House of Brides

I had a wonderful consultant (Charlotte). She was very helpful. I ordered my dress and it was suppose to be in the store by mid October. I called mid October (did I mention I live out of state) and they said it would be in the end of October. Then it was "oh it should be in beginning of November" (see a trend?). I finally got sick of the run around and demanded to talk to the manager who insisted the dress would be in the store around Thanksgiving. It is now December 6th and my dress still isn't at the store. My wedding is 13 days away. The ONLY lady in charge of the dresses once they are purchased is NEVER in the store, nor does she return phone calls. The manager obviously has no clue about shipping because she insured me my dress would be in their store no later then the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, but when I called that Tuesday and (my miracle) talked to the ONE lady in charge of the dresses she told me it hadn't even arrived at the manufacturers yet. If my wedding wasn't so close I would sue for my money back and go elsewhere. I saw all the negative reviews but stuck to the store anyway because my mother got her dress there and so did my sister-in-law. I can see now why this store has horrible reviews.
I have had to plead with my boss at least 4 different times to change my schedule because I had made travel arrangements (based on what the store told me) to go home and get fitted. Thankfully I was smart enough to not buy plane tickets. I have to now drive 18 hours (because plane tickets are too expensive) by myself to Chicago instead of flying out two months ago. I never though I would ever have such problems with my wedding, but House of Brides made sure that I would be really stressed out right to the very end. I should have my dress, alterations and all, but instead I am calling every few days just to be told its not in, or be directed to leave a message to which I almost never get a return phone call. This is my very first review for anything, but I had to get my story out there in hopes that maybe I can prevent another bride from having the same problems. This is suppose to be a wonderful time for me, but instead I am stressing out, even having dreams about my dress not being ready on time or being altered wrong. I figured a two-month late dress,a wedding just two weeks away, a manager who knows nothing about her store, a purchasing lady who never returns a phone call, and a rude front staff who treated my mother as some crazy lady warranted a negative review.

Posted 12/06/09 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

I dont know how krys Richards is the store manger is she is very rude and not helpful and all the consultants were not helpful at all. I tried on 5 dresses one of the dresses had blood in it and there was cockroaches in the bathroom. WORST SERVICE EVER!!!! They will never tell you who owns it but if you have problems contact Mr.B and his wife that looks like a man is the owners. shoppers beware

Posted 10/23/09 | Report Abuse

Was this review helpful to you?

I went to the House of Brides twice so far, the first time for bridesmaids and the second time for a wedding gown. Both times, Helen helped me and like the poster before me said, she was very nice and patient.

I also appreciated that they had a mirror/step in each room so that you didn't have to walk outside to look at yourself, but aside from that, I didn't particularly like that all the gowns were sizes 10-12. I understand that they have to get the "average" size to accomodate the majority of the brides, but I could not get a good idea of how the gown would actually look on me. This was the first place I went, but I was not particularly impressed.

Large store though and Helen was very nice.

Posted 09/15/09 | Report Abuse

Was this review helpful to you?

So far our experience with house of brides has been wonderful. My daughter and i made an appointment in advance and our consultant 'HELEN Z' WAS RIGHT ON TIME AND WAS VERY PATIENT!! She stayed right with my daughter and i, and we looked at probably 50 shops before going back to House of brides and making our final choice. Thanks once again Helen Z. From the mother of the bride of Alexis Hyde.

Posted 09/14/09 | Report Abuse

Was this review helpful to you?

I ordered two bridesmaids dresses and had a pretty poor experience. BE FOREWARNED: if you order over the web, order early and read EVERYTHING! Because of some e-mail mis-communication the two dresses ended up costing us more than what we would have spent locally.

I ordered the dresses in early May and received them late July--with a super rush payment.

They were VERY snarky and dismissive when I tried to contact them via telephone. Their customer service is "0."

Would I buy from them again? Absolutely not! Would I recommend them? Absolutely not. I wish I had read the reviews before doing business with them.

