Prado Collection

I went to Prado's today to help my sister look at bridesmaid dresses for my upcoming wedding. I had read the bad reviews but we're down to crunch time. I tried to be positive as we walked in. The sale lady was very nice pointed out dresses that met our description of what we needed. My sister has a small fracture in her foot so she is in a boot so I started to go into dressing room to help. We were told to protect the dresses only sales people are allowed to help with the dresses. Ok. So we like the first dress but she tried on second one and I decided to take a quick pic so we could compare the dresses without my sister having to balance on one foot while changing clothes. I back away to get whole dress in photo and owner whipped around corner and informed me that 'no pictures are to be had here'. I know I turn red with fury. How is my pic going to hurt the dress? These are not his own designs! It's not like I'm going to go home and hand stitch a replica of it at home. My sister went to change back into her own clothes. While I was waiting for her another girl went into a dressing room to try on a dress for homecoming. She called her friend into the dressing room and no one said anything to her then the sale lady who was helping her went into the room too. 3 people in the room with the one fragile dress. Sale associate guy came over while I waited and asked how everything was going? I said not well. The sweet sales girl wrote down the information for the dress we liked and we were able to find it at Ever After in Cleveland. I have been in several dress shop in the process of looking for my dress and Prado treats people who are going to spend several hundred to several thousands of their hard earned money like crap! Everywhere else i have gone I have had a good experience. People are nice and helpful because they know weddings are stressful! They are wonderful on the day of but there is a lot of planning and so much to do. Do Not Shop At Prado's. there are several places in Chattanooga that carry the same designers! Go to the designer's websites to see where else they are sold. \r I do feel bad that the sweet girl lost a sale but I also don't understand how anyone could work for the owner. \r \r more

I HIGHLY recommend The Prado Collection. I came in early in the year to find a particular prom dress. Lucky for me, they did hold the dress on their stock floor at the time. The dress sadly, did not fit, but the staff reassured me, that it was possible to get not only the dress in the closest fit for me, but more color options! Since I had time to kill, they persuaded me to try on a few more dresses to see if that was definitely the dress I wanted. I am SO happy that I listened to them, because they pulled a dress so much better than I realized I NEEDED! It was a beautiful Sherri Hill gown perfectly intact. Prado takes great care in their stock! They provided all the care, like helping me into dresses and zipping. But me being only 18 at the time, couldn't afford to put all the money down at the time. Thankfully, Prado has a wonderful lay away plan. I only had to put a third down and then all I had to do was pay on it till my prom date! I was also able to get my dress steamed which was very considerate of them. As long as you REALLY LISTEN to EVERYTHING they say, you won't have any problems. Wonderful all around! more

I would not recommend using Prado, we were treated very nice until the dress was paid in full, then it took 4 months for alterations to my daughters wedding gown, and when the final fitting was scheduled, I don't think we were even acknowledged. So take your business else where, I also dealt with Boutique Couture, use them!!! They are great!!! and very kind. more

Unless this makes me put a rating he gets a zero. My Grandaughter paid for her Dress. No, it was not a thousands of dollar gown fit for American Idol, but it was her selection for the most important day of her life. SHe paid and called to check on an arrival date, anxious to see it. When the phone conversation was ""strange"". she went down there with her Grandmother from her Mom's side. Well after 20 minutes of confusion, they could not find her paperwork. After paying for the Dress in December, she gets a phone call from ""Mr. Prado Himself"" saying he just was called by the manufacturer that the gown was discontinued, He asked her to come down and pick another. My Grandaughter called the Manufacturer and they advised they never call the store to tell them something is dicontinued..LIAR AGAIN.\ He Never Ordered it, The Manufacturer said if they had rec'd the order in December when she paid El Slicko, they would have made the dress. My Grandaughters entire experience is On the review page dated 2/6/12 Under LauraW123. I am not going to relive the entire experience but what kind of business man tells a client to leave or he will have her escorted out. He does not know the first rule in retail. You make 1 person mad, they will tell 25 others, You Lie on top of that they tell 100,,And all these stats were before Social Sites and Networking. Damn, after what he said to her and her Grandmother, he ought to give her a dress. Sugar would not melt in his mouth until the order was made and he had the money in his grubby little hands. He tries to act like some kind of elite specialty store. He is on the same level as the street corner drunk selling knock off Rolex watches for $15 and weed on the side. There is a special place in Hell for people who conduct business like him. I hope some young lad getting ready to purchase a dress reads this, Don't Walk away, Run. There I've said it Mr. Prado,you sound like a Slick from the get go, got any realtives in the ""Familya'? more

