I normally don't like to post anything negative on forum boards. But I wanted to make sure to do this to helpfully help others who are preparing for a wedding make sure something like this doesn't happen to you.
In short, we everything we planned for our wedding was fine, except for the Tuxedo Rentals from After Hours in the La Jolla (UTC) store. Aside from the unusual number of mistakes that they made, the major issue I had with them was there lack of willingness to fix mistakes that occurred. And at no time did I receive a single apology for all the inconvenience they caused.
I rented tuxes for 4 Groomsmen, 1 ring bearer for a wedding 11/6 (Saturday). One of the groomsmen, being from the Bay Area, opted to pick up the suit in the Santa Clara store. Prior to booking with After Hours, I asked if if this would be an issue. They assured me that there's no problems with it. So instead of deciding to go with Men's Warehouse, I that this chain would be fine. Then the problems started...
0) First, After Hours made no phone call to anyone to notify us that the suit arrived. This led to problem #1.
1) Apparently, the suit for the one Groomsmen in the Santa Clara location arrived tuesday. Since no one called him or me, no of us knew it was there. My groomsmen was just going to pick it up on Thursday. On Thursday, he gets the the store, and finds that the store RETURNED the suit because no one picked it up. I called my store in San Diego, and rather than trying to sort any of this mess up, they said it was my problem and that I needed to deal with the Santa Clara store directly. No help, nothing... So my groomsmen and I work with the Santa Clara store to get them to promise the suit to be available on Friday, before his flight.
2) Friday morning, the ring bearer's parents pick up the tuxedo La Jolla, and the shoe size is completely incorrect. Rather than admitting that it doesn't fit, the store personnel says that that's how the shoe fits. The parents insist that the need a larger shoe, and only after insisting does the store clerk state that they could probably get another shoe from another store, but not until 3:30 because the other store had only one clerk there and couldn't deliver it until then. We had rehearsal scheduled around this time, so we asked them if they could send some from this store to get it (since there were 2 people working). They didn't want to and made us wait for the other store to deliver it to us. Essentially, the ringbearer wasn't able to make it to rehearsal appropriately. Also, during this ordeal, no apology from After Hours for anything.
It gets worse...
3) Friday morning, I go to the store to pick up my tux. I tried everything on, except the cufflinks (more later). Turns out the shirt size is huge. I asked for a different shirt. And I get another excuse that that is how a tuxedo shirt fits. (Right, I rented tuxes before, and clearly any person knowledgeable in this business would realize the shirt was way too big because the top part of the shirt was all crumpled)... My sister, also at the store, also comments that the shirt size is too large. And rather than trying to fix the issue, the store clerk says that "Unlike women's clothes, men's clothes fit differently... WTF? I'm looking at the mirror, and clearly anyone who wasn't blind can see the shirt size was too large. My sister and I then insist that if they can't find a shirt for us that fits, they they are obligated to loan us one that the sell that would fit, did the clerk start making phone calls. He found a shirt from another store, but again says that it won't be available until after 3pm because there other store only had one employee and couldn't deliver it until after she was off. The La Jolla store refused to go pick the shirt up, even though there were two employees, and NO other customers in the store (it wasn't a busy day at all). Being that rehearsal started at around 3, I had no choice but to go pick it up myself, taking time away from last minute preparations. Again, during this ordeal, no apology from After Hours for anything.
4) Saturday morning: I put on my suit, and notice that a cufflink is missing and a button on the cuff is broken. Didn't anyone at the store check this? Ok perhaps I should have double checked myself, but at that point I was already all stressed out with all the mishaps with the rental.
5) Saturday morning: My groomsmen from the Bay Area arrives early in the morning for pre-wedding photo shoot. It turns out, his accessories are completely wrong. He received a long tie, instead of a bowtie, while everyone else's is a bowtie. He receives a different style of shirt the the rest of us. Great. That's terrible, nothing matched. So we decide to delay some photos with him. One of our friends goes to the store in La Jolla to get an exchange.
6) My friend goes to the store to get an exchange for bowtie, but no shirt. They didn't have them. Great. Again, rather than apologizing for the mistake, they simply dismissed and said it wasn't their problem, but a problem with the Santa Clara store. No effort was made to try to get the correct shirt.
7) Returning the suits.
So my bay area groomsmen drops off the suit the same evening (Saturday) in the La Jolla store. No receipt is given. The store clerk says that since he picked up the suit in Santa Clara, that the La Jolla store can't give a return receipt. Meanwhile, the store clerk assures him that he will call Santa Clara that night to notify them that they received the return.
My best man drops off the suit that same evening (Saturday) in the La Jolla store as well. He gets a receipt (fortunately, I'll explain later).
I drop off my suit the following Sunday. Just to be safe, I check with the store clerk to see if anyone else has returned the suit yet. The clerk checks, and says no one returned the suits. So I'm calling my groomsmen and they're telling me that the suit was returned but the clerk tells me none was. The clerk calls the Santa Clara store, and there's no record of the suit being marked "returned" from the previous night. No return record, and no receipt given to my groomsmen... Well, I guess I'll take this one to my credit card company to fight any additional late fee charges which I'm also now expecting, given how disorganized After Hours is.
In my biased opinion, stay away from After Hours Formalwear in San Diego, especially the La Jolla store. Terrible organization, terrible customer service, and terrible experience. I regret that I didn't listen to my friends and just go to Men's Wearhouse.
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