Proms & Promises

11/30/09

Unprofessional, disappointing

by Pat C at Citysearch

We purchased our daughter's wedding dress from P & P at a bridal show in January 2008. Alterations and cleaning were supposedly included in the sale price. The first fitting was done on August 10; the second/final fitting was scheduled for September 2, three days before the wedding; Betty, the owner, would not make the appointment any sooner than this. Upon arriving on September 2, no alterations/hemming/cleaning had been completed. Betty worked for the next two hours, but was never able to make the necessary alterations. Our daughter was very distraught; Betty's customer service attitude was very unprofessional and non-supportive.

To add insult to injury, the wedding dress was filthy. Long black streaks were found up and down on the dress. The bottom of the unhemmed dress was noticeably dirty. Our daughter's feet, just from walking back and forth from the dressing room to the fitting mirror, darkened from the dirt and dust. When Betty was confronted with this issue, she could only reply, "Well that's not MY fault...it's all the construction outside." Evidently taking precautions to keep her inventory clean was not a high priority.

On September 3 we scrambled frantically to find a tailor who would be able to make professional alterations in the two days we had left before the wedding. Luckily we stumbled upon Alterations Express in the Crossroads area of Bellevue; the tailor did amazing work on the dress...very impressive. Clampitts Cleaners on Mercer Island took the dress less than 24 hours before the wedding, cleaning and pressing it...another totally professional and customer service based shop. We spent well over $200 to get the dress ready for the wedding.

Early last week I sent Betty a certified letter, expressing our displeasure with the experience at her dress shop. As of this posting, she has yet to accept the delivery of this letter. We are asking to be reimbursed for only the cleaning costs...a more than generous compromise, we believe.

I wish we had done a more thorough investigation of this business before purchasing the dress. There are numerous negative web postings of this establishment. When an owner admits that she has been taken to small claims court more than once (although she does say that she has never "lost" one of these small claims law suits), that should be quite a red flag. I'm just sorry we didn't read the postings first. Please don't make the same mistakes that we made...patronize some other dress shop.

09/22/09

A wonderful dress shop!!

by Mumsy at Citysearch

My daughter was married in July and bought her dress from Betty at Proms and Promises. This was the best place to get a wonderful wedding dress at a great price. Betty is personable and professional and she did an amazing job on my daughter's dress. Thank you!

• Pros: The most beautiful wedding dresses
• Cons: none

04/11/09

Horrible

by KatK27 at Citysearch

My friend and I went to the store to look at prom dresses. From the outside, there seemed to be cute looking dresses displayed in the window, but those were the only good ones in the whole store. When we came in, the lady there was cold and unwelcoming and as soon as I walked past the single row of prom dresses to see if there was more, she quickly stopped me and told me that prom dresses were right behind me and to go back. She then scolded us for looking through the dresses and made a big show of one that was sticking out, that we didn't even touch. There was only about one foot of space to look at dresses, and none of them were attractive. She kept stopping us from trying to leave, so the moment she went to talk to someone else, we booked it out.

• Pros: NOTHING
• Cons: No room to even walk around, terrible costumer service

12/19/08

Good service. Beautiful dress. Decent alterations.

by midniqhtblue at Citysearch

I had been shopping around for a gown to wear for my engagement party. I went to all the big department stores and couldn't find a thing, except for a green dress from Nordstrom that cost nearly $400. Yikes. Besides, my mom really wants me in red. (We're Chinese.)

I was scared to go in because of all the negative reviews I read here, but I thought it was worth a shot. I could always leave the store if Betty was being nasty.

When my fiance and I walked in, Betty was at the counter and asked how she could help. I told her what I needed a dress for and that I was looking for red. I told her I was a size 10-12, and she went to the racks and pulled pretty much anything she had in my size that was red. She even pulled a few 8's just to see.

I followed her to the dressing room, where she provided me with a bustier in my bra size. Then she proceeded to help me try on the dresses. All the while, she was very pleasant. She explained how some dresses fit differently due to the cuts. We finally chose a beautiful $200 red dress dress with a pretty white ribbon at the waist. She was very honest in telling me her opinions -- I was never insulted. It was a difference in shades of red that she was advising us on that helped me pick the dress.

We got it altered: hemmed and a few other adjustments since I have mild scoliosis, which she noticed on her own. She had 1.5 weeks, and didn't charge me for the alterations until today. When I walked in for the final fitting, she had the dress up waiting for me. Tried it on and the hemming was perfect even with my uneven hips. She took out the sides a bit, which made it fit better. And she had to take in the front of the left side because my body twists. That part wasn't perfect, but it still looked good.

The entire time she was attentive to me, and she was very personable. I could only wonder about all the negative feedback -- perhaps these people were there during really busy seasons?

• Pros: Prices; easy to get to; Betty was nice, very helpful and attentive, and helped me find my perfect dress
• Cons: Alterations aren't completely perfect, but she recognized her mistakes -- we just didn't have time to fix them.

12/10/08

Don't even think about entering this place!!!

by Mudgey at Citysearch

A friend of mine got married in July or 2008, and I was in the wedding. His wife purchased her dress here and had it altered as well. When she went to pick it up the Monday before her Saturday wedding, The dress was ruined. The hem was uneven, the seems were pulling and bunching, and bra pads were sewn in against her wishes! If that isn't bad enough; there were lipstick stains on her dress! She waited all day at the shop to get them to correct it to no avail. The owner warned her not to persue the matter in court as she claimed that no one has ever beaten her! Bottom line; she had to go somewhere else and purchase a brand new dress!