I ordered a dress from Darius Cordell Couture in and had a wonderful experience. They were pleasant and easy to deal with, the dress came, and only a few minor alterations had to be done. So, when I needed another formal gown made, I decided to go back to Darius Cordell. BIG mistake.
I ordered a dress (#6006) from them in October. I needed the dress for a concert I was performing on January 21st, so I told them I needed it done by January 10th. They said that it would be no problem, and were totally cordial up until they had all of my information and the half down payment. After that, emails were curtly answered, and usually referred me to their website. (Honestly, if the information on their website had been clearer, I wouldn't have needed to contact them. Of course, they didn't get that.)
All of a sudden, it's the end of December, and I haven't heard a word about the dress. I am starting to panic... I had lost weight since ordering the dress, and I knew I'd need to have alterations done. So, I wrote an email kindly reminding them of the timeline and asked if they had any idea of what the ending costs would be so that I could go ahead and send them. It became increasingly obvious that they hadn't even started on the dress. Once again they referred me to the website, and even said that they were not responsible for a late dress if I ordered it too late. (Which, number one, I didn't — it was within their 12 week timeline —, and secondly, I had asked them when I ordered if I needed to pay for a rush order, and they said no.)
Sure enough, to make a long story short, the dress came to me in the mail 2 days after I returned home from giving my performance, and was positively hideous.By the time I had sent the money in to pay for the dress entirely, it ended up costing literally double what they had quoted me - all to lengthen the sleeves and to do the dress by my specific measurements. They also had apparently started charging me $250 PER HOUR whenever I sent an email asking about the dress, which I believe is why the dress ended up being over $3000 in the end. However, I wouldn't know for sure — I asked them to send me a detailed bill of sale, detailing what charges brought it up to the astronomical price, and all they sent me was a simple bill that had nothing but the price of the dress in total with the amount that I had paid subtracted from it.
I will never, NEVER go to them again. And if you're wondering why I'm posting this a year and a half later, it's because I just now tried to have the dress rebuilt in order to be able to wear it. Go figure... The sewing structure is butchered, and will be almost impossible to rebuild. I could pay to have another dress built for me for what it would cost to fix this dress. What an horrible disappointment, and a waste of a massive amount of money (that I am certain I'll never see again.)
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