Heartless Consultant at David's Bridal

Davids Bridsl is the worst place to go to get help with a wedding
dress. My daughter and I went to one here in Canada and right from
the time we walked into the door to when we left was not a good
experience. The girl at the counter didn't acknowledge us when we
first walked in. She just kept answering the phone. When she finally
did acknowledge us, she then gave us a form to fill out which we felt
was in appropriate because the questions on it had nothing to do with
us trying on dresses. Once we gave her the form, a consultant came to
us and asked us what we were looking for and we told her what we
wanted and what we didn't want and then told her what the budget was.
The cconsultant looked at us as if we had two heads and said to us
that they didn't have anything of that price. I took a look around
and found many dresses within our budget but we didn't like them once
my daughter tried them on. After about an hour of me looking for
dresses and seeing the consultant come with dresses that we told her
we didn't want, we finally left. We went to Best For Bride and found
the dress and the service from the consultants was excellent.

That is horrible. I cant relate to this story but when one of my
bridesmaids ordered her dress the consltant walked away from the
credit card machine and the transaction didnt go through. Here I was a
week before my wedding wondering where her dress was and they said it
was my fault cause we didnt order the dress. We had proof through the
bank that the time had expired on the machine. they said we would have
to pay extra to get the dress here over night. I was mad. I had to
have my maid of honor call cause i was going to blow up. So I can
understand you frustration.

I have to admit I only ready 1/2 way through the other responses, so
someone may have already said this, but here is my two cents.

1) The customers perception is reality to them. It does not matter if
the sales person was trying to be rude, or meant to be rude or
whatever else. She handled this situation in a way that made her
customer uncomfortable and likely cost her a sale. She negated the
goodwill of coming in to meet on her day off by browbeating her
customer with that fact.

2) In regards to the commission: I have only worked one place where
sales associates got a "bonus" for sales of a certain dollar amount.
They were STRICTLY forbidden from disclosing to customer that they got
any sort of commission. The owner did not want customers to feel
obligated to work with a particular associate. I don't know, but
perhaps something like that leads to the conflicting info...

3) I suspect that if they are on commission, the associate may have to
split hers with another consultant who also helps the gues. Just a
thought as to why she was so relucant to just set her an appointment
with another consultant.

To the OP: I thought your letter was clear and your complaint valid.
I'm sorry about your mom and wish you good luck with all of your
wedding plans.

WHAT? You have to re-read this and tell me why you are pissed
off....the letter makes you sound pissed, but I don't understand why.

The Consultant was the person I originally spoke with during the
initial call. When she told me it was her day off, I told her that it
was ok, I would not buy anything, I just wanted to try something on.
My priority was with her at that point, because I agree, she deserves
the commission.

After her repeated requests to change the day, I told her what my
situation was, and that I needed to have this done the next day. (I
called a day in advance, and DB DOES take walk ins)
I again, reiterated, that I would not be buying anything, this was
only to take pictures so my mom could help me pick out a dress.

She insisted on comming in on her day off, but rubbed it in my face.
You probably had to be on the call itself to know, but hey, I was, and
I felt very strongly that she was being obnoxious.

When I received a call 10 minutes later, a call I returned 2 minutes
after, I spoke with another person at the store, not the consultant,
who again, pounded it into my head that it was her day off. It
sounded 'shady' is the best I could describe it. I could be wrong, but
I was on the call, not anyone here. I, again, said I would be happy to
work with someone who could help me at the time I needed to come in.
She was NOT happy, yet agreed and said she would be in to assist me.

The day of the appt, I received a call from the store manager, who
went on about how I had to buy my dress from them, they had already
given my bridesmaids 20$ off their dresses. She also said my
consultant does not receive commission, which leads me to believe they
had gotten wind of this letter, because it had NOT been mentioned at
anytime, during any of the conversaions before. I know for a fact DB
sales peopel get commissions, someone showed me a job ad in the paper,
and I spoke with someone who had worked there (that store). The
consultant did not show for the appt, because she had 'other plans'
which was just fine with me, at this point, I didnt' care.

