Brides Beware of Renee Strauss

This complaint doesn't surprise me in the least. I recently had a disasterous experience with Renee Strauss too. When I stumbled upon her salon I was inititally excited to find a one-stop shop to purchase my bridesmaid dress, Mother of the Bride dress and flower girl dress. Once we selected the dresses, they strongly suggested we order the dresses (2) sizes too big. When we resisted, they went on to say the dresses usually run small and to trust them because they've been in the business for 25 years. So with their advisement we placed the order (2) sizes too big. And that's when all the fun began. First, my sister's dress was HUGE! So when she returned to the second alternation's appointment we discovered they cut too much fabric from the dress and it was skin tight! They couldn't even get the zipper up. I was livid to hear of this only 2 weeks from my wedding. And this bridesmaid dress tied into the flower girl dresses and the color scheme of the whole ceremony! Everything was hinging on this dress. I called Renee to inform her of this and she was clueless. She didn't even know what was going on in her own store. My mom went in for her alterations appointment by herself and I felt they totally took advantage of her. They charged her $1000 to alter her dress!!! The average wedding dress costs $600. My mom felt the pressure as the actual wedding date was quickly approaching so she charged it. Both my mom, sister and friends had to jump through hoops in order to get an appointment. Once they had our money, we were clearly not very important to them. We were treated like second class citizens. I spoke to Renee again about this issue and she didn't accept any responsibility for the inconveniance or over charging. She said her alterations girls are independant contractors and doesn't control the price. I said, your name is on the side of the building so you DO have some responsibility to the customer on this. She raised her voice and took a very unprofessional tone. She wasn't planning on listening to me or trying to resolve the problem. Clearly her way of resolving conflict is to argue with customers two weeks before their wedding and make them worry endlessly. She told me she was going out of town and her manager would call me back ASAP the next day to inform me of the status. I never received that call. They basically dismissed my legitimate complaints and went on with their day. Also, my friend placed the order for the flower girl dress 6 weeks from the wedding date, they charged her a rush fee. The dress came one week later! My friend brought her daughter into the salon to pick up her dress and try it on. Renee Strauss was the person who personally helped my friend and her daughter. After stalling for 20 minutes, Renee told my friend that their was some defect with the dress so they were going to order another one. When my friend returned to the salon to pick up the new dress she found out they didn't order a new dress they just tried to "fix" the defect in the original dress. My friend actually took the dress and went somewhere else for the alterations.

Renee Strauss is a total scam. She has no clue how to run a successful business and treat her customers with respect and dignity. I am so surprised this woman is in business. This was the worst part of the entire wedding process by far. Renee Strauss causes brides more unnecessary stress and heartache. I hope all of the future brides out there make a big detour and stay far away from Renee Strauss as possible. If you want drama and crazy prices go for it at your own risk.