The team at Astra Bridal on what happens when things go wrong.....
"But the retailer told me it was real and it has the hanger tags?
This bride came to us with only a couple of weeks until her wedding. She had originally had a consultation with us and fallen in love with a gown. But pricing was an issue so she found another place she could buy the gown from for a little bit less.
With confidence she placed her order and awaited her gown. Once it arrived the terrible realisation came that the store had obviously ordered the wrong size and not realised that being tall she would require extra length.
She wanted our help to step in and save the day, talk to Maggie about fixing the problem. We tried, but unfortunately the message from Maggie was - you must buy from an authorised retailer; they won't work to fix the problems with anyone other than an authorised retailer.
So how do you find out who is authorised and who is not? Easy, check on the Maggie Sottero (or any other designer's) website. If the store isn't listed then it isn't authorised to retail the brand. If you want to double check then email Maggie Sottero, they are always happy to help clarify for any customer.
They did that earlier in the year for a bride wanting to order form another company in Christchurch offering to supply Maggie Sottero gowns. She had a tough time getting her money back for a gown that they were never going to be able to supply. In this situation it was early enough before the wedding that we could order to gown and get one happy bride down the aisle in her gown.
So what happened to our first bride you ask?
Well she saved $500 by getting her gown through the back door. But it cost her over $600 in alteration costs and extra fabric to get the gown looking halfway decent. And she confideded in us that she now hated her wedding gown because of all the drama.