For all you soon to be brides out there, a warning goes out to anyone shopping at any House Of Brides store in Chicago, IL. They also have a website, boasting "the world's largest bridal mall". Let me tell you that this was the absolute worst shopping experience I had ever had in my entire life! The website has very, very good prices on nearly all designer wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses. I printed out a copy of the bridesmaid and flowergirl dress I intended to order and took it to the store in Schaumburg. I wanted five bridesmaid dresses and two FG. The snotty receptionist told me the dresses were ugly and gave me a quote $100 per dress higher than the website. She also could not guarantee me shipping, and told me that she had never even seen their very own website. Their wedding dresses were dirty, and the consultant offered me a slip so dirty I would not let it touch my skin. After an hour of being treated rudely, I left. The consultant never once attempted to help me with anything, even though I had made my appointment six weeks in advance. Everyone at the store was extremely rude and arrogant. Unfortunately I drove four hours to get to the store. The great thing is, I found my dress the same day at the BrideSmart across the street. When I got home, I looked on the Better Business Bureau's website and was appalled at all of the complaints all five stores had lodged against them. One store had even closed down after 111 complaints in 18 months!! So brides, beware of this store and their website! The website is merely a ploy to get you into the store where the dresses are much, much higher priced. And the way the consultants and other workers treat people while they shop for the "happiest day of their life" should not be tolerated. Good luck to all of you, and don't visit those stores!!
I ordered a dress from their website and now I don't know what to do. Everything seems to be fine, I ordered and got a confirmation a day later. I also got a order process confirmation a week later and it said my dress would arrive by the end of June 07. I can't reach anyone and I'm not sure if I should worry or not.
Maybe I am 1 out of 10 people who had a great experience with House of Brides.
I am getting married 5/24/08.
I came across a picture of my dream wedding dress in a bridal magazine and after relentess searching even went as far as calling the dress designer company in China, I came across House of Brides. Not only did HOB carry my dress, they offered it close to $200 less than the bridal stores I was referred to by the dress designer.
I placed my dress order in February and received a confirmation notice within 10 days stating that my dress designer had accepted my order and my dress was schedule to ship the 3rd week of July. I was also informed I would be notified via email when my dress would be shipping.
Not only did I receive my email informing me that my dress was shipping, I received my dress 3 weeks EARLIER than I had anticipated. Although I will say I became very worried and anxious when I realized my dress was being shipped via US Mail.
I was so worried my dress would somehow arrive in ruins, but my worries were put to rest when I picked up my wedding dress at my local post office.
Not only was it shipped wrapped very securely. When I opened the box and retrieved my dress, I was so relieved and excited to see that my dress was ABSOLUTELY AS BEAUTIFUL AS THE PICTURE.
I tried on my wedding dress immediately to show to my parents and my mother said the dress was "Just amazingly stunning."
Again I may be 1 out of 10 brides who had a great experience with House of Brides and for that I am very greatful.
Just because the stores and the website are owned by the same people doesnt mean they operate as one.
A website allows people from all over the world to order dresses at a discounted price. Folks in the Uk do not fly out to Schaumburg to use the full service salon and then order online.
An online store sells 10 times more merchandise than a store that only local folks can order from. Using the website to get people in the store? Doesn't make sense.
Why would anyone stay in a store that treated them badly for an hour? That doesnt make sense either.
You get what you pay for in life. If you want full service, pay for it. If you can do okay by reading the information available online and save a bunch of money good for you.
For all you brides to be out there, if you know you are getting married and have plenty of time to order a dress go to ebay . They have like 88,000 dresses and if you order them from say china like i did god i saved major money . Like probably 600.00 . You pay more for the shipping . I got my dress for 29.00 and paid 109.00 for shipping from china . And girls it is gorgeous, trust me . Look at the reviews before you bid and shop before you choose because there are so many to choose fromand if you bid on a dress and win you have to buy it. It is worth it though.
Buying from places like house of brides is going to run all your locally owned bridal stores out of business. House of Brides also encourages people to go to the stores and try on the gown there and then order from them. I find that to be completely rude! So basically if you plan on buying off the internet they are profiting off you yet the local store puts in all the work and effort into helping you. Also keep in mind you will need alteration and wanting your dress pressed the internet cannot help you with this. There is many reasons to purchase from a locally owned store for the overall service you will recieve.
Hi
I just received my 4 brides maid dresses and I must say I am extremely happy with these dresses. They said I would receive them at the end of May/08 as I ordered them Dec 10/07, however I got them a full month early.
