Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Online buying, How safe is it?


We have a great online store for modest dresses called www.TotallyModest.com . We also sell online from our store website www.BoulevardBridal.com . If you are planning to purchase your wedding dress or bridesmaids etc. online you may want to know a few things first. Is it safe to buy theses items online and what is the return policy?
We get alot of questions and concerns about this so we felt this a good time to educate you about it.
First of all its always best if you can go to a bridal store in your area to purchase but we realize not everyone has a store close by. Not only that but if you are looking for a "modest gown" with sleeves etc then most stores do not carry those types of gowns.So ordering online becomes more favorable if you choose a reputable company.
What do we mean by reputable? The online store should be located in the USA for the best experience and have what we call a "brick and mortar" or a physical store as well, as most manufactures will not sell to online companies only.
That is your first clue as to if they are an authorized dealer or not. You need to know how long they have been in business and how long selling online. For us its over 17 years. Then you need to check their happy customer status. Many companies claim they have all happy customers but sadly it isn't always true. So how do you find out the truth about a company?
Well there are a couple of ways. While we don't particularly endorse these you can check the BBB online for their ratings of a company or there are now websites that offer reviews of many companies. One of them is called Ripoff report.com . There are others as well . Go to any search engine and put the company name in for a review.
Its not uncommon for a company to occasionally have a few unhappy customers as things happen and some problems cannot always be avoided.
The second clue is to see how the problem was handled and or rectified. If the company did their best to make it right then we would say they are probably trying to be a good company. If they have too many bad reviews then something is definitely wrong and you should be skeptical of doing business with them.
They should have all their polices listed on the site as to returns and shipping fees and an FAQ page. Most online stores do not take returns on wedding gowns like we do so you will want to know that upfront. Please read all the info on the site to be safe.
Another big problem is purchasing online from China direct factories. Theses sites bypass the US manufactures but copy their dress pictures and claim to make them for a fraction of the cost. The number of these sites going up is alarming and these sites do not have stores and are not located in the USA. We have had many customers come to our store in tears about a so called designer dress they ordered online for a couple of hundred dollars, thinking they were saving alot of money , only to find the dress is not the right size, color or even the same style that they supposedly ordered.
The dress is made of the poorest quality fabric and stitching. The customer then has to purchase another gown in our store in a hurry as the wedding is now too close to order one in.
While we are sympathetic to this problem we can't help but wonder why the customer would not check out the online place better before ordering with them. There are many sites now exposed for ripping off customers so please be aware of this and don't get caught up in the super low price scam. Check out this site for more info
http://www.replicagowns.blogspot.com/
The old adage still applies.
If it looks to good to be true then it probably is !
We hope this gives you some food for thought when ordering online.
If you have any questions or comments about this blog please let us know :)

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