07/31/09

Incompetent, dishonest, condescending owners

by gdoodle

When my fiance and I got engaged we set the wedding date for four months later, which left me with very little time for wedding preparations. I was really concerned about finding a dress in such a short time frame--particularly because I am a notoriously scrupulous shopper. To my surprise, (and ultimate downfall!), I happened upon the "perfect" dress at Diamonds, which happened to be the first boutique (if one could call it that) that we visited. Although I was hesitant to make such a quick purchase, the dress was undeniably gorgeous, and my little helpers insisted that it was the right one for me. Now, to be fair, the dress is quite fantastic and I wouldn't trade it in for the world. The process of getting the dress, however, was entirely hellish and ruined the experience of the wedding gown for me. Not only were we duped into believing they meant it when they said, "alterations are included," but the fitting process alone was a nightmare and unnecessarily difficult and time consuming. The dress arrived 2 weeks late, and when it finally came I called to schedule a fitting. When I arrived, I was ignored for 20 min in favor of prom shoppers, (who had yet to make their purchases and later their regrets!), and when I was finally seen I was asked if I would "like to just try on the dress..." Clearly, Anna was too busy to be bothered with actually fufilling the fitting I had scheduled. (Keep in mind, I was a full time student and had to drive 2 hours each way to the shop). I was frustrated, but tried to keep it cool and calmly scheduled a different fitting date for the following week. I arrived at the scheduled time and...surprise, they took 30 min before they got to me. Two weeks later, I was called and told that the dress had been altered. GREAT! I was so excited to pick up the dress, and the wedding was only a month away! I arrived to pick up my dress, only to find (30 min late, of course!) that it had not been pressed, (the presser is "at our other location") and it still had pins stuck in the unevenly hemmed bottom. (HOW do you screw up the hem for the length?!? And lopsided!??!) Another trip...My fourth and final visit, I had decided that I would take the dress-ready or not. I arrived and everything seemed too good to be true. Only a 20 min wait this time! I started to put on the gown, but a little silver glint caught my eye. Sewn into the top of the gown--just where my arm would go--was the tip of a needle, just hanging out. Anna claimed that it was the manufacturer's doing, which is rediculous because it wasn't there the previous 3 times that I had tried on the same gown. There went another 30 min of getting it out...And as the grande finally, on my way out the door anna had the nerve to ask me how I wanted to pay for my "alterations included in the price" alterations. Lies, lies, lies! I sucked it up, however, because we had no written proof of their former claim. (note:GET IT IN WRITTING!)

A brief epologue: When I paid for the wedding gown in February, I also paid the full price for a bridesmaids dress for a friends' wedding that I was supposed to be in. In short, the dress was never ordered, and when I called to ask about the situation 6 months later (friends' wedding ended up getting cancelled), their response was that they would like to give me a refund, but that's not their normal policy so they have to check with Anna, first. WHAT?!!? SIX months later I called to check up on the status of the dress that was supposed to have arrived three months before, and not only had the dress not been ordered, but they had no intentions of ordering the dress or notifying me!!!!!

You are not contending with ordinary business owners at Diamond's Bridal. At Diamond's Bridal you will encounter a very selfish, dishonest, and sticky-fingered couple. Believe me. I found out the hard way....

• Pros: Um.....
• Cons: rude and dishonest managers,poor quality, terrible service,

07/19/09

Fat people go somewhere else

by FoodieReviewerYo

I did not go here. I called. They don't carry ANY plus size dresses. My dress shopping experience has been nothing but a big discrimination search. Almost no one carries plus size wedding gowns.

• Pros: None
• Cons: They carry NO plus size gowns

03/17/09

Rude and impersonable owner!

by comeonseriously

The owner has a serious personality disorder! Instead of greeting customers when they walk in the store, he ademately insists they put on a pair of white gloves. Not a "hello", not a "welcome to Diamonds", not even a "what is it that I can help you with today"....just the same repetitive montrum..."EVERYONE MUST WEAR WHITE GLOVES WHILE YOU'RE IN THE STORE!!!" I paid $300 for a bridesmaid dress and when I ordered it over the phone I specifically asked if the alterations were included with the price of the dress and he said "Yes." However, when alterations were completed he wanted to charge me $60 bucks. I asked him for a price list of alterations/fees but he told me it would be impossible to have such a list. I have no idea if he pulled that price out of his *** or what....for all I know he could've completely ripped me off. But either way, he suddenly had selective memory loss-in that he forgot he had told me the alterations were included with the price of the dress. When I questioned him about the $60 dollars he proceded to loose his temper in front of the many customers and chewed me out right there on the spot-telling me that I called him "a th**f."(rhymes w/ leaf) Those were his words-not mine. He has absolutely no business sense and no clue about customer service!!! He is very impersonable and only cares about his precious gowns and little white gloves.

