A David's Bridal Bride wonders where they got their bad rep

I don't think it has anything to do with the brand at all.

I heard of nightmare experiences and still went in to look for dresses. I was being optimistic about the situation.

MY experience:
I came in on time, I had to wait 15-20 minutes to actually meet my consultant. She was very nice and asked me what things I was looking for and details of my wedding. So that was great. I was excited even after waiting such a long time.
THEN, I went to get measured. And my lady told me that she was super busy and would be helping another bride at the same time. ....Okay. Sure, I can deal. The next thing that comes out of her mouth is "Don't wait up for me to try on dresses though, your MOH can help you in and out of them if i don't come back after a few minutes." uhh..wha? She is not working there and doesn't do that stuff so she would have no clue what she is doing.
My consultant put me in ONE dress. I tried on about EIGHT total. My MOH had to help me in all of them! continued

My consultant only checked on my THREE times throughout the night. She picked out one dress for me and I had to find the rest myself and at one point I couldn’t find her when I had a question and had to have another consultant help me. It was an awful experience and if my girl wasn’t there to help me in and out of dresses I really don’t know how I would have been able to get through my appointment!

I liked some of the dresses I found so it has nothing to do with brand or the dresses. I’m also a thin string bean, so I don’t think weight is related either. This was also on a Wednesday in the evening, so it wasn’t even during a busy time and was completely dead in the store.

The ladies were nice but if you are making my MOH work then the consultant DOES NOT deserve the commission. Period.

I've been there twice -

I made an appointment at the reg. store - it was for 6pm on a weeknight, I was 10 mins early & told I could take a peek at dresses but not to pull any off the rack. At 6:30 I asked when I could try on a few dresses, the lady told me a few more mins as my consultant was getting her other 3 brides situated in the dressing rooms with their dresses. I waited 5 more minutes and still hadn't picked one dress to try on. I finally told the lady no thanks and walked out.

Since I really wanted a specific dress I went to the collections store near me - again on a weeknight and was taken around the store for a tour, shown each collection, made to feel special. All the consultants in the store were AmaZing - They all came to see me in "the" dress. Let me Skype my bridesmaids so they could be there. Didn't rush me. Special ordered the sash I wanted. Even helped my mom try on dresses.

Loved the collection store not the reg store

I didn't have a great experience there either. Given, I did go on a Saturday morning so I knew it was going to be busy, but my mom and sister were only in town for that one day so we had no other choice. We arrived a bit early for the appointment and had to wait about 20 minutes for our consultant (even though people arriving after us were shown in sooner). They had told us her name and then kept paging her, so we knew she was ignoring the pages. Finally they gave us another consultant, who was very nice. I had written down about 8 dresses I wanted to try, and she brought me all of them. Past that though, she had no suggestions for anything else to try on, which I thought was too bad. I was underwhelmed by the dresses, everything was nice but I didn't find 'the one.'

From my experience and what others are saying here, I wonder if the lack of good customer service is partially because the consultants don't care, or have a reason to care. At the boutique where I bought my dress, she makes appointments for one bride at a time. The owner was the one choosing my dresses to try and helping me into the dresses. It was a really lovely experience and she was so helpful, and the dress I got was a steal. I paid the same I would have paid for the DB dress I kind of liked, but the fabric was much better quality and the lace and beading is hand sewn.

I think DB has lots of good options for great prices, but it depends what consultant you get. It's the kind of place you need to go into with lots of patience, and on a weekday!

PS- these are mostly reviews and this thread will probably get taken down, no?

Many of the fellow brides and past brides in my town went on weekdays just like I did and still got crap experience.

I do think it's the lack of customer service. I think they are just such a big company that most consultants don't care for the bride. I went because I heard a few girls I knew had a great experience. But unfortunately that didn't happen for me.

I'm glad you got a great experience though! I wanted mine to work out but it just didnt'

I've had mixed experiences. I went with a friend and we did not have an appointment. We did not get stellar service. I had to help my friend in all the dresses. The consultant pretty much said, "do you like it or not", "okay, next." We felt really rushed. But again, we did not have an appointment, so we got mediocre service.

