Wedding Dress Scams: Dream Dresses & Wedding Nightmares
Throughout the ages, the perfect wedding dress has captured the imaginations of women and girls everywhere. That makes it all the more heartbreaking when a wedding is ruined and a dream shattered because of a scam. Today, tight budgets and technology have led more and more women to look online for deals on wedding dresses. And to be sure, there are deals to be had. You needn’t go to a store to find the dress of your dreams. High-quality custom-made dresses can be found online. However, among the deals lie ill-fitting replicas, hideous counterfeits, and callous fraudsters who will steal your money and put your happy wedding in jeopardy.
SiteJabber reviewers write in year-round with horror stories of impossible customer service, getting the wrong dress, receiving shoddy-looking replicas, and/or not being able to get a refund on a supposed “100% money back guarantee” – all cases surely leading to tears and stressful scrambles to find a replacement for what was supposed to be your dream gown. Hundreds of online dress-sellers have received negative marks from SiteJabber reviewers, including Fashionlande.com, Milanoo.com and Dresstimes.com, among scores of others. Before you find yourself in the same predicament, be aware that plenty of replica websites claim to sell high-quality replica wedding gowns and bridesmaids’ dresses. These are some red flags to watch out for.
The Chinese Seamstress
The general consensus from our users’ reviews seems to be – if you’re going to order online from a Chinese retailer, you’re much more likely to be in for a miss than a hit. Oftentimes, even if you want to avoid a Chinese shop, the location of the online retailer can be hard to determine from the website–it could be written in English and even say it’s based in the US when it is, in fact, based in China. If you inspect further, though, in the FAQ or “About Us” sections, you may be able to detect spelling and grammatical errors such as “You are about to embark on a fabulous journal in choosing the wedding dress of your dreams”; professional, English-speaking businesses should not make these mistakes.
Lindsay H., a SiteJabber reviewer, tells us an all-too-common story about her experience: “…I had recently gotten engaged and found this amazing Mon Cheri dress that had (of course) been discontinued…I had almost given up hope on my ideal wedding dress when suddenly a glimmer of hope….I found my dress on a online bridal store called Shop Of Brides. I couldn’t believe it!! I immediately grabbed my credit card and ordered it. Not only was it (the) dress that was discontinued, but it was incredibly inexpensive. Now, I know at this point I truly should’ve know better than to trust this site but I was just so thrilled that I had found it again. So I bought it and paid extra to have it shipped as soon as it was finished. Thank god I did…The dress showed up about 6 weeks later, it was delivered to me through UPS, in a small gray plastic bag. When I opened the bag this poor little helpless gown was balled up and tossed in a bag like it was a dust rag. I pulled the gown out to look at it…Not only was the gown NOT the one I had ordered, but was not even remotely close. The best part of the whole dress was that the dress wasn’t even completed!! There were several holes in the dress from where the seamstress had apparently forgotten to even sew them up. I even tried this awful thing on and of course to no surprise it didn’t fit at all. I ordered a size 8 so that I could have it taken in if need be. I couldn’t get this dress over my head. I have tried several times to contact this company, but they refused to talk to me. The only response I got from them is that it must be my fault….Well, I agree…I never should’ve thought that they were a reputable company.”
Virginia L. went through a similar experience trying to order a gown for her daughter on Beautifulbridaldress.com last month: “Bought a dress for my daughter, got a totally different dress than the one we picked and she loved, it smelled of fish, wrinkled beyohd belief! And they sized it wrong, I have pictures of the dress I picked versus what I got….My daughter is so upset and her wedding is June 11. This is close. Never again! These are the type of companies that ruin it for others!”
While it is possible to have a wedding gown custom-made for much cheaper is Asia, you’re less likely to get scammed if you actually fly to China or Hong Kong and get it done in person. However, if you’re going to do that, you may as well shell out the dollars to get the dress in the United States unless you’re looking for an Asian vacation.
√ Our advice: Before taking the plunge, check reviews of the website on SiteJabber to see what other consumers might be saying about the site. Even if there aren’t reviews of it, you can ask the community to help you evaluate it. Because it’s your wedding dress, be sure that there are ways to contact the company by phone, email and physical address. Make sure to contact the business using the listed phone and email. Ask the business specific questions regarding the dress you’re admiring, and be mindful of the business’s making what sound like unrealistic promises (for example, the dress will be exactly like the Vera Wang you like; that’s just not possible). If there is no other contact information other than a “live chat” or a contact form, it’s best to look at another place for your dress. Finally, make sure to pay with a major credit card to ensure that you can dispute any erroneous charges. Bridal Tips also offers a useful list of other common scams for which to be aware when you’re making your wedding arrangements.
