Thread: Tell me the truth:How long will I wait for my Audrena Pharonics custom order?

No responses to my emails, ordered early August...

few years back, it took 6mths to get the wrong length skirt, and another 3 to get the replacment.

Originally Posted by RaqOn

No responses to my emails, ordered early August...

I ordered mine in April and called a few weeks ago to no avail. I'm now at the point where I'd like to just cancel and use my deposit for something else. The wait time is ridiculous.

I ordered in February. She contacted me in September asking for the balance due and said Amira promised her they would be ready by the end of October. No word yet...

I ordered from her once and it took over a year to get the costume and then it was the wrong bra size and the wrong color!

What a coincidence! I just called her about 30 minutes ago to inquire as to my Rakassah order from March. She couldn't find the receipt right away (is still looking I believe), I paid the balance, and she said she would ccall me if there were any issues. But it sounds like the costume may not have even been ordered in March. sigh...

She is so nice to deal with, but the wait and the foul-ups are hard to swallow, especially with designers like Bella and the Swap Meet around where you can get costumes so much quicker!

why doesnt Amira take direct orders? I heard you have to order through one of her vendors, like Dahlal, BDstore and Audrena.

This is not good :( I would have thought that with the current economy there would be the same amounts of orders going through and you would be able to try and keep the fewer customers happy. This makes me wonder how DAHLAL will fare with its costume made guarantee by Jan 15th! I hope all you ladies get you costumes. This is the main reason why I wait for Pharonics to pop up here on BHUZ. I cant wait a year for a cossie...I have trouble waiting the 6-7 weeks for a Bella!!

I wonder how long the wait times on custom ordering Pharonics through the Belly Dance Store are... does anyone know?

I sort of expected the long wait after dealing with Dahlal (once and ONLY once) and their epic turn-around, and knowing a few other dancers who experienced really long turn-arounds with Audrena. If I know going in that it's going to be a while, I'm cool with it. What kind of bugs are the mistakes that seem to always show up - wrong fit, wrong color, wrong costume ENTIRELY (thanks, Dahlal) - or in this case, where it seems like the costume order wasn't even placed at all. So disappointing if that's the case. I'm holding out hope that there was simply some confusion on the phone and that my order did in fact go through in March.

Originally Posted by monsoondancer

This is not good :( I would have thought that with the current economy there would be the same amounts of orders going through and you would be able to try and keep the fewer customers happy. This makes me wonder how DAHLAL will fare with its costume made guarantee by Jan 15th! I hope all you ladies get you costumes. This is the main reason why I wait for Pharonics to pop up here on BHUZ. I cant wait a year for a cossie...I have trouble waiting the 6-7 weeks for a Bella!!

yours is shipping out tomorrow. i got stuck at work, but have time to go to the PO before class tomorrow :)

*back to topic!*

i custom ordered a hanan once from dahlal and it took about 6 months i believe. i ended up selling it here on bhuz because the color didn't come out right...i wanted it in teal like they had it advertised but it came out turquoise-ish :-/ a beautiful set nonetheless and i realize teal is a hard color to order from what i hear cuz sometimes it comes out turquoise but didnt want it after that wait. come to find out, you can order directly from hanan for around $100-$150 less and get it in a month.

i thought i once saw on the bdstore something about custom orders but can't find it now..

I'm still waiting for the costume I ordered from her in February. I had a conversation with her on November 4 and she promised to have it done in 4 weeks. I still haven't heard from her. I'm going to give her a few more days and then ask for a refund.

i waited almost a year for a skirt...the order was never even placed.

i ordered 2 pharaonics last year from dahlal and had them in under 2 months, perfect size and all.

Great...

Originally Posted by zfejzic

i thought i once saw on the bdstore something about custom orders but can't find it now..

Belly Dance Costumes | Belly Dance Store.com: gallery

This one has the information on it...

I just wonder. How on earth does Audrena stay in business?

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

I just wonder. How on earth does Audrena stay in business?

While I'm having a terrible time with my current order, my first order with her was received in 3 months. I thought that was a very reasonable timeframe for a custom order. My second order took 7 months. My current order I'm still waiting for and it's been 9 months (and counting).

She can be great at times and awful at times. It's certainly very inconsistant.

I ordered last december and paid in full. I never recevied the costume. By July and after several conversations on the phone and email I had enough.
I confronted her at the Little Egypt event Cairo Nights in August. She said she thought it was on the next delivery due in one week.
She could not give a reason why it was not there sooner.

I said this was unacceptable and at that time started going through her booth at the show looking for something to makeup the $625 I was losing.

I put together a hodge-podge of items that were acceptable to me in exchange for the beautiful custom costume I wanted but I will never buy from her again.

She did divulge some additional information about why the costumes might be late, but it would make someone look very bad to publicaly share that info and I dont want to be seen as slandering anyone's name.

I would suggest going another route though and trying another store. You may pay more or have less of a selection...but you will get your costume.

Originally Posted by zfejzic

why doesnt Amira take direct orders? I heard you have to order through one of her vendors, like Dahlal, BDstore and Audrena.