Posted 09/08/09 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

Great Help!! I went to the Schaumburg store with out any appointment. it was a Saturday and they were very busy. I told the front desk girl I was just going to look at bridesmaids. She explained to me I really need an appointment, because if I have any questions their would not be anyone to help. I understood, I made an appt. for that Sunday. However I did take a peek at the bridesmaid and was happy about all the different style they had. The next day I came back with 2 of my bridesmaids. My sales lady was very helpful, We tried on about 100 dresses, she showed us all the colors they came in. The only problem is my Maid of Honor is a size 24 and they only have sizes 10 and 12 as samples. The sales lady told me they could not carry every size in stock being they have about 500 different bridesmaid styles. She measured my Maid of Honor and suggested a size 26. My friend was fine with the size being that she has been in other weddings and knows that bridesmaid dress sizing is different then regular clothes. I really happy with the amount of experience my sales lady had on fabric and colors.I WILL RECOMMEND THEM TO ANYONE, who wants a big selection and a staff who know there products.

Posted 07/10/09 | Report Abuse

Was this review helpful to you?

I went in around 4pm on a Tuesday, figuring they wouldn't be really busy and I could get some guidance. Even after reading bad reviews I was curious, although I only wanted to browse their veils & accessories. I walked in and met the empty reception area where you, according to signage, "must register before entering bridal salon".

After a few mins. and no one showed up, I roamed left towards the "invitation" area (which looked like some kids arts & crafts) here 3 young girls were working. I was ignored like I was not even there. Went back to the reception area, and still no one there. I walked the other way towards the jewelry displays. Jewelry was overpriced for cheaply madeup earring/necklace sets. Nice mess of shoe boxes scattering the shoe section too. But, no one was working in that area either...

I saw a few other "customers" wandering aimlessly so they were also being helped as much as I was. So then I said screw it and made way through some messy bridesmaid dress racks and found myself in an also empty fitting room area. I saw a few ugly veils/wraps and just gave up and walked out.

That was a total of about 30 mins. in the place. Not one person approached me and on my way out, no one was still at the reception area! What a joke... don't even waste your time...

At least their website is decent for browsing a bunch of vendors for anything bridal related. Just don't bother going to the actual store...

Posted 06/30/09 | Report Abuse

Was this review helpful to you?

Don't order from their website!

Unfortunately, I didn't check House of Brides out online before I ordered from them. I ordered a dress for my step-daughter's prom which didn't arrive in time and I've been fighting with them for three weeks about refunding my money.

The order was placed and paid for on April 20th.

I ordered the dress from the immediate delivery tab on the website which had the dress in two or three sizes at the time I ordered it, which made it appear that this particular dress was in stock in the size we needed. At no point during my ordering the dress did it appear that the dress was going to be made upon order.

It appeared that the dress was ready to ship and I paid for express shipping with the initial order, but they still said it would be 5 - 6 weeks before we received it. Five weeks from the date of order would be May 25th. Six weeks from the date of order would be June 1st. We did not have the dress in our possession on EITHER of those dates.

I spoke to a customer service person at the company in early May and was told that we would have the dress (NOT that the dress would be shipped) by the end of May.

The dress was shipped ONLY after I requested a refund ON THE FIRST OF JUNE.

This entire ordeal would have been avoided had the first customer service person to receive my request on June 1st just admitted to the mistake and processed a refund instead of ignoring my email and shipping a dress that was no longer needed. Furthermore, in the last three weeks every "customer service" representative I've had contact with has been beyond rude, refused to give me their name(s) and have chosen to ignore my attempts to contact them or resolve this matter. Its been more than two weeks since they said that they would speak to the operations manager and todays email was the second time since then that Ive tried to get a response from them on that. This is beyond outrageous.

The company has quite a history of making similar mistakes per the reviews Ive been reading online, so it is not as though Im making an unusual request here.

Not only are they refusing to refund the money for the dress that I've never even opened (it's still at the post office!) but they've threatened to charge me an additional $100 if I refuse the shipment and have it returned to them.

Buyer Beware!!

Posted 06/19/09 | Report Abuse

Was this review helpful to you?

The one in Chicago overcharged us after our 'discount' by $30 per girl and the one in Schaumburg forgot to order one of my bridesmaids dresses! AVOID!

Posted 06/15/09 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

I went into House of Brides to look for Mother of the bride dresses today. The receptionist called upon a saleswoman right away. I told the saleswoman the color dress I wanted. She pointed to a rack and said, "here are some pink ones," and then NEVER returned to see how I was doing. The place wasn't extremely busy today, she wasn't helping anybody else... After I looked through the unorganized clutter of ugly mother of the bride dresses, I walked out. If anyone is looking for a bridal store with some customer service, I highly recommend looking somewhere besides House of Brides.

