Complain about a product or service

Marcella's Bridal Boutique of Pennington

Pennington, NJ

Marites of East Windsor NJ writes (8/28/02):
I ordered a designer gown from the store and paid the amount of $800 as a deposit on August 2001. I dealt directly with the store owner, Barbara. This was 10 months before my June 2002 wedding. The "standard" four- to five-month delivery was verbally promised.

After five months, I still haven’t heard from the store. So on January 2002, I made several attempts to contact the owner through the phone and email. The store by then has changed its store hours to “Hours by Appointment Only,” making it really difficult to contact them. When finally the owner returned my numerous calls, she said that there were some problems with the original order and a replacement was ordered, which she expects to be delivered “anytime soon.”

On March 2002, the owner was again asked for the status of the order. She said she is expecting the gown “by the end of this month through the first week of May.” Again, I made several attempts to contact her before she returned my calls. On April 11,2002, eight months after the order date and roughly six weeks before my wedding, I was told over the phone by the store owner, that the gown would not be delivered until May 25th, a week before the wedding. At this point, frustrated and tired, I asked her to cancel the order and asked for a refund since the terms we agreed upon were never met.

She agreed to give me back my money by crediting back my account. SHE NEVER DID. I used my American Express card for the deposit so asked for assistance from Amex. But they can only give refunds for purchases made within 60 days so I couldn't even get my money back. Later on Amex finally agreed to give me back my money but I had to wait for the 90-day period. In the meantime, I had to find a decent gown, which was so frustrating with only 6 weeks before the wedding.

The owner was evasive, misleading, and not straightforward with this particular case. Weddings are difficult enough without the bride having to worry when and if the gown will arrive in time for the fittings and alterations, especially when the store had 10 months of lead time to deliver the gown.

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