The Second Hand Dress
Not only are the buyers of wedding dresses in peril from scammers, it seems that con artists lurk in the darker corners of Craigslist and eBay as well. In addition to selling bad secondhand dresses, they also want to buy your old and used wedding gowns – for more than the asking price. All you have to do is ship the dress to them in Nigeria, and then they’ll make the payment. This is unlikely to happen. You won’t get your money, and they’ll profit on your old wedding gown.
Final Words of Advice
It’s your wedding day–do look for bargains, but don’t take on too much risk. If you’re going to chance it and get a dress from overseas make sure you can either get your money back (via your credit card) or be okay with losing that money if something bad happens. And please please, check reviews first. With the many factors that can cause you stress, your wedding gown should not be one of them. Also, if you want to keep it local, check bridal stores for discontinued dresses. Or you can try department stores like Filene’s Basement, which has a special day of the year referred to as “Running of the Brides”. In the end, you’re paying a little extra for peace of mind, and a guaranteed dress might be the smartest investment.
Do you have a wedding story to share? Help future brides to be by sharing your good and bad wedding dress experience in the comments below or by reviewing it for the community.
Image source 1, 2, 3, 4
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Weddingdresses100.com online company is a complete scam! Please don’t get taken as I did! They advertise quality dresses; however, they send your order to outsource in China where they make a cheap, knock off version of what you order. This is terrible that it is still in business and I am currently working on a possible law suit. It is definitely a scam and should be shut down. please do not fall for this. Your dress will not look anything like what you order. It may be stained or torn as well. They will not return your money, even if they say they will. STAY AWAY and WARN OTHERS!!!!!
DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS WEBSITE, inweddingdress.com. COMPLETE NIGHTMARE.
Ordered wedding dress that arrived with a hole in the lace and although it looked similiar to the photo on the website there were some differences. Also ordered 3 bridesmaid dresses, the color of the dress was suppose to be cafe and tea rose, their tea rose is apparently hot fushia purple. Then 1 bridesmaid dress arrived in black and silver, returned that and the new dress came back in gold not cafe. The company stated that cafe was discontinued but failed to mention that to us. I can say the dresses seem to be well made what is pictured online is not the product that arrives.
I found a beautiful picture of a beach organza fitted bodice sweetheart neckline tea-length wedding dress online. It seemed absolutely perfect. I waited a couple of weeks before ordering it. I tried to contact the company to see if I would be able to try the dress on but they never replied and as more and more wedding dress stores were telling me that it would take too long to order a dress, I decided to go for it.
I took my time ordering the dress, making sure that it was the right color and size. I selected it in ivory (the same color as my linens), a size six.
I was so excited to get my dress but when it arrived, not only was it the wrong color (even though it didn’t say anywhere that it was not available in the color I had ordered), but the flowers and the design on the dress were unfinished and frayed. There were no tags on the dress to tell me how to care for it, therefore it may very well have been used. While it had a .ca webaddress, everything clearly came from China and there was no real way to contact the company directly after it happened. With no real return address (everything is in chinese), it was very difficult to try and send the dress back, so we simply decided to return to sender. Thus far, the company has simply said that I ordered the dress in champagne and has not addressed the poor condition of the material or the lack of tags. For all I know, the dress could have belonged to someone else. There were no instructions on how to care for the dress or anything like that.
This is a scam of the upmost proportions. In short, don’t order anything from ebridalgowns.ca!!!
Does anybody know if ebaridalgowns.ca website a SCAM or not?
Read below post sorry I’m new at this…
Scam!!! ebridalgowns.ca is not Canadian, the dress will show up from China and in most cases will not be good quality. When mine came in, it was the wrong color and looked like it had been made by high school kids in home economics class. The front pattern was unfinished and coming undone. If you are unhappy and want to return it, they’ll only give you a %70 refund and that was after a lot of yelling and cursing and threatening to open a dispute not only with my visa card company but also with paypal.
DO NOT ORDER YOUR DRESS FROM THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Could anyone share her positive experience with any online store? Could you recommend any online store? Thank you.
Try dreamdressbridal.com – they are located in the states and their dresses are from the actual designer. They post their discontinued and overstock styles right on their website. What you are looking at in the picture is what you ACTUALLY get!
