Once In A Life Tyme Bridal

I went to the bridal show in 2006 after being engaged for a few months and found a beautiful dress that fit me like a glove at the Once in a Life Tyme booth. The dress that I tried on was an 8 (and I was a 10) and it fit so well that I wanted to buy the one I tried on. I couldn't buy it because it was a display dress, but that they said they'd order me one. The girl said that since it fit so well I should just order an 8, so I did and paid in full. They told me my dress would be in in 6 months and that they'd call me. Pros: Lots of choices Cons: Inexperienced bride + inexperienced sales people = STRESS more

It's so disapointing to see such negative comments about this store. I went in during a week day early in the morning and worked with Nancy. She was wonderful. My MOH went with me and they were helpful, friendly and honest the entire time. I went to three stores prior and had such awful experiences I didn't even want to go to another store, but it was right down the street from the previous store, so I went and I'm so glad I did. We were greeted as soon as we walked in and were told that we could try on as many dresses as we wanted. I ended up finding the perfect dress there and Nancy gave me such a great deal. They said the dress would take 3-4 months, and true to their word it was in 4 months after purchase. I've been in there several times to show off the model dress to family and to have brides maids measured, and they have always been wonderful. The weekends are usually busy and staffed by teenagers, so the atmospher is different, but you have to expect with weekends it's busy and teenagers will be teenagers. They are still friendly and helpful if you ask for help and are patient. If you want personal one on one service I suggest going on a week day and ask for Nancy. Pros: Large selection of wedding and bridal party attire Cons: None, if you are friendly and patient more

I thought this place was great when I was browsing for dresses. A lady helped us choose a great dress and we ended up buying it. It took a month longer than they said for it to come one though. When we went to pick up the dress, the customer service was horrible. It was all 16 year old girls working and they didn't seem to have a clue. I got my dress but needed to choose a veil. The girl showed us the veils and then left and said, ""Holler if you need me."" Well, I have no idea how to choose a veil. I didn't know what went with my dress or how you could order them. It was so frustrating to have to look through hundreds of veils with no guidance. Other girls were trying on dresses and veils with no help either. This store would be awesome if they improved their customer service. more

I personally had a very good experience with Once in a Life Tyme, despite what I read on these awful reviews. So, here's what I have to say. If you want your own personal shopper who is devoted to pleasing you at all times, go to Kleinfield's in NY and pay $15k. But if you want an amazing selection at great prices, this is the place to go. Not surprisingly, with amazing prices, they can't pay for amazing associates so yes, some of the girls in there don't really know what's going on at all times. That's why you have to ask for Nancy, she's been there a really long time and knows her stuff. I came in there knowing exactly which dress I wanted, but I had found it out of state and rather than losing business to an out of state store, she agreed to match the price that I had been quoted elsewhere. The dress came in almost exactly the day it was supposed to (1 day early, in fact) and they called me right away. The only thing I could have asked to be better was their communication because they don't always call to let you know they ordered the dress/bridesmaids dresses when they place the order, but they do order them and just have so much volume through that store that I could see how it gets too busy to call every bride right away. However, if you call they are absolutely fine with that, I never got bad service when I called to check on something. Overall, I was very pleased, and am very happy that my dress and bridesmaids dresses came and were perfect! Pros: Great selection, great prices, great service if you ask for Nancy Cons: Service by the teenage employees is mediocre more

Since Sept. 1st I have been waiting, with anxiety, for my daughter's wedding dress to arrive and all because of the bad reviews previously written by other people. All I can say, is don't let other people's opinions sway you away from a GREAT bridal store!! The dress was due to come into the store mid February and we got a call Feb. 8th that the dress was here!!! All my daughter's bridesmaids dresses were also ordered from this store and they weren't due to arrive until mid to late February and they arrived the end of January!! We have had nothing but great service and everything has arrived just as promised, but I let all the previous reviews make me unnecessarily worried. I don't know what the other people's true situations were, I just know we had no ""red flags"" and would order again in a minute from this store. The staff was patient and very accommodating to our frequent questions about when the dresses would arrive. You may not get one-on-one service when the store is busy and they don't make appointments but you will have a hard time finding prices that can compete with theirs. My daughter's dress was from the Allure exclusive line and we only found 3 other stores in the valley that could even order it, but the price we got here was far better than all the other stores. Be patient and try to keep in mind they do a lot of business and have lots of brides to keep happy all at once. Sometimes customer service might suffer because of the volume of business they do and they may not always get your call returned, but just call them back and they will be happy to help you. The whole staff is great but Nancy and Anna deserve extra kuddos for their patience with mothers of the brides, and the brides, who think the world only revolves around them. Again...our family couldn't be happier and we will recommend this store to all our friends and family! :o) Pros: Great selection of wedding and bridesmaid dresses! Cons: Letting bad reviews keep someone from trusting a good thing! more