I went on a Friday night, with an appointment. It was the best bridal experience. They gave me tons of attention. Let me prance around in the same dresses for hours and "jacked" me up with every dress. They were pressuring me to buy (ring the bell) but they were still very present.

I actually ended up buying a Maggie Sottero dress online.

The only things I have heard about DB where I live is that it's a "cheap" place to go for cheaper gowns. The one time I went there for a bridesmaid dress, my experience was just fine.

My FH picked his tux from MW and I was heading to Chicago to pick my bridesmaid dresses at Bella Bridesmaid, Men's Wearhouse told me I could take the pocket square to match his vest so I could color-coordinate with Bella, but they were out of stock that day. So, the guy from MW called the David's Bridal next door and told them I'd be coming over to buy a sample of fabric since they were out of stock. I went over and the woman had the fabric IN HER HAND, but then asked me if I was getting my BM dresses at Davids and I said no, she went back to a drawer and pulled out instead a piece of fabric the size of a postage stamp and tried to charge me $10 for it. I asked her why I couldn't have the pocket-square sized one as MW had discussed and she told me it was "reserved for DB brides only." I told her I hadn't bought my dress yet, but I certainly wouldn't be looking at David's ever and walked out.

When I got to Chicago, I stopped in at MW and they gave me a pocket square for free.

I can't speak for other brides but I will share my thoughts on David's Bridal....

I went to David's Bridal twice (had appointments both times). Both times I had to wait at least 10 minutes for my consultant. Both times my consultant disappeared while she assisted other brides (the second visit was mid day during the week and I could only see 1 other customer in the store). The first appointment was 2 hours to try on 4 dresses (these were dresses I had located on line and added to my "favorites" on the David's Bridal website). The second appointment was an hour and I only got to try on 2 dresses. Shortly after the second appointment I started getting calls to come back in and order a dress.

On top of that, I started getting calls from vendors. When pressed, each one finally stated that they got my contact information from David's Bridal. But, I wasn't able to save dresses on the website or make an appointment without providing my contact information to David's Bridal!

I have heard both positive and negative about DB. I think partially because they are a chain it is really hard to provide consistent service when you may not have "skilled" or passionate people working.

Sometimes it's all about the customer service. Unfortunately, customer service is not something that you can necessarily teach people and as a society we tend to share our negative experiences as opposed to our positive. For every 1 complaint that person tells 10 people and those 10 people tell 10 people, etc.

I have been to DB quite a few times over this wedding planning adventure! first was in socal to try on dresses for me, we made an appt on a friday in the morning, my consultant was amazing and so helpful! I didnt find my dress but she was great! then on sat I went with my girls to find their dresses, we were the first appt of the day, the consultants werent as attentive but there were a lot of us and I liked it that they sort of left us alone unless we had a question. I found my dress at the DB in Chico, my consultant was beyond amazing without her I never would have found my dress because it wasnt something I was looking for originally. I went back to them for alterations and only needed a bustle but I also loved my alterations lady, she was so sweet and patient with us. all of the women in my wedding party including my mom got their dresses from DB, I also got my shoes and headband from them :-)

Wow...reading these makes me remember other "disasters" with David's...the fabric swatch! We just bought an $1800 dress, and you are charging for a fabric swatch for the BM dresses and GM?! (let's not forget...they charge for a BAG for their dress, too...why not just write it in with the price of a dress and look less cheap!?)

I also arrived EARLY to my appt...yet had to wait 45 minutes for my consultant. I still wonder if I would have ended up in jail that day, if my fiance had not shown up.

As it was stated above….DB is a humongous chain. When 1 person at 1 store has a bad experience it affects all of the DB reputations and its personnel. Smaller bridal boutiques operate on a much smaller scale with a much smaller client base leaving room for less criticism. It’s not to say that DB is perfect…it’s just that if 1 store has total brats working that’s going to give a reputation for a DB two states a way with wonderful girls striving to create a positive experience. I personally had a great experience and loved my dress (and the price)!