Posted 03/29/09 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

When I walked into this giant atrium at House of Brides I was not greeted friendly by receptionist and was told to register in computer, I was pointed to it, I did what I was told but computer froze, so the receptionist rolled her eyes and said okay and had called a lady to show me the dresses available off the rack since my wedding ws less than a month away. She was polite and showed me the dresses, she was called over the intercom and she said she would be right back. I tried on the one dress I fit into and left the gown on the floor, I walked out and no one even acknowledged I was in to look at the dresses, very poor customer service and to leave to attend to another customer instead of finishing up with te first customer is just plain rude and unprofessional. But, at least they helped make my mind up then and there that they would not be getting my business, I went to David's Bridal instead, same sore of non-existant customer service but helpful anyway. Good luck future brides.

Posted 12/29/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

They are beyond unprofessional. They gave me a Polyester dress when I ordered a Taffeta Dress. I spent $246.15 on a dress that looks like a table cloth. The color was suppose to be Gold but ended up being pastel yellow. When I called to speak to someone the Receptionist was very rude and ignorant. After that, I called to speak with the manager and she was never there...or out to lunch for an hour and a half. I drove 45 minutes to have them see my dress and they said I got what I paid for but they never told me that Starlet Taffeta was the title of the dress and not the actual fabric, the worst thing was that they were trying to convince me that there is a fabric that is mixed Polyester with Taffeta...but why wasn't it on the tag of the dress. The tag said 53% Polyester and 47% Nylon. THAT IS NOT TAFFETA. The rest of the dresses were taffeta except mine. The Manager was sarcastic and condescending...she was beyond the Wicked Witch of the West. When she didn't budge to help me, I grabbed my dress and was putting on my coat and I heard the Manager and her horrible assistant talking about me while I was walking away. They lack class and education. I will never ever even step foot in that place...not even to ask for directions. BEWARE, BEWARE, BEWARE.

Posted 12/16/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

Understanding the Bridal Gown industry can be difficult. If you need assistance go ahead and check this out
http://www.lulu.com/content/5184505

Hopefully you can gain some insight and share it with your future brides/bridesmaids. I hope everybody had a great wedding day even if the planning part wasn't so great.

Posted 12/04/08 | Report Abuse

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

I ordered my 5 bridesmaid's dresses from HOB over nine months before my wedding and was told there was plenty of time, no need for a rush order. I paid over $250 for each dress, in full, up front, and explained one dress had to be shipped to Arizona for alterations, as bridesmaid was attending college in Phoenix. I told them wedding was two weeks before actual date, figuring this would give me plenty of time to ship the dress and arrange for local alterations. Starting about eight weeks before the actual wedding, I stopped by and called repeatedly, only to be told not to come in again, they would notify me. Three weeks before the wedding I started checking every day. When I called in tears three days before the ACTUAL wedding date, I was advised dresses had finally come in, although the consultant yelled at me in front of the whole store, that they had been sitting at their dock over a week. Bridesmaid had to fly in early for alterations as there was no choice but to have HOB do the alterations due to the delay. She literally finished her final exams and boarded the plane for Chicago 2 hours later. One dress was ordered in a size 8, arrived as a size 2. Bridesmaid was a size 4. Dresses had a corset back and even though we loosened it as much as we could, I still couldn't get the zipper up!. Alterations were expensive. And the too small dress split down the back seam half way through the reception! Consultants are RUDE. Alterations staff are WORSE, like I purposely ordered the dress too small and waited until the last possible moment for alterations. They don't call, they don't follow up, wouldn't track the order, and every little thing is an added expense. All dresses were paid in full over nine months before the wedding, and there I was having to pick up the dresses the day before the wedding. I would suggest making your own dress out of a potato sack before you even try this place! HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE.

Posted 08/27/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

The worst customer service I've ever had in any store. The girl behind the the counter was very rude and not helpful. Before I could even browse through their selection, she pointed to a computer and said I had to register. The computer was not working properly so I asked if I could look without registering she said NO, but would not help with the registration. I ended up leaving the store and will NEVER even consider going back!

Posted 08/14/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

For your own sake, never go here. Worst customer service I've ever experienced in my life. The staff was all rude and just plain mean! They didn't care about how close to the wedding they were getting and told me the wrong timing for when my dresses would get in and they ended up having them sitting in their receiving department the whole time! They don't care about their customers at all.

