Spring is wedding season. And that means brides, their moms and girlfriends everywhere are looking for dresses right now.
But one woman has a warning for anyone searching for discount dresses online.
Kathy Sigmon doesn't know what to do. With just weeks till her son's wedding, her mother of the groom dress is wrong, all wrong.
"The color I ordered was more purple, in the purple family," Sigmon said. "And the dress I received was like, a hot pink."
She had found the perfect dress on a discount bridal site called Magbridal.
The dark purple was a perfect complement to the bridesmaids' dresses, she explained.
Surprise in the mail
But instead, what arrived bunched up in a plastic bag was a sexy pink dress that she cannot wear.
"It is nothing like the color swatch on the website," she said.
Sigmon even checked out the company for reviews and found very little pro or con.
"I even checked with the Better Business Bureau, and there was nothing posted," she said.
But it turns out the company is based in China , and an agent who answered her email said, "Sorry, no refunds if you don't like the color."
Sigmon insisted the issue was not that she didn't like the color she had ordered, but that the dress she received was nowhere near the color she had ordered.
Another problem, as Sigmon soon learned, is that even if the site does take returns it can cost $20 or $30 in shipping fees overseas, plus at least 3 weeks to get it back to them.
How to protect yourself
Sandra Guile of the Better Business Bureau says the agency receives complaints every wedding season about poor quality merchandise from discount dress sites in China.
In some cases, she says, the dresses are unwearable. In others, they don't show up at all. And in others, like this case, the dress received does not match what appeared online.
Guile says make sure you get a refund or exchange opportunity with any dress you order.
"Look on the website itself," Guile said. "Is there a phone number, is there a postal address, is there a chat box where you can talk to somebody back and forth? Ask about a refund policy or exchange policy or cancellation policy."
Sigmon now has to rush to find a new dress. She says next time, she's staying local.
"I took a chance and ordered this dress because I loved it. I just thought it would be so perfect."
We emailed Magbridal in China as well, and an agent responded with the same information: No returns because you don't like the color, even if the hot pink color is obviously not what you ordered.
As always, don't waste your money.
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