• Cons: Owner is a hothead, services over-priced

02/24/09

WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE!

by KathyandMolly

My daughter & I, along with 2 very close family friends, arrived a bit early for our appointment but our consultant, Susie, was ready to help us immediately. The store was busy with prom dress buyers & their friends & moms, along with a couple other brides with moms trying on dresses. All the consultants, including the owner, were gracious, helpful, patient & kind with all. After many gowns and narrowing our choices down to "3", my daughter tried on each dress again for us to pick our "favorite." There was not pressure or pushiness to buy, just a lot of time & work on the workers' behalf to make a bride feel special & beautiful. The next day the bride, daddy & I went to another location that carried a differnt brand of dress we were interested in. Afterwards, we wanted the bride's daddy to see what we saw the previous day so we called Diamond's & Susie told us to definitely come back in. She and the owner were ready for us! When trying on "the" dress, they chose jewelry & hair comb and dressed her in that too and then did the "WOW" factor by turning off all the lights except the running light. Our bride just glistened! It was incredible. The price of the gown is very reasonable. Susie had asked for the bride's "budget" & she only showed us gowns in that price range. We looked at the dress on line & the pricing is the same. We could not have received better customer service, personal attention and making the experience of trying on dresses more exciting. Thank you, ladies, for all you do. You have a special gift and talent. We appreciate your service.

01/21/09

100% Recommended

by bcoore

Being in the customer service industry myself and having a very poor first bridal gown shopping experience at another boutique, I was very pleased at the level of service I received from both Anna and Sharon. They went above and beyond to make me feel special and get me the dress I needed in the short amount of time I needed it in. Also, they offered me $200 less than a competing boutique in Raleigh. There is not a great deal of selection in the store, but they can get you what you need from the vendors they carry. It is a very select store, so if you're looking for quality and wonderful service, then go to Diamonds.

• Pros: Exclusive and wonderful quality dresses and service
• Cons: Limited selection in the store

11/22/08

Nice but not great

by lizzy6581

The place had a variety of gowns and were pleasant to you. They give individual attention since you have to set up an appointment. I was trying on bridesmaid dresses for a wedding in the summer so I had to pay them $10 to try on since I was not going to be buying the dress there but somewhere else. The only problem was they did not have the dress I really wanted to try on after the owner (I believe) told me they did carry the gown. The owner made some derogatory comments about other bridesmaid dress lines she didn't have to try on that my sister (the bride) liked. My sister was not there but I felt that was an awkward comment to make and she was weird about the sizes of the dresses and their cuts.

• Pros: Individual attention
• Cons: a bit condescending to the customer and her employees in front of customers

10/15/08

HORRIDLY OVER-PRICED, Rip-offs of designer labels, VERY RUDE service from ANNA

by FuquayEditor

I visited this store while shopping for my wedding gown. I found the exact same style gown at Diamonds for double the price of another boutique where I ended up buying the gown. My gown was a limited version from Private Label By G. Anna at the store denied that it was a Private Label gown - she insisted that it was custom made for her store - an obvious fabrication since I communicated with Private Label about the gown and bought it with a Private Label label at the other store. I found Anna to be rude and condescending and not at all concerned with delivering quality customer service - NOT TO MENTION THE OUTRAGEOUS Prices!

My guess is that the store posted all these positive reviews below themselves.

Anna also represents Duke's Tailors - another huge rip-off, don;t bring your wedding gown there! See the review I posted for the horrible, incompetent service I received there (I didn't realize the 2 stores (diamonds and duke's) were connected until it was too late!

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE!!

• Pros: none
• Cons: horribly over-priced, double-priced gowns, rip-offs of designers, incredibly RUDE service

09/25/08

Correction

by Bridalbliss08

Correction to the previous post -- "are we talking about the same place...":

Diamond's Bridal charges a "try-on" fee for anyone who has not already ordered attire from there. For example, if you bought your wedding dress from Diamonds, and your bridesmaids come in and want to try on bridesmaids dresses, there is no charge. Vice versa, if your bridesmaids all ordered from there and then you, as the Bride, would like to try on wedding dresses, then there is no charge.

However, if you are a Bride and no one in your wedding party has ordered from Diamonds yet, you may be charged. Likewise, if any of your bridesmaids want to try on dresses there and noone in the wedding party has ordered, then your bridesmaids will be charged.

If this is not the case in your situation, then luckily, they were able to bend the rules for you.

I wanted to make sure to clarify so that people have proper expectations.

• Pros: Cheap prices
• Cons: Rude Customer Service, Bridal Dress Experience ruined

09/21/08

Great service and prices

by ae48691

While I did not purchase my wedding dress at Diamond's my mother, sister, and bridesmaids have purchased their dresses here and it's been a positive experience. My bridesmaids and I went to bridal mart in Burlington and found the dresses they wanted. I went to Diamond's with my mom to show them to her and low and behold, they were cheaper at Diamond's. I was truly surprised they were less expensive there than at an outlet.

I also tried on wedding dresses and while I didn't find "the one" I did think Anna and William provided great customer service.

To the person who found the store to be dusty and having a $10 "try-on" charge.... are you sure you're talking about the same place? We've been in twice to try on wedding gowns and twice to try on Mother of the bride and a dress for my sister and haven't been asked to pay a fee. You do need an appointment though.

08/19/08

Best Bridal Store In Town

by shhuyler1

I wanted to make a comment about the woman that brought her daughter, with (2) two children in a stroller with out an appointment and said that she saw the sign that said no strollers or children but decided to come in anyway, and she did not see on their web site appointments only. Well, their web site clearly states appointments "ONLY" Soooo as Jeff Foxworthy would say, "There's your sign."

The reason I am writing this is that I had read this and realized the stupidity. So I made an appointment and met two of the nicest people in the world that are helping me with my wedding. I am sure that there was just a misunderstanding or someone was just having a bad day. I feel sure if they had made an appointment with no children it would have been different.

• Pros: Great service, listens to you