Posted 08/04/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

the website listed a 4th of july sale.. the store had nothing on sale, not even one item. 2 of my bridesmaids bought the dresses and when I looked online on their own website, it was on sale.. i called multiple times and got no response and my friend got a hold of them who told her it was more due to the service. By the way the service was attrocious.. i was the one clipping the dresses for them and finding everything.. she was only there to take the order.
I would not recommend them at all. i wish i would have seen these reviews before.

Posted 07/07/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

I refunded an item and it is about to 1.5 months now that I still haven't see the money! I tried to send emails to them! No response at all! They only response to you when they want your money! I chatted with them online last week, the customer service said once the order reach the accounting department they can not check on it. I asked them for the phone # of the accounting department, they said they don't have it! What a way to do bussiness! The only thing they said they could do is forward my chat to the accounting department! I still haven't seen my money yet! I plan to reportit or send a complain with bbb.org

Posted 05/22/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

I just want to cry. Karma will get these people. Their consciences are non existent. Reports to the better business bureau mean nothing to them. YOU mean nothing to them. Your thousands of dollars mean nothing to them.

Posted 05/18/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

Call Kevin Cararra 630 668 8500 OR Joan at 630 629 4062 if you have issues like I have. The house of brides is a bad company and only there to get your money. Once you have ordered they don't care about you and ignore your emails and calls. This business treats customers unfairly!

Posted 04/11/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

Please, please, please read the "Rip-off" report on HOB before you shop there. Save your sanity. These stores are not in it to service you. They are in this business strictly to make you miserable and cheat you out of your money and sanity.

Posted 03/22/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

I went to House of Brides last weekend and did not have a good time at all. I had an appointment, but I still had to wait 30 minutes to meet with a consultant. When I met with my consultant, she asked me what I was looking for, and then proceeded to bring in dresses that wasn't what I was looking for at all. I politely told her that I didn't like those styles and even tried on a few just to see how they looked, but every time I said no to a dress, she seemed to get more impatient with me. Eventually she started to take a really long time to come back to my room each time so my mom and I just sat around and waited for a little while and then left the room. We saw our consultant talking to the receptionist on the way out. She saw us leaving and didn't even say a word to us. Fine by me. I always hear that they're snobby and overpriced, but I figured I'd check them out anyways. Unfortunately my impression was the same thing. They make you feel very uncomfortable, almost like you're inconveniencing them while you're there. The good news was that I bought my dress that day, just not from them.

Posted 02/07/08 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

Iended up going to this store only because they had the dress that I wanted and it was being discontinued. Even though we had an appointment, we waited almost an hour to speak to a salesperson. They had a floor model of the dress, but without the sash. When I asked Linda A. to clarify the colors of the crystals as they looked pink online, which is not what I wanted she assured me that she spoke w/ the manufacturer and showed me a sample or irridescent crystals. Now I'm stuck w/ a dress that clashes w/ my flowers and jewelry and have to pay for a dressmaker to replace the crystals in the dress as I have still not heard back from House of Brides and Linda A. went on vacation without assigning anyone to handle my issue and the manager will not speak to me and defers to this Linda A. salesperson who I can't reach!! Don't go here!!

Posted 12/09/07 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

The person that assisted me was mean & crabby. She suggested the opposite of what I told her. She snatched one dress that I actually liked and said it does not fit me so I can't buy it. Don't go there.

