I purchased a Maggie Sottero wedding gown from an authorized dealer in January of this year. I ordered a size 8 gown, which was rush delivered to a store in Florida where I was on vacation. I only had carry on baggage and couldn't take the dress with me, so I had to have my friend transport it home. She was flying home with her young daughter, and therefore couldn't handle a large garment bag. This was fine, as the dress was still factory sealed in plastic wrap, and so was a smallish cube rather than a giant unwieldy dress. Because of this we opted not to open the packaging, but just to take the dress home as it came from the factory. The packaging and the item number all read size 8, and so we were assured that everything should be fine.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I finally had a chance to try on my dress (it had been stored at my friend's place while she was out of the country for a few months). I could tell by looking at it that something was wrong... It looked tiny! Well, when I attempted to put it on it was not even close to the correct size. I took it to a seamstress who measured it out for me, and the dress itself measures to between a size 2-4. Needless to say I was upset, but I figured that Maggie Sottero would be eager to fix what was obviously a labeling problem at the factory level. After all, the mission statement on their website reads "Maggie Sottero's mission is to make dreams a reality for every Maggie Sottero bride by delivering innovative designs, superior quality and best-in-class service."
However, this was emphatically not the case. I contacted the store I purchased it from (an authorized Maggie Sottero dealer) who told me that this is not their problem, which it really is not. They gave me a phone number for Maggie Sottero, who told me that I would have to ship the dress to Utah at my own expense in order for them to determine if there is a problem, and if so what to do. At best they would ship a replacement dress back to Florida, at which point getting it back to me in Canada would be my problem. Aside from the fact that this would be a considerable expense, my wedding is in 6 weeks and I still need to have alterations done.
I have located the exact same dress at an authorized local Maggie Sottero dealer, but they refuse to even consider allowing me to exchange the dress there. I have phoned their head office and spoken to customer care supervisors in the US and Canada and nobody is at all interested in correcting what is obviously their mistake. Their position is that this is my problem as I didn't try on the dress before taking it home; however, my point is that when you buy merchandise from a reputable company you have an expectation that said merchandise will meet certain standards. Certainly it should be expected that a dress which was factory sealed from Maggie Sottero should correspond to the size that is printed on both the label and the dress itself.in turn, that size should correspond with their posted measurements.
It is now six weeks from my wedding and I have no dress despite the fact that I purchased one from an authorized dealer of an extremely well known designer. I am now in a situation where I have to purchase a second dress at the last minute, which I really can't afford, and attempt to sell the other one (tags on, unworn) at a loss. I honestly can't believe that Maggie Sottero would refuse to stand behind the quality of their products, and would just wash their hands of their mistakes. I was told by one of the customer service representatives that "unfortunately, these things happen." Personally, I don't think that is an acceptable response to the distribution of faulty merchandise.
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