OMG! Nigerian bride narrates her ordeal in the hands of a popular fashion designer, Yemi Shoyemi

A woman’s wedding day is one of the most important days of her life, and it’s not unusual that she’d want to look her best, hence be inclined to call on the help of talented and well known fashion designers.

One woman, however, regretted her decision to do so when she got the disappointment of her life just a few days to her big day.

She took to her Instagram page @osh_bugie to call out a Lagos-based fashion designer who had delayed her wedding dress for months even after she’d made a 70% deposit.

Sharing screenshots of conversations between them, she narrated how she met the fashion designer back in August, made deposits and kept getting one postponement after the other.

‘I know alot of people have been waiting for me to put up this post. Truth is, I am not writing this in anger or to spite the lady I’m about to write a detailed review on but I am writing it because it is the right thing to do. Business is about service, and if a customer fails to be serviced right, he/she has every right to complain.

Reviews help businesses improve, and also inform potential clients of what they are likely to experience should they choose to be serviced by them. I write this today standing as a voice to previous brides who should have voiced out about the unacceptable and appalling service of @yemishoyemi

Late August 2016 I got to know @yemishoyemi through a friend who told me about how good she is. I looked her up on IG to confirm myself and also found she was good and i was completely sold as her dresses were beautiful

Sept-Oct 2016 I  started communicatin with @yemishoyemi on whatsapp and email since i was out of town. Everything was good, i sent her lots of pictures of what i wanted including the colour of the dress. She sent me a quote and i made a 70% deposit in October.

Next was my sketch which she was to send and that was where the delays started. Honestly I took no meaning to it considering she is a designer and obviously had other clients she was making outfits for. But it never stopped, she cancelled or shifted every appointment or Skype call we scheduled giving different reasons like illness and other unexpected emergencies.

Then it was time to return and I informed her when I’d be in town and she promised to send a date for fitting which she sent and cancelled the morning of the appointment.

To cut the long story shorter, I got to her store 10 minutes to my appointment and waited for almost an hour before the dress was brought out. Lo and behold it was the lining of the dress…my dress was far from ready

@yemishoyemi then explained that the first fitting had to look like that as alterations cannot be made on a completely made dress. I chopped it. Final fitting was going to be following week before Christmas after which the dress would be drycleaned and I could pick up. The day never came as more stories started springing up.’

The nonchalant and unremorseful attitude of the designer continued until the bride needed to take her dress to church at this point.

‘PART 2…By now my dress was due for inspection in church (RCCG) and I had cancelled twice believing every single word she said and trusting she will not disappoint in the end. Yemi once again called to say she was sick and had been hospitalised but promised I will have the dress fitted and ready on the 7th of January 2017.

Jan 6 2017 (a week to my wedding) I called to confirm the time to come in the following day and I had also set up another appointment with the church for the third time. Again she said it wasn’t possible.

At this point I couldn’t contain myself so I told my sister who spoke at length to her about how important it was for the dress to be ready. Dress inspection was very key in the church I was wedding in and even more crucial for me considering my mum is a pastor.

We gave her till Monday Jan 9 (four days to to the wedding) Still nothing. My mum called and also spoke at length explaining why her proposed date was not acceptable. We decided to just show up and see the progress she had made. What we saw was enough to make any bride have a heart attack. I was too shocked to weep. Acccording to my sister it was not a dress but pieces of material.

The dress looked similar to the first fitting I did two weeks ago only that it was cut in three parts this time. The progress between the first and second fitting was definitely proof that my dress had been left unattended to with little progress. It was nothin close to what I asked her to do. Not even the colour I wanted. And then a ribbon. I never wanted one! The pieces put together was just all shades of ugly.

I sat there in shock as my sister and chief bridesmaid stared in horror nd we knew this dress could not be worn. We were too shocked to even take pictures. Standing there I had noted five errors on the dress. Worst part is Yemi was willing to let me take the pieces (dress) as it was to the church and have it returned to her to finish up..who takes an incomplete dress to a church for inspection? And considering you have delayed this long who should be chasing after who? At this point I expected her to be going all out to ensure we remained calm. But no, as we walked out Yemi shut the door behind me with no single remorse on her face. it was always about her own timing.’

At this point, she knew she needed an alternative. Fast.

‘Part 3: Immediately we left her showroom, we began calling as many bridal stores as we could to know if they had ready made dresses in my size that we could buy. At this point, it wasnt about what I wanted but about getting a dress in less than 24 hours that I could take to church the following morning in time for my fourth and final appointment at 10am.

We explored all possible options, both to rent or purchase. Finally we booked appointments with four bridal stores for the following morning. My mum’s friend came to see me requesting that iI pass through her shop before going to the bridal stores I had booked appointments with. I went to bed without a clue of where I’d get a dress but holding on to the word my mum received from God concerning my wedding that ‘all will be taken care of’.

Appointment day (2 days to wedding) We were at the lady’s store by 9am. She had once sold bridal dresses but stopped and had her remaining stock put away. We walked into her shop not expecting much, she wasnt sure about what she had herself. But by 10am I was driving back home to pick my mum and rush to church with not just any dress but with the dress I never thought would fit me but turned out to be perfect. In one hour God changed my testimony from no dress to the ‘perfect dress’. I thought I was settling for less, not realising I was going with God’s best.’

Part 4:

So yes my story ended very well but not without me asking for a 100% refund from @yemishoyemi. I wasnt surprised when she refunded 50% claiming that refunds on cancellation is 50%. Was this just a cancellation or simply an error in delivering the dress at the time it should have been ready? Considering how much I learnt about customer service I chose not to be quiet about this.

So I contacted a few of her recent brides to confirm their experience with this lady. And guess what? Not one of the five ladies had their dresses delivered earlier than a day to their wedding. One former bride had her dress delivered on her wedding day while she was doing her makeup!!! To make matters worse her dress was not what she wanted but she had no choice.

Another had to sit with her mum in Yemi’s shop a day to her wedding for her dress to be finished. This is a lady who now collects as much as N300k – N450k from brides insisting on 70% deposit but gives nothing close to good service and never delivers on time. Do you really want to go through the headache of waiting on someone that puts you in a position where you have no choice but to wait? If my dress required no inspection I would have fallen victim and also waited.

This is not acceptable, designers cannot decide to step up their prices without stepping up their service. Inspite of everything this lady never sincerely apologised asides her generic messages or to even wish me well pn my wedding day instead she chose to refund half of the deposit made knowing fully well that she was the defaulter.

Six devastated brides is enough…there are probably more but these are the only ones I chose to go with. Its really hard to believe that there’s no story behind every bride on her IG. Let this be my gift to all potential brides out there. It is really more than what meets the eye. Don’t just go with IG posts, look for former clients (you’d find them I can assure you) and ask them. Know what you’re getting into before you jump in. If I had known all that I know now, I would have decided better. Still, after all that has been said, I’m glad @yemishoyemi disappointed because she led me to the perfect dress.