Insomnia is the worst. Wedding-planning-induced insomnia complete with headache is even more worse. I thought I'd take advantage of the time that my mind will not shut up to do some much needed updates.
First, the dress. I ordered the dress almost exactly 4 months ago. I FINALLY received a tracking number from the seller. This has been one of the most nerve-wracking things about my wedding-planning venture thus far. To recap, I ordered the dress online from an eBay seller, buydirectbridals (Joyce). They estimated a completion date of mid-June to me. They told me to check back the first week of May and that they would be "happy to provide you with an update." May rolls around so I fire off E-mail #1. No response. I check out the seller on eBay again. Still more mixed feedback from both happy and disgruntled users. E-mail #2 . . . nothing. I remain cautiously optimistic. Mid-June rolls around . . . you guessed it, nothing. At this point I'm starting to go through the Dispute process on Paypal which is how I paid for the dress. I come across a phone number for the seller. I contact a few other buyers from buydirectbridals that have left feedback for Joyce after being contacted by one. I get the sense that more often than not she does get dresses to the brides but not always in the time given and almost right up until the date of some weddings. Now I ordered this dress 6 months in advance and thought that would be PLENTY of time.
The 90-day mark from when I bought the dress from the seller nears. I send an e-mail warning of my pending negative feedback if I don't hear from them that week. Of course, I don't. The negative feedback goes on and then I start calling them armed with a phone number given to me by another buyer as well as Paypal. Surprisingly, a man named, Reman, answers the phone. After all that lack of communication I am surprised to actually get in contact with someone. He tells me that the manufacturer, Alfred Angelo, is running behind and is roughly 10 days behind. He also tells me that calling them is the best way to contact them. Funnily enough, they never give you a phone number to call them. Had I not gone looking for one I would have never found them. So he puts me off for another 2 weeks essentially. It is now the beginning of July. I call the same number since I'd been having such good success thus far. Reman answers again. This time my dress will be available July 15th. I tell him that I will call back closer to that date and that I am incredibly scared that I'm not going to get my dress in time. He assures me he is working on it.
Meanwhile, they leave negative feedback on my once-steller eBay rating essentially because I left them bad feedback. They have nothing to complain about. I paid, I waited patiently, I never yelled nor threatened any kind of legal action. They actually pay SquareTrade for their services. SquareTrade essentially acts as mediator for negative feedback and maybe some other actions. The thing is, if these people had just stayed on top of the communication and been honest, I'm sure that they would receive a lot less negative feedback. They could save themselves the money.
I call July 15th. By now, Reman knows who I am. This time he tells me that the dress has been shipped to them and they are awaiting its arrival and that they should get it by the end of the week. So I call back at the beginning of the following week which is now last week. They haven't received it yet but promise me that as soon as it comes in they will send me a tracking number via e-mail. I wait with bated breath at this point. All this time I'd been trying to keep all this from Ryan because he would get very upset about it. Not that I blame him at all but I still had a glimmer of hope. Today he tells me that if I don't get a tracking number by Saturday to proceed with trying to get my money back and cancelling the order. After coming back from traveling, I check my e-mail. There, waiting in my Inbox, is the e-mail I'd been waiting for for MONTHS, complete with tracking number. It should be delivered on Thursday to my mom's. I feel a huge amount of relief but I don't feel that I'll be out of the woods yet until I get that dress and see it is exactly what I ordered but from what some of the other eBay buyers have told me their dresses were exactly what they ordered.
I know that most girls are on their first and second fittings by now. I called the seamstress back home (Eileen's Originals) and asked them what the last possible date was to turn in a dress for alterations and they roughly said 30 days. I should be good then. That was the do or die date.
I will be seeing my family this weekend as they are coming up to visit me. I'm going to have my mom bring the dress up so I can try it on.
I don't know what reasons Joyce and Reman have for running their business the way they do. I say, if you do decide to buy from them, place your order WELL in advance. I gave them 6 months and I'm cutting it pretty close by normal bridal gown standards. I paid roughly half of what it retails at the stores. If the dress is all that I expect it to be then the price was worth it. The stress and worry though definitely was not. Update on the dress soon. . .
