Benita's Bridal Formal Tuxedo

This review is not about the product; the dress is beautiful. The sales rep knew her topic, though she was pushy for the sale. I want to be clear that aside from being salesy, the staff did nothing wrong and the product is a high-quality product.



My fiancee settled on a dress from this store because her mother and the sales lady jointly talked and pressured her into it, despite having months before the wedding and no fitting/alteration required, it was an off-the-rack financed purchase. We haven't even finished paying for it yet, so the dress is still on the rack, last payment and pickup are set for tomorrow. This dress, unworn and not purchased, is therefore a unopened item, and yet the store won't refund the paid balance and cancel the contract. I understand their contract is written to preclude refunds.



But now, my fiancee is miserable and unhappy about her wedding dress, which means that our wedding day is going to be peachy.

First of all, it really isn't fair to bash a business because of someone's lack of planning. If finding an outfit was that important perhaps getting an earlier start would have yielded a better outcome. Just because someone walks into a store (no matter which store) before it is officially closed, doesn't mean that one gets to shop till "their" ready to leave. It means "the store is now closing please make your final selection", not "the store is now closing, please feel free to spend the next hour trying everything on". As I see it, Benita's is not the inconsiderate party here.



On a more personal note...my daughter and I received GREAT SERVICE while at Benita's. We had just left David's Bridal in Tacoma where we were unsuccessful at finding that perfect bridal gown. We called Benita's during our drive back to Silverdale and to our luck they had an opening and the time to work us in for a sitting. We were greeted with a warm welcome about 30 minutes later. My daughter must have picked out at least a dozen dresses to try on and the salesperson was more that happy to assist us. We had a wonderful time as my daughter tried on gowns, I even took pictures of her in each one. We thought the staff was very pleasant and gracious. We did in fact find the dress of my daughter's dreams that day. Everything from that moment on went well also: the ordering, alterations, pressing and pick up. We are very impressed with this business and how they operate.

Most bridal shops that I have been to request that you make an appointment ahead of time, so that they can guarantee that someone will be available to assist you. Shopping for a bridal gown can take hours, and they are not usually able to drop everything to assist a walk-in customer. If you showed up AT closing time with three other people, you cannot be too upset that they refused to let you try on gowns, especially if they were fitting another customer for a gown. If you try to go again at an earlier time, or call ahead of time, you will probably be more successful.

This place has horrible customer service! We came in to try on dresses for a formal party (Port Orchard Party) and they kicked us out before we could try anything on. It was closing time and they refused to help us. They did let us in the door and we all (there were 4 us, all over the age of 30) chose something to try on. When it came time to try the dresses on they told us "No". There was a bride in the shop getting fitted and the salesman told us she would be "kicked out" momentarily.

Very odd, they must not be based on comission or nepetism maybe?