Unbelievable

Hello Peter

I'll tell our side of the story and please decide for yourself what type of service we received...

On 17 October we visited ChiqWawa Bridal for brides****s dresses. During this meeting Carla took the measurements for the four brides****s, we discussed fabric colour and dress styles. We had sent ChiqWawa photos of our preferred dresses both prior to and on the day of the meeting. ChiqWawa informed us they were currently running a special that if you order four custom brides****s dresses you only pay R1200 per dress and that a 60% deposit will be required before work on the dresses would commence. They further promised two of the brides****s fittings in November. ChiqWawa made no indication that they would be unable to complete the brides****s dresses in time for the wedding which is scheduled for 19 December.

We paid 75% of the total amount (more than the required deposit) on 29 October. We received no communications regarding fittings in November. We can however confirm that by 21 November ChiqWawa had purchased the fabric since they had shown the fabric to the bride that day when she visited ChiqWawa for her wedding dress fitting.

One of our brides****s contacted ChiqWawa on 3 December to confirm on which dates we could come for a fitting, ChiqWawa indicated that we could come on 14 December (5 days before the wedding). Unfortunately, two of our brides****s would be out of town on that date and thus we requested an earlier date for the fitting. The following day I contacted Chiqewawa and indicated that I was uncomfortable with such a late date for the fitting and the fact that they had not arranged a fitting date in November as agreed upon was unprofessional. Then only did they indicate that we could come for a fitting on 5 December. When we arrived... NO DRESSES TO FIT, only the pieces of material pinned to the mannequin.

Carla and the designer Carissa then took our measurements, AGAIN. Carissa indicated that Carla did not take the measurements correctly in October during our first meeting. We could not help but wonder why ChiqWawa had then not requested that we return earlier to have the measurements taken properly. At that point during the visit to ChiqWawa, Carla and Carissa indicated that the dresses will be available for pick up on Wednesday, 9 December. And that the designer Carissa will be on leave from Thursday, 10 December. We were shocked in the amount of work ChiqWawa would have to do in such a short amount of time in order to complete the dresses by the 9th of December, but Carla and Carissa assured us that the designs were simple and that the dresses could be completed to a high standard in that time. THEY SAID THAT THE MATRIC FAREWELL GOWNS THAT THEY HAD TO COMPLETE DURING THAT SAME PERIOD WAS MUCH MORE WORK. We were shocked at this since Carissa and her apprentice only are responsible for making the dresses. It seemed look like they had a lot of work to complete in a very short amount of time. We indicated to them that we are very concerned! Again, they reassured us that the dresses would take very little time to complete.

Two of our brides****s then made appointments with ChiqWawa for Tuesday, 8 December for a fitting before the pick-up of the completed dresses on the 9th. On the morning of the 8th I phoned ChiqWawa to confirm the fitting and they indicated that there were still no assembled dresses to fit. This made me extremely anxious and I told Chiqwawa that they have left the production of the dresses to the last moment and that if I am not happy with the quality of the dress that I would be returning it to them after the wedding. I told them that ChiqWawa’s conduct was unprofessional.

Following my call, ChiqWawa phoned the bride stating that they would not complete the brides****s dresses (which was scheduled for pick up the next day and already 75% paid for), stating the reason that I was rude to them.

The bride negotiated with ChiqWawa and was able to buy the material they had purchased for the dresses (this included uncut chiffon and the cut sections of trilobal for the dress lining only) for R1150, which they deducted from the R3600 deposit we paid. We have taken the fabric to a seamstress, who is of the opinion that whoever had cut they fabric was very unsure of some of the basics of dress design-Carissa, we assume that your apprentice (who by your own admission is very inexperienced) cut the dress sections because ChiqWawa could not manage the amount of work they had taken on. In future, we suggest that you not have clients pay deposits on dresses that you have no intention (or the necessary skills) to complete.