I have ordered both my wedding gown and my bridesmaid dresses through the Calgary location of Ethos. The experience with my own Gown was wonderful. It even arrived earlier than expected. The bridesmaid dresses were another story. We had picked the gowns out quite early...
I have ordered both my wedding gown and my bridesmaid dresses through the Calgary location of Ethos. The experience with my own Gown was wonderful. It even arrived earlier than expected. The bridesmaid dresses were another story. We had picked the gowns out quite early but wanted to wait a bit to order them, as one was trying to get pregnant and wasn't sure if she'd need the maternity dress. (I've heard that you should order all the dresses together to be sure they come from the same dye vat etc.) I went in prior to Christmas to place the order for the dresses. They had lost the sheet with the dress information and all the measurements on it (out of towns bridemaids had been visiting and had measurements done previously). Luckily I was able to reach all of my bridesmaids over the phone and come back the next day with measurments and order the dresses. The whole thing felt rather rushed, as they were in a hurry to close early for the night (it was snowing). No one ever apologized to me for not being able to find the info sheet. But the order got placed, and I was assured it woudl be in by the end of March. (One of my bridesmaids is from Ontario, and it turns out she would be able to visit at the end of March, and we thought it would be nice for her to take the dress with her, rather than pay for the shipping.) The dresses did come in on time (Early March), but when I went to pick them up there was a huge problem. The dresses were WRONG. The band/sash was the wrong colour. And everyone at Ethos acted like it was my fault. I must have changed my mind or something. Nobody apologized to me. They just had me explain what the problem was and then said they would just be able to substitute it (they would order in sashes of the right colour). I told them that my bridesmaid would be here at the end of the month, so I needed at least her dress by then. They said it would be no problem. They didn't have the person available that day who they would need to speak to (a seamstress I guess) so they said to go home and someone would call me the next day. So i went home, annoyed but not too worried. Nobody called the next day, or the day after. I left a voicemail with my cell phone number and my work number (as I'd be at work all day) asking someone to update me. they left a voicemail on my HOUSE phone asking me to call them back. When I called the next day, the person I needed to speak to wasn't working, and no one else knew anything about it. I had the owners number and called him and he looked into it and got back to me. He said the dresses had been reordered. Apparently it wasn't easy to just replace the belt, because of the way it was sewn on. He said it woudl reordered and MIGHT be here in time for my bridesmaid to take it home to Ontario with her. If not, it could be shipped. Two days later I got another message on my home phone saying they needed me to call about the dresses. Another two days of phone tag took place. I did speak to people there, but apparently the people I needed to speak to (who knew what was going on) were never there. Finally I went into the store. And still nobody seemed to know what was going on. I was so frustrated that I started to cry, right there in the middle of the store. And finally someone actually made the effort to really look into things so they coudl give me an answer. I guess a crying bride is bad for business, lol. And for the first time someone actually apologized to me for the problem. They assured me everyhing would work out. Anyway, turns out they just wanted to doublecheck colours, as the order had been placed already and they only had a small window to make any corrections. The right colours had been ordered but nobody could tell me when they would be getting in. That was over two months ago and I still don't have the dresses. Luckily there is still 2 months till the wedding. Am II ever glad we ordered early! Hopefully the dresses get here soon.