I went to Prado to order my wedding dress during the first week of December (two months ago) and everything seemed fine. The ladies who helped me we were very nice. As of last Friday (three days ago) I had not heard from the store about the status of my dress so I decided to go in the store and check since I was in the area. When I got there they spent about twenty minutes looking for my paperwork, but didn't find it so they told me that they would call me when they did. I got a call today from the owner, Mr. Prado, who informed me that my dress had been discontinued. He told me to come pick out a new dress or get a refund of my deposit. He didn't apologize in the least during the call. So a couple hours later I went to the store with my grandmother, whom I knew would set him strait if anyone could. Iasked him why he was just now informing me two months before my wedding that the dress had been discontinued as of January. He said that the company from which he ordered it had just called him today to tell him the news. That didn't make any sense to me since I ordered it in December. He obviously had not ordered it. We asked him if he would do anything to compensate and he refused as if he had no part in it. My grandmother called him out on his terrible business running skills. He raised his voice and said, ""You can just HUSH! Take your refund and get out of my store or I will have you escorted out!"" When I got home I called the company from which he was supposed to have ordered my dress and they told me that even if the dress was discontinued is January that it could still be ordered and they also informed me that they never call their retailers to tell them that a dress has been discontinued. So we caught him in two lies. Needless to say, this is not the last Mr. Prado has heard of me. I am sorry that so many people have been disrespected and ripped off by him. I would love to do something about it and if anyone is with me, please reply to this message. more

They all were very nice... at first.. Picked my dress for my wedding. Went on a Monday to try it on for alterations and the man (owner) told me that it would be ready to pick up on the following Friday (all that needed altered was my straps) I even questioned him twice because my wedding was the next Thursday for a destination wedding. On Friday I called to see if my dress was in and the recording said he was closed until the next Monday.. I went by his store just in case I was mis understanding the recording. I went to the door to read the sign and sure enough he had closed until the next Monday. Just so happened another lady pulled up and she was there picking up her daughters Homecoming Dress for that evening.. he didn't call her either to let her know he was closing because he didn't have help. The other lady had called the Mall Manager and the owner (man) came to the store to give the other lady her daughters dress.. in the meantime I am there asking about mine and he said that he told me ""it might be ready"" on Friday.. I firmly told no that is not how it was because I was leaving going out of town and I needed my dress Friday. He called the lady that does the alterations and she hadn't even started on my dress. I told him I had to have it today!! I was going leaving to go out of town. Two hours later my dress was ready... some of the beads that I asked to be fixed on my dress wasn't. He never apologized or offered to compensate me. I also had to buy some lifts and asked him to throw those in and he wouldn't.. so I bought them else where... I will NEVER do business here again.. nor will I recommend them to anyone.. they have beautiful dresses but sorry service.. no wonder he has no help... because he has no class and doesn't know how to run a business!! more

The owner was very nice when we met to discuss tuxes for my wedding. He helped us decide what color the fathers, the ushers, groom, and groomsmen should wear. The tuxes were supposed to be ready 5 days before the wedding. Only one of the tuxes was ready and it didn't fit! The sleeves had to be re-sized. The day before the wedding all of the tuxes EXCEPT for one was ready. Two of those tuxes had to be re-sized. Also, despite ordering a size 9 shoe, they only had a 10. The owner proceeded to tell me the reason why they didn't have the size was because they gave that shoe to someone else in a different wedding who had ordered the wrong size. The owner then told me to calm down and not get upset over something like a pair of shoes not fitting. We had to pick up the remaining tux, the day of the wedding! The tuxes including shoes cost $190 a person! That is way too much money to not get everything right. For the 3 tuxes that had to get re-sized, they folded the sleeves and safety pinned it together. It looked awful! Beware. They seem very friendly and helpful, but when it comes down to delivering, they fail miserably. This is not a stress you need for your wedding. This Business is not BBB Accredited. more

