ComplaintsforPins and Needles Alterations

• Initial Complaint

  03/30/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On March 30th, my daughter's boyfriend went to pick up a dress at pins and needles , which she had shortened , and the straps adjusted. They charged her $126.00, for this alteration. When she went to drop off the dress originally , they mentioned the dress would be a little higher priced because of the layers involved. The ball park of $60ish. Imagine our surprise when the **** was $126. When they said it would be slightly higher, never imagined it would be $126. My daughter goes to college in *******, so she is out of town, and I was not there. After looking into the reviews on this business, looks like she does this often, where the final price is almost double the estimate. Much like a bait and switch, where the item is finished and the client has no choice to pay for it, because they need the special occasion dress or outfit. I wish i would have looked more into this place, since I live 3 hours away. I believe they take advantage of younger clients, that honestly does not know any better yet.

  Business response

  03/31/2022

  All of the staff here has been trained to ask if formalwear customers would like an estimate before they leave.  No one would ever give a ball park estimate, much less for $60 for a three layer gown.  We price our alterations by the inch multiplied by the circumference of the dress.  The outer layer is priced at $.35 per inch and the lining layers are priced at $.25 per inch.  An estimate would have been quite easy to figure had *** chosen to wait for it.  Since ******* told me repeatedly on her phone calls that *** was told "it might be a little pricey", that was most likely said to her after she declined getting her estimate. ***'s total, after tax and the legally recoverable credit card fee was added, was $125.28.  The price for alterations alone was $112.75. I tried to explain these facts to ******* when she called, but she would not let me get a word in.  I finally had to ask her repeatedly if she was done so I could respond.  A couple of times she said yes, but as soon as I began to speak, she once again shouted me down.  She said repeatedly that her 20 yr old daughter was just a child and should not have been expected to request an estimate and that by us not requiring her to hear one that it was in her words, an attempt to "take advantage of younger clients."  We alter hundreds of formal wear dresses every year and we give estimates to everyone once we ask if they want it and they accept our offer.  During our second "conversation" of three I finally asked her what amount she wanted, since she was basically blackmailing me by threatening to ruin our business with bad reviews on every site she could think of. She said, "I want half price! It's only worth $60!" There was never any mention of poor workmanship or bad fit, just that it was unfair that we would charge "a child" a fair price for the craft of custom sewing alterations.    

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