Richard Bennett Tailors — Local services in Brookfield

My fiancé and I went to Richard Bennett Tailors (now located in Brookfield Square instead of Mayfair Mall) in January to purchase suits for our wedding this June. We were looking for a 3 piece suit and French cuff shirt for my fiancé and 3 suits for our family members. While the suit shopping process was very smooth and we are happy with the end results, the shirt experience has been an absolute disaster and has destroyed any goodwill we have towards this business.

We ordered and fully paid for the shirt and the 3 piece suit at the same time back in January. My fiancé was measured and it was noted that he needed a trim fit style shirt. When he picked up the suit in February, he was told the shirt had not come in yet, despite there being enough time for the suit to arrive and get tailored during this period.

Another week or two goes by and he checked in regarding the shirt again. He’s initially told he needs to call back tomorrow because the person who does the ordering is not available today (which begs the question why does only one employee in the store know the ordering system?). When he calls the next day, he’s told that they ordered the wrong shirt as it did not have the French cuffs. My fiancé confirmed his measurements and the trim fit style and was told they would order the shirt again.

Another couple of weeks pass and he called about the shirt again (note that the store never contacted him throughout this whole process, he was always the one having to initiate conversations). The employee he talks to this time questions whether or not he actually ordered and paid for the shirt, as they have no record of it. We of course saved our receipt and my fiancé was able to tell the employee exactly what was ordered and when. He was told they would reorder the shirt yet again and had the option of picking up the shirt in store or having it shipped directly to us. Since we live 1.5 hours away, he opted to have the shirt shipped to us.

Finally, the shirt arrives early this month (2.5 months after initially ordering it). My fiancé tries the shirt on and it is obviously too large for him. He calls the store again and they tell him to come in and they can put darts in the shirt to have it fit better. We make the drive up this past Sunday. The employee who helps us this time looks at the shirt and the original receipt and states that this shirt is the contemporary fit and not the trim fit like we ordered. He apologizes, takes down my fiancé’s information again, and says they will order the shirt and ship it to us, which will take about a week.

Flash forward to today and my fiancé receives a call from the store. They chastised him for not calling ahead when he came in this weekend because the shirt was the correct size but it needed to be fitted all along. If they knew he needed to be there in person to be fitted, why was this not mentioned earlier and why did they even give him the option of having the shirt sent directly to him?

At this point, we just want our money back (since we paid for the shirt back in January) so we can shop for a shirt elsewhere before we run out of time. The employees at Richard Bennett Tailors are completely disorganized and are incredibly poor communicators, both with each other and their customers. They repeatedly messed up the simplest part of our order and tried to blame us for their mistakes. We have absolutely no faith whatsoever that we will receive a white, trim fit dress shirt with French cuffs from this business in time for our June wedding and would not recommend...

I really enjoyed this place! But to keep this review quick and easy, here is my experience in bullets:

What they got right! Clean, organized, store. Immediate help and assistance. Great quality suits. Wonderful styles. Staff has a good eye. Good price to quality ratio. Fast turn-around time for tailoring. Friendly staff.

I have to mention, it was night and day between this place and the chain suit store nearby. I nearly got whiplash when I went from here to there. Going from Richard Bennett Tailors to the chain store was like stepping from a ballroom into a barnyard. However, there are some minor things I ran into.

What could be better. Price transparency. (I got the wrong idea from the website) Attention to detail / honesty on tailoring. More shirt sizes / styles / options.

I would knock off 0.5 stars for this last bit, but that's not an option so I'm rounding up.

Thank you for...

I stopped into this location today and was immediately turned away. The first gentleman stated "we don't do alterations for women". Which was strange because that's NOT what the website says. I replied "ok no problem, thank you." No other conversation was had. However, another associate handed me a business card for another business. Instantly I thought that was nice UNTIL he stated "she's more affordable for you." Exactly what does that mean considering there was no conversation had to determine my affordability?? Not sure if my complexion made the associate make an assumption that I couldn't afford to shop there. Or if it was just lack of knowledge on how to redirect a customer after contradicting your website or flat out poor choice of words. Nevertheless, the assumption would never make me want to shop here or...