Does anyone know if 9dresses.com is a scam?
DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT ORDER FROM 9dresses.com I placed an order recieved the wrong dress twice and then had to pay $60.00 to ship both dresses back and have nothing. Still havent received my refund and total lack of customer service!!!!!!!
I hear you! I am going through the same thing! I reported them to Better Business Bureau too!
Why are you all trusting the internet. Chinese are ripping you off!!!!! Their stuff is cheap and smell like fish. They lie to get your money. My sister ordered a light pink dress from 9dresses.com, these yellow elves sent her a peach dress that smells like thier sushi breath. Report them to your credit card. Don’t trust the BBB. Research before you purchase. Help other brides by posting your bad experience all over the internet!!!! Good luck to ya’ll and boycott CHINAAAAAA!!!
OMG!!!! I ordered a dress for my daughters senior prom, form these ripoffs!!! They sent a 4 size too big falling apart cheap replica of what they showed online. My daughter cried and cried for days! I don’t know why we did not research more, my creditcard company is filing a report and a claim, they said they will fight hard to get my money back. MY WARNING TO EVERYONE, PLEASE DO NOT ORDER FORM DREAMPROM.COM, THEY ARE THE BIGGEST SCAMMERS! THEY SHIP FROM SOME REMOTE VILLAGE IN CHINA AND THE MATERIAL AND EVERYTHING THEY USE IS JUNK!!!! THEY HAVE NO COMPASSION OR EMPATHY THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT MAKING MONEY, I AM LOOKING INTO A POSSIBLE LAWSUIT I HOPE THEY GET SHUT DOWN. I DO NOT HAVE ALOT OF MONEY NOW I HAVE TO FIND MY DAUGHTER ANOTHER DRESS.
I had experience, a BAD one with tbdress. Ordered a dress and received it in UPS little package that was left in front of my apartment door.
The dress wasn’t the one I ordered,and they also sent me a jacket that I didn’t ask for! Both items were terrible! I sent them an email with pictures of the dress I ordered and the dress I received, and told them that I am not happy with the dress and asked them to provide me with instructions on how to return the dress. They told me that they think the dress is pretty and that they don’t see the reason for me being unhappy with the dress. I insisted that I don’t like the dress, but got the same answer. I stopped insisting and I am thinking about reporting them for that. However, don’t know where and how that goes. I would appreciate any idea and help!
That’s awful. I’m really sorry. I didn’t even get the dress from eBay I ordered. Plus DHL thinks my tracking number is a fake. I hope you find what dress you’re looking for!
I ordered a custom made dress from eBay January 19, 2012 and was told it would take 20 business days to make and be to be my March 19th-30th. I contacted them asking when it would be here since it didn’t arrive the first week of the estimated date and they told me it wasn’t shipped yet and gave me a tracking number which said it was sent March 14th to another country. I asked if it could be here by a certain date or get my money back and they have ignored my emails ever since. Now it’s 19 days til my wedding..
Oh,That is terrible!!It’s wedding dress,what is for the wedding,the happiest time in my life,i can’t accept it!I hate the scam!
Yes, all the other wedding planning has been so easy besides my dress. Tomorrow I have to go dress shopping. I hope I find something at a reasonable price that fits great!
Does anyone know whether the UK bridesmaid dresses online is a scam?
Does anyone know if dress4uk is a scam because of receiving the dress i realise it was from china and its a cheap copy of the dress that i ordererd which they have admitted to that its a copy. And not made very well either.
Can anyone tell me if weddingsvogue.com is a scam site?? I ordered a dress, it’s been 2 weeks and i haven’t heard anything!
SCAM Do NOT order from these people, they sent me the completely wrong dress. They responded to my complaints and said they wanted pictures of me in the dress, they responded, sorry we try to make the dresses to look like the pictures, we do our best, they do NOT honor their money back guarantee. The zippers are so cheap it broke when I tried it on at the tailors once I found I was stuck with this dress, I had to have the length altered. Bottom line is they don’t make the dresses in the pictures. They have an american email address but are based out of china. DO not buy from them ever.
Which site is that?
That nobody can accept a scam for her wedding dress, hate all trading shenanigans.
does anybody knoe if simplybridal.com is a scam?
Has anybody ordered from them? THey want me to send a credit card check b/c my credit card is not workign b/c the security it too high. I would love hear a a success story:)
i am hesitant to send the check.
