Buyer Beware

Only the second weekend of the year and already a horror story.

Written by Courtney Strysko Owner Move Over Princess

Last week a girl came in to our store looking for a dress for her last homecoming of high school. A very special occasion for her especially since her school doesn’t have a prom. I discover her dance is in just two weeks and encourage her to choose something in the store that fits since it’s coming up fast.

  She and her mom spend some time looking through the racks but she can’t find “the one”. She pulls out her phone, like so many others, and shows me a picture of a beautiful dress she found online. It’s her dream dress, the one she has to have. I don’t recognize the style so I ask her who the manufacturer is thinking maybe I just don’t remember it, I tell her if she knows the manufacturer I could check with them to see if it’s in stock and see if we can get it time, “Umm, Isis or Ibis or something like that” little alarms go off in my head I tell her I’ve never heard of them, and ask where she found the picture. On WANELO she tells me. (Ok, WANELO is a legit site for shopping, if you’ve never checked it out, you should, it’s a shopper’s paradise, you can find products of every shape, size and price on there.) But then she says it’s in Hong Kong or China, ding,ding,ding alarm bells again. Now not everything that comes out of there is bad, in fact many reputable designers have things manufactured in Asia, but here’s a company I’ve never heard of, located in China,  that does not seem to have contact info anywhere on their website, I checked. As far as I’m concerned that’s two strikes against this company right there. But then she tells me the price, the alarms go from a dinging to a loud gong in an instant. I know there is no way the dress in the picture can be made for that much and I know I can’t help her find a similar dress in that price range.

 I explain this to her and mom, I tell them how these types of sites steal legitimate manufacturers’ pictures from their websites and post them claiming either to sell the authentic dress or claiming the design as their own.  I tell them of horror stories of girls ordering their dream dress from companies they’ve never heard of online and getting dresses that look nothing like they’re supposed to, from being really cheap material and falling apart to being unfinished and shipped with a needle and thread or worst of all, never shipped at all. Girls are ripped off everyday ordering dresses online from these companies and I try to caution them against ordering this way. I gave her the address of the next closest dress shop and encourage her to look there but warn her she will not find the dress in the picture there either.  They seem to understand. My young customer is very discouraged and leaves the store disappointed and without a dress.

Fast forward to yesterday, I come in to work and she’s back. She’s been in the store for a while trying on dresses with another sales person and has found two she really likes. Her favorite one is a little big and would need some other alterations but now her homecoming is in a week and she’d be cutting it very close trying to get that done, the other fits great but cost more than what she planned to spend. After much back and forth with mom on the phone she opts for the dress that fits but cost more just to be done with it. Yay success.  

As I’m ringing her up she mumbles,” I should have listened to you” Uh oh, what happened I ask. She tells me she went home and got online and ordered the dream dress, paid for express shipping (ouch) and waited. Just three days later her package arrives, she’s tears it open excitedly. DISAPPOINTMENT!!! The dress looks nothing like the picture, is poorly sewn and doesn’t even fit, even though it was “custom made” to her measurements.  So here she was back where she started

Now why, you might ask, have I told you this drawn out story?  Because every single legitimate prom and bridal retailer in the in the world can tell you exactly the same story. Every one of us has heard it over and over.  Every one of us warns our customers against falling victim to this. Every major manufacturer works diligently to inform their customers that this goes on. Manufacturers have whole departments just to fight fraud and these bogus websites. All of us in the formal wear business do our best to report these websites to the search engines to get them removed and the manufactures pursue them through the courts to force them to close. But every day new ones crop up.  

We don’t do this to force you to buy dresses from us, we do it protect our businesses and our customers. We know not everyone can afford a $600 prom dress, my store and the others I know of, all carry lower priced lines and the manufacturers are doing their best to offer dresses in a wide range of prices. We understand how important your special event is to you and we want to do everything we can to ensure you look great. Most of us retailers  have layaway plans to help you spread out the cost and all of us encourage our customers to plan ahead, budget for the dress they want and order it early to avoid rush charges.

How can you avoid this horror story? 

·         If you see a dress you like on a stores website, check and see the contact information for that store. See if they list an actual address and phone number. Google them and see if the info you find matches.

·         Go to the manufacturers websites and click on find an authorized retailer and search for the store, most are listed (I say most because I know my store is not listed on one of our manufactures even though we’re authorized retailers because we’re fairly new) If the store you’re looking for isn’t listed, give the manufacturer a call and ask. This way if it’s an oversight you’ll know they’re legitimate and if they’re not you’ll be helping the manufacturer and other girls who don’t check.

·         If you can, go to an actual store and try on dresses. You can feel the fabrics, see the quality and judge how they fit. You can be measured properly if you need to order and you may see something you like better.

·         Remember the saying, if something seems too good to be true it probably is. Every legitimate retailer charges the same amount for designer dresses within a couple of dollars. This is the most important line of this story and if you learn nothing else, remember this. If you see a price online for a current year’s style that is significantly lower than everybody else’s IT IS FAKE!

This article is given freely to anyone who would like to repost it or publish it. It was written as a public service and if it saves just one girl from this story, it has done its job. -Courtney