I made an appt at Prado's because they carried Maggie Sottero gowns and I really liked her stuff from what I could tell online. I waited 2 months after engagement for my mom, stepmom and sister to be able to coordinate and find a day we could all go. I made an appt and showed up 15 minutes early. At the very beginning all was okay - the women who help get the dress on were nice and friendly. \r \r I tried on several, but I'm a size 10 in a dress and so many of the dresses were too small but I generally could get the idea of what it would look like. Again, the girls in the dressing room were nice. \r \r My sister showed up and I asked for her to come back and help me put the gowns on - since I was topless - I didn't love being exposed to strangers. She came back and nothing was said to us. After about 4 or 5 that we tried on the man (I'm assuming the owner) came back and said through the curtain, ""Mam, if you won't let our staff stay attend to the dress, you can take your business elsewhere."" Um... Okay. I didn't know there was a rule about having them in there (apparently it was posted, but in my bridal delight, I did not notice it) and nothing had been said to us until then. It felt like strike 3 before strike one or two. I said in reply, ""Okay. You don't have to be so rude about it though."" He defended himself saying he wasn't rude... just the rules and walked off... \r \r That kind of killed the mood. I am seriously a rule follower and would never have done anything intentional against the rules. The rule even makes some sense - he needs to protect his investments. I get that - but no need to be really rude about it! \r \r I tried on a few more, but we left soon after. My family all said they wanted to call him a horse's patoot, but refrained since it was supposed to be a joyous occasion. \r \r We went to David's Bridal just down the road and found the perfect dress (for a LOT less! and stocked in my size!) within an hour. AND David's Bridal didn't care if my sister helped me in the dresses. I have a feeling that if I HAD bought something from Prado's, if anything went wrong he wouldn't have been nice to work with. \r \r He lost this customer and I hope by leaving this review it causes someone else to pause. I was a very happy bride walking in (very intent on buying something) and a very confused, disillusioned bride walking out. The girls were very nice. I don't know how they work for him. more

My daughter was married in July, 2009. When we were ready to shop for her wedding dress, we thought of Prado Collection automatically. We had bought all of her high school prom dresses there and had been very pleased with the friendly, personal service we received. Vicky even took one of my daughter's prom dresses in and steamed it so she could wear it for a sorority formal in college. \r \r When we were ready to go shopping for wedding dresses, I called ahead to ask if we needed an appointment. Mr. Prado told me that we did not, but suggested a time of day that would be less busy so that we would not be rushed. We went in the next weekend that my daughter was home from school. The young lady that helped us was friendly, professional and very sweet and helpful. She asked our price range and what styles we liked and brought us dresses that were exactly what we were looking for. After trying on only three dresses my daughter found ""the one"". When the dress was ordered it was the perfect size. There were absolutely no alterations needed, not even in the length. The dress was delivered on time and given to us in perfect conditon. They even steamed it at no charge. Vicky also gave my daughter advice on how to stand in wedding portraits in order to look her best. I felt like the people at Prado took a personal interest in my daughter.\r \r I think the people at Prado Collection are very good at what they do. Therefore, if you put yourself in their hands, listen to their advice about sizing and when to order to assure time for delivery, you will not go wrong. Pros: Friendly, personal sevice more

I went to Prado with high expectations and everything seemed fine until I paid my deposit than everything came out. The owners and employee are rude and disrespectful. They completely messed up my maid of honor's dress and then didn't even say they were sorry much less refund or anything. The wrong size was ordered after I remember deciding on a specific size with them and went a size small. It is like they wanted us to use them for alterations and did it on purpose since they kept pushing for us to send it off to their alterations lady. I know they were taking a cut b/c the price was too high for sure. I took the dress and got the alterations done for 3 times as less. They are all nice until they get the money than they don't care about you. Thank God I bought my wedding dress at Monica's after that, which I do highly recommend. Cons: EVERYTHING more

My daughter and I put her prom dress on lay away at the Prado Collection in February, 2008. As specified on the contract, we paid half down ($170). Three days later, (keep in mind this is February) there was a change in circumstances and I called the store to see if I could have the dress returned to stock and offered to pay a restocking fee. I was yelled at and told there was NO WAY THE DRESS COULD BE RETURNED TO STOCK, unless of course my daughter was dead. (Their words, not mine). According to my contract we had until 10 days prior to the event to pick up the dress. My husband and daughter went to the store three weeks prior to the prom date to pick up her dress and we were told her dress ""had been given to a children's home"" and was no longer available. They refused to refund our downpayment and they were told to leave the store and to never return. The outcome is still pending with my attorney. \r \r I have no idea how this store stays in business. Cons: Owners are rude and dishonest. more

