Bridal shop WTF

[dr.girlfriend]

Yeah. Pay them, pick up the dress, sell it if you can to recoup some of your costs or chase the bride down for it, but it's not the bridal shop's fault. I suspect they had a bunch of dresses lying around, were like "WTF haven't these been picked up yet?" and called to follow up. I don't think you could have assumed SIL informed them of the cancellation, maybe other bridesmaids did.

[phunluvin82]

Aug 17, 2012 11:38:52 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

I would call the shop and say that you were surprised to get their call since you'd forgotten about the dress given how long it's been. Say that you don't need the dress anymore since the wedding was canceled and ask if they'll give you a discount (or just accept the deposit as payment in full) if they are able to use/sell the dress as a sample.

If they say they can't do that, then you owe them the rest of the money.

I would do this. I can see where OP is coming from though since the shop waited a year to call about this. They obviously already knew somehow, from someone (I assume the bride) that the wedding was cancelled. I can understand thinking that the order had already been canceled by the bride. OP shouldn't have assumed that someone had taken care of it and cancelled it, but I can see where that could happen.

[grk2012]

Aug 17, 2012 11:59:06 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Yeah. Pay them, pick up the dress, sell it if you can to recoup some of your costs or chase the bride down for it, but it's not the bridal shop's fault. I suspect they had a bunch of dresses lying around, were like "WTF haven't these been picked up yet?" and called to follow up. I don't think you could have assumed SIL informed them of the cancellation, maybe other bridesmaids did.

Yeah, when they called to cancel their own orders.

[Deleted]

Sounds like your SIL isn't the only one in this family with poor communication skills.

[audette]

Aug 17, 2012 11:57:41 GMT -5 kooshball said:

I assume you put down a 50% deposit which you are forfeiting? I am guessing the dress shop can make at least the other 50% if not more on the dress. Thought the reason they required such large deposits on these type of dresses was for this reason exactly.

I'm surprised reading all the answers. I've never been a bridesmaid, and I paid in full at the time of ordering for the one bridesmaid dress needed at my wedding, so I really have no clue how the whole deposit/payment thing works.

I kinda assumed that the off-the-rack dresses they sell at bridal shops were due in part to situations like this - the dress was ordered, but no longer needed, so they kept the deposit, and tried to sell the dress to recoup the rest of the cost (and, seeing as the off-the-rack dresses are kept at full price until they've been around the shop for a while, it doesn't really seem like it's all that hard to recover the rest of the cost of the dress). Having read all the posts, I guess I'm wrong. Not that it really matters - the chances of me ever ordering and not needing a bridesmaid dress is pretty much nil at this point...

What are the chances you still have the original receipt from paying the deposit? It likely spells out the policy on cancellations and payments. I'd follow whatever that indicates is to be done.

[Deleted]

The contract on my last BM dress stated if I missed one payment, then they got it. I think they are just trying to get money out of you because they couldn't sell it.

This is why these places make you pay a nonrefundable deposit. It happens all the time. I don't get the fuss.

ETA: And the other thing, once the BM dress order is placed, it can't be cancelled.

[greekypie]

My 2 cents - - pay the shop the $ you owe, since you never canceled the order. Then take it up with the former bride if you think you shouldn't be on the hook for the $. This is not the shop's fault.

[Deleted]

The only thing the bridal shop did wrong was not contact you much earlier.

But sorry, they're owed the money.

[Deleted]

You sound young.

[puppiesandrainbows]

Aug 17, 2012 19:20:41 GMT -5 greekypie said:

My 2 cents - - pay the shop the $ you owe, since you never canceled the order. Then take it up with the former bride if you think you shouldn't be on the hook for the $. This is not the shop's fault.

This. And you should not need to be guilted into doing the right thing. You should do the right thing because that is what a decent person does. The fact that SIL cancelled her wedding is 100% irrelevant to your contract with the bridal shop. You seem to have a real issue with ethics and personal responsibility.

[Balki.Bartokomous]

Aug 17, 2012 15:13:29 GMT -5 doglove said:

Sounds like your SIL isn't the only one in this family with poor communication skills.

:Y:

[TrickyBob]

Lurking from ML:

You owe them the money, you didn't officially call and say "no, I do not need this, please cancel the order".

When I got married, my girls paid 50% for their dresses and paid in full at time of pick up. The owner also told me that in the event no one comes to pick up the dress, the dress is held for 1 year only. Perhaps they did something like that? ETA: Sometimes people cancel weddings and then un-cancel. I'm sure some bridal shops know a lot of people get nervous or stuff happens, but end up going through with it a month or two later.

Was the bride in touch with them? They could have very well told her the dresses were ready and she never informed anyone. Then you got the 1 year call.

Just pay for it and re-sell it.

[maddysmum]

So in three years owning a bridal boutique, we sold maybe 1% off the dresses from situations like this.

First, think about the BMs dresses that people pick - how many would you pick to wear to an event and pay for? Not a huge percentage (funny, the bubblegum pink floor length chiffon collection with the matching cherry red MOH dresses weren't big sellers?) were amazing standalone dresses. Plus, not a lot of people shop for a special occasion dress at a bridal boutique so the market is small.

The biggest market in a bridal boutique for special occasion dresses is made up of bridal parties, who need multiple dresses, in very specific sizes and colors.

No, those dresses from cancelled weddings wound up living in the storage room indefinitely because they were a waste of valuable retail space and were an almost impossible sell.

So, no - the aren't a valuable commodity for the store in almost every case.

Of course you're on the hook. You ordered a dress, agreed to pay the balance upon arrival and at no point contacted them to tell them anything had changed with your dress. Can you imagine the outrage if the salon had cancelled your order on a rumor? Or because another bridesmaid cancelled hers? Or something else that didn't require your explicit consent to cancel?

Pay the balance and take it up with the bride if you feel that is the best step.

[Deleted]

I think the shop should have collected the full payment at the time that it was ordered. That way, they'd have been protected against something like this happening.

I don't know what I'd do in the OP's situation. I guess if it was truly a custom made dress, I'd buy it and try to resell at a consignment shop or ebay or something. If it was something that was just ordered in my size but not custom made (similar to Davids Bridal, which is the only place I've had to purchase dresses before) then I wouldn't feel as bad since it should just be able to be shipped back to wherever it came from and sold to someone else. The fact that it has been a year complicates its ability to be resold, but I would say THAT part is on the bridal shop since they should have called sooner and told you they had the dress and wanted you to pick it up.

What do you think your SIL would do if you told her that you were being asked to pay off the rest of your dress now? She should offer to pay it, even if she doesn't pay you back for the original deposit