Got my dress from DB, no issues. The girl helping me was nice but clearly over stretched between me and two other brides.

Here's the thing, it's a low budget chain NOT Kleinfields so to go in with high expectations is a little absurd.

I however am not going with their alterations department as I have heard the horror stories.

I've been to DB in Monroeville, PA for my best friends wedding dress. She did find her dress, although her consultant kept going missing, didnt help her change at all (I had to do it), and just seemed totally uninterested. I was not impressed and will not be going there to look for my dress.

I am a plus sized bride and will say my first visit with them was WONDERFUL and I even felt like I found *the dress* I went originally to get an idea on what I liked, what dresses would look good on me and my MOH and pricing in store. After having a horrible experience at a couple other stores Davids was great. They had a bra in my size and dresses my size. With that said my second experience with them was not great.

So I came back another day with no appointment and was pretty much ignored. So I made another appointment for a Sunday. The first time I had an appointment all eyes were on me. The second time my appointment was shared with another bride. I do NOT suggest having an appointment where your consultant is working with more than one bride. While I LOVE my consultant the first time she wasn't available the second time.

Anyways, so they knew they had the dress I liked. However, I really wanted to try on other styles. The problem was I wasn't fully sold on the dress. I had to wait quiet some time for the consultant to be ready. Which was fine because I was searching for each dress to see if they had it. The first time I came I didn't have a list the second time I did. The consultant brings three dresses one her pick, one I tried on and didn't want and one was my pick.

Her pick was HORRIBLE the shape was not something that would look good on me and what I was trying to hide (my stomach) the dress made NO sense. But hey it's all in fun. Then she shows me the second dress, this was a dress that is lovely but I didn't want it. She tried to push this dress on me a few times to which I told her I was NOT interested. The third dress did look good. This was my pic even she said I wouldn't of guessed this to look good on you. wow lady.

Anyways, after that dress she brings back the dress that I thought was the dress... Of course I put i back on and yeah it feels right and then they tell me how it's being discontinued and I have to buy it right now which I could not. I left pretty upset. I didn't get to try but ONE dress I actually wanted to try on. The consultant was too busy for me. I felt rushed, and it was just horrible. I have to admit even though I had such a good experience the first time it made me not want to go back.

Ugh, I just don't like them... They were rude to me and ignored me BOTH times I went in there. My daughter's dress came in and no one called me to let me know. For my bridesmaids, only two of them got the call that their dress was in, the other 3 didn't. It's a hit or miss with them. I had made an appt with them for my bridesmaids to try on dresses and they told me that an appointment doesn't guarantee that you'll have a consultant for the entirety of the appointment. Are you kidding me? Then what's the point of the appointment????

Also, they don't hire great seamstresses, so don't get your alterations there.

I had a fine experience. I wanted a dress under $200 (yes, $200 - I'm THAT girl), simple, light and flowy, with straps for a beach ceremony. She mostly stuck to my requests although she did bring me one (I'll admit, it was beautiful and I looked great in it) that was strapless, heavy, had a train, and cost $500, but wasn't pushy about it. In the end I got one for $179 that was exactly what I was looking for. I think some brides want the personal, boutique-style experience where they are served champagne and have their own private room, that you see in the movies.

@ottawa2014 To give you insight on how their appointments work, so you truly don't think you were being ignored. Every consultant is given two brides every hour and a half (especially on Saturdays). So when you're coming in another bride is coming in at the same exact time. On Saturdays mostly, if you come in early they literally do not have anyone to help you earlier because every consultant is matched with two brides already. Let me just say how difficult it is to push a bride out an hour and a half into her appointment when she wants to keep trying more on or is in love with two and is trying to decide while someone is waiting for you at the front desk to start.

When I did get called, I tried my best to be there within five minutes. I'm trying to close up on a bride that doesn't know she has a time limit (without being able to tell her the appointment is over) and I'm trying to bring another bride in so I'm going through our welcome tour around the store while someone has to wait.