PLEASE brides, bridesmaids, grooms, etc... DO NOT shop here. I have read 2 reviews that talk about getting a rush and then the dresses coming in 1 month earlier than estimated. That happened to me! I think they are running a scam at that store. All they do is cuss, talk about completely innappropriate things, and they could care less about what you want. I have also read not being told that they will not order the dresses until all the dresses were ordered. They conveniently left that out and that forced my girls to pay extra. Pros: never busy Cons: everything you can imagine more

My wedding dress DID NOT come in intime although i oredered it 6 MONTHS before the date...Every time i called she had an excuse and said she would call beack which she NEVER did...we had to post pone my wedding by 2 weeks for the dress to arrive which cost us over 1,000 dollars...then she wouldnt discount the dress ans was exremelly RUDE when we asked for a discount....RUN NOW!!! DO NOT GO TO THIS SHOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pros: NO PROS Cons: if i could give it a negative score i would!!!!! more

This was the second bridal shop that I stopped in to visit that morning. Crystal was helping me at the time. She was very attentive and helped me with selection as well as actually getting into the dresses themselves. I found the dress that I liked the best.. I had them hold it for me so that I could bring back my daughter the next day. That experience the next day was also a good one. Their selection and product knowledge was excellent. more

Who wrote those previous reviews? It's unfortunate that they seemed to have had such a bad experience because I know several people who have gotten their dresses there and have had wonderful experiences and lots of great customer service!! I am a bridal consultant who has helped several brides find the dress of their dreams at this store and have gotten the best prices in town. Don't believe everything you read. Ask for Nancy when you visit and she will make sure you get the service you deserve. Pros: Great selection of all styles of dresses! Cons: Haven't found one yet! more

I don't know what happened to this store but it is terrible! When they first opened in Ahwatukee about ten years ago my daughter was one of their first employees. She now lives out of state and was home for a visit and was excited to go into the store to look for gowns for her April wedding. I can only say it was horrible. They lack any customer service skills what so ever. They are rude. They do not pay attention to their customers or assist them in any way and were in such a hurry to get out of the store at closing time that we were basically told to leave, which we did ,and stood in the hot afternoon sun waiting for our ride. more

I stopped by this store on my recent trip from Los Angeles. I got there over an hour before closing just to look, and a RUDE woman behind the counter only said ?You only have an hour?. NOBODY showed me how gowns were racked, what the tags meant, anything. I tried on three dresses, and nobody helped me with headpieces, veils, anything. I had my mother and a bridesmaid with me, and nobody even acknowledged them. While we were looking through the bridesmaids gowns, the same old, RUDE, woman YELLED ?we?re closed ?leave? at us! Nobody offered to write down the gowns I tried on. When I tried on a gown, the only ?help? we received was a woman saying ?The price on the tag is wrong, the prices will go up after we recover from the flood.? This store has no class, horrible service, and the most disgusting and rude people I have ever seen. I will take my business back to Los Angeles, and another business can enjoy the $$ I was ready to spend. DO NOT GO HERE! Pros: Wide range of bridesmaids dresses, large store Cons: WORST SERVICE OF MY LIFE, NO HELP, RUDE and TASTELESS employees more

