Alfred Angelo ........... Originals - What a fraud! San Antonio, Texas

In September 2012 my new engaged daughter and I went bridal dress shopping.  We went to a number of stores and ended up at Alfred Angelo.  She tried on several dresses before we found one that she really liked. We were hesitant on purchasing right then because her wedding was not until July 2013.  We had lots of time to shop.  

We were told by the sales person that all Alfred Angelo dresses were one of a kind originals and we would not find the dress anywhere else.  We were also told that it was on sale for $599 now but would mostly not be on sale when we were ready to buy later.  The dress would need to be made specifically for her after purchase so it would take anywhere from 6 to 10 weeks for the dress to arrive depending on how may orders were ahead of ours.  So we purchased the dress confident that we had made the right decision.  

A week later we received a call that her dress had arrived and we could pick it up.  I guess they did not have any pending orders in front of ours.

Now the wedding is 3 months away. I as the Mother of the Bride needed to purchase my dress.  I looked at Alfred Angelo (because of the supposed discount given because we purchased the wedding dress there) but I did not see anything I really liked. So I proceeded to look elsewhere.  While browsing on David's Bridal website I saw the exact same wedding dress we purchased for $199.  Not only was I lied too by Alfred Angelo about the dress being one of a kind but I was ripped off by $400!

I attempted to contact Alfred Angelo to complain about this but was told the following by one of their representatives in an e-mail:

Dear Rebecca D****, 

You have contacted the manufacturing offices of Alfred Angelo.  The gown that you are referring to bridal style 2329 is manufactured by Alfred Angelo. 

The gown that you have linked below is a copy of our gown by David's Bridal.  They manufacture their owns gowns. 

We have contacted the Store Manager of the Northstar signature store to contact you directly to assist you with the stores policies.  

Thank you for taking time to contact us. 
Best Regards,
Katie Johnson
Wholesale Customer Relationship Manager

Needless to say no one contacted me, so I contact the store myself.  Apparently they do not accept returns or exchanges of any kind.  She then informed me that when we purchased the dress we would have signed a form explaining their no return policy.  When I asked why they did not accept returns she said that all dresses were made especially for the bride.  I expressed doubt on that point because it would have taken longer than a week to make a dress and ship it.  All I got in reply was they did not allow returns and I should refer to the policy that was signed at purchase.

In my opinion, I believe they make you sign this "No Return Policy" at purchase so you don't see your dress elsewhere at a lesser cost and demand your money back after you have realized you have been deceived.  

All I can say is shop around people!  Don't let their scare tactics work!  They do not have one of a kind dresses.  I have seen the proof with my own eyes.  So can you!  See the links below and see the truth in my words.

http://www.davidsbridal.com/Product_Organza-Split-Front-Gown-with-Floral-Print-Inset-T3268?&orderId=6814038&orderItemId=21924316

http://www.alfredangelo.com/collections/productdisplay.aspx?productID=4b06b220-44df-4df6-80ae-ea452f1d779b&categoryID=32e5a88c-cbf1-498f-afcf-dbfca138c5d3&pg=0&colorId1=

I don't care what you call them.  These are the exact same dresses!