Bridal Images Salon -Do Not Use! Rockville,MD

Calling all Brides and Grooms –BE CAREFUL! If you want good customer service and a happy wedding day, do not patronize BRIDAL IMAGES
Located in Wintergreen Plaza in Rockville, MD

I would strongly advise others to run from this place for the following reasons:

SHORT STORY:
• Awful customer service: mistakes, rudeness, failure to take responsibility, shifting blame to the customer. They do not care about servicing customers. No effort to remedy the problem.
• Disorganized –my dress sat in their store for 5 weeks and no one followed up with me and still did not realize the mistake until I kept calling them and pushed for an answer.
• False advertisement –the website says that they will do alterations for dresses from other stores, but when you ask they won’t do it. When I showed them their site, they would not honor it.
• Terribly over-priced dresses without the service to make up for high prices –keep reading I can show you how to save money.

LONG STORY:

• PART I -AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE AND DISORGANIZED –
God awful customer service. They are nice to you until they make the sale. After that you are on your own! Most of my negative sperience can be attributed to a rude, unapologetic and inconsiderate salesperson by the name of DEANNA. Case in point, I ordered my wedding dress in October of ’06 with an expected delivery date of late January ‘07. No one ever call me to pick up the dress! I called them twice to ask about the dress, once in February and then March and both times I was told “It’ll be in any day now.” It was not until I pushed that DEANNA (the aging, wanna-be diva salesperson with the nasty disposition and propensity for errors) admitted that it should have been in by late January. She told me she would check and call me back with more information. When DEANNA calls me back she has a completely nasty attitude, she tells me that the store called on January 31st and that I never responded. Judging from her tone, she thought it was my fault that I did not get the dress. She overlooked the fact that I called in February and March and was told that my dress has not arrived. When I informed her that I never got a phone call, she sniffed “well it’s right here in the file” –as if that’s proof that I got the message. This is a lie since I never got any messages from them. Besides that, I called them twice and got mis-information. If they knew my dress was there –somebody should have told me when I called them! DEANNA did not even apologize until I told her that I am the customer and her attitude was uncalled for since THEY MADE THE MISTAKE. She coughed, “well, I’m sorry you feel that way”. In my book, that does not qualify as an apology or good customer service.

• PART II –AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE AND NONCHALANCE BY OWNER
After having have my 1st conversation with DEANNA and experiencing the snobbery and rudeness, my next phone call was to speak with the Owner. When I called back, an unknown salesperson answered the phone, I asked for the owner and was left on hold for ten minutes, finally, DEANNA picks up and asks if she can help. I told her I didn’t want to speak with her and that I am unhappy with her attitude and service. I was told that the owner was not there. Deanna then says I have an attitude and that she made a mistake –as if to say “get over it”. After a few heated moments of arguing we exchange more words and DEANNA hangs up on me! I’m astonished, since I am a bride that they gave bad service to and she has the nerve to act indignant, especially when I already bought an expensive dress! It’s obvious they did not care once they have your money! SO naturally, I made a trip the bridal salon along with my fiancée to pick up my dress. If I had more time I would have canceled the charge and fought it out with the credit card company, but it’s too late, they have my money and the wedding is two months away. I decided to cut my losses and get my dress. When I arrived I spoke with the OWNER, Aveen (sic), she was very nice, but did nothing to address my issue with the bad service, her response to me was to forget about what happened and to try to hug. She actually thought I would give them more business by having my dress altered there! This shows you how out of touch this business is with their customers. A good business woman would have offered some kind of recourse for the poor service, the mistakes and the sorry saleswoman (DEANNA) that represents her business. But nothing. A sincere apology and real customer service could have made this a non-issue for all parties involved within 5 minutes and they would have made much more money from me through referrals (I have tons of single girlfriends), word of mouth, alterations and the accessories. However, I will be sure to tell anyone who will listen about the poor business practices of BRIDAL IMAGES.

• FALSE ADVERTISEMENT –as of March 3, 2007, Bridal Images has a website that indicates that they would accept dresses from other stores for alterations. When I called and asked the store if they would alter my bridesmaid dresses, they claimed that they never do that unless you buy from the store.
It very well may be a mistake, but a good business would honor their ad instead of trying to shift blame. Matter of fact, while I was in their store they pulled up the site and admitted that it was wrong and still offered no recourse. One of the staff admitted that the site had not been viewed in at least one year! A place this disorganized and unprofessional does not deserve honest business!

• TERRIBLY OVERPRICED –they have a passable selection of dresses, but the mark up is ridiculous! Most people may prefer a “bridal salon” since it’s believed that one will receive higher end service than places that have mass produced dresses. Some may even be willing to pay for the mark up if there is good service. There’s no reason to buy dresses from bridal images, the service is trash and prices are robbery! Case in point, I brought five of my nine bridesmaids to the salon with the intention of buying all of their dresses. We selected dresses and needed measurements to determine the dress sizes, the salon refused to take the measurements unless we paid for the dresses. I asked for swatches and they claimed no swatches were available anywhere. Mind you these dresses were priced $250 per dress plus shipping costs. Instead of placing pressure on my bridal party, I decided to do research. Luckily, I ordered swatches directly from the manufacturer and found a website that orders directly from the manufacturer as well. My bridesmaids saved approximately $100 per dress. I also got far superior customer service from an online site.

Morale of the story: DO NOT PATRONIZE BUSINESSES THAT DO NOT VALUE CUSTOMERS.