**BAD EXPERIENCE**be careful

[raksestela]

hi, ladies, i just want to share my bad experience with this belly dance webside The Belly Dance Store or belly dance costumes.. here the story.
a year ago i bought a costume w/ this company.. at first was all nice i talked to shahrzad on the phone and i got my costume on time, but the measuremens were wrong.. so i sent it back the next day. she told me i have a credit store and so for the next 10 months i tride to order a costumes or wherever is in the site... but never got an answer until 2 months ago ( thats because i told them i was tired and i will sue the company..) well, finally she said it was a missundertanding situation, and after that kristi ( someone who works for the company) send me and e-mail telling me that my shamadan and sword has been shipped out and i will receive it within 2-3 days, i waited for 3 weeks and we exchance e-mails again.. so finally today in the morning i got the shamadan but not the sword!!! ... and i been calling her and she is not swering... the worst thing the shamadan its used,dirty, and stink so bad and its bend and swerve, i can fix it but still is not what i was expecting... i need an advise... (sorry about my misspelling and english) thank you!!

[anyadance]

hi raksestela,

one of the local dancers here in edmonton had a similar experience. she had bought a costume that didn't fit and returned it within the expected timeline for a full refund. she requested the refund be made to her card and after many emails and much waiting, they made a transfer to her paypal account! which, when you need the money to go into your own account, can take 5-10 days! i'm not sure if it was ever resolved but this went on for over 2 months. she received e-mails from kristi as well as S. and neither of them were very helpful...she would also WAIT and WAIT for emails from the company...

i'm so sorry this has happened to you!

[beafarhana]

There's a forum for setting out this type of concern:
http://www.bhuz.com/forum/vendor-buyer-concerns/

[raksestela]

thanks ANYA!!

[raksestela]

the reason why i did it on the swap meet thread is because is more possible that the dancer will see it!

[annwyn]

I am sorry that you went through this, I personally have had NO trouble with them and have ordered many costumes and returned 2 of them for exchanges. Everything was in a timely manner. I am not sure about this, but doesnt she only deal in paypal? She may not have the resources to do a refund via credit card. I dont know.....

[nayastrance]

I just bought my first costume from them. My experience was nothing but pleasant. They answered all my questions and the item arrived within a few days of ordering it. In my experience, things rarely fit "off the rack" w/out adjustments. I always need to move this and shorten that. This costume was no exception and also had a few loose threads--what inexpensive costume doesn't! Overall I thought the costume was attractive and well made for under $300.
Its too bad you have had such a negative experience. I know there are some vendors I refuse to deal with but others just love them.

[steffib]

First, if you want to make the strongest possible argument for your case, I feel it would be better to post this in the appropriate place as Bea pointed out, and not in the swap meet.

Second, from reading the message, I suspect that there may have been communication problems, which as a non-native speaker myself, I know all too well. It may be a good idea to write down all details, amounts, orders, dates, and come up with what you would like the vendor to do to make this right. Then have a native speaker (a dancer friend who is a lawyer would be ideal) with that information in hand call the vendor and tell them firmly and politely what problems you encountered and what you'd like them to do.

[raksestela]

well... i have everything and all details, amounts, orders, dates, and i do have lawyer, but at first i thought it was to small to make it a big deal and i thought i could handle it.. but know im just waiting for her to call me because i been calling her.... but at the end is just a bad experience.....

[jasani]

I've always had good experiences with S and Kristi. If a costume didn't fit I returned for a store credit. I've never had any problems except I sent an email to ask if she had a certain color of wings in 60". She never responded, but I guess it 's because I have always called her in the past and never really through email.

[Aradia]

I'm still waiting on a costume that I ordered in August. It was a simple saidi dress, still waiting.

[raksestela]

awwwwwwwwwww!!! u 2 teacher!!! that sucks!!!

[Gia al Qamar]

I too have had nothing but wonderful experiences ordering from Shahrzad and have sent several other dancers to her for costumes and they've gotten great service too.
Gia

[naiyahayal]

I've been buying lots of costumes from Shahrzad over the last few years--everything from inexpensive ones to her new Sahars -- and have nothing but good things to say about the quality and service. Sometimes they get busy, she has tons and tons of gorgeous costumes. But if you email Kristi, she will get back to you. Or you can call Shahrzad and speak to her directly. Her prices are really good, and I usually get my costume within a few days of paying it. She takes exchanges--although I have never returned any as of yet! I am so sorry you had this experience-- I would say it is definitely an exception to the rule. I know many other dancers who have bought from the Belly Dance Store and are really happy -- you can check out her testimonials on her site and also feedback on Ebay, which is near perfect. Something must have gone wrong here......Have you tried calling Shahrzad directly? (sorry if the answer to that is already above somewhere....)

[Uulady]

I emailed her about costumes and specifically about also ordering a set of sleeves. No response, then busy, then said would send photos later, then nothing. Gave up. Sorry you are having troubles. It may be that she is just really busy with customers but it does hurt her in the long run...

