Merrily Couture

We had the stock dress in the store when the customer came back in without their gown describing the issues they had. They claimed we gave them the stock dress which we did not. We do not change tags. The customer tried on the gown and left with it. The customer spoke doth our seamstress snd went over what needed to be altered but if they had a seamstress who can get their alterations done sooner they chose that option. They decided to have it altered elsewhere. Merrily Couture is not responsible for alterations. Regardless if the gown needs to be made larger or smaller that is on the customer. The invoice the customer signs at the time of the special order explains special order policies , store policies as well as seamstress policies. We expressed the designers needs to be contacted. We expressed we have all the shipping labels, invoices and if the dress is mis sized or miss tagged this needs to be shown to the designer. The customer called today asking what was the outcome of the designer… so we gave the details..
we need the information in order to prove to the designer of the issue. The customer is angry that the designer is requesting these details in order to have a Solution.
The designer asked, who has the gown?
Well customer doesn’t and is doing alterations.
Designer asked did you measure the gown ?
No, Bc the customer left with the gown and is doing alterations.
Designer asked, do you have current day measurements to compare the customers measurements at time of ordering.
No, we do not.
Do you have pictures of the gown to show us the issues?
No, Bc customer accepted the gown and is doing alterations .
We were not given that information
Designer asked do you have pics of the tag ?
No, I asked for the tags. Customer wanted to keep them.
The customer was to come back down to the store two weeks ago and did not. The customer was to come the next day and did not. The customer also said, they would go to the store that weekend . The customer failed to do so
The customer called today wanting to know what the designer said.
We explained the questions we were asked and we could not provide the answers too.
The designer is requesting the information. We asked the customer to come down when our seamstress is here so we can measure provide the details to the designer.
The designer all stated once the customer leaves the store with the gown and has it altered the gown can not be brought back.
This is what was expressed to us being that we had no information to prove of any issues. However we asked the customer to come back the following week so the designer could measure & the info can be given to the designer.

We never abandoned the customer.
We have provided complete customer service and insight from the designer.
Our store policies states as it is posted At the payment counter abd in dressing rooms .
“Once you sign your receipt and accept terms and conditions you are agreeing to full ownership of the gown. Once you leave the store, the gown is 100% under your possession. Although our staff would love to help you with any potential issues it is not the business’ responsibility to administer any form of financial compensation for alterations.
All Sales are final and alterations are separate ftom Merrily Couture. We enjoy doing business with you and these strict guidelines help avoid future confusion or confrontation.
With Love and Soarkles,
Merrily
So although we are being accused and was told we would be given the benefit of the doubt if we contacted the designer to take the next steps and find out the issues Bc we have the stock dress. Even if we did not have the stock dress, we sell off the floor. How do you have a store but not sell stock? However if we are halted and can not provide the detailed answers to the designer so they can find out if there’s a problem with the gown to resolve issues Bc the customer now has decided this is the route instead and does not want to comply with giving the details as we are instructed to by the designer.
We always provide the best customer service and pricing.
It is sad the customer chose this route when we were trying to resolve the issue they had with the designer.

Being that the designer wanted certain questions answered to help the customer but not given the ability to do so .

I donated over 134 gowns to the town of Brookhaven from discontinued gowns that were no more than two years old. We have validation of this from the town. I donate hundreds of thousands of dollars of brand new stock to allow each school district to have a prom fashion show for the senior class. This raises scholarship money and is the biggest fundraiser for each school. We have 9 fashion shows a year for the past 6 years. No other store will allow their brand new stock to be in a fashion show bc each girl had to be sized into the gown and they come long since based on 5’9” models with four inch heels. So every girl has to be pinned into the gowns along with the hem. We had over 50 students within the last four days of the fashion show with this particular school and I ran out of pins. I was the only one that had a vehicle and had to drive to Michaels to purchase more pins. I did not turn away any students. The school had a cut off date of the week prior but I allowed the students to participate knowing the extra work and I did all the pinning by myself. I had no help from the prom committee or the parents. I didn’t complain or say a word. I just did it. Besides doing all this work for your fashion show, there were other schools there as well and customers who wanted to try on the gowns to purchase. Im carrying 20-30 gowns at a time for each customer, helping and pinning models. I have my sales staff but it’s all me. I do all the work. I bring all the gowns myself lifting them by myself in and out of the vehicle and bringing them back to the store at midnight only to get up the next day to go back to work. I am a small business owner and did not get here by luck but by hard work. There were two gowns that you asked us to hold and we did for 5 days. We normally do not hold gowns during prom season. If we do hold it is bc a parent is to come in to pay for the gown they are purchasing off the floor and do it does not get ruined. But not when you are deciding between a few gowns while you go to store to store.. you asked us to hold until the fashion show which was weeks away. We asked you to purchase the gown bc there were other parents interested in purchasing the gowns also and they were serious about making the purchases and wanted the gowns. We explained, style numbers with the designer can be written down for you so that you could purchase when you were ready. But instead I was attacked personally and on many levels. I was called money hungry... which is far from the truth. Every dollar goes into my store. I discount and do what I can for ppl and do not get full price for the gowns as other stores. In every aspect I have been attacked. I am the only business owner in my business who works with each families budget and works individually with every customer. I deal with the ordering and designers as well as helping my customers pulling out gowns. You have never purchased from my store. You have never purchased a gown from me. I accepted your daughters apology and she understood. It was sad that the school had to get involved bc of deformation against myself and store. You also were aware of the fashion show policies that were from your school but I was attacked. I am so glad that Theresa Bloom the president of the school committee defended our store. I am glad to say since this issue, we have very structured policies that are enforced. I have a fashion show advisor that everything goes thru her so I am no longer attacked and my hard work, dedication and sponsorship does not go unrecognized. This situation made many positive changes and we have grown since with a lot of support and praise. I work 7 days a week Monday Thru Saturday from 11am until 8:30pm and Sunday 11am until 6pm to serve my customers.