When the dresses came in I called to check on mine and the man asked me what wedding party I told him and he said to me"" IS THE BIG GIRL THAT WAS SUPPOSE BE LOSING WEIGHT?"" I was hot. I let it go because of my friend. He said they needed to get me in to get the dress right and I asked if I could come that day he said no we discussed my work hours he then said I will need to come in on a Saturday but not the upcoming saturday because they would not be there. He would call me back when they could fit me in. I waited 2 weeks and no call and I just went and picked up my dress unannounced and I had to ask for my fabric. He nor her didn't know that there was a shawl and purse with my dress. They said that the bride was mistaken that it only came with the little girls dress. Well I opened it what did I find? The shawl and the purse that the bride said was there. There was an extra 35.00 added to my account that I still don't know what it was for after the deposit was paid and the extra amount was not for the larger dress size because he added that in when I paid my original deposit. He later scratched out that information and added some additional charge. I will never recommend this store to anyone because I was treated really bad. Another thing the Bride's 12 yr old daughter was ordered a flower girl dress instead of a Jr Bridesmaid dress which is what she asked for. I am very disappointed with the way I was treated and have thought about calling the NAACP about the way I have been treated. I feel discriminated against because of my color( she did want to measure me and he had to tell her to trust on this one.) The about my weight ( He had the nerve to ask instead of asking my name "" Are you the Big Girl that was going to loose weight."" This is unacceptable on so many levels. By the way my dress fitted fine! I paid and extra 50.00 fabric I did not need. An extra 35.00 for who knows what. I AM DISAPPOINTED! more

I have had one of the worsest experiences ever at the Prado collection. I am in my best friends wedding in June of 2008. She chose the Prado collection because she did not know another retailer in the area that carried Mary's dresses. I went and ordred my dress in late February early March. I should have known then that there was a problem. The gentleman showed me the dress took my deposit. I had to wait almost 30 minutes before He could convience Vicki to come and take my measurements. He told her once she said she was busy. He told her again and she helped someone who had just walked in the door. He and her exchanged words and he had to tell her to "" Trust me on this one."" Then I weighted another 5 minutes and she took them and walked off. I am a plus size female if there was a problem with the measurements i should have been told then. She said nothing to me. The bride stopped by there and was told there may be a problem in the hip but she told her i am on a diet and working out. Vickie suggested that I may need to buy extra material. I called to find out and she was lost at first then she asked me how much material do I need to buy. i told her I don't know you tell me. She didn't know how much it would be. She also told me since i was losing weight to wait til the dress gets here then order it and told me she would call me back never did and still hasn't. She told the bride a whole different story about the conversation. This offended me and I told the Bride and she had to stay on her because she did not order the fabric like I asked until the Bride had her to order it. My problem with this is if I am paying you . then she needed to be communicating with me. It only gets better, this experience just is unbelievable. The Bride called me to let me know that the dresses had come in and I needed to go and pay my balance and be set up to be fitted. Read on in the second half which is continued below this. more

I used Prado Collection for my bridesmaid dresses and my wedding dress. My wedding was in April and I started picking out and ordering dresses in November. They were well aware of my wedding date, and never told me a time to get my bridesmaids to order dresses in order for them to be in town for the wedding. One of my bridesmaids ordered her dress (in November) so she could have it for a New Years party. Three days before New Years, when she hadn't heard from Prado, my friend called them. They had completely forgotten to order her dress, so she had to scramble to find a new dress and get it altered for the New Years Party.\r In January, I went into Prado for a fitting for a friend's wedding. While I was there, they told me that if I didn't have all of my bridesmaids order their dresses by Monday (it was a Thursday that I was there), they wouldn't be in on time. All of my bridesmaids got there by Monday and ordered their dresses. About a week later, I got a call from them saying that I was going to have to pay $15 per dress for a rush order shipping fee for the dresses to be in time (for all 9 dresses, although 3 had been sized and ordered since November).\r They were very rude and short. My friend also got her wedding dress there, and when we all went to see her try it on, they told her to come back some other time because they were helping prom customers. \r I spent extra money to get the dress steamed, and when I got it, it was horribly wrinkled. My maid of honor said that Prado had told her that it was impossible to make the dress not wrinkled because it was made of silk. There was absolutely no silk in my dress. I was extremely upset about that, and ended up steaming my dress with an iron minutes before I walked down the aisle.\r Between my bridesmaids and myself, we spent around $2,600 at Prado for my wedding. Wedding planning is stressful enough, so there is no reason to go to spend a bunch of money just to be treated rudely. Pros: Carry Maggie Sottero (but so do places in Cleveland and Dalton) Cons: Rude, Sleazy, Unprofessional more

