Bel Soie by Valerie's Bridal- New Ulm — Local services in New Ulm

This place doesn't deserve one star based on the horrible customer service I recently received. I was assured by Alexa, the manager of Ashlee Bridal, that I was in good hands ordering my bridesmaid dress through Ashlee Bridal for my brother's upcoming wedding. I live out of state, so I wasn't able to be measured at Ashlee Bridal by one of their bridal specialists and had to be measured elsewhere. With the body measurements I gave Alexa over the phone, she sent me a dress size that she felt would fit me with what she said would be LITTLE alterations. I fully expected that I would have to pay to have the dress altered a LITTLE to fit my body. After I received my bridesmaid dress in the mail, I was drowning in it. I sent an email to Ashlee Bridal with pictures of me in the over-sized dress and asked kindly if I could exchange the dress for a dress that fits me properly. I went out to be re-measured at a professional bridal boutique elsewhere and gave Ashlee Bridal my new body measurements. The professional bridal boutique where I was re-measured, said even with the old body measurements, I should've never been advised to purchase the size dress that Alexa advised me to purchase. Ashlee Bridal's owner of the store, Valerie, called me and gave me the worst customer service I've ever received in my life. She told me due to "store policy" of NO RE-FUNDS (which I was never informed of at the time of purchasing this dress) there was nothing she could do for me. UNACCEPTABLE! I told her I felt that I should've been informed of their NO RE-FUND policy. I also told her I understood that I wasn't measured at Ashlee Bridal by their bridal specialist and was measured elsewhere; be that as it may, Ashlee Bridal should've never accepted my body measurements from an outside bridal store and that should be in their store policy for the future to avoid this incidence again. I feel as a customer of Ashlee Bridal because they did except my body measurements from an outside bridal store, they should've worked with me and at least met me half way on this. I proposed two solutions over the phone to the owner, Valerie : 1.) Ashlee Bridal exchanges the current over-sized bridesmaid dress for one that would fit me properly. 2.) Ashley Bridal pays (half of the alterations cost) to have the current over-sized dress altered to fit me properly. Valerie (OWNER OF ASHLEE BRIDAL) refused both solutions to the problem, didn't offer me any other solutions to the problem, still insisted this was not Ashlee Bridal's problem, told me I WAS FULLY RESPONSIBLE TO ALTER THIS OVER-SIZED DRESS ON MY OWN, wouldn't hear me out over the phone when speaking with her about this problem and continuously interrupted me. At the end of our conversation, Valerie told me she would see what she could do to resolve this issue, I never heard from her again. UNACCEPTABLE! HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE! Now, I'm stuck to pay to have this over-sized dress altered all on my own. The alteration cost of the dress was more than what I paid for the original.

I'm super disappointed and annoyed with the poor customer service I received from Ashlee Bridal. I feel this entire issue could have been avoided had Ashlee Bridal been willing to work as a team with me.

My advice: DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM, THERE ARE BETTER PLACES OUT THERE!...

I was tasked with fixing one of several dresses which were incorrectly sized due to this shop not measuring correctly. 2 of the dresses were literally falling off their shoulders. I got the one which was ordered way too small-- impossible to fix from a size 12 to a size 22, so 3 wks before The Date they exchanged it for another which was still far too small (could not even zip it up) plus it was 14 inches too long. When I hemmed the several layers it was apparent they were not evenly cut it hemmed to start with, making my task even more difficult. There was an attempt made by the shop to add some width to the back of dress but this was done sloppily (no edge finish, and the waist seam was left open with threads dangling-- on outside as well as inside). The shop was also supposed to have replaced the spaghetti straps with a wider style, they never did that but it would have been a difficult fix and I only had 1 week so I left them as is. I had to add a back panel to the inside of the bodice, abandon the upper part of zipper, and attach 4 satin ties, to keep the dress from gaping open. But even then the dress in front is not correctly sized for her ample bosom, she needed a larger size to begin with! It is unconscionable that this shop would not have just made the dress themselves, with 3 wks to The Date, they should have made the effort but they simply threw this dress in a box and mailed it to the customer. Just awful. I will be sure to tell anyone looking for wedding attire to avoid this shop. Their dresses are made in China, and the shop is apparently counting on their errant measuring, to add on additional charges for alterations which they won't, or in this case, were...

The first time I had went into Ashlee’s I was very pleased. It was after that where we things went terrible. My bridesmaids got sized for their dresses in store and 2 of them needed alterations afterwards, even though their body size did not change. One bridesmaid’s dress was 3 inches too short. They also have a lady that does alterations there and when I first tried on the dress she said she would be able to do alterations no problem. Every time I came in for alterations she would complain about how difficult my dress was. Our groomsman’s tux were different than our dads tux when we ordered them, but they were sent out the exact same. We were missing things for the guys tux’s but unfortunately didn’t realize it until the day of the wedding. A day before the wedding I was in New Ulm getting nails done and I had called to see if shoes were in for 3 of our guys before I left town and Alexa very rudely said “I told you I would call you when they were in.” When I returned the tux’s of course Alexa was not in so I left my name and number to talk to her about my concerns because our wedding party had spent close to $4000 and never received a call.... I will...