Laysieng Couturier

So frustrated with these people! Ok so I’m on an epic round the world trip and was going to surprise my BFF who asked me to be one of her MOHs by flying into Ottawa for the big day! With the help of my co-​MOH I contacted Laysieng to order the dress. It was a bit difficult to get in touch only because of the time difference Sydney-​Ottawa but overall first impressions I was really happy with this store. They said to call them any time until 1am. Awesome, great start. Well when I was on the phone with the owner I gave him my credit card information and said in an email I wasn’t going to provide my credit card details over email because accounts get hacked all the time, I only have one credit card and I’m traveling with no fixed address so getting a new one if mine is comprised is REALLY hard. The first thing he does is sends my credit card info with the expiry and security code in an email for confirmation! Seriously?! So that ticked me off but I thought oh maybe there was some misunderstanding.
So my VISA card saw the late night transaction from a bridal shop in a country they knew I wasn’t in and froze my credit card (thank you VISA for having my back!). So we had a couple back and forth emails since my card wasn’t working. I spoke with VISA and we got it all sorted out, the transaction went through and I requested a receipt for the dress so I had a proof of purchase when I got to Ottawa. I didn’t hear back and thought oh maybe my email didn’t go through? Four emails later requesting a receipt and still no response. Funny because all my emails leading up to the purchase had worked?
Then the unthinkable happened. The wedding got cancelled. Since I hadn’t heard back from the owners of the store and no receipt was provided I asked them if the dress had been ordered and if not, to please cancel the dress. No response. I sent another email. I called. Again no response. I sent ANOTHER email. Still nothing. After two months of this with no response I thought oh well at least I have a nice Alfred Sung dress when I get to Ottawa.
They were supposed to call me when it was ready to pick up. No phone call. Hmmm… so I did the most logical thing and showed up.
When I got to the store I was obviously not happy about chasing them for two months without a SINGLE response! So I showed up told Heng the owner my name and you could tell he knew exactly who I was. We went through the motions and I told him that he either owed me the money he had charged me or needed to provide a dress. He got very defensive and I told him that if I didn’t receive one of those things I was going to file a police report for theft. He proceeded to get the dress and told me that they had called. I informed him that I hadn’t received a single call and that I had been trying to contact them for two months before I got to Ottawa. He kept telling me I couldn’t have a refund and I said that was fine because he had given me the dress. I told him that I was very unhappy with my experience with their store and that I would be posting a review online.
As I went to exit the store, dress in hand, Heng’s wife started to yell at me. So I turned around to listen to what she had to say. She was yelling that God would judge me if I wrote bad reviews and He was a witness to their good customer service, and how dare I even think of writing anything bad about them. Her husband had called me and it’s my fault if I didn’t get the message. (Keep in mind that they have customers in the store and on the phone) So i calmly replied and told her that no one ever said anything about a bad review, I said I would write about my experience and that it would truthful. If she didn’t want me to write about my experience maybe they should have treated me differently? The yelling continued, I asked why she was yelling at an unhappy customer and what she hoped to accomplish other than make me more upset and more likely to write unflattering things. At which point she started yelling about how she wasn’t yelling just speaking loudly so I could hear her… ok? And that she had been raised to provide the best customer service possible and how I didn’t know what I was talking about. Finally, I was embarrassed for her and reminded her that she had potential customers in the store and on the phone so if she really was the ambassador of excellent customer service she claimed to be perhaps she shouldn’t be yelling at a customer in front of new customers? I think that hit home and she stopped yelling and then said goodbye.
As someone who just got engaged and will be having a destination wedding and two receptions (Vancouver and Ottawa), and quite possibly need at least two bridal dresses (maybe three! hehe) I won’t be coming back here and have told all my other friends getting married to take a pass. Who needs the stress? Not me.