I hope I am not the exception with this company..I need to order a few more items.
I ordered my dress from House of Brides in February 2008. I'm getting married on July 26, 2008. I ordered my dress online and the website said I'd receive an order confirmation in 10 days. I received it 4 weeks later! The order confirmation said my dress would be shipped in the beginning of May and I would receive an email to notify me. Today is May 15. I have no email and no dress. I'm getting married in 12 weeks and am now really panicking. No-one picks up their calls, their voicemail is full and they don't reply their emails. I would NOT recommend this site or company to anyone. I am very unimpressed and upset by this whole process and wish I'd never ordered from them to begin with. The prices were good but it's just not worth this stress.
My mom ordered her wedding dress from the House of Brides. We had an enjoyable experience finding the dress and it came in and she was paying on it. In the meantime my grandfather (her father) passed and there wasn't communication between my mom and the HOB for 1 month... Just 1 month. When my mom went back to find out when the fitting was going to be; they informed her that they had sold the dress to someone else. They didn't even offer anything in replacement. Not only did my mom have to scramble to find another dress in a very little amount of time; she was out the money. She is still fighting them in court.
I WAS CONSIDERING ORDERING DRESSES FROM HOB BUT FROM WHAT I READ I DONT THINK IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA. I CANT BELIEVE HOW DIRTY I HEARD THEY WERE ,,, HOW NASTY
Why do brides even go to house of brides? The Complete Bridal Salon in West Dundee, Il was FABULOUS! I got my bridesmaid dresses there. I had my bridal gown but they're so nice you want to sell what you have and buy new from them. If you go to House of Brides you can only blaime your self.
I'm so sorry for those who had a bad experience with house of brides. I actually went to the chicago store and they were great. They were able to get me my dress and the price was a couple hundred less than what I saw on the internet. They do have signs that clearly state what their policies are and what happens when you don't pick up your dress within 30 days. It is important to ask and read the signs. But I did have a great experience with them. While on the other hand the Complete Bridal Salon and Plaza ran by David Graffke is a JOKE!!! He lied to me and I paid in full Jan 2008 for the dress. $1200 and never got the dress. He promised me in April and then said May. My wedding was in June 1, 2008. Then May 10th he text me and never called giving me excuses that he had Prom dress to take care of. Apparently Prom dresses is more important to him than my Wedding dress I paid in full. Luckily my credit card disputed it and we tried to call him but he never answered the phone. Complete Bridal Salon is the worst experience ever. He lies to your face and never produces results.
I understand how difficult it is as a bride to do so much and the last thing we need is a problem getting our dress. Take care to you all and Good Luck. Audrie
I know how you all feel. I just had the worst experience with HOB ever from beginning to end. The day that I had an appointment to have my bridesmaids pick out dresses. Me and my bridesmaids had to try on the dresses because my consultant was too busy helping out women that were walk-ins. No apology was given or anything. Then I had to have swatches so that my fiance, my mom, and his mom could try to match the colors. It took me 3 phone calls to finally get the swatches. Then I just went to pick up my dresses on last week. One of my Matron of honor's dress was entirely wrong. The wrong style, the wrong color. So my consultant said that she would call me before ordering another one. I have yet to hear from her. I called 3 times and no answer from the manager. Finally my planner called today and got to speak with the manager immediately. I expressed my disappointment with the service I received. I got this very dry and non-shalant apology. Now I am trying to find the corporate number because I will receive compensation for this matter. PLEASE DISCOURAGE ANYONE YOU KNOW FROM GOING TO THIS COMPANY EVER!!!!!!
I ordered my daughter's dress from HOB online for her June 2005 wedding. It came in only 8 weeks and everything was fine! The dress was $300 less than the price we had seen at a local bridal salon. Sounds like most of the problems are with the stores, not the online service.
I may be 2 out of 10 who had a wonderful experience with house of brides.. I went 11 other places first and they were the nicest, kindest and most helpful.. I guess it just depends on who you deal with i went to the schaumburg one and i got my cheaper than any where else including online :-)
My friend and I ordered our bridesmaids dresses from HOB online to save money. The bride was NOT happy about it and the other two bridesmaids ordered from the boutique where she ordered her dress. She was worried there would be issues and we would not get our dresses on time. Turns out we got them about 1 week earlier than expected, they looked great color wise next to the ones ordered from the boutique AND - the bride had a hell of a time going back and forth with the boutique because the bridesmaids dresses ordered from them were incredibly late and she was very stressed out. Thanks HOB! : ) we got ours early and paid less and ended up not causing the bride stress!