For everyone who is assuming I didn't care about the consultant and
that it was her day off, you're wrong. I always give credit to the
people who help me, I've been a sales person myself. I just wanted to
get my pics, and why should I have waited for her to come in, when DB
TAKES walk ins, I was willing to make an appt with someone who WAS
available, and I told the consultant I would not buy anything? It was
completely up to her to come in on her day off, not me, and I did not
need this rubbed in my face by 3 different people at the store. THIS
is why I wrote hte letter.

Good day.

When I first read the original posting, followed by all the comments
lambasting the consultant, this is what I thought:

a) the consultant agreed to come in, but wanted the bride to
understand this was not the usual way of doing things. (I also think,
judging solely on what the bride wrote in her original post, that the
bride, instead of thanking the consultant, merely "agreed" to come in
when she had demanded to come in. Perhaps if she had said "thank you"
or "I really appreciate you accommodating me," the consultant might
have not reminded the bride yet again that she was being
accommodated.)

b) when the consultant went to her supervisor (or whomever does
employee scheduling) and announced she was coming in on her day off to
accommodate a bride, she was told to verify this again with the bride,
probably due to other, previous, brides who didn't show up for their
appointments. After all, the store was responsible for paying the
consultant whether or not the bride showed up.

c) whether or not the consultant expected to be paid, the store was
obligated by Illinois labor laws to pay her for the time she was in
the store. Most retail stores are also required by labor laws to have
minimum "call-in" hours, such as four hours. And, if the consultant,
by coming in on her day off, also exceeded the number of allowed
weekly hours, the store would have to pay her overtime for those
hours. Whether or not she intended it -- or even understood what she
was demanding -- the bride expected the store to pay someone to work
with her. And she was quite definite that she was not going to be
purchasing, but taking up people's time.

d) when the bride returned the consultant's telephone call, she spoke
with someone else, probably the scheduler, who determined that someone
else could help her, someone who was already scheduled to work and
would thus not cost the store the additional wages the original
consultant would, by coming in on her day off.

e) I also think that the store scheduler, or whoever she was, told the
original consultant that she couldn't come in because someone else
would handle the bride without costing the store additional expense by
paying the consultant.

f) according to a follow-up post from the OP, she didn't initially
tell the consultant why she absolutely had to come in on her time
frame. She wrote, "After her repeated requests to change the day, I
told her what my situation was." Perhaps if the bride had told the
consultant at the beginning that she had a personal emergency, the
consulant might not have tried to get her to change the demanded
appointment time and everything would have gone smoother.

I think everyone involved needs to think about what they said and did.
It doesn't appear that anyone in the situation was at their best.

It's sad that the bride is experiencing such a tragedy and I hope she
has a happy wedding day despite her loss. I saw my sister-in-law go
through virtually the same thing (her parent was injured in a car
accident) and also saw how many people went out of their way to assist
her, because they knew what the situation was. The bridal shop manager
opened the store during normally closed hours and her husband, a
professional photographer, took wonderful photos the bride showed her
mother. The bride, knowing how kind everyone was, tried to pay them
for their time, but they refused. They wouldn't even accept a tip or
allow her to pay for the cost of photographic materials.

but an excellent theory. I have a feeling your explanation is very
close to what actually happened.

I went in, and was told my Sales Person had 'other plans' and would
not be assisting me.

Apparently, they DID get this letter, because I ended up with a VM
message from the store manager, stating they don't work on commission
at David's Bridal, reminding me they gave me 20$ off my brides maids
dresses so I had to buy my dress there, and that the dress I
originally chose was now unavailable.

I worked with a wonderful sales person, who was even better than the
original one I had. We were very thankful. We took pictures of myself
& the "maids" in the dresses and I will develop them and bring them
over to my mom. It very well may be too late, she's in a 'sleeping
all the time' stage, but i'm willing to try to go see. Hopefully,
somehow, this will work.

Thank you for all the good wishes & posts. I really, really
appreciate it.

I do understand some people like to go on line and make trouble for
people who post personal situations. Hopefully, if they find
themselves in a similiar situiation someday, someone will show THEM
some compassion, so they might know what it is.

Commission sales jobs are a bugger sometimes. You can work and work
with a customer and not see a sale only to have them come back two
days later and buy the 15 pairs of shoes they were thinking about from
another salesperson. So, I do see the salesperson's point of view
here, especially when those commissions are needed in a tough
economy.

