I really did not want to do this, I do not want to come across as one of those people who is trying to spitefully get back at a company after receiving bad service. I wanted to write this review so other brides know what happened during my bridal shopping experience and so they know what to look out for.
For those of you who don't know, The Big Day is a plus-size dress shop in Castleford, it stocks a number of designer dresses which was one of the reasons I chose this shop in particular. We went in July to find my dress, the shop was beautifully layed out, there was a huge range of dresses and the staff were friendly and helpful. I browsed for a while, picking dresses up to try on and the staff also helped me choose dresses which they thought would flatter my shape. They were chatty and funny, making sure every dress was pinned into place before letting me see and giving me accessories to try on so I could see what the finished product would look like. We eventually found my dress and they pinned the bust to show me how it would look once it was altered, they also told me that they would let it out slightly as it was just a tiny bit tight around the hips. When I expressed that I didn't want my arms on show they brought out wraps for me to try on. Once the wrap was tacked into place I knew it was perfect. Whilst I was stepping out of the dress my mum began querying how much the alterations would cost and they said "Oh, approximately £40 give or take, £30 for the material of the wrap and a bit more for altering that." Bare in mind the alteration cost was for the bust to be taken in, the hem to be raised and the dress to be let out slightly. Because I lived about an hour away from the shop and also because my wedding was so soon they said that I could have all of my fittings done on the same day and then take the dress home as well. They assured me that they would call me when the dress came in stock in late September so I could arrange an appointment, Perfect! We placed the order and left extremely happy.
September came and went and no phone call. For days I kept thinking "Don't call them, it's obviously not there if they haven't called you yet!" but eventually I called them and I was quite taken aback when they said that it had been in for a while. I felt upset that they hadn't called me but after some consideration I let it go. I then booked my fittings and thought that's that! Two days before my fittings I was talking to my mum on the phone and she asked me to call them and just check that the appointment was correct and get the time. I call up and explain that I'm calling about my day of fittings and they didn't even know what I was talking about. I kept saying that they had said that I could have a full day of fittings and take my dress home, they were very brisk with me and said that when I booked the fitting I should have said. I just thought that when they brought up my details they would see the note where they had said about my fitting. After a lot of protesting (with it only being 3 weeks before my wedding) she relented and said she would come in early and do the fittings for me. At this point I felt quite impressed with the customer service, I thought it was great that she had decided to come in early and do this for me, so I was happy.
Now is where it gets complicated because a lot of what was done was done sneakily and behind my back. The first fitting went great, I attempted sitting down in it and I felt as thought it was way too tight so voiced my concern to them. They then said that it was the corset that I was wearing underneath that was tight and not the dress, so I took their word for it. The skirt needed taken up by quite a bit so they took a pair of scissors and began hacking at the netting underneath, I was really taken aback and thought that they would at least pin it first and then cut it off in the backroom. The netting is really uneven and although it's not like anyone can see I felt upset because I wanted my dress to be perfect. They then pinned the rest of it and moved onto the wrap. The wraps I was trying on in store were just a wrap of material that goes around your back and folds under each arm, although they were in a different material from the one I would have in the end I knew I liked them. They pinned the sample for reference when they made mine and then I had to get undressed. We were then called over to go over the bill and were taken aback at the approximate costs, the dress alterations were miles more than we had been quoted when we bought the dress. In total the wrap was going to cost over £100!! My poor mum does not like to make a scene so said she would bring the money in later.
The second fitting went well, the bust looked a lot better once it was pinned and it was looking better everytime I tried it on. I noticed that the dress was longer at the back than the front (I don't have a train) and they said "Oh, we did that because dresses look better than than." Fine, they're the experts, they obviously know what they're doing. They then said that they would call us later in the afternoon for the final fitting. As I was getting undressed my mum was called by them and I just assumed that it was something to do with the dress so didn't think anything of it. As we left I asked her what it was about and she quickly went on about them noticing she looked shocked by the prices and had just gone through them with her, I believed her.
When we went back for the final fitting my dress had been steamed and was hung up beside a bag, I nipped off to the toilet and then came back to find it bagged up. I questioned why I wasn't trying it on for the final fitting and they said they didn't want to crease it and didn't want me going to the trouble of putting my corset back on again. Great, we get to take it home now!