The staff doesn't seem to care about the customers. Half of the time they are at the counter gossiping with each other and don't acknowledge the customers. I ordered my dress, bridesmaids dresses and tuxes from this store. First they told me my dress would arrive 2 weeks before my wedding (I ordered it 3 months in advance and paid $80 extra to expedite). My dress thankfully arrived a lot sooner. Bridesmaids dresses arrived 3 weeks prior to wedding date, which is cutting it close for alterations. The biggest nightmare and hassel came with the tuxes. We were told to come in a few days before the wedding and they would be ready for pick up. Well, a few days before the wedding the store somehow gets flooded and the store had to be closed, but they were still doing business. The tuxes were in a different location and we could still rent them, but it was almost unclear if we would get the tuxes at all as we could never reach anyone on the phone. Once we had the tuxes a day before the wedding we find that they did not provide my husband with a cumberbund or tie and buttons were missing from the shirt. One of the groomsmen was given size 6 shoe and he wears an 11. I was completely dissatisfied with this place. Pros: parking is good, decent selection of dresses Cons: bad service, not very accomodating when it comes to bad service more

I spent two hours in the store, the staff did not seem interested at all to make a sale even though I have 8 bridesmaids and three flower girls so it would be a good sale. The dresses were up on the racks in decent sizes not only 2's and 4's like most places I have been. Go to this store only if you know exactly what you are looking for and don't depend on them for help. Otherwise they have a good selection and good prices. Pros: Good selection, allow walk ins even late afternoon early evening, reasonably priced Cons: Lazy staff, were not of any help more

The dresses I have ordered for my bridesmaids were completelly wrong. First they measured them wrong, so the dresses came about 2 sizes to big (lots of money for alteration), then they didn't tell me that they will not send the order in until all the bridesmaids come get measured. So I had to pay late fees on all the dresses. Then they lost my file and when my bridesmaids went to pick up their dress, it took for each 45min to 90 minutes!!! to just pick the dress up. The dresses were from Alfred Angelo and did not look the way they did on the picture! The store owner refused to refund my money, saying I signed the order so I don't have any legal rights for returns. The customer service was absolutelly awful! If you are thinking about buying something at this store, please DO NOT they will screw you over!!!!!! more

Staff never greeted nor acknowledged us in anyway on 5/19/06. There was only 1 other customer in the store and they were as exasperated as we were. Staff spent their time chit chatting at the front. Gowns are ripped with make up on them etc. Dressing rooms full of gowns that had been tried on, thrown on the floor etc. There was actually an Elvis sequin number displayed that the sequins were falling off. WHERE WAS THE HELP? I thought stores were in the business to sell products, NOT THIS ONE. If I owned this store i would fire everyone and get staff that would like to actually help the customer. This store felt extremely low budget Pros: none, none, none Cons: indifferent staff, shopworn gowns, messy dressing rooms more

I am in COMPLETE SHOCK at the INCOMPETENCE of this shop. EVERYTHING has been a disaster and a waste of time. Do NOT get anything from this shop. The only thing that has gone right so far is that my Bridesmaid dresses came in on time. My Bridal Gown is 3 months late and I ordered it 10 months in advance of my wedding! I have groomsmen who have come in to be measured and their measurements have been lost or incomplete. They delayed the ordering of the dress for my flower girl by 3 weeks because of their inability to return repeated phone calls. The shop is completely DISORGANIZED AND UNRELIABLE. PLEASE, DON'T USE THEM FOR ANYTHING. Pros: Pretty dresses Cons: INCOMPETENT, DISORGANIZED, UNRELIABLE more

When searching for a bridal gown store to use for my wedding I came upon Once in a Life Tyme and thought they seemed like a great store. I read reviews of this bridal store and they were not all that great. I figured they were from brides that maybe had fluke experiences so I decided to use them for my gown and my bridesmaids gowns. That was a BAD MISTAKE! The customer service was terrible, phone calls were never returned, no one could ever find my file, and I was even hung up on a couple of times. This store is ABSOLUTELY NOT RECOMMENDED for any business beyond ordering a bridal gown. Unless you want to create stress beyond belief and have your entire wedding planning experience ruined I WOULD NOT suggest using this store. Pros: Inexpensive Cons: Awful cstmr service, Unorganized, Not trustworthy more