A beautiful dress, full of promise, ruined by careless hands and broken promises

In May 2025, I bought the dress of my dreams from Bride & Co Parkview. It cost R17,000, and it was everything I had ever imagined—elegant, timeless, and perfect for my wedding day. I was overjoyed. But that joy quickly turned into anxiety and heartbreak. When I took the dress in for alterations, the first fitting went smoothly, except for the bust area, which was still too loose. The seamstress assured me she would fix it by the next fitting. She also promised that the extra buttons I had requested would be sewn in by then. She scheduled my final fitting for October 22nd, saying everything would be ready and the dress would be sent for dry cleaning afterward. But she never called. She later claimed my phone went straight to voicemail, which wasn’t true—I received no missed calls or messages. On Friday, October 25th, I called her myself. She said she had been trying to reach me to confirm the button placement before finishing them—something I was told would already be done. Still, I rushed over for the fitting that same afternoon. When I arrived at Bride & Co Parkview, the seamstress was nowhere to be found. While waiting, I browsed short reception dresses because the Pretoria heat is unbearable—let me emphasize, short dresses. Eventually, she appeared with my dress. I put it on, and my heart sank. The lace on the shoulders was crumpled and bunched together. The lace over the bust area looked like it had been stitched by a child—wrinkled, uneven, and completely ruined. It wasn’t the cups I had added; it was the lace overlay, and it was a mess. I started overheating, and my panic attack began. Trying to fix it on the spot, she began removing some of the sewn-in pieces. In doing so, she poked a hole in the shoulder of my dress—a hole as big as my **** of honor’s pinky. I was devastated. She said she’d fix it and send the dress for dry cleaning, but couldn’t give me a date. She’d “call me.” My wedding was now just two weeks away, and my dream dress was falling apart. The lace was still in disarray, the bust area looked terrible, and now there was a gaping hole in the shoulder. And yet, she wanted to send it for dry cleaning and hand it over to me like that. In a panic, I bought another long dress that same day—spending another R8,000—just in case the original couldn’t be salvaged. I had wanted a short reception dress, but after spending so much, I couldn’t afford one anymore. After the appointment, I called my family, heartbroken. My R17,000 dress was ruined. The seamstress had vanished after damaging it, and I was left confused and deeply upset. My brother, seeing how distraught I was, said they had stripped the magic from my dress and should refund me. He called the manager, but the seamstress insisted there was “nothing wrong” with the dress. But how can anyone say that? Crumpled lace over the bust, tangled shoulder details, and a hole in the arm—how is that not damage? She later called me, spinning lies—claiming she had been waiting for us downstairs (she wasn’t), that she hadn’t ruined the dress, and that I still needed a final fitting. But if a final fitting was still needed, why did she say she was sending it for dry cleaning? You don’t dry clean a dress that’s still falling apart. You don’t hand it to a bride without making sure she’s happy with it. This has been a horrible, heartbreaking experience. A beautiful dress, full of promise, ruined by careless hands and broken promises. I want a refund for the dress and alterations as like I said the magic of the dress was ruined. I will be going to the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud to see how they feel about this experience