Complaint

I am so sorry to hear that happened to you. I would think that this would not happen any more but I guess there are still a few ignorant people out there. I would suggest that you also take it to the level of a lawsuit as you felt that it was racial and also contact the BBB to place a formal complaint. The letter that you send you the lawyer, send the store a copy of the letter and also send it to the BBB. It will help your case and may even open their eyes. Have the news do a story on it. Tell them your story and they will investigate it. A co-worker thought that the bridal shop in our neighborhood was racist and the local news investigated it. They sent in 2 different customers who were wearing hidden cameras and found that the store treated the customers of color badly. There are not that many bridal shops where we are so it was terrible that they had to accept this attitude. It was awful. When the news men brought in their cameras to speak to the owner, they showed her how the customers were treated. They were mortified (mostly because they were caught) because they tried to block the cameras and push them out of the stores. You should contact an investigative reporter in your area and have it investigated. Me personally, I am not black so I can`t say that I know what that feels like.

Hey Doc. I was treated the same way in the Dallas area so I can sympathize. I`m an old white man and I got treated just about the same way. You can file all the complaints you want but I found the best defense and self gratification was to write a letter to the owner of the shop expressing how I felt. The next step was to make sure that I told every person I knew never to frequent that store. In business, when you are happy you tell a few people but when you are mistreated you tell a whole lot more people and believe me that word spreads. You will be satisfied in your heart by writing that letter. I certainly hope that the wedding made you a proud father.

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I am a 23 year old white female, andI got married last September. When I went into the bridal salon, I had a wonderful lady attending to me. After I bought my dress, she even sent me a thank you card in the mail. A couple of months later, I made an appointment to bring my bridesmaids in to be fitted for their gowns, and speciffically asked for my previous sales women. When I showed up with my girls (we had an appointment keep in mind) I was treated very rudely by the receptionist and when she announced my pressence to my sales women who was standing just a few feet away, I heard her say that she diddn`t have time for me, she already sold me my wedding gown, and she didn`t need to be bothered with bridesmaids dresses. The receptionist turned back and told me she was `busy` and unavailable to me, but my girls and I could help ourselves to the dresses and fitting rooms. Needless to say, we left and ordered their dresses on-line.

I honestly don`t think it has as much to do with the color of your skin as it does the fact that these places don`t really need to rely on REPEAT business. Think about it, if you or a loved one are getting married and have to visit one of these shops, they know you are not going to be coming back agin in two months or shopping there another seven times the following year. I had already spent $650+ on my dress alone, they didn`t need to be bothered on selling me three $70 dresses, not when they had the 100+ girls in the store trying on prom dresses at the time of my appointment. Those girls probably WOULD be coming back, for their winter formals, and next years prom, homecoming gown.... You get the idea. How often are you going to be coming back to a bridal or tux salon? Not to mention, if you are not even the bride or groom, why would they care how you are treated? As you said, they knew you were caught between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. It wasn`t like you could just leave and shop next door at a competitors instead.

I think its just in the nature of these places to not to care about their customers after they make the initial sale. Just scroll through a few of the posts on these boards, you`ll see enough complaints from all walks of life.

I sometimes think that it doesn`t have anything to do with color because all over this board you hear complaints of people shopping for bridal items in many stores especially Davids and After Hours and being treated badly. Have it investigated as stated by another poster. That alone will straighten up the disposition of the store manager and the people. Even sending a letter to the BBB and giving them a copy is a great one. What I did at the bridal shop that treated me badly, it was horrible. I was almost in tears because the lady stated clearly, she is trying to get a black person`s but in a white person`s gown. First of all, I am hispanic so I have no idea what she meant by that. I was so upset. I loved the gown and I purchased it but when I got home, I put a stop payment on the check and had a formal complaint to the BBB stating that I put a stop payment on the gown and I walked into the store and gave a copy of the BBB complaint and a letter sent to the store owner. You wouldn`t believe how fast they were calling me on teh phone and apologizing to me. I told the owner in the letter why I put a stop payment on the check and I also told her that I would pay it, but I wanted a full apology. Not only did they apologize, but they gave me to gown. They surely didn`t want that to get out. I had heard that I was not the only person who was treated so badly but the remark that I and 3 others heard was what made me do this. I was embarrassed. Another bride went over to her and told her, I heard what you said about her and that is a racial remark even if she isn`t black. You should pursue it no matter what your color is. These places should be reprimanded for doing things like this to people. If you accept it, then they will do it to others. I did not accept it nor will I have anyone else accept it. I passed the word on to many others and we found other places to shop even if they are farther away. If you cause them to lose business, they will begin to listen.