Pronovias

Every brides worst nightmare happened with me and this awful company. With weeks of delays and changes to collect my dress with the alterations I then arrived at the shop to collect my dress for them to have not done ANY of the alterations I had requested and sadly paid for 4 months before! So I had to wait for 5 hours in the shop for me to try on again and again and wait for them to do the alterations. 6pm this day I tried it on AGAIN and the new neckline was tacked onto the dress with me in it, I was told they would take it to the back sew this new bit on properly, rectify their scruffy stitching on the other alterations they had done, steam the dress and bring it down to me in the bag ready to go - stupidly I trusted them and took the dress home. Thankfully I tried my dress on a couple of days before my wedding, to find that none of the alterations discussed had been done. Myself and my mum were in tears - it looked horrific, stitches hanging out everywhere the neckline had gaping holes in it and one of the 'sewn' in cups fell out within seconds. I had to pay a rushed fee for a local seamstress to do the alterations Pronovias had been paid to do. Pronovias won't refund me their alterations charges!

An absolute NIGHTMARE!!!! Do not get your dress here. I found out the week of my wedding that my dress had been ruined and they only let me pick from their dirty sample dresses AND charged me full price for it. WHATTTTT?! Please don’t get your dress here. The Least they could have done was press the dress and clean it for me. Nope. What a nightmare. I’ll be walking down the aisle in a dirty, wrinkled, sample dress that I still paid full price for. So upsetting.

I went with my sister (the bride) to a dress appointment at Pronovias (Bond Street) and was really dissapointed. First of all, we had to request our glasses of champagne as we seemed to be the only party who hadn't been offered one. On top of that, the lady assisting us didn't smile once, wasn't enthusiastic at all, and didn't give any constructive suggestions about suitable dresses for my sister who wasn't convinced by a few of the ones she had tried on. In my opinion, it was a wasted £40 fee and not at all what you what when your a first time bride excited about finding the right dress.

I have just collected my dress from the so called flagship store. It is true that for a few months now I have had my concerns about the way clients are dealt with, not least the painful experience of trying to get through on their phone. Drove me mad. Plus I wasn't sure about the gown I had chosen. Anyway, I was eventually given reassurance that I had chosen the right dress for me and told that their head seamstress would be taking care of the alterations. Phew, what a relief I thought. How short lived was that relief. My gown was ordered in a size 14 ( I am a 12) so on the first fitting quite a few alterations were needed. I went for my final fitting on Monday and after some on the spot alterations the gown was packed up and I took it home and hung it . I then unpacked it yesterday to find make up on the back strap......you can only step into the gown, so not over your head, dirty marks all round the bottom not just underneath but on top caused it would seem by dirty pins. The gown had been steamed really badly so didn't hang properly and worst of all, when the hem had been turned for stiching it had been caught up and stitched to the lining. The net underskirt was showing on one side where it had not been taken up enough. It looked awful and I am devastated as my wedding is in 10 days. I spoke to the manager who told me to bring it back which was impossible as I live so far away and the dress is very heavy to carry. She did have the good grace to apologise and suggested, 3 times, that the dress was unfinished. Yep, so it would seem. I have employed my own seamstress to put right the mistakes and am having it taken away tomorrow to be cleaned by a wedding gown cleaning specialist which Pronovias have agreed to pay for.

All in all a very unpleasant experience and I would never, ever recommend this company to anyone. Find a local bridal shop. You will get a much better service with more professionalism and care. Something Pronovias lacks in a very very big way. At the moment I hate my dress, so thank you Pronovias for that. You have ruined one of the most important parts of my wedding day and I do hold you responsible.

Our appointment cost £50 at the Pronovias flagship store in New Bond Street and was booked for 10am, we started to be shown dresses at 10.25 am. All of the sample dresses we were shown were in a size 12, my daughter is a size 8/10. The samples were shabby, with pulled threads and pinned to fit. They look nothing like the pictures and needed to be ironed.

Should you purchase a smaller size they always err on the larger size and charge you a further £300 to alter to fit. I suggested that the ordered dress may fit my daughter but was told that this could not be the case! When we asked to try one of the dresses for a second time, we were told that we would have to make another £50 appointment and come back on another day.

