I had the owner, May, alter a cocktail dress for my daughter. It turned out wonderful...we were happy. Based on this and the shining recommendations of others, we took 2 ball gowns to be altered. One of the dresses was dropped off in a jewel-toned blue...when we went to pick it up, its ruffles were faded to nearly white on the left side. I told May that it was a different color and she told me 'she didn't do anything to it.' I tried the dresses on my daughters and the alterations were subpar. The faded one was much too tight in the bust and very loose in the waist. The other was more than 4 inches too short (from the floor), it was visibly uneven, and the closure at the neck was ill-fitting and coming apart at the seams. You can tell a lot about business owners when a problem arises. I told May I was not happy. She started to let out the seam on the too-short dress. But, I couldn't get past the fading on the other dress. I collected the dresses and left. I immediately stopped by the store I bought the dress from and the owner confirmed that it was definitely faded....sun-faded, in fact. I realized that when I pulled up to the store, our other ball gown was in the front window. That window faces west in the Atlanta, 100 degree summer days. I don't know how long either dress hung in the window, but she had our dresses for about 2-3 weeks. There is a rack with several unprotected dresses in this direct sunlight. My husband and I returned the next day. We felt that we should be refunded our alteration money since we had to have both dresses redone. Of course, she offered to fix them, but we felt that based on the quality of work, we would like to take them to someone more qualified. We also decided that the extreme fading on the left side rendered the dress unwearable. We also requested that they pay to have that dress replaced. The alterations were $320 (for both dresses) and the replacement cost of the ruined ball gown is $300. We asked for $620 back. We brought an original catalog image of how the dress looked when we brought it in and even said they could keep the dress...we weren't trying to get a free dress out of this. We really need to replace the dress. May's husband remained very level-headed and business like (kudos for that). Unfortunately, I can't say the same for May. She asked us "why would you want to cheat me?" She kept saying "I am old....why would I change the ruffles on the dress?" We maintained that we brought the dress in 1 color and now it is another color (on 1 side) and it needs to be replaced. She showed us a brown satin dress that had been in the window..."Why wouldn't this one be faded?" Well, I am no scientist, but I do know that different fabric dyes are made from different chemicals...I also know that our ruffles were not satin...they were a sheer fabric....but I do think it lies in the dye being sensitive to direct sunlight. May's husband refunded our alteration costs ($320). I am certain I will spend that for the alterations to fix the dresses. But, they refused to pay for the replacement cost of the dress...I have to replace it...so I am out another $300....this $300 dress is now a $600 dress. They said they will take no responsibility for the sun fading on the dress. When ABC Alterations gives us replacement cost for the dress, we will remove this review. read more