducted from the merchandise total.It sounds like you are referring to the cancellation action. On a $300 dollar purchase, we would have asked for a minimum of 25% deposit [$75 ]. If she left $150 , there was either a larger merchandise total or she chose to leave more as a deposit. With whom did she speak at the store about an extension ?
In order for me to research this any further to insure that everything has been processed correctly, I will need a copy of her purchase receipt . Since a year and a half has passed, I am sure this transaction has been purged.
Please let me know how you wish me to proceed.
I was even more disturbed after this response, becuase it shows that David's Bridal was at the VERY LEAST supposed to refund $75 to my wife. By their own policy, the store stole $75. Then, they had the audacity to call my wife back and ask if she wanted to buy another dress at FULL PRICE. Since it has been a long time since this happened and my wife no longer has the receipt, and it is no longer in computer records, I doubt she will ever recieve the financial compensation she deserves.
However, I still want to warn Brides-to-be to watch out at David's Bridal becuase they are more interested in dishonesty and theft than the best interests of their customers. I will never use their services again, and I will warn everyone I know about them. They stole money from my wife, and they have to deal with the consequences, becuase I won't sit by quietly.
Eli
Houston, Texas
U.S.A.