Posted 09/14/07 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

Where to begin?? I live in Indiana and I made it very clear that I needed to know as soon as possible when the wedding/bridesmaid dresses would be in. I ended up calling them to ask about my wedding dress and lo and behold it was already in. No phone call from them to me. I happened to be in town that weekend, so I picked it up. I was told my bridesmaid dresses would be in at the beginning of June. Being that the wedding was mid-July, I thought this was cutting it a bit close, but it should work. I asked about a rush delivery and was told we wouldn't need one. The beginning of June rolled around and no dresses. The next week came along, and still no dresses. I got a call on June 20th saying that the dresses were in. To me, that's more like towards the end of June.I had to make an extra trip (5 hours) into Chicago to get the dresses and then turn around and spend $80 on shipping them to the out-of-state girls after HOB wouldn't ship them from their store, claiming that they "didn't have the materials there to ship." I don't know about you, but that's why I go to FedEx or the Post Office. I don't see why it would have been so hard to send an employee or manager out to ship the dresses to save a long trip in the midst of wedding planning. We got the dresses and they gave one of my girls a size 10. I'm sure she's never worn more than a size 2 in her whole life. She had to do a lot of alterations because they ordered wrong.I tried calling HOB 5 times, talked to the shipping department who told me they could do nothing, left 2 messages on the managers voicemail, and heard nothing back. I called again after the wedding and it wasn't until the 2nd time that I finally got through to a manager. She told me they did end up putting a rush on the dresses at their own expense, but I guess they weren't going to bother to call me and let me know any of that. It was such poor service to not return my calls and even more to do nothing to compensate for the extra time, money, and effort that went into getting the dresses to the girls. One of them had only 2 days to get alterations because of a trip she was taking. Had the dresses been in when promised, she would have had more time. I had seen one of the girls between the intended ship date and the actual ship date and would have been able to hand the dress to her instead of paying to get it shipped had everything gone as planned.I was planning on dropping the matter if they had made up for their mistakes (everyone makes mistakes! That's why we take responsibility for them and fix what went wrong!!), but they refused any kind of compensation other than the rush fees that they never even told me I needed. They ALSO were rude to my girls who were in town when they picked up their dresses, and I must say that I have never been more unimpressed with a business as I have been with this one.

Posted 08/01/07 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

I purchased 5 bridesmaid dresses in February 2005. When the order came in the dresses were the wrong sizes. For example, my Maid of Honors dress was 3 sizes too small. At first they admitted the the dress was misordered. Then they said that she gained 7.5 inches between the time the dress was ordered and delivered. Unbelievable. The manager refused to send the dress back to the vendor for another size. She actually walked out on us and we were told that she went home for the night. Then we I asked the staff who the Managers boss was, I was told that they can't give that information out. Ridiculous! If you want good prices, you can find them at HOB. But if you want customer service or someone to take responsibility for their mistakes, go somewhere else. I have never been treated so poorly. I should have listened when I heard the horror stories.

Posted 11/12/06 | Report Abuse

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

I think the brides dresses here were pretty nice. However, I seemed to like the bridesmaids dresses here better. They had some really nice colors out for the summer.

Posted 11/08/05 | Report Abuse

Was this review helpful to you?

I was in a wedding party where the dresses were purchased here. The bridesmaid dresses were very late. Every time someone called to find out why the dresses were so late they got put on hold and left there or told to call back later. Even though the bride had given a false date that was much earlier than her real one to make sure the dresses came in time, the dresses didn't show up until 1 day before the real date. One dress was at least 3 sizes too big.

They did at least pay for the alterations for the dress that was the wrong size. It was a very sloppy job and the dress still had to be pinned all over the place so it didn't fall off, but at least everyone had dresses to wear. Still, I wouldn't say all of the stress and hassle are worth it. We spent the last few weeks before the wedding having no idea if we'd have dresses at all and no one would take the time to tell us why the dresses were weeks and weeks overdue. Even just a little more communication and customer service skills could have gone a long way to make this situation a little more bearable.

Posted 11/08/05 | Report Abuse

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

I had heard all the horror stories about HOB but decided to check it out for myself once and for all. The Schaumburg location had the fewest complaints of all, and was the biggest and best by my opinion, so I went there.

It was easy to make an appointment to view gowns. Their selection is beyond huge and is at all price levels. The service was excellent and the woman showing me dresses was wonderful to work with.

I ended up buying my gown from HOB and getting alterations there as well. The alterations were top-notch and I had no complaints.

All in all, I have to say--check out House of Brides and ignore all the horror stories! I was thoroughly pleased with my experience there from start to finish and would recommend them to any bride!

Posted 11/04/05 | Report Abuse

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you?

I really liked the selection at House of Brides. They also require appointments, so when you're there, you get individual attention from the workers and it also prevents the place from getting overcrowded. The prices are pretty competitive. I actually found the same bridesmaid dress for about $30 less at this store than another bridal boutiquette I visited. Remember to place your order at least 3 months in advance so you have plenty of time to get the order in and to make any necessary alterations.

PROS: Great selection and prices.
CONS: The turnaround time for placing the order and receiving the dresses.

Posted 04/08/05 | Report Abuse

Was this review helpful to you?