Strut Bridal Salon — Attraction in Long Beach

I should have trusted my gut. From the moment I walked in, I got a weird vibe. I purchased a dress, paid in full, and was supposed to come back a month later for measurements. The guy who sold me the dress left, and no one from the store reached out to let me know.

I had to deal with the rude store manager, Tamiko, and the owner, Anne, who became unresponsive. Their customer service was awful, making me apprehensive about continuing business with them, and what my future experience will be. Tamiko and Anne were wishy-washy, rude, abrasive, and lacked empathy.

Be wary of signing anything here. Do not pay in full. Make sure you're 100% certain this is where you want to buy your dress. After Nick left, the customer service turned me off completely. Their contracts only protect them. I'm now stuck with a dress that hasn't been ordered but paid for in full, and they refuse to budge on any refund.

Even my bank couldn't help. Tamiko and Anne have no remorse. They'll take your money and run. They even suggested I measure myself and send the measurements, then they'd order the dress and mail it to me since I'm uncomfortable coming in. This has ruined my bridal experience. Instead of refunding me for a dress that hasn't even been ordered, or even taken measurements they're trapping me in their contract.

Remember, the many reviews they have are because Nick asked for them right after appointments. Save your time, money, and sanity by going to a reputable, professional place. Don't end up in my situation. Sadly, this was my first and only stop, and now I'm stuck. This is how I remember my bridal dress shopping experience--fighting with the owner and manager for my money back after experiencing terrible customer service. This should be a happy time, but now the dress will have an awful story attached to it. Which now, I am unsure if I can even afford another dress since I never got the money back from them for doing absolutely nothing.

Anne opened the shop due to a disappointing experience she had, yet she shows no empathy when others face disappointment. It would have been easier if she refunded me, but instead, they're keeping my money and standing by their poor customer service.

Be cautious if you shop here. Do not pay in full or sign anything until you're 100% sure this is the experience you want. Read that contracts carefully because it does not protect you. That includes damages to the dress, if they order the wrong dress, etc... nothing is their fault. Personally, I wouldn't wish this on anyone. You're better off going some place reputable and professional.

RESPONSE TO THE OWNER ANN BELOW: You robbed me. I have no dress, no money, no measurements. I wanted my money back, because as you can see from your response below, your customer service is terrible. You and Tamiko offered to come in early after I made that comment about having paid and bought the dress. But prior to that you had told me flat out no, I couldn’t come in. When I was originally told my my stylist before he quit that I had to do this in November. I didn’t want to come in early that day, because since you already told me no, I scheduled to come in the following weekend and didn’t want to keep changing my plans. That is wrong. You should prioritize paying customers. Your response shows the kind of business model you run here. I did not feel comfortable coming back into your store after the exchanges I had with your team. Now you guys are unresponsive to me when I asked what my next steps were so I could at least have a dress mailed to me, if you won’t give me my money back. You and your team members have ghosted me and are no longer responding. You can comment on my negative review, but you can’t email or call me back with a proper business solution. Again, I feel like I’ve been robbed. If we couldn’t have come to an agreement and you can’t refund me the money then you should be sending me the dress I tried on. Not ignoring me and keeping my money with no dress even ordered!!! What kind of business is...

This happened years ago, and it still bothers me. I believe it's just the fact of how unfairly I was treated and how the owner seemed to feign concern while simultaneously making me look like the unreasonable one.

