On August 23, my mom and I went to Exclusives for the Bride in Chicago. Our consultant was Marcia, and she was extremely pleasant and helpful. The salon appeared to be well-run and the dresses were beautiful. I ordered my dream dress, a St. Pucchi gown, at a one-time discounted price, which the owner (Nancy) said was available only that day. We put down a deposit equal to half of the manufacturer's suggested retail, and were told the dress would arrive within 6-8 months, even though the contract stated 4-6 months. I said that was fine; my wedding was not for almost a year. We were also told by Nancy that the remaining balance would be due upon the arrival of my dress. (This is also stated in the contract, which thankfully, we have in our possession).
Shortly thereafter, my mother's credit card was charged for the remaining balance. We were shocked-it was approximately two months after the purchase, and we assumed the dress was in already! My mom called Exclusives and spoke to the receptionist, who said, "Oh no, your dress isn't in. There must have been a mistake, but we'll credit your account immediately." This never happened. My mom and I called Exclusives numerous times with no response from Nancy-we were always told that she was "out" or with a customer. (Oddly enough, whenever I called to make a payment on my dress, I NEVER had any problem getting in touch with Nancy or Marcia). My mom was finally forced to file a fraud charge against Exclusives and had to cancel her credit card. Nancy never responded to this charge, and luckily, my mother was not held responsible for the unauthorized charge by Exclusives.
Fast forward to February. The contract states that the store should be contacted before the dress is due to arrive. I made frequent calls to Exclusives, all of which were futile. Nancy never called me back. My mom did the same thing, and finally told the receptionist that she would be calling back every half hour until someone returned her call. Kate, the store manager, called back 20 minutes later. She stated that the dress was to be shipped on May 10, and would arrive at Exclusives within a week. My mom said fine, and she would call on the 18th. She called on the 18th, and big surprise, there was no dress. She and I began making almost daily calls to Exclusives; Nancy was never in, and never returned either her pages or her messages.
Middle of June. We demanded to speak with Nancy, AGAIN, and this time, she actually called us back. She said, "I'm WORKING on this even as we speak. St. Pucchi has delivered all the dresses to the store except yours. Please work with me, I've been in business for thirty years. We'll have your dress by the end of June at the latest." Meanwhile, my wedding is planned for July 17 and I'm in an absolute panic. I got sick of trying to reach Nancy, so I called St. Pucchi. I spoke to the associate designer, who told me that the dress had been ordered and was on "hold, " but that he could not deal with me directly because my relationship was with Exclusives. He strongly encouraged me to continue trying to contact Nancy. At that point, we retained a lawyer.
Our lawyer sent a demand letter to Nancy, with a date of July 5 to either produce the dress or give us a full refund. The letter was ignored. We will now be filing a lawsuit against Exclusives for the Bride for failure to fufill contract. It is now a week before my wedding and I still don't have my dress. This woman continues to operate despite an "unacceptable" rating from the Better Business Bureau.
Just to let you know, Nancy, you picked the wrong people to mess with.
Brides-STAY AWAY from Exclusives for the Bride in Chicago. Don't let this disaster happen to you.
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