However, as was pointed out below, how the company chooses to
compensate their employees is not the customer's responsbility nor
should it be. The OP did the right thing by calling her consultant
before coming in. The only day the OP could come in was Tuesday, so
the consultant had a choice: do I want the commission or do I want the
day off? If she decided the commission is more important, fine, but it
is inappropriate at best to make the customer feel guilty about coming
in at a time that is convenient for the customer. Any expert in sales
will say sometimes you have to inconvenience yourself to make a sale.

I don't even see this as being a problem of company policy; it really
boiled down to the consultant having to make a choice. She did, but
she shouldn't have made the customer feel like crap for the choice she
made.

P.S. I'm sorry about your mom. I hope you are able to find a beautiful
dress and that she gets to see you in it.

I thought the store employees just seemed clueless and disorganized,
with horrible communication. Now from reading the OP's comments
below, it seems like the sales consultant *was* just hustling hard for
a commission. With that in mind, the actions with her and the other
store employees reeks of tackiness beyond measure.

I don't know much about David's. Do they require you to keep the same
consultant?

Seems to me that if you want to come in on a particular day, they
should have someone available on that day that can take over.

I can see if they don't have someone available for that day. This is
common in many businesses. While it would be nice to try to
accommodate your special situation, in the end, if they don't have
openings, they don't have openings.

What's clearly a problem is the consultant constantly reminding you
that it's her day off. Either she agrees to come in or she doesn't.

I don't think you making accusations about the consultant's motivation
is fair. I think you're right, but you're out of line to make the
accusation. It's none of your business.

Your letter, which clearly shows that this person was rude to you, is
a reasonable complaint.

What is the difference between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning?
I don't see why someone would come in on their day off when you could
have gone in the very next morning for the exact same thing. I don't
think it is a matter of heartlessness, I think she may have simply had
other plans or other obligations before you put her on the spot to be
at work when was initially not planning on being there. All people
have a life outside of work.

The consultant asked you "repeatedly" to change the date to wed
because tuesday was her day off. Why couldn't go in on wed?

Ok, what I understand is, the bridesmaids dresses are already
ordered...probably with the consultant in question. So she is already
getting commission for that. Now you would like to go in to take some
pictures in various dresses, but not actually order anything at that
time? Then you would come in later and place the order for the dress?


I think that the consultant is coming in on her day off because none
of the other associates would want to do it. Especially if their
appointments are all filled up with THEIR customers. They know that
they wouldn't be making any money for something that is probably going
to take up quite a bit of time.

Whatever the reason, she was/is going to go in on her day off for YOU.
And you thank her by writing a letter to corporate? A little
ungrateful, no?

I think you should get a new consultant.

I'm sorry - I just can't fathom how anyone with a heart would make the
OP jump through so many hoops ~ especially when they hear that the
OP's dying mother wants to look at the dresses and help her daughter
make the choice.

Matter of fact, if I were the consultant, I'd have gone one step
further and asked my manager if I could borrow the dresses the OP
liked to take them so she could model them for her mother. Much more
memorable than a picture.

This is just one of those times human decency should be the guiding
factor.

I'm very sorry for all you are going through. It must be very
difficult to plan the happiest day of you life knowing your mother
might not be there.

That being said, it's my thought that perhaps this consultant had, on
other occasions, made arrangements to meet a customer on her day off
only to have the customer not show up thus wasting her day off. She
just may have wanted to be absolutely certain you were going to show
up.

Based on my own experience and extensive reading (back when I cared
about weddings), most bridal shops don't allow any photos to be taken
of dresses (out of fear that you'll go looking for the dress elsewhere
and get a better price from another vendor/retailer). Also, back wehn
more women sewed, this was done to keep a bride from having a dress
copied by a seamstress.

But perhaps they've dropped this ban, given that they can't very well
confiscate cell phones, small digital cameras, etc., from everyone who
enters their store?

First off, I want to say how deeply sorry I am about your mother. I
hope you have the strength 8 support you need. Now, on the other hand
your consultant has no obligation to you on her day off (sounds like
she only as one). You are acting like she is suppose to accomodate you
on matter what because our mother "has days to live"

You are not being fair.

I know you're going through a horrible time, and I think your nerves
are raw and exposed -- take a deep breath. They're not doing this to
aggravate you on purpose--sounds like they are *very* unorganized.