On Saturday my "wrap" came in the post, I opened the parcel and looked at the thing with disgust. It wasn't anything like the ones we had tried on in store. My mum tried to calm me down and said we should try it on with the dress. My mum looked at me with horror and explained that the zip was so tight that she was worried it may burst if I sat down. As we had never done the dress up personally in the shop this was the first time we saw how tight it was. I began to panic thinking I was going to have to call off the wedding, I couldn't possibly go the whole day without sitting down. The wrap went on and I burst into tears all over again, the sleeves were elastic with bunched satin , the whole thing hung awfully on me. The layer underneath was too tight but the layer on top was loose and rumpled horribly. We also noticed that the satin pleats on the bodice of the dress were not lying right and you could see this frayed piece of material, my mum took a look at it and there were only two threads holding the pleat to the dress. Once positioned correctly you couldn't see it but I'm going to be spending my whole wedding day checking that they frayed edge is not showing. With one week until my wedding I was despairing. My mum vowed to call the shop and tell them to do something about it.
My mum came clean to me about what happened when they called her aside in the shop, she said that they had said to her they would need to let the dress out and didn't want to hurt my feelings. I felt extremely confused, they had already told me they would need to let it out so how would that hurt me? Also I felt upset because it was my dress, why hadn't they talked directly to me? They had asked my mum for more money, this would have taken the alteration costs to almost the same of my actual dress. When my mum explained that all the other costs had been a hell of a lot more than they had quoted her and she was now left with no money in her bank they looked astounded that she wasn't able to give more. She then says that they wavered about doing the alterations before settling on a final sum of money. We could not understand how the dress could be tightish in the shop and then tighter still after apparently letting it out. We inspected the satin for creasing and sewing holes but could not find any on either of the seams and so we began to feel suspicious. When my mum called them they argued with her, saying that if I had put on weight within a week then it was not their fault. My mum then asked for the measurements of the dress and the measurements they took during the fitting. It turns out that I was only 0.5cm smaller than the dress. My mum was furious, asking why on earth they sold us it in that size (they insisted that was the size we should buy) when they could see it was so tight fitting. They then said that being 0.5cm smaller is neither here nor there on a dress and that it was an acceptable amount of room. My mum then queried how much they had let the dress out by and they claimed to have let it out by over an inch and a half on each side. There is no way in hell that they let my dress out, if the dress had been three inches wider overall it would have been quite roomy. I also am adamant that there is no way in hell that I have gained three inches over a week. Another reason we suspect that they did not let it out is that they did not have me try it on after they let it out, surely they would have had to check that it wasn't too big or still too small? The woman on the phone kept going on about the 0.5cm difference and it was very clear, even though she was protesting, that they had not let it out at all. It was obvious that because my mum was not bowing down to the many hidden and rising costs that they decided not to do the letting out of the dress out of spite.
With regards to the wrap they claimed that the one I tried on in store had elasticated arms too, it did not. The one in store was a length of organza pinned into place, no elastic at all. She also said that it had been made to the correct specifications in store and she did not believe that it was too tight. When we explained that we never tried on anything that looked like the wrap she kept saying that it was identical to the sample when it absolutely was not. They only make one style of wrap and looking at pictures of other brides I could see that they were wearing the sample I tried on in store, not the ruffled piece of material I had been left with. The wrap they sent me was more of a small ill-fitting jacket than anything else. Again she made every excuse under the sun. My mum then said she was sending the wrap back to them and that she wanted a full refund because it was not what we were told we were buying. She said that she would have to talk with her partner and the seamstress and it would then be at the discretion of them.
If they had told me in the first instance that there was only 0.5cm give in the dress I would have put myself on a crash diet from the off, got a bigger size dress or looked for a different dress. I have now been put in a situation where less than a week from my wedding I have to drop at least an inch to be able to sit down without fear of the zip breaking. I am starving myself to make sure I can fit into the dress and I feel it is completely unacceptable that they let us leave their shop with a dress which was poorly fitting. Everytime we queried the tightness they said it only felt tight because of the corset and that they knew what they were talking about. I have had to go out of my way and source a wrap from another shop, which is more expense for me after spending over £100 on the other wrap. I have never in my life experienced such terrible customer service and such disinterest when problems were posed to them. If the dress does not fit me comfortably by Friday I may have to call off/postpone my wedding.
I am not saying to you "Don't shop at The Big Day," what I want you to take from this review is be careful when they quote you alteration costs. Whatever they quote you triple it and then add some. Check that the dress is a perfect fit, if that means having someone check the zip/buttons for you then so be it. The Big Day seem to only care about making a sale and charging you an arm and a leg afterwards. Also if you are having a wrap made by them please be aware that it may not come in the same style as the samples you tried on.
*If this is not allowed on the forum I will gladly take the post down*