I emailed from the Pharaonix website and they said they take direct orders. I haven't decided yet whether I want to order yet, but they said just to email them when I decided and they could start my costume. I think going through the vendors is just for convenience and having a go-between with more experience with the designer, but I've had good luck with ordering directly with other designers, so I am willing to give it a try.

Originally Posted by mahsati

I emailed from the Pharaonix website and they said they take direct orders. I haven't decided yet whether I want to order yet, but they said just to email them when I decided and they could start my costume. I think going through the vendors is just for convenience and having a go-between with more experience with the designer, but I've had good luck with ordering directly with other designers, so I am willing to give it a try.

That must be a new change in policy. I think as little as a year ago, they were directing all inquiries to their distributors.

yah that must be a fairly new policy because i remember i asked that on bhuz a while ago and someone told me they only take orders through distributors. did she happen to tell you the price range? wondering how it compares to dahlal, bdstore and audrena...

I've ordered 2 costumes through adurena... one came in 5 months, but was the wrong color. She claimed that Amira couldn't do my color choice, so she sent a different one. I sent it back, and waited another 5 months for the right color. The second one came in perfect, but I waited about 8 months for it.

I've also ordered through Dahlal. The first costume took a friggin year to come in. Dahlal claimed that Amira said that she was having a hard time finding the right mesh material in red. The second one came in 4 months (ordered while I was waiting for my first one). Both were perfect when they arrived. At the time, customer service from Dahlal was horrible, and 3 years later, I've still not made another purchase from them.

Now, I just go straight to Amira when I'm in Egypt. So much easier, and I can discuss any adjustments and options with her and get a OOAK... not a bad deal :)

Originally Posted by zfejzic

yah that must be a fairly new policy because i remember i asked that on bhuz a while ago and someone told me they only take orders through distributors. did she happen to tell you the price range? wondering how it compares to dahlal, bdstore and audrena...

Price range was *exactly* the same for the costumes I asked about - LOL
There didn't seem to be any savings involved :)

My Audrena costume last time came in 6 months (promised in 3 but who cares) and was absolutely perfect in every way - and an extra belt had been thrown in.

My Dahlal custom order took almost a year and never fit right.

Both costumes were Pharaonics.

I ordered again from Audrena because she had gotten it relatively quicker and it had the perfect fit. I am wondering if I should call and remind her though? It hasn't been 3 months yet - I ordered it at Rakkasah.
I paid in full so it better be ordered.

If it arrives too late, the bra will be too big - I'm only nursing for another 8 months or so.

Yup - my costume from March was never ordered. Can't wait for the excuse...

Originally Posted by Khalilah

Yup - my costume from March was never ordered. Can't wait for the excuse...

Doesn't suprise me, unfortunately. My order from February hadn't been ordered as of November and I had paid in full. On November 4, I was promised the costume would be done in 4 weeks. That expired on December 2. I contacted her on the 3rd and she said there had been another holy week in Egypt. She said she'd know on Monday (12/7) when it would be shipped. I'm very frustrated (needless to say). I don't like being made a fool of. Unfortunately, the only way to get anything from her is to harrass her within an inch of her life. I really hate being like that. It's not me at all.

All summer long she kept telling me she had a new deal with Pharonics and would be able to get costumes within 4 - 6 weeks. Great. Then why don't you apply that deal to my stinkin' costume and get it!

What truly bugs me is the across-the-board lack of responsibility the vendors seem to take. Whenever an order goes wrong, which seems to be ALL THE TIME, it's always because of something that wasn't their fault. I caught Dahlal's people in a big stinker of a story regarding a custom I tried to get through them a couple of years ago. Waiting to hear what Audrena has to say about this one. Honestly, I don't mind as much if someone just says they screwed something up and will take care of it for me. The excuses make me insane.

I really like Audrena - and some of the Dahlal people I've met at festivals - and I would have no problem purchasing from her in-stock items. I'm done with custom orders though.

i dont get how these costumes dont get ordered if theyre paid in full??

Personally, I think part of the problem is a cash flow issue with Audrena. Not everyone does pay in full when they order. So, I think some of the problem is that she waits until she has X many costumes to order. She's not the most organized person and I think she forgets who's costumes she has or hasn't ordered. Then she places the order. But, she can't get the costumes shipped from Egypt until she's paid for them. I think she has to rob Peter (costumes paid in full) to pay Paul (deposits only).

Originally Posted by zfejzic

i dont get how these costumes dont get ordered if theyre paid in full??

This must be an issue to report to the Department of Fair trasing or something. If such a thing exists in the US? There has to be some legal implications for that.

Ive ordered Arabesque skirts through the BD store a couple of times and have waited 4 months or so for a skirt! Im still waiting on my new order. I cant imagine what a costume would take. Hence why Bella or Legend get my $650,r:; Its a shame because I really love some of the Pharonix designs and would love to order one-but I am not willing to go through the hassels that seem to be pretty consistent across the board