I DO NOT recommend purchasing your dress from here and if you do, put your emotions aside and examine your gown from head to toe, seam to seam. Bring your seamstress to the shop with you if possible.
I purchased the Winslet dress in Nov 2021 a...nd paid a 1 month rush fee of $234.45+tax. I received the dress in April and when I tried it on, I was ecstatic! I trusted the associates that all was fine so I took it home. I opted for the hollow to hem measurement so I was expecting to only take it in at the waist. The associates at the store also agreed that this is probably all I needed to do.
When I tried on the unaltered gown for my seamstress, who's super experienced by the way (15+ years working only on bridal gowns), the first thing she said to me was, "One side of your neckline is crooked." WHAT?! I looked where she was pointing and sure enough, it was crooked. My dress is a V-neck so the V needs to be perfect because it's basically the center of attention. I snapped a bunch of photos and compared it to the gown that I tried on in store when I bought the dress. There's definitely something wrong with my gown.
I immediately brought this to Rakhi Patel's (sales person at Winnie Couture) attention via text message with photos. She tried to assure me that it's because the dress is brand new and with some steaming and time and also, once it's altered to fit my body, the fabric will soften and the neckline will straighten out. This makes no sense because why is the dress that I purchased brand new, not already in its perfect shape when it was handed to me? I understand that the sizing is incorrect, but it doesn't make sense that when it sits on the body, it'll be crooked.
After some back and forth, I consulted my seamstress again and she confirmed that it's not a fabric softness issue and even if she tried to fix it, it won't be perfect. This was unacceptable.
After more back and forth, first, Winnie Couture said they would cover the alterations for the neckline and refund the rush fee. Eventually, Rakhi said she would send a new dress and they would cover the cost to alter it to be like my current dress. The new dress was delivered directly to my seamstress on May 21. I met the seamstress on May 24 to try on the new dress. The seamstress confirmed that the dress's neckline was also crooked on the new dress. She also confirmed that even if the dress was ok, it would take too much time and cost significantly more to alter it to be the same as my current dress. For this reason, I had no choice but to accept the original dress that I was given. Note, my wedding was on July 30 and I was panicking because I wasn't sure if there'll be enough time to fix it the way I wanted it.
Since the original solution that Winnie Couture proposed didn't work and was going to cost the company much more, I requested that the entire cost of my dress alteration be covered instead. I also requested that the 1 month rush fee that I paid be refunded. Ultimately, Winnie Couture covered the full alteration cost of the dress, but REFUSED to refund the rush fee. Their argument was that the dress arrived on time. Yes, the dress arrived on time, BUT it wasn't PERFECT. If I paid for a product to arrive earlier, but it arrived with flaws, this doesn't mean it arrived earlier!! You sent me a bad apple on time, not the perfect one I bought.
It's been 4 months and I still haven't received my refund for the rush fee. I expected more from a brand like Winnie Couture.
