It's been a while since my last entry. I have been working non stop since I published my last entry and had little time to dedicate to my blog.
I am now helping my friend Carly to look for her wedding dress and after the awful service we received in 2 of the stores we visited I decided I had to share with every bride to be our experience.
Our first wedding drees hunting operation was on July 6th. We visited the Pronovias store at Calle Velazquez 55.
We were so excited about this visit and had big expectations. When we get there at 11.00 AM, the shopping assistant let us in (after us waiting a while at the main door) and she aked us to sit in front of a computer. She showed Carly the wedding dresses from the website and made her choose the ones she liked.
Once she had chosen a few of them, she made her get into a dressing room and leave us sitted in front of a table with the computer. Definitely not the best place to admire the wedding gowns.
Before starting trying on dresses, my friend asked the shopping assistant is she could use the restrooms. She told her the restrooms were only for staff and that she needed to go outside the store and found another place to use the restroom!!!!!. You are going to that store thinking about spending thousands of euros and you cannot even use the toilet. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!
She tried on the first wedding dress but it didn't look aas well as we thought it would. Moreover the only size they have at Pronovias is the 42, therefore they need to use big clothesppins to make the dress tighter. As you might realize, this doesn't really show you how the dress will look on you.
You are not allowed to take pictures with the wedding dresses you like. I can understand that they might think you just go there to try on wedding dresses. However in her case, she needs them to show to her mum and sister who live in Manchester and Dubai respectively. As we couldn't take pictures, I had to record videos with my iphone (pretending I just had the iPhone in my hands checking whatsapp) and then make screen captures :s
Another thing we hated about the service at Pronovias is that the shop assistant was attending other clients at the same time she was helping Carly try on wedding gowns. Another UNBELIEVALBE fact about the customer service at this store.
Do you think you can analyze a wedding dress like this? Chairs in the middle
no pedestal to stand in, NOTHING.
No wonder why Spain is in this financial situation right now. We do not give a shit about customer service and we do not give a shit about people who wants to spend their money in our store!
We loved her in one of the wedding dresses from Pronovias. Her mum and sister loved it too (after sending them the screen captures hahahaha). She is still thinking about that dress but is not sure whether to get it or not as this shopping assistant totally ruined her special day.
How are you going to feel a dress belongs to you if the shopping assitant is making your special day a nightmare? If she's attending other people (with no appointment) at the same time, it doesn't make you feel special, and definitely makes you feel like she does not care about you buying or not.
After that visit we decided to go to a restaurant to celebrate with champagne that the wedding dress hunting had started and that she is going to get married in a year.
Once we finished we thought about going to Rosa Clará to see if they could give us an appointment that day. Fortunately they gave us an appointment for 4 pm, so we decided to grave some lunch nearby.
At 4pm we were already in Rosa Clará excited to see the wedding dresses they had at the store. That store, also in Calle Velazquez, was sooooo different from Pronovias. This one was more classy and beautiful, and the shopping assistants were lovely.
First we sat at a table where Carly could look at the different collections they had. The good thing about Rosa Clará is that the most expensive dress is only 4000 euros so she could look to all dresses without worrying about the budget :)
The shopping assistant, as well as the Pronovia one, made Carly lots of questions about the wedding: When , wher, and what time is it going to be, budget, dress style she liked and hate, etc. The difference between Rosa Clará and Pronovias is that the Rosa Clara shopping assistant took notes wheter the Pronovias one didn't.
Once she had decided the dresses she liked, we went into the dressing room. No comparison between this one and the Pronovias one. At Rosa Clará you get into a HUGE dressing room, with three big mirrors and a bench for the friends and family that come with the bride-to-de.
The shopping Assistant offered us something to drink and then Carly started trying on wedding dresses :). She tried all the ones she liked from the collection + a few more that the shopping assistant thought she might like.
Unfortunately Carly didn't love any of the dreses she tried one. The fact that the air conditioner was broken might have something to do with it. When you are trying wedding dresses in summer with no air conditioning....it migh be a bit uncomfortable. She couldn't wear the dresses for more than 1 minute because of the heat. It might have been very stifling.
Yesterday, July 13th, we went to another Pronovias store because Carly saw at the website one dress she didn't get to try last time. This store is in Calle Serrano 31, and I must say the customer service was exactly the same as last time.
She had an appointment for 10.30 AM that day, but when we get there they say she was not on the list. Apparently the person who took all her details ( wedidng date, ID number, telephone, name, etc) didn't put her ono the list.
There is no need to say that Carly was very very annoyed.
After she got furious in the store, complaining about the service, they told us to come in half an hour and they will show us dresses. After half an hour we got back and we went to the store upper level so Carly could try on dresses.
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She saw the dress she liked and the shopping assistant said they had it at the store and that she could try it, so we got excited!!!
Carly tried 2 dresses and when we thought the shopping assistant was bringin THE DRESS, she told us they didn't have it at the store but they could ask for it and have it there in a week.
Apparently not all dresses at the website are in every store (ok understandable), but even some of them are not available in any store and they have to be ordered (stupid!!!!!). Well, I know now you are thinking "ok no problem you call the store, ask for the dress and then get an appintment". Ok, Yes that will work if it's just one dress the one they do not have. If you like more than 1 dress they have to ask the factory for, the will make you choose only 1. Each bride is only allowed to ask for 1 dress!!!
The most shocking part of this visit was when the shoppin assistant didn't let Carly try on more dresses. She saidd as we didn't have an appointment (not true because we had one at 10.30 but whoever took he appointment forgot to schedule it) we couldn't try more.
When Carly was getting a new appointment to try on the dress she liked, but that had to be ordered, the shopping assistant told us she actually got the appointment they claimed she didn't had. You know when they gave her the appointment for? Friday 12!!!! What the heck??? If she got the appointment on Friday and didn't show up...why didn't they call her?
Clearly the service at Pronovias is awful!
Once finished at Pronovias we went to Calle Goya 84, to a store called Eva Novias. I have to say the first impressiona t this store was not good either. We got there as the shopping assistant asked Carly her wedding date. When she said July 25 2014, the shopping assistant told her "the 2014 collection arrives in October. Come back then. Bye"...WTF!!!!! If she's marrying in 2014 she can only wear 2014 collection? What if she likes a dress form the 2013 collection? Isn't it their goal to sell wedding dresses no matter what collection?
I just cannot understand the attitude of the wedding dresses shopping assistant. They definitely do not care about selling.....Soooo SAD!
At the end we got a good service at Eva Novias, but again...no pictures allowed :( I used the same sttrategy as in Pronovias but got caugth by the shopping assistant LOL. She was actually very rude to me. he could have told me "look I know you are taking pictures but because of the store policy we are not allowed to let you take pictures"
Choosing your wedding dress should be an exciting and an unforgetable experience. For Carly is being so far an unforgettable experience, but not in the good way. Let's hope the next wedding hunting experience is better and Carly can finally find THE DRESS!!!! and we can finally toast for good :)
Love
Soraya
