Hi there.
I am a former employee of MyLady's Birdal, formerly MyLady's In Lace. I worked for this company for just over 8 months. (From early january of '02 to mid aucgust of '02) Needless to say, while I truly enjoy working in a bridal shop (I'm opening one of my own very soon) The horrid business practices of the owner/manager and her family were enough to send me packing.
When I began working there, I was quickly alerted to the fact that I was the only non-family person working there. It wasn't so bad until I realized I was being kept out of the loops. The weird things begna happening almost immediately. The owner of the store at the time was only 22 years old and from a home where she always had her way. She was very immature in her busines decisions.
I would often notice orders piling up the desk because she supposedly didn't ahve the funds to cover the order. (Women are required to pay 50% of thier gowns price before we'll take the order down. Isn't that what the deposit is for?) The gowns generally come in fast (much less time than is supposedly the "industry standard") so most brides were none the swiser that thier deposits had been spent on the owners hair and nails. But one several occasions, some gowns didn't come in until a week before the wedding, leaving brides and thier attendant scramblind, and paying dearly, to have the gowns altered.
Another time, I noticed that an order was placed for a BEAUTIFUL organza ballgown from Mary's, however, a few weeks later I was sent into the staockroom to remove makeup stains from our sample dress. I thought she just wanted me to get the lipstick off the inside of the gown. (I was thier "stain expert") I had no idea that she had spent the deposit on the order and now could not afford to order the gown for the bride so she was going to give her the SAMPLE off of the rack that had been tried on by dozens of women... And CHARGE FULL PRICE! I was floored!
Another, even more appalling incident came after I'd been there a few months. A bride had ordered 4 bridesmaid dresses from MoriLee. Well it turns out, the dress was discontinued and she couldn't order it. Rather than calling the bride and TELLING her that there was a company that could copy the style (for less money as well) She went ahead and sent the sample off and had it copied. THEN, when they came in, she sent ME into the stockroom with a handful of tags that she's torn out of discontinued MoriLee dresses and had ME sew them into the gowns!!! She, of course, still charged them full price for the gown and the poor bridesmaids had no Idea that thier "designer" dresses were actually just cheap knockoffs with a designer tag. It was aweful!
I have watched, on more than one occassion, a bride order a veil or headpeice and the owner having me repair the sample so she wouldn't have to order a new one. A dress would come in the wrong colour and she would simply tell the bride that 'That was was she ordered." Often I would listen to her plotting ways to rip off or con a rude bride or maid. Once, a bridesmaid gown came in with a spot on it and the mother of the miad put a red X on the tag and told us it was so she would get a new dress, not a cleaning.
Rather than just sending it back to the company (who would have replaced the gown at no extra charge) she sent it to 5 different dry cleaners and replaced the tag with one from the store. After so many cleanigns... A seam at the base of the zipper came loose and the mother found it... Yet the owner STILL did not have the gown replaced... Only offered her the gown for the P deposit to "shut her up" (By this point, the gown should have been free) Other times, gowns would come in and she would let OTHER BRIDES (or maids) try them on! IF it meant a quick sale and the wedding was further off, she would even SELL those gowns off the order rack with the intentions of ordering another one later.
I could go on for days about all of her horrible practices... The tag switching and gown switching, the misplaced orders, the mismeasurements... Not to mention just the rude and ignorant attitude that the owner had toward all of her high paying customers. She was even known to LOOK for ways to mess with high dollar wedding parties. Do the world a favor, buy your wedding gown through another store... Buy everything through another store. Her prices are a little lower, but you end up paying for it in the long run. She needs to be put out of business. (I don't see how she can even stay in business, what with the store full of trashed discontinued and unorderable gowns and her ill treatment of customers.) Sorry for the long rant. I'll get off the soapbox now.:)
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