[SamiraShuruk]

I buy from them directly because I'm local, but I've only had wonderful experiences.
As far as waiting for orders (of items that are not in stock)...if they are from specific designers sometimes it's the designer, not the vendor that is the source of the wait. We've seen that in numerous threads about a variety of vendors. Anyone who has dealt with Egypt knows the uh...different priority towards timeliness as well as the communication style differences. Misunderstandings are bound to happen. Misunderstandings happen more with some designers than with others.
When I was waiting for a costume it was stuck in customs for a while- so there are multiple places where things can get held up even before getting to the vendor. I look at this as really out of anybodies hands. We can't call customs and complain. They don't care.
I'm pretty sure the bellydancestore.biz is set up with paypal for all credit card transactions.
When I've had a problem with a vendor that seems to have primarily positive feedback I usually give them the benefit of the doubt and figure a little time and some direct communication will clear everything up.
There are other vendors who very few seem to have positive experiences. Those are a different story entirely.

[ruta21030]

let me go on record to say do your best to work with shahrzad/kristi both by email AND phone......as long as the conversation is polite/clear/businesslike and concise, it'll be handled well.........

she does her best to maintain good customer relations, as many bhuzzers here can attest.....with any growing business, there are glitches, and with patience, they are worked out.....

also, keep in mind, these items are imported from egypt.....usually made by hand, not always perfect (which i personally think adds to their character :p)......

and more importantly, please use only the forum FOR such concerns, as bea indicated, that's what it's for..........all bhuzzers check it

[naiyahayal]

And, yes, she does take PayPal!

[Iceland]

I was just looking and promise myself wont say anything, but I have to say . I think in all types of business, are bad times and good times. (Just like life in general) It’s not correct take only the bad side. I mean... If you do 1000 things good, and once, lets say 10% of the time (I mean 1000 -10% = 100... am right?) went WRONG... then because of those few times, we all gooo CRAZYYY...
I only hear MOST OF THE TIME good things about the Bellydance Store. (I never bought anything there YET) I just really think you and some others (maybe the 10% I was talking about) are unlucky with the purchase this time, maybe the next time you order will come right, like happen to the others 90% of the customers...
How my grandma always said... S**T HAPPENS.
And I will suggest to the girls on bhuz, don’t reply this thread anymore. Won’t take us anywhere. Lets keep the SAWP MEET clean, full of joy, and sparkly!!!

[bellydancestore]

Originally Posted by raksestela

hi, ladies, i just want to share my bad experience with this belly dance webside The Belly Dance Store or belly dance costumes.. here the story.
a year ago i bought a costume w/ this company.. at first was all nice i talked to shahrzad on the phone and i got my costume on time, but the measuremens were wrong.. so i sent it back the next day. she told me i have a credit store and so for the next 10 months i tride to order a costumes or wherever is in the site... but never got an answer until 2 months ago ( thats because i told them i was tired and i will sue the company..) well, finally she said it was a missundertanding situation, and after that kristi ( someone who works for the company) send me and e-mail telling me that my shamadan and sword has been shipped out and i will receive it within 2-3 days, i waited for 3 weeks and we exchance e-mails again.. so finally today in the morning i got the shamadan but not the sword!!! ... and i been calling her and she is not swering... the worst thing the shamadan its used,dirty, and stink so bad and its bend and swerve, i can fix it but still is not what i was expecting... i need an advise... (sorry about my misspelling and english) thank you!!

I am truely sorry that you feel you had a bad experience with your purchase with us. Please contact us directly by phone or e-mail and we will certainly make this right by you. We do have hundreds of very happy customers, and we hope to make you one of our very happy customers.
Thank you,
Kristi
The Belly Dance Store
bellydancestore@comcast.net

This is the link to view our ebay feedback:

eBay Feedback Profile for shahrzaddance1

This is the link to view our testimonials:

The Belly Dance Store: customer testimonials

[naiyahayal]

Originally Posted by Iceland

I was just looking and promise myself wont say anything, but I have to say . I think in all types of business, are bad times and good times. (Just like life in general) It’s not correct take only the bad side. I mean... If you do 1000 things good, and once, lets say 10% of the time (I mean 1000 -10% = 100... am right?) went WRONG... then because of those few times, we all gooo CRAZYYY...
I only hear MOST OF THE TIME good things about the Bellydance Store. (I never bought anything there YET) I just really think you and some others (maybe the 10% I was talking about) are unlucky with the purchase this time, maybe the next time you order will come right, like happen to the others 90% of the customers...
How my grandma always said... S**T HAPPENS.
And I will suggest to the girls on bhuz, don’t reply this thread anymore. Won’t take us anywhere. Lets keep the SAWP MEET clean, full of joy, and sparkly!!!

Words of wisdom from Josy -- I agree!

[raksestela]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... i just talk to shahrzar on the phone she said, she is going to sent me the sword, and she tride to change the situation,we got at the point that we start to argue, i tride to explain my story, she did let me.. so when the arguement went to far, i just say " ok sent the rest of the money or the sword thank you bye.!" she want the shamadan back ( yeah now that is clean, and someone is gonna fix it for me)...now im going to keep it!!! .... and if she dont sent me the sword..... i dont care anymore this situation went to far for me!!!

.. "i didnt tried to talk bad things about her, i just want to share my "bad experience" but now after the last talk,..ahhhh..