Monthly Archives: April 2012

A Cautionary Tale

We have had a gloriously busy time at the boutique over prom season and have had such a wonderful, fun time helping all the young ladies choose their dresses for their special night.  However, I would like to share a cautionary tale with you that I have heard a couple of times this year, which is to be very wary of exclusively online prom dress sites. 

We are regularly being called upon to ‘save the day’ for young ladies who have purchased dresses from scam websites.  Many of these companies are advertised at being based in the USA, but in reality they are based in China and are using illegal pictures of designer dresses to advertise their ‘knock off’ dresses.  If they can’t be honest about their location surely the whole integrity of the company is called into question.  Could you really trust a company of this nature to deliver you your perfect dress? 

One customer complained that after they purchased a dress online which failed to turn up she repeatedly tried to contact the company unsuccessfully and she lost £500!  The company was completely uncontactable and untraceable.  Others have complained that they have gone through stressful situations where they have ordered a dress online and have found that the dress they have ordered looks completely different to what was advertised on the website where they have purchased it from.  We cannot stress the absolute importance of trying on prom dresses and it is important to remember that the dresses photographed on these websites could be hoax photos, or at least will be of models who have been pinned into the dress in order to fit their body shape.  Just because the dress looks amazing on the model does not mean that the dress will look amazing on you!  Fortunately all staff at our boutique have clocked up many years of experience specifically in the prom industry and will be able to find your perfect prom dress. We also offer a hiring service, so if costs are driving you to a cheap website, do consider this as an option as you can get that fabulous designer look for a fraction of the cost!  Lastly, if you risk getting a dress from one of these websites it could leave you with little choice at the last minute.  We never release the same dress to the same prom, so dresses are getting booked up quickly!  

Do not allow yourself to be scammed and to have your big day ruined and do remember that if the price is too good to be true, it is probably not true.