Dard-E-Designer Threads

On the onset let me specify that the following post is a one-sided version of a shopper in distress. This lady, a bride-to-be (not personally known to me) wrote to me about her horrifying account while shopping for her trousseau. She requested her agony to be voiced. I had written about Salman Khan’s sister, Arpita’s woes with her wedding wear from Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla hence want to give a non-celebrity the space to express her angst.

I will also post the designer’s or her team’s point-of-view in case they wish to do so.

Here is the verbatim of the bride-to-be’s account totally unedited:

Hello jack,

 This all started when we visited Anju Modi in Delhi. The first meeting went well. We did leave from there thinking ok she seems a little money minded but then who isn’t. We trusted her judgement and ended up spending around 7 lac worth on clothes and gave an advance of 4 lac for the wedding clothes only.  I’m specifying wedding clothes here for a reason. We did like a few more pieces, which we asked them to quote us and said that if we are fine with the prices we will ask you to make them for us( we were very specific) .The second visit to her was on 10th of January for final fittings and we needed all clothes before the 19th of January as our functions were to start on the 17th. On that day of fitting on the 10th the fitting of the clothes were horrible and not something you expect from a well-known designer . Clothes were very tacky and not worth the price we were asked to pay and the quality of material was so bad that I could have cried, embroidery was so tacky it hurt (it was similar to the dress that Shraddha Kapoor wore on the ramp- white and gold) but it was very last minute for us to make any changes .

As if that was not enough her head of operations lady Aaradhna tried to pile on the clothes that we had asked them to quote for (which we have not approved and i have document of proof of that). She actually forced us to buy them! My sister had to eventually buy one of the pieces, which we had not approved of to pacify them !. (have proof of that as well)

On the 12th of January we called them up to find out the status of our clothes which were to be couriered to us and we requested a tailor to be sent with the clothes as the fitting was bad. We had put in a request only.

I have to mention that  the same request was well received by Rohit Bal and Raghavendra Rathore . Their tailors are in Ahmedabad today 19th Jan and we are talking to them for fittings , you can verify this easily. Rohit Bal was very hospitable and very accommodating and so was Rathore).

We waited for a response on this request from Aaradhana and finally called them after only being responded with “ we will get back to you” on repeated calling.

Finally on the 13th January afternoon i decided to call them up and at least get a final decision since they were not giving us a proper answer in “ yes “ or “no” – 3 days before our wedding dates.

From here the story will be a little of he said/she said :

 I called up Aaradhana and asked her if they can send a tailor since we have spent 7 lacs on our clothes as it will be easier for us instead of 3 people flying to Delhi at the last minute.

She responded by saying “ aap jab 10th ko aye the tab realise nai kiya ke kapdo ka fitting barabar nai hai?”

i was a little taken back as i was not expecting such a reply. So told her to talk properly as being a client its very insulting to be spoken to in this manner. She started raising her voice to almost shouting on why they can’t send a tailor. To which i responded that this could have been told to me politely as well instead of just shouting at a client who is in panic because you have not sent the clothes just 3 days before our functions!. It was then i told her that i will talk to Anju myself .

The very next minute Anju picked up my call and before i could finish my sentence of Aaradhana was being very rude – pat came a reply “ what do you want me to do about it”?

That minute I realised there was no point to this conversation and just requested her to courier our clothes so that they can reach us on 17th morning. She said make the balance payment + 6000 rs in courier charges as she was not willing to pay for it ( yes i was told that). I transferred the balance amount of 3.5 lac on that day itself but because it was Makarsankranti in Gujarat for two days the amount would not reflect on that day. So i told her this and she agreed to courier the clothes the very next day i.e. on the 14th .

Today is the 19th and we have still not received our clothes in Ahmedabad. ( this i can get proof of since parcels are tracked)

I know this is a long email. But there was no other way to explain it since i don’t have proof or very limited proof and its a he said she said thing.

I don’t know how my story will help you in getting details but i hope it does so that no other client feels cheated and kept hanging till their last minute for their clothes after shelling out a bomb.

Warm Regards