have been waiting to write a review for quite some time. I couldn’t find the “review” thread on the other forum so decided to write it here. I’m happy that so many other had such a great experience in dealing with Prototype. Unfortunately, I believe I may the first one to write about a negative experience. I have no idea why…but “customer service” seemed to totally dissappear when it came to dealing with me and my order. Since I have been dealing with Prototype since DECEMBER regarding 1 single outfit, I will write a detailed timeline of what happened. All the dates/info below are based on e-mails exchanged with Prototype.
December 6, 2010: Prototype confirmed she picked up my FULL payment for my outfit. I ordered one single black formal.
December 7, 2010: Prototype e-mails to confirm that it will be 2 weeks until kaam is done on the outfit.
December 15, 2010: I wrote to her asking if we were still on schedule with the outfit and if she could send me pics.
December 16, 2010: Prototype responded saying that the kaarigar told her outfit will be done by Saturday, and she will try to get pics to me on Monday (December 20).
I never got the pics or any other e-mail.
January 6, 2011: I wrote to Prototype asking what’s going on and if she update me.
January 6, 2011: Prototype responded saying that she package was given to the courier guy and she will forward me the tracking number. I finally got a pics of the kameez (the pics that she was supposed to send on December 20).
January 7, 2011: Prototype wrote me asking me to confirm my address and name. I have no idea why she needed confirmation if she already gave the package to the courier guy but whatever…I confirmed it.
January 8, 2011: I receive the tracking number.
January 11, 2011: I received the outfit. Kameez was gorgeous and fit perfectly. Churidaar fit was loose but easily fixable. The dupatta was NOT was I was supposed to get. I was supposed to get a chiffon banarsi dupatta, and instead, received a plain black dupatta. In addition, I specified the dupatta length in the measurement form as 88 inches…the dupatta I received was 98 inches.
I immediately wrote to Prototype. She responded the same day saying that she saw the dupatta but forgot to change it. She said she will mail out a new (correct) dupatta. I asked her to confirm that the new dupatta will also be the correct length and she said “yes”.
February 1, 2011: I received the 2nd dupatta. The material is correct, but the length is wrong (again!). I specified 88 inches…the first dupatta was 98 inches…this 2nd dupatta was 101 inches!!! I immediately wrote to her. I received no explanation as to why the length was wrong (for the 2nd time). She asked if I could get it fixed from a tailor nearby and she will transfer the costs to me.
February 6, 2011: I wrote her and told her that it will cost $10 to fix the dupatta length. She wrote back the same day saying she will send me a check for it asap.
She wanted me to mail the “wrong” dupatta to a friend of hers in the same city as me. We exchanged a few e-mails about it. Both of us got frustrated over it.
February 14, 2011: Prototype once again wrote saying she will mail out my check asap. She asked me AGAIN to confirm my name spelling and address for the check.
February 18, 2011: Prototype wrote me asking me to confirm my phone number.
March 3, 2011: Once again, I wrote to Prototype asking her to confirm that she mailed the check.
March 6, 2011: Prototype’s response; " am so sorry about it. i will just make sure it is sent out tomorow IA".
March 8, 2011: sigh Once again, I wrote to her asking her to confirm that she mailed out the check.
March 8, 2011: I received a response stating that Prototype “friend” who was supposed to mail my check (and the friend’s son) is sick. My check is not in the mail. She asked for Paypal or account number for fund to be transferred electronically.
I hadn’t responded to the e-mail. Its been 8 days and no further e-mail from her. A few minutes ago I wrote her an e-mail telling her that I don’t have paypal and am not about to give out my account number. I told her that she (and I guess her “friend”) has my information and whenever she (or her friend) gets around to mailing the check, they can do it. I’m not going to ask her for “updates” anymore.
Let me make one thing crystal clear. I have no complaints about the outfit itself. I got the churidaar and the dupatta altered. The kameez is gorgeous and I have received several compliments on it when I wrote it a few weeks ago.
As anyone reading my timeline can see, the “issue” is with the lack of communication and dependability. The $10 for the dupatta is not a huge deal to me. The issue isn’t me not getting $10…the issue is the merchant not being dependable. Over and over again, the "ball was dropped’ when it came to customer service. When the 1st dupatta was sent out wrong, you would think that the 2nd dupatta would be TRIPLE check to make sure it was correct. But that didn’t happen. I’m not upset that her “friend” was too sick to mail out the check. What upsets me is that I had to write to her to find out why it hadn’t been done.
I really was looking to find someone from whom I can order quite a few outfits. However, I don’t have the time or the patience to go through this with every single outfit. I can’t even imagine what would’ve happened if I needed this outfit for a specific occassion or worse, if this was my own shaadi/engagement/walima outfit!
I’m happy that many of you received great service from Prototype. Its actually a bummer for to say that I can’t join the “group”.