Here's the thing. I called ahead and directed Tomiko to a website with the exact dress I liked. I don't know whether she bothered to look it up or not but she assured me they had something. I told her the dress cost $300 but I would be willing to spend a couple thousand for the right dress. I did reiterate this when I was in the store, so I have no clue why the owner was making me out to look cheap. I wanted a colorful bridal dress with some kind of embellishment. I had told Tomiko on the phone that I was super tired and was calling ahead before coming down because I didn't want to continue wasting my time. She told me she had something for me. She did hesitate and say the dresses were not exact but I said that was okay. I did stress wanting a COLOR dress preferably gold or green with embellishments like the one on the website. Now I don't know why an associate in a store full of white, cream, champagne and ivory dresses and only plain colorful bridesmaids dresses would tell me they had something but she did. So I drove all the way down there. When I came down there and upon arrival I was excited, I was happy, I told her how I was so joyed to be in a plus size store, with such great reviews. Then the lady who I had directed over the phone to a website with the exact style of dress I wanted, whom I had communicated my tiredness and weariness over my past shopping experiences directed me to a wrack of nothing but plain colored bridesmaid dresses that were nothing like what I had shown her. Obviously I was incredibly upset at this point. I didn't yell or freak out, I just quietly fumed while I was trying to think about what I should do. Being tired and disheveled I decided to look through the racks to see if there was ANYTHING I could just make work. During that time, the associate was talking to me, she just talked at me. I was not really responding because I was not fully paying attention to her because my thoughts were racing, I was upset that she seemingly wasted my time telling me they had something that they did not actually have. I was taking a moment to gather myself. Then I'm guessing because I was not really responding to her, she began yelling at me. Just yelling, it's been so long, I don't even know what she was yelling but I remember her yelling at me. I do remember her telling me I should just get my wedding dress at a costume shop. I did yell back at some point about not wanting that for my wedding, at which point she stopped berating me.

I was pointed toward a discount rack, I was not shown anything. I was not offered to try anything on.

Now here's the part that really bugged me. The owner wrote me, going on about how out of their way they go for customers, how above and beyond they are all while telling me how ungrateful and terrible a customer I was. Then goes on to say they have the exact sort of dress I was looking for in their Arizona store, they could do a virtual consultation, she could call vendors. So, if the Arizona store had more inventory, that would have fit my style. If associates go above and beyond then why was that not offered to me when the associates realized they made a mistake? When The associate realized what I wanted instead of being treated as an unreasonable unwelcomed client who was throwing a tantrum for seemingly no reason, WHY DID THEY NOT INSTEAD OF TELLING ME THEY ONLY HAD PLAIN BRIDESMAID DRESSES, WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST CALL THE OTHER STORE?

This was not my error. I was not unreasonable. Your associates dropped the ball when they had SO MANY opportunities to pick it up. At this point after being blown off, yelled at, poorly treated and seemingly belittled, I was furious. At the time, I was unable to really properly convey my experience. So I felt to give myself peace, it was...

When I got engaged I was super excited, of course, and a million things were running through my mind. One of those things, where in the world would I get my dress?? I didn't want to go to the big chain salon because I know they don't have a huge selection for me and I have had less than satisfying experiences their with friends and family of mine. Being a curvy girl, it was something that had always kind of worried me. I love shopping and fashion, but all the plus size dresses I had seen were kind of boring and basic. Not to mention, there's not that many bridal salons that sell them, at least not in my area. When planning my trip to Long Beach during spring 2017, I live in Washington, I happened to come across the website for Strut. I thought, why not give it a chance? What could it hurt? I called and made my appointment, and that's where it all started. My sister came with me to the salon and we were greeted with smiles and overwhelming positivity. The main person who helped us was Tamiko. She was great! In preparation for coming to the salon, I sent them the link to my pinterest wedding page and answered some questions about my wedding and my style. At the salon I answered some more questions and then it was time to get started. Tamiko had already pulled some dresses for me and had them waiting in the dressing room. Upon walking into the dressing room I saw it. THE dress. I pointed to it and said "I want to try on that one!" And I did lol. It was love at first sight. I ended up trying a handful of other dresses on, but came back to that first one. Tamiko made me feel so comfortable and confident in every dress. She was funny, honest and genuinely cared about my happiness! I really had no intention of buying a dress that day, but the dress had other ideas lol. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I had pinned this dress at least 4 times and didn't even realize that I had! They really do their research and prep work at Strut! I left the salon that day just to sleep on it, and returned a couple days later to try it on once more and ultimately purchase my dress. The purchasing process was easy and stress free. I put down half the amount and have made montly payments since. They are very accomidating and are always friendly and helpful on the phone when I call. My dress should be in sometime in October, at which point I will go back for measurements and alterations. I am excited to see my dress again and see those friendly Strut ladies! Overall I would give Strut 10 out 10 stars and would recommend it to anyone looking for a dress. If you want a place where you will feel confident, beautiful, and comfortable Strut is for you! Thank you again! You made something I anticipated as being a super stressful experience into a suscessdul, happy day that I'll...