Angie,
That sounds like a total scam. I would NOT return any sort of credit/credit card check!
Has anyone ordered from Miss Fish or bestbrideprices.com?
Also looking to see if this missfish.com site is a scam???
I saw the dress I want there and I want to know if they are a scam too, any experiences?
Does anyone know if bridalbasement.org is a scam?
Wondering if this site is safe to order from. MonCheri 111803 is reg $500, this site $125. Tempting but afraid to test.
You should check all over the site then google the site and reviews. That’s the best way.
I just had one last night, It was me worried because our wedding was 3 days away in my dream and all we had planned what what we had now. I was still in school to and had class and work everyday right up until the wedding.
Is lafemmepromdressessale.com a scam?
Has anyone had a GOOD experience with online dress ordering? Any reputable sites out there?
I suggest you browse wedding dresses at veryonsale.com. I am getting married on October 1st 2013. I order one mermaid wedding dress online in advance at veryonsale.com. It is very cheap but also pretty beautiful. I feel satisfied with it. Maybe you can have a try.
I ordered a dress from perfect bridal in china they even had a picture of the dress, well needless to say they kept me going until my 45 days were up to get ebays help and 60 days were up to leave feedback. The dress is shorter on the left side then the right side, half of it isnt even sewed, and the top of the dress is not even the same has the picture,I contacted them and got a run around, they know I can’t leave feedback and said thats the only way I will get 85.00 dollars of my 225.00 back if I leave a good feedback, DON’T NOT ORDER FROM PERFECT BRIDAL THEY ARE SCAMMERS !!!!!
That sounds like something that happened to me! I ordered a custom made lace wedding dress with 3/4 sleeves and it was like $418.00 plus the $30.00 shipping for the dress. The lady was from China, and she had excellent reviews. She stayed in touch with me up until after the 45 day limit of getting your money back and she ceased in communicating with me. I would try to email her and also through the conversation center on Etsy and i would get an automated message that would say i’ll answer you in three days…well, i tried once a week for three weeks and i got nothing. I would read the reviews and they started to go down. Some would say the dress was awful, no zipper, or the zipper was broken. There was even some reviews that said they didn’t receive the dress at all. It’s been well over two months and i’m sure that i won’t get my dress. I was going to have her to make my bridesmaid dresses, but thank the lord i didn’t have her to make them. I would’ve paid her over $1,000 for basically free money. I tried to file a dispute on Paypal to get my money back and they couldn’t help because it was after the 45 days. I also filed a dispute with Etsy, but apparently there were a ton of other girls who are in the same situation as me. Etsy closed down her shop thankfully because of all the disputes against her and she can’t open back up until all the disputes are taken care of. She’s finished. There are too many disputes against her. Please don’t order anything from Susie on Etsy. You would think that a store on Etsy would be reliable…she’s from China…i think not!
Do not order from this website! It was a nightmare! I never received the correct dress color and was never issued a refund! Also received rude emails from them telling me “I was wasting there time”.
Unfortunately my wife did NOT have a good experience with Best for Bride’s at the Barrie Location. My wife is the Maid of Honour of her Friend’s wedding and we did not feel we could post this information until the Bride picked up her dress today. The pricing posted on your web site for alterations are much lower than what were quoted to the bride when alterations were required. In fact the price was almost double what the bride was told originally. My wife’s “Mother of the Bride” dress needed to be ordered by August 30th as it was going to be discontinued. They ordered by August 27th and put down the 50% deposit ($250.00) that was required to order. The dress was promised to be in by November 30-Dec 14, 2012. It did NOT arrive! When asked at the store when it will be expected, the Manager said she would look into it. After several calls and trips to the store, my wife then found out that the dress had NOT been ordered from China. My wife was shown an e-mail to the effect that the dress was being ordered on December 24, 2012 and that it should arrive within 4-5 business days. My wife then received a call saying that there was another dress at the Etibicoke store, they would have it shipped in and my wife was to inspect. If the dress was good they were offered a savings of 40% off. The dress had pulls, holes and tears in the top portion (which was lace) and she was told there was not any way the seamstress could fix it in time. As the wedding is in February 2013 the ladies were left with little choice but to try and find a dress elsewhere as they had one month to find, buy and have alterations done. When the ladies picked up the Bride’s dress today, they asked if the dress for my wife ever arrived. They were told, no it was cancelled. The Manager Denise then told my wife that it looked like it would not have worked anyway as it looked like my wife had put on weight! Fortunately, the ladies found a dress on line, had it shipped from China in 12 days and used the same measurements that were taken at her first dress fitting. The dress fits perfect! I do NOT appreciate anyone lying, or being rude to my wife. This is absolutely disgusting Customer Service and I would not recommend anyone to your store. My wife works in the Jewellery Industry as a Manager, she is your first step to what should be a very happy occasion and there is no way she will send anyone to Best for Bride’s after what she went through. It is sad that your Manager and store feel it is ok to lie and provide such poor customer service.
