Online ball dress fail
A dream dress has become a nightmare for one Auckland student getting ready for her school ball.
Alyssa Houma, 17, ordered a dress from online store Dreamy Dress for tonight’s event.
But what arrived in the post was not what she expected and trying to get a refund left the student in tears.
The deputy head girl at Mt Albert Grammar was looking for something different for her first and only school ball.
‘‘I wanted something that was unique and modest. So many dresses out there, they don’t really cover anything, and I wanted to make sure I was modest and comfortable.’’
The dress Houma found advertised at Dreamy Dress was exactly what she was looking for.
Houma was sceptical about online shopping so she researched the company.
‘‘I looked at where they were based. It said it was a New Zealand website with a store in Matapouri, in Whanga¯rei. I also looked at reviews and it was all four out of five,’’ Houma said.
Everything she saw gave her confidence to order the custom-fit dress for $212.80 plus postage.
Concerns only began to creep in when the dress had not arrived by the expected delivery date.
She contacted the company and it sent her a tracking number that listed the dress as being sent from China.
‘‘My heart sank, they said it was a New Zealand company,’’ Houma said. ‘‘When the package arrived, I ripped it open and it was inside out but straight away I could see that the colour wasn’t right. When I turned it the right way, there are no words, I was so disappointed. The colour was completely wrong.
‘‘When I put it on it was massive, it didn’t fit at all.’’
She emailed the company and was told the dress was made to the measurements provided.
In an email exchange seen by Stuff, a Dreamy Dress representative initially offered Houma a 10 per cent refund before upping this to 20 per cent and then dropping back to 10 on orders from the manager.
Houma wants a full refund and to warn others.
‘‘I would tell others to be very careful. I wouldn’t want people to go through what I have been through,’’ she said.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment consumer protection manager Mark Hollingsworth said the Fair Trading Act applied to anyone in trade, including overseas businesses.
However, buying from overseas meant it could be harder for consumer rights to be enforced, he said.
Attempts to contact Dreamy Dress through its website were unsuccessful.