5 On Your Side

Complaints mount against Raleigh bridal store

Complaints are piling up against a Raleigh bridal shop. More customers and even people who've worked at Victorian Rose Bridals are raising concerns about what's going on at the Cameron Village shop.

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RALEIGH, N.C. — Complaints are piling up against a Raleigh bridal shop. More customers and even people who've worked at Victorian Rose Bridals are raising concerns about what's going on at the Cameron Village shop.

Right after 5 On Your Side reported on complaints about bridal gowns coming in a week before the wedding, and bridesmaids dresses that were three sizes too small, others came forward. We've heard from multiple customers who complained about dress delays and problem orders. Now, a bride and her mother say Victorian Rose tried to sell them a floor sample as a brand new designer gown.

"It took me a while to put the pieces together," said Jane MacDonald, the mother of Gloria MacDonald Hart. "Cause in my mind, I couldn't imagine someone being that deceptive. I really couldn't."

The MacDonalds say they ordered a wedding dress in June of last year.

They say after they regularly called for updates, in late December, they were told it had arrived.

When her daughter went in to try it on, MacDonald said she realized, "something's not right."

She said the dress was way too big. And her other daughter said "Mom, there's stains on this dress."

Jane MacDonald told us she asked the shop employee two or three times, "Are you sure this isn't the sample that we tried on?" She said they were clear with their answer: "No!"

Not convinced, that night MacDonald called the designer, Heidi Elnora, and texted a picture of the dress just to verify their order.

MacDonald told us, "Elnora said, yes, that is our dress,” and added, "I hate to tell you but we haven't done business with them in over a year and a half."

MacDonald confronted the store manager.

"I said, 'I have a signed contract with you and I now know you haven't done business with Heidi Elnora in 18 months,' and her face just dropped and she just started sobbing."

MacDonald said owner Kathy Purser refused to talk with her, but the manager quickly gave a full refund.

5 On Your Side also talked with four people who have worked at Victorian Rose Bridals. They described questionable business practices. Two said it's why they left the business.

We went back to Victorian Rose Bridals, and asked Purser about the accusations that she tried to pass off a floor sample as a new dress.

Purser said, "No, no, no Monica, we do not do that," and then added, "I need to ask you to leave."

Purser then had her attorney contact us. Alan Parry reiterated Purser denies the accusations, and insists the MacDonalds knew they were buying a floor sample.

The store provided a copy of a receipt. Comparing that to MacDonald's receipt though, the store's version has the word "order" crossed out and "out of stock" added. MacDonald's receipt doesn't show any of that. And neither receipt specifically references the dress as a floor sample.

When we pointed that out to Alan Parry, he called the whole ordeal a "misunderstanding."

Jane and Gloria MacDonald ultimately worked directly with designer Heidi Elnora. They were grateful to get Gloria’s wedding dress in just three weeks.

Now, like many of the other customers and former employees who contacted us, MacDonald wants others to know about her experience.

"I don't want it to happen to anybody else," she said.

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