Karen Demaio, Thank you for being supportive of our store. It was such a delight working with your daughter to find her prom dress. Thank you for coming back to our store to shop! Reading these words made my day! Happy New Year!

Latest Response
Ok , let’s go over this again , I worked with you for hours , you picked out a dress off the rack , hence off the rack , gave you a huge discount , you were happy with the dress , paid and signed my store contract which states “ FINAL SALE “ , you were aware the zipper was broken bc this is a dress not ordered new but straight off the rack , sample Dress ppl try on , you were aware asked if alterations were included in which they’re not , yet I have 2 seamstresses that come to my store for my customers conveinance , they have there own businesses they do not work for the store , anyways you wanted to use one of them , instead of having you to travel to drop it off I was going see her anyway I dropped it off for you , zipper got done , yet for some reason the new zipper wasn’t good enough, long story short this went back and forth to the seamstress and you were just not happy over a zipper , then you decided to become nasty , make a scene in my store , and I’m a “ CON” , how ? This make sense to anyone ? Like we never seen this “ scam “ before in the 6 years I’ve been open , let’s make a scene and get away with paying. For alterations , hmmm so new to me !!!



Laura, I am so sorry you were not happy with our service. We wanted to do everything we could to resolve the zipper issue. You asked us to do an alteration and to take it in at the zipper which we were not responsible for. But the zipper.. however if something was taken in and caused a problem than we are responsibleI. You were shown that no material was cut when the new zipper went in and the original material was all there. I expressed that if something was taken in than that is considered to be a alteration. We can go over your receipt that a discount was given and to show you the receipt for the cost of putting in two zippers. I apologize if replacing the zippers did not worked as well that you hoped.. Perhaps if you met with the seamstress we could gone over it all together with you as to how you expressed to us how you wanted it taken in. I’m sorry our best was not good enough but we would like a chance to make it perfect. We would be happy to help you in the future. All I was trying to do was to go forward with you to make it work. The day you called, I just received the gown back from the seamstress, when I entered the store there were ppl there who also needed my attention as well. So that day, you happened to called me first, and I tell all my customers do not hesitate to call bc we want to help everyone . When I have a chance to call my customers it’s either early before we open , when it’s quiet or after customers leave. The issues describing needs to be dealt with by our seamstress Josephine bc I am not one. I do oversee and work along side with them at the time of the fitting to help explain the background info. At the time I did ask for you to leave the gone and get the seamstress here bc just by putting the new zipper still wasn’t working so minor adjustments had to be made. I feel that getting an attorney involved is useless and getting nasty does not solve the issue. I feel we are all adults and we can all talk rationally. It would be silly. We all have a common goal. We could have you bring the gown back and go over each area to figure out what the problem is.
Merrily

I’m so sorry Christine but as the owner I always would like to make things right and offer a solution. If you like, please call me so I can go over this with you. I am not aware of this happening although I am at my store 7 days a week helping all my customers. We try to help everyone during our busy prom and fashion show season and would want everyone to re dive the help. If the wrong size was ordered we would have to compare measurements at time of ordering and size tried on and remeasure her size again when the dress arrived, again trying on those same sizes in the store again as well as trying on the size it’s now saying she is. When we went over this with you in the store, we did try on sizes by that designer and we all compared the size chart to what she tried on. Paying cash did not expedite the Dress sooner. You were offered to pay by cash in order to receive a better price and being that this Dress had to be ordered ASAP in order to receive it on time. This was explained and all options of payment were given. We gave choices on how you wanted to pay and if you wanted to order the dress bc it had to happen quickly in order for ya to receive it as quickly as possible. However paying by cash did not expedite the Dress sooner. We needed payment in order to place the order for the gown so alterations could be done. 99% of our customers do need alterations bc they are based on body types of 6” models. But we never order purposely too small or too large. We always try to beat competitors prices and go for a perfect fit.

Tara your daughter was supposed to put her dress on the prom registry with her school and she never did. To blame a store when we are a business, to email other customers to support You is appalling. I am sorry. We are a business and can not deny ppl. You called us on the phone while you were screaming at your family in the background and endured two hours of that on a Saturday and again on a Sunday. We told you to switch the dress. But I think there are more important things going on in this world. I have a fiancé who is dying and it for me, I see what’s important in life. I try to please everyone. I work hard but to be attacked I will not put up with. We did offer you a solution and you refused. I also spoke to the other girls mother and she said her daughter wanted that particular dress and was going to get it from wherever she had to. She saw our posts on Instagram of this gown. Does that mean I’m not allowed to post pics of my gowns either.