Has anybody ordered from msdressy.com? I’ve already placed my order and am wondering if anybody’s had an experience with them. I know I’m probably screwed.
I would like to know about flashbridal.com or msdressy? I am scared to order a dress as I don’t have much money and can’t afford for it to go wrong
Thanks
Is ibuydress.com a legit and reliable website? Or is it just a scam and gives you knock-off dresses? Please respond asap thank you
Does anyone know if simplybridal.com is a reliable site?
I have ordered my wedding dress from aweddingdressforless a few months ago. I sent them a couple of emails over the past 2 days to follow up on the order and have had no response. I then tried phoning them and their phone number is no longer connected. I would like to know if anyone else has used this company before and what their experience with them was like. I have paid just over $900 for this dress. I hope I haven’t been scammed.
Pls do not order from diydresses I order my wedding dress and it arrived yesturday, I tried it on and there are loops missing from the back where it laces up and 1 side is stitched wrong on the hip I’m so upset about it I contacted them straight away and they emailed me back saying the loop missing is express dileivery fault because they are very violent when handling goods but yet the packaging is in perfect condition and the dress was bag up in 3 layers!! I have never heard anything like this before in my life. I have sent photos of the faults then they told me to take it to a dress makers to sort it out myself, I was disgusted at what they replied to me I am now arguing with them as I want a full refund and in there policy it states that any faulty goods will get a refund, they are trying there best and making all kinds of excuses up to not give me my money back. who can I turn to for advice.
has anyone ordered a wedding dress from meritline.com
Like a few other people I’m interested in orderinga Maggie Sottero Gatsby gown off of Miss Fish. Anyone had any experience with them good or bad?
I want to order a dress from MissFishBridal…If someone have experience with them please share it:)Thanks
Has anyone ordered from customdreamgowns?? I am thinking of ordering from there and would love to hear if anyone has any negative feedback from there.
is this one a scam? the website is well put together, but prices are ridiculously low. they say they are based in Hong Kong. every dress review posted has 5 stars, and are not very well written. i want to believe it is real, but am hesitant. any experiences?
DO NOT ORDER DRESSES FROM http://WWW.JUSTLOVEDRESS.COM IT IS A SCAM I NEVER GOT THE DRESS TO THIS DAY AND MY ORDER WAS ON FEBRUARY 16TH ,2013.
Do Not Trust any website that dresses has to be ordered from China etc!!! We are politically not in good relation with them. And I believe the majority of them have cut throat mentality. It’s all about money, no moral values. Beware of the seducing prices and claims on any websites period. Come on ladies, we are taught better than that. Not to take candy from strangers.
Hello all girls,
I bought a dress from http://www.balllily.com/
dress horrible, totally different that i want ( in picture one dress, I became 100 proc different). totally not what I ordered
supplier does not agree to take a dress.
I suggest to anyone not to trust this site
Very efficiently written information. It will be helpful to anyone who utilizes it, including yours truly
. Keep doing what you are doing – for sure i will check out more posts.
I just ordered a ballgown from 9dresses.com and now im seeing a bunch of negative feedback, however I have seen positive feedback as well and im wondering, there are two sites with very similar names theres 9dresses and 9dress, maybe some of these customers are coming from the wrong site and dont realize it. anyway im giving 9dresses the benefit of the doubt and I’ll post what happens when the dress comes in.
Ordered my daughter’s prom dress from 9dresses in a royal blue. I did receive a dress on the requested delivery date, but it was hot pink. The fabric was nice, but the bead work was very cheap looking (not like the picture). So I requested a refund because my daughter doesn’t look good in pink and doesn’t wear it in anything. 9dresses service has been very slow to respond. I had to provide pictures of the dress for the “color variation”, and then I finally received an email stating they’d refund me 15%, and a comment about how nice a pink dress would be to wear… Seriously!
Beware, if you order from them! I am not a happy customer!!