I got married this past weekend. I had nine groomsmen coming from different cities across two separate states, so with Mens Wearhouse being a large national chain, it seemed like the logical choice that would be easiest for all involved. I will summarize my experience in bullet points.
- I scheduled an appointment for a fitting and to pick out the garments. I went in for the fitting and the store attendant took down all my details on pen and paper. I thought this was sufficient, but as I found out some weeks later when I called to ask a follow up question, they had no record of my reservation at all and I had to come in for a second appointment. When I went in again I picked out a suit for myself and a separate but similar suit for all of my groomsmen. This is a detail that will be important later.
- I got a call from one groomsman when he went in for his fitting that they tried to give him two pairs of pants (blue and black). This is minor and we were able to sort it out, but it still showcases their incompetence and convoluted record keeping.
-I was never notified when my suit was ready. No phone call, no email, no message whatsoever. Obviously I had budgeted time the week of the wedding to pick it up, but one would expect some notice to be customary.
-When I picked up my own suit, the store manager at Monroeville didn't seem to grasp initially that mine was complimentary as I had met the numerical criteria for a free rental myself. He tried to change me, and when I objected, he spent several minutes on the phone with corporate to get the correct promotional code. Again, I will give them the bare minimum amount of recognition here that they sorted this out without charging me, but ostensibly weddings are a big part of your business and I would think it's well known that my rental is covered when I have 6+ groomsmen.
-When it was time for pickup two of my groomsmen received jackets that didn't fit. Now maybe sizes can be somewhat fluid and vary. One was an easy swap and he was able to get a fitting jacket that same visit. Another one was given a slim when he needed a regular. They didn't have it in stock so he had to return to the store on the morning of the wedding to get a new one. Thankfully we were able to do this, but it's easy to envision a scenario where this wouldn't have worked out. Even still, it shouldn't need to be said that this was an extra ordeal that we could have done without on the morning of my wedding.
-And here's the big one: my groomsmen all received suits identical to mine, despite the fact that I had picked out a different one for them. No one at the wedding was anyone the wiser, but I have nine guys collectively paying you thousands of dollars to wear clothing for one night. I have every right to pick what I want, and this store failed spectacularly on every level.
- I followed up the next morning to voice my dissatisfaction. All of the previous miscues notwithstanding, i would think being provided the wrong suits on the day of my wedding alone is a situation that needs to be rectified. The manager at Monroeville gave me his name and assured me that all nine of my guys would receive a full refund at whatever store they chose to drop off their suits. He instructed me to have the individual stores contact him with any further questions. Several of the guys were able to do so without any complications but a few were not so fortunate. Some stores pushed back on this or told some of the guys that they needed to return theirs at Monroeville. Let's remember here not everyone is local and that only myself and one other groomsman used the Monroeville store. I'm sympathetic to any other manager who may have been penalized for a mistake their store didn't make, but driving hours away just to get a refund when the retailer is solely at fault should not be the expectation placed on us. When you have a decentralized rental process like this, the burden should be on the retailer to sort out mistakes between stores amongst themselves. That's not our problem. As I sit here typing this now, one of my groomsman still has not received his refund despite waiting 40 minutes in the store yesterday. He was told to return today and plans to do so after work. I will update my review if further details are necessary.
So this was my experience using Mens Wearhouse for my wedding. I have no intentions of patronizing them again and I will share my story with anyone who tells me they plan to do so moving forward. read more