These people are the least professional people I have ever worked with. They don't care at all about their brides because they would rather be selling pageant dresses and they make it very apparent. It doesn't even matter if you are working with a sales person or the owner, they get ruder as you go up the chain of command! My mother and I were basically pushed into the dressing room before we had even looked at all of the bridal gowns, and while I was trying dresses on the sales clerk bashed another, fantastic bridal salon in Chattanooga, Monica's, which is where I got my dress and would absolutely recommend! After being rushed to try on dresses I wasn't even offered the chance to try on my favorite again, and then were basically pushed out of the store! I was looking at a 1200 dollar dress, too, so it wasn't like I was wasting their time! I went back a few months later with a friend and she had a very similar experience, except this one involved us being yelled at and berated for looking at catalogs that were on the counter and all but asked to leave! I would highly recommend NOT shopping here, and I would ask people to do all they could to not give these people your money! They will continue treating people horribly as long as they are in business! more

I bought my wedding dress from The Prado Collection in May of 2005. Everyone there was very helpful and honest. I had gone to some other bridal boutiques before and didn't like how the other places said I looked ""amazing"" in every dress even if it looked horrendous, just so they could make a sale! So I knew immediately I needed to find a place that would tell me the truth. I found exactly that at Prado's, the female owner picked out dresses that would work for my body and told me what I should wear to best enhance my features. Needless to say my wedding dress was perfect and breathtaking! I would suggest The Prado Collection to a future bride any day!! Pros: Great prices, Great service more

Buyer Beware. The Prado Collection in Chattanooga TN seems like it is a great place to shop. When you come into the store they are friendly and seem like they want to help, and they do, as long as you keep paying them to fix their mistakes. We got our dresses through them and half of them fit but the other half did not fit and The Prado Collection was very unwilling to fix these problems unless we paid them to fix their mistake. It just seems weird that a company with a supposed great reputation has problem ordering in the correct size off of measurements. Of course the alterations that needed to be done ended up costing more because there was nothing we could do about it because of their ABSOLUTELY NO RETURNS policy even though they ordered the wrong size. It almost seems like they don't care if they order the wrong sizes because that way they get more money out of you. So if you don't mind paying lots of extra money for them to continue to be nice to you and to fix things that should have already been taken care of, go right ahead and use them because at The Prado Collection it seems like their motto is ""the customer is always wrong, unless they have money to pay us to be nice."" No way to run a business if you ask me because trying to help out your customer is something I look for. Pros: Friendly at first Cons: They won't apologize for their mistakes, but will charge you for it more

The client brought in measurements for her sister's order. The client tried on the garment and said she and her sister were the same size.\r The client picked the garment and was very aware of the price point. The Prado Collection has a price point from $119.00 and up. In no way was she not aware because she picked the style, size, color, and price.\r The client picked up her sisters dress, where several weeks after she pick up the dress, returned saying it was too small. We asked the client to bring in her sister so we could measure for correct size. The client refused to bring her in, but demanded a new size dress.\r The size four that she ordered can be altered to fit a size eight, but again would not bring her sister into the store.We had to take the clients word on everything.\r After thirty years of business, we have found as this case, the client made the wrong choice but tries to blame others for her error. As far as ordering on the internet you can find garments but I'm sure not everyone gets what they order. AGAIN internet -BUYER BEWARE!! \r \r The Prado Collection\r \r more

I went to the Prado Collection to find my wedding dress I had dreamed about all my life. I walked straight in and the owners greeted me and asked to helped me right away. They spent hours helping me while I tried on tons of dresses with no complaints. I finally found the perfect dress! Mrs. Prado ordered my dress right away and I got it way before my wedding. EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT, even the price!! I even ordered my bridesmaids dresses from the store. I had all my bridesmaids come in and we got them all fitted and the price wasn't bad at all. They all fit perfect and made my girls look amazing! I don't understand what your problem is rach0321 but your CRAZY! Mr. and Mrs. Prado were and are very sweet people while I shopped at their store. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE PRADO COLLECTION!!!!!! Pros: AMAZING service! Sweet and helpful owners! Lower prices than anywhere else! Cons: NONE AT ALL!! more

I got married three years ago and searched from Knoxville to Atlanta in order to find a perfect dress for my wedding. I was so excited to see that there was a store like The Prado Colection here in Chattanooga where there was such a huge selection. I recieved excellent care from all of the staff and I wasn't surprised to hear that they had been in business for such a long time. The prices were excellent and I know this because I found some of the same dresses in Knoxville and Atlanta and on average they were about 10 to 20 percent more in these cities than at Prado's. Everything from my dress, to my bridesmaids, and tuxedos was perfect and I couldn't have done everything without The Prado Collections' excellent care and concern for my big day. I highly recommend The Prado Collection for all of your wedding and formal wear needs! Pros: Great selection, very unique gowns, wonderful service Cons: I wish I had another wedding day! more