Did you know David's Bridal charges a consultation fee?

[Anonymous]

It's been that long since I've stepped foot into a David's Bridal. Had to go today to get flower girll dresses. Dress was picked out, by their aunt and we needed to go to store to make sure we had correct size and to buy dress. You are supposed to have an appt and there is a fee. It makes sense especially when you consider how much time picking out dresses can be but I'm thinking it's quite a percentage of the low cost flower girl dress to make sure it fits before you buy it. Am I the only one that didn't know about this?

[Anonymous]

I went there 3 times when looking for my dress and this was never mentioned. It was in 2010.

[Anonymous]

Interesting. I just got both a bridesmaids and flower girl dress from there and paid no extra fee. The bride was not "registered" in their system though...maybe that's the difference?

[Anonymous]

Weird. I got married last year and bought a dress there. My bridesmaids also both bought dresses there and I was with them when they did. None of us paid such a fee.

[Anonymous]

it's a new policy. apparently folks come in to try stuff on and then use the internet to find the style cheaper. the people who work in the stores earn commission so they lose out. helping someone trying on a wedding dress is far more time consuming than working at a gap and helping the customer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it's a new policy. apparently folks come in to try stuff on and then use the internet to find the style cheaper. the people who work in the stores earn commission so they lose out. helping someone trying on a wedding dress is far more time consuming than working at a gap and helping the customer.

They earn a salary, right? Commission is on top of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it's a new policy. apparently folks come in to try stuff on and then use the internet to find the style cheaper. the people who work in the stores earn commission so they lose out. helping someone trying on a wedding dress is far more time consuming than working at a gap and helping the customer.

They earn a salary, right? Commission is on top of that.

If you spent hours with one customer and it was for nothing, how would you feel. Also, their salary is probably no more than $10.00/hr. They should charge. The time will come when real estate agents also charge.

[Anonymous]

Can you just order it online from them and return if it doesn't fit/exchange? If they want to compete with online - lower your prices. I'd never pay a fee to try on. Rather spend a bit more at another store who doesn't charge a fee. When we went, we found them completely unhelpful. We went without an appointment and they were annoyed. We grabbed the dresses ourselves and my mom helped me get them on... so what exactly is the fee for (oh, we did get fussed at for grabbing too many)? That's not right to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you just order it online from them and return if it doesn't fit/exchange? If they want to compete with online - lower your prices. I'd never pay a fee to try on. Rather spend a bit more at another store who doesn't charge a fee. When we went, we found them completely unhelpful. We went without an appointment and they were annoyed. We grabbed the dresses ourselves and my mom helped me get them on... so what exactly is the fee for (oh, we did get fussed at for grabbing too many)? That's not right to me.

The dresses were in the store only, not available online. I think if it was really about people getting less expensive dresses elsewhere they should refund the fee if you purchase there. I though it was a way to make more money without increasing the cost of the dresses.

[Anonymous]

How much is the fee?

[Anonymous]

I just bought three flower girl dresses online for a lot less than I would have spent in a bridal store. I can see why David's Bridal would charge a consultation fee because of online competition, but as someone else already stated they should refund the fee if you purchase there.

[Anonymous]

That's crazy. I knew the dress I wanted when I went in, tried it on and bought it. Why have a website if you don't want people to order from there? Or just keep the online prices the same as the stores.

That's crazy.

[Anonymous]

Part of a business is providing customer service - its reasonable for people to look and that's part of the cost of the dress (and their alterations are really $$$ which makes up for the lower costs of the dress). To charge for the customer service, when most of the staff is unhelpful to me is tacky at the least. If they want people to buy from them, lower their prices to stay competative.

[Anonymous]

We tried on flower girl dresses there (and bought bridemaids dresses) just last April-no fee. BTW, I decided to forgo the $120 flower girl dress and I bought a gorgeous white embellished dress for DD at TJ Max on sale for $15, then sewed on a sash to match (and took off the green one with the fake pink flower). She looked fantastic and it only cost $18.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much is the fee?

$20 per consultation so times two kids. Plus the dresses $80 each and the sash. One dress will need to be altered but don't plan to do it there. They didn't have the shoes at that location and since discontinued they can't order it at the store. I would hope we woudnt be charged again if we went to another David Bridal store for shoes.

11:05, I wish we could have done something similar but it isn't our wedding and there is another flower girl in the mix so I'm sure bride wants them all to match.