At no time were we told by the assistant, how the appointment system worked or for that matter how long we had. Instead of enjoying seeing my daughter in wedding dresses and choosing something she liked, we left disappointed, felt cheated and have no desire to contribute any more money to the Pronovias fund

I went to pronovias 3 times and saw 2 different members of staff who were both amazing! Very patient and I changed my mind a few times. Happy for me to try on plenty of dresses. Was really good!

I was very nervous of going into the store as I have read so many bad reviews, however there was a particular dress I saw on the website that I wanted to try and I couldn't find a store that stocked the dress. A stockist advised me to go and try on the dress in Bond Street and I could go back to her and she could order it for me with the convenience of being much nearer home. She warned me that the staff are horrible but I had to go there to try on the dress. It was amazing! I was kept waiting about 10 minutes although i was 5 minutes early, but that's all I can complain about! Lovely dresses, helped by a very friendly and very helpful staff member. She let me try on lots of dresses, and the one I liked most I could try on twice. I also tried on a couple of veils, a hair piece and a bolero. We stayed in there for over 2 hours and she didn't mind at all, she let me take photos and served us water. She gave advice on the dresses but only when asked and she wasn't pushy at all, said she fully understood that I wasn't going to order right there and then. I actually feel bad now that I will go back to the stockist and ask them to order it!! However for convenience and to save time and money, it's not logical for me to go into central London everytime.... I would recommend to anyone!

The last time I looked, I dress elegantly, speak politely and smile to most shopkeepers, as I did on my last visit, on June 16th at the Pronovias on Bond street. I have never felt so unwelcome! The shopkeepers barely showed us around, had no idea what to ask us and didn't even come to appraise our choices once we were in the dressing rooms trying to find a dress for our daughters's ball. It was disappointing to say the least and as veiled women walked in with "appointments" which we were last week told were unnecessary for cocktail dresses as they call ball gowns, we hadn't made one, but were treated as though we were in the way. Wow. Talk about EVERYTHING YOU SHOULDN'T DO AS A BOND STREET BRAND. This is idiotic. We would have probably bought a dress, or two, had we had service of ANY KIND. But we didn't and so I went to Harvey Nichols, got us a personal shopper and we spent the best part of 900 pounds. Better service, by miles, better prices, lucky me, the sales were on. Pronovias are so snooty they probably don't do sales ever. The dresses on sale must never sell and when they go back to central warehouse where do they end up? In a charity shop? So not a money maker, at least not from what I can see!

I was really underwhelmed by the unpleasant unfriendly and officious reception at this shop

Considering I was spending good money I was really surprised and upset at the culture of studied unfriendliness that seems to prevail in this store

Perhaps it is a misguided perception That shop assistants feel they should be unhelpful as they are too important to help customers

Maybe some of the customers that go in the store are obnoxious I do understand this however it does not give them the right to pre-empt unpleasantness by being thoroughly unpleasant themselves first !!!

I definitely would not recommend this store the dress however is beautiful but I would not go to the bond street store

Went into bond street to try on a few dresses and picked one that I loved. Paid £50 for the pleasure. I made another appointment to see the dress as I am not from the UK and wanted my Mam and sister to come and see it. Mam and sister booked flights. I then had to change the date to see the dress as I was advised the dress would not be in store. So changed the date and went in again on my own (to try on the dress in different materials) I was undecided between the material and wanted to choose one before family came over. Another £50 for the pleasure. What a disaster. Sham my advisor advised me to put down deposit 'today' as the dress was being discontinued. A 2013 dress being discontinued 5 months into 2013??? I later found out the dress was to be discontinued alright......in September/October. I was not offered a drink where I saw another family sipping water. I really felt very uncomfortable and under pressure to buy the dress. It was embarrassing. I was under so much pressure, I left the store on the pretence I was going back in an hour with a £2000 deposit for dress, veil and alterations. Needless to say I did not return. I have decided to purchase the dress..... But not in Pronovias Bond Street!