Greenwoods

By the time you find out the sort of people you are dealing with...

it's too late!

Greenwoods: 1860 Suit Hire

If you are looking at this review you will see also the plethora of other dissatisfied customers. Heed them! Avoid: avoid: avoid!

If you do not, like us, by the time you find out who you are dealing with it is too late!

Greenwoods Suit Hire is run by people who seemingly couldn't give a damn. I'd go as far as to say that it seems a big joke to them.

We hired six suits (without the benefit of reading the dreadful reviews, having used the long established shop in Bury St Edmunds

1 The Father of the Bride's 16 1/2" collar shirt was labelled Slim Fit: On trying the shirt, the top button was on elastic which was inadequate to hold the collar together - the shop assistant explained how this special addition made the shirt flexible and able to fit various people of a multitude of shapes - I wondered aloud why they couldn't just make shirts to fit properly in the first place. The shirt was returned with instructions to get a 17" Regular Fit shirt which was promised for delivery the following Tuesday 11am, Wednesday at the latest.

2 The Page Boy, really looking forward to dressing up to look the part trousers halfway up his legs. The shop assistant was rather too quick to point out that the Page Boy must have grown - Err, no: not 6" in 3 weeks. The cuff-links might have fitted (if the shirt had), the jacket was OK but the remainder was returned for replacement with correctly sized clothes, promised for Tuesday (or Wednesday at the latest).

3 Assistant Page Boy wasn't available for fitting. The assistant repeatedly stressed that he wasn't responsible for ill-fitting if the wearer was unable to attend the fitting. I was pretty confident in his mother's ability to use a tape measure and assured him that if the clothes were the right size, correctly labelled, and fitted a dummy of the sizes we had given, I was confident that they would fit. I remain of that view - even after the potential disaster which was dressing on the Wedding morning!

Greenwoods had my home number (with answering machine in our absence) and were instructed to contact me or my wife as their point of contact.

Monday came and went.

Tuesday: we were expecting a call (promised on Saturday) after their delivery, scheduled for 11.

Tuesday lunchtime, Mother of the Bride telephoned Greenwoods - nothing in yet - will call back.

Tuesday afternoon, Mother of the Bride telephoned Greenwoods - nothing in yet: won't be in until tomorrow now.

Wednesday, at about 11:30, the Mother of the Bride telephoned Greenwoods - nothing in yet.

Wednesday lunchtime, Mother of the Bride telephoned Greenwoods - nothing in yet. After being necessarily cajoled to do so, the shop assistant promised to look into it and call us back.

Mindful that time is running short, mindful of Greenwoods hitherto inability to measure/provide clothes that suit the measurements/to call back when they say they will, and the fact that we won't be available on the Friday for late fitting due to our commitment to decorate the hall, we were a little less than calm and relaxed!

Wednesday afternoon, the Mother of the Bride telephoned Greenwoods - she was told that all they have received are his replacement trousers (the Groom, doesn't need replacement trousers!). Greenwoods promised telephone when the rest arrives. Won't be in until tomorrow now.

Wednesday, very soon afterwards - Father of the Bride - explained to Greenwoods that they were a disorganised rabble who needed to get a grip and find out where the suits had gto to. It was no good just sitting on their hands and hoping that they may be in tomorrow (perhaps they'll turn up next Monday - but that would be rather too late!). If they can't establish exactly where the clothes are now, I suggested that they needed to get someone in a car to go and pick-up a duplicate set and bring them to the shop for collection tomorrow at the absolute latest. 'That's not how we work.' I was told. I wondered aloud whether, of the 60,000,000 people there are in this country, one couldn't be found and matched up with one of the 50,000,000 cars and they could drive our clothes to their shop. 'They come from Scotland.' - to which I replied, all the more reason to get a grip now!

A short time later, about 4pm, we received a call telling us that the suits were in - apparently they had arrived yesterday (Tuesday) and they had, referring to the sizes, been able to work out that 'his trousers' were in fact the trousers for the Page Boy...

1 My replacement shirt has the requested resized 17" collar but, once again, I was supplied with a Slim-Fit shirt. The shop assistant was adamant that the 17" collar shirt was not slim fit, despite the labelling as such - I wondered aloud why the manufacturer bothered to go to the time, trouble and expense to embroider labels and sew them in if they were unfit for purpose, indeed misleading: it would be better, surely, to not bother. In fact, despite his assurances and although the chest sizing was acceptable, the arms were very tight and it was very awkward to roll up the sleeves later for dancing.

2 The Page Boy and his parents were already present and fortunately the Page Boy's replacement outfit fitted him. The cuff links supplied, unfortunately, were unable to be used because the shirt was a standard button/button hole shirt. As a result of this incompetence, the wedding couple's gift to him in memory of his day as their Page Boy was spoiled as the special cull-links they had bought him were unable to be worn.

3 On the day of the wedding his mother attempted to fit the 3-year-old into his clothes. The trousers fitted, the waistcoat fitted, the jacket fitted. Why was the shirt 4" too small in the chest? It measured 21". The jacket chest size was absolutely fine. Unable to fit into the hired shirt, he was dressed in his own blue shirt for the wedding, one might argue, spoiling all the wedding photographs. In fact, it was a beautiful wedding, in spite of the pathetic performance of Greenwoods.

In short, Greenwoods Special Offer equates to - Order 6; pay for five; get 3 satisfactory suits with, FREE, a whole load of hassle and worry at a time when you can well do without it!

I have a right to expect them to behave displaying reasonable care and skill. When ordering clothes for any wedding for a specific date, I believe it is reasonable to expect them to have the ability to accurately measure each wearer (or take the measurements they are given as accurate) and provide clothes to fit the wearer in a reasonable time. When ordering six matching outfits, I expect everybody on the day to be able to wear six matching outfits - not have the Page Boy unable to wear his special cuff-links nor to have his Assistant wear a blue shirt (instead of white). I expect Greenwoods staff to have some appreciation for the make-up of a human body and the fact that a garment must fit the largest part of the body, not that the body must fit the garment. Finally, I expect them to provide this service with a degree of efficiency - not have us running about at the eleventh hour in a panic whilst they sit on their hands.

As such I believe Greenwoods to be in breach of the Consumer Rights Act and they are clearly unwilling to offer let alone reach a satisfactory agreement.

I've used Greenwoods in Loughborough and Leicester. The staff were excellent and the suits are fine quality. The lad in the Loughborough store came up to me as I entered and correctly named my shirt and jacket size, which was pretty impressive!

They have a good loyalty scheme with a discount card and their stores are spacious and in good town centre locations.

Specialist shops like this need to be protected in this country. The silly, immature one star review that the previous reviewer left was ridiculous. It has annoyed me if you can't already tell!

I also bought a casual jacket from their online store which was good quality.

A very good company!

My husband and I went to Greenwoods in Witham. The suits he tried were OK just old and tired looking. Nothing modern or fashionable. Lots of heavy stuff that just didnt look comfortable. Service and price was OK. All in all, very average.