I sent this complaint to Vincent Piccione, CEO of Alfred Angelo. Email address: [email protected]

Let me start by saying that when I got married 12 years ago, I wore an Alfred Angelo gown. Because of how beautiful my gown was, my sister, who was supposed to be getting married in May, chose to do the same. We live in Sinking Spring PA so the closest store to us is located in Lancaster, PA (Store 035), about an hour from our homes. We made many trips there over the past several months, first choosing a bridal gown and a bridesmaid gown, and then traveling to and from for alterations. On the date of my sister's first alterations appointment, she tried on her dress and saw two stains on the dress. It was obviously make-up. My sister doesn't even wear make-up. It was supposed to be a brand new gown. The seamstress, Ina, worked on getting the stains out, and my sister was to return for her final fitting.

Several days before her final fitting, the wedding was called off. My sister's final appointment was to be on Wednesday, March 30th. She asked my Mom and I to pick up her dress for her. She didn't want to try it on. When we arrived at the shop, we told them she wouldn't be trying it on and they brought it out to us, bagged and zipped up. We were also there to pick up my bridesmaid dress. A message had been left with my sister that my dress was ready but the store couldn't find it anywhere. We waited about 20 minutes while they searched and brought out wrong dresses. Finally, Bryce was nice enough to do some research and figure things out. Apparently my dress had been shipped to a store in California. I asked if they could have it shipped directly to me since we had already driven an hour there and would need to drive an hour back too. They agreed to do so. My dress arrived today and it is beautiful.

However, on this past Sunday, my Mom unzipped my sister's wedding gown (style 2106 in ivory) to see if a shawl that she had knitted would match the gown. The dress was zipped in with the back facing out so she turned the gown without even removing it from the bag to peek at the front. It was then that she noticed a gash in the dress, right underneath the bust in the center of her dress, underneath the extra fabric that comes down the center to the floor. It looked like a scissors cut and the edges were jagged. She immediately called the store and asked to speak with a manager. The assistant manager at the store asked her to bring the dress in and since we live over an hour away, yesterday was the first chance we would have to get there. We arrived and told Bryce why we were there and she went to get the manager, Linda.

Linda came out with a scowl on her face as my Mom unzipped the dress and showed her the gash in it. She stood there giving my Mom dirty looks and then took the dress and hung it back near where the seamstress, Ina, was working. She said to us, "She's the last person who touched the dress so you need to talk to her" and walked away. We waited over 15 minutes while the seamstress worked on another gown. Finally, she came to the front of the store with the gown in her arms. She hung it up and looked at the gash in the dress. And then she said to my Mom, "This was not like this when I steamed it and bagged it up. This is a scissors cut. I didn't do it" and glared at my Mom accusingly. My Mom said that she was in no way accusing the seamstress of doing anything to the dress. She was wondering if perhaps it had gotten caught on something and ripped while they were carrying it around and bagging it up. Ina repeated her original statement which was an obvious accusation that my Mom had in some way harmed the dress intentionally.

At that point, I stepped in and said that my Mom was not in any, way, shape or form looking to get her money back. She simply wanted the dress either fixed or replaced. Maybe someday my sister will wear it and if not, then at least she could sell it on ebay or something. In its currently condition, neither of those are options. The manager, Linda, stood by scowling at us, as the seamstress said she would go fix it. At this point, I was very upset with the way we were being treated. My mother, an honest woman who doesn't even swear, was being accused of sabotaging the dress and lying about. What purpose would that serve? I asked the manager if I could please have a number at the corporate office for customer service/complaints and I also asked her for the name and contact information for her boss. "Why do you need MY boss?" she yelled at me. I told her I need her boss's info because she was being rude. She stormed away, wrote down only her boss's first name, not even her own and a phone number. She then stood there glaring at me while the seamstress worked on the dress.

After a couple minutes, Ina came out with the dress. She put a very rough and uneven stitch into the gash which is clearly visible from both sides of the dress; and then reiterated to my Mom "This is a scissors cut and I didn't do it!" We should have insisted on the dress being replaced while we were there, but we could tell we were getting nowhere and were instead being treated like criminals. My Mom does not want her money back. She has paid over $600 for the dress and $149 for alterations, for a dress that is not wearable or salable. She has been treated like she intentionally did something to the dress, despite the fact that she never once accused anyone at the store of doing anything to the dress, even when there were make-up stains all over the brand new gown.

Neither Linda or Ina knows the first thing about customer service and they treated my Mom and me with complete disrespect. I also called Stephany (the name and number Linda gave me) at the number Linda provided to me, although I'm not even sure if it went to the correct extension because there was no voice mail message that indicated it was Stephany's extension. I am pretty sure Linda gave me a number, and possibly a name, that is inaccurate.