Reader Brad had to delay his wedding so his father could speed through Vermont to retrieve a pair of pants Men’s Wearhouse forgot to include as part of Brad’s rental tux. Two days earlier, Brad learned that the fitted tuxes he and his father had rented were too short and too tight. Men’s Wearhouse offered to re-order the tuxes, but refused to deliver them to Brad’s wedding, forcing his father to drive three hours to pick up the replacement garments. When he returned, not only did they realize that Brad’s pants were missing, but his vest was missing a button, and his jacket sleeves hadn’t been hemmed.
Men’s Wearhouse was so torn up over the situation that they gave Brad a $10 Shell gas card that didn’t work.
Brad writes:
On Saturday, I got married to the love of my life. The ceremony and everything was great, but my tuxedo rental was a complete disaster.
A couple of months prior, I had set up our account in Nashua, NH. The account had my tuxedo, my best man, two groomsmen, my father, my now brother-in-law, and our ring bearer, bringing us to seven tuxedos total. We decided to use Men’s Wearhouse. It is a national chain, and that would make it easier for everyone to get fitted and coordinated, since I had people coming to Vermont from Ohio, Rhode Island, and the DC Metro area.
We all met on Thursday at the Williston, VT location to pick up our tuxes, and hit a problem. My entire tux did not fit. The jacket and vest were both too tight, and the pant legs and shirt sleeves were too short. Added to that, my father’s tux jacket was also too tight. The only thing they could do for us was to re-order the parts we needed, lengthen the pants, and get everything ready for Saturday morning. This was a bit of a problem, since the wedding was at 2pm Saturday, but about a 90 minute drive from Williston (in Fairlee, for reference). However, the employee we spoke to (Stacey Brower) was unwilling to make any other arrangements, so my father drove up that morning to pick up the rest of the tuxedos.
Forward to Saturday, my father arrives back at the resort with our tuxes a little after 12. I start putting mine on, when I find another problem – there are no pants in the garment bag! I called the store in Williston back, asked to speak to a manager (I believe his name was Tony), and while he did apologize, the best he could offer was to meet us halfway. So the tuxedo is now incomplete -twice-, and both times the management at Men’s Wearhouse is unwilling to bring the items to us. My father had to meet them halfway (speeding down the back roads of Vermont is rather dangerous), and the pants finally arrived, though the ceremony had to be delayed. I only noticed later that the new vest’s bottom button had fallen off, and was floating around inside the garment bag, and the jacket’s sleeves were not hemmed – they only tucked the sleeves in and ironed them, so the sleeves started falling apart shortly after the reception began.
As some sort of compensation, the manager of the store gave my father a $10 Shell gas card. In a hilariously obvious twist, when my father attempted to use the card, he found out it wasn’t even activated.
So here’s why I’m writing you. Men’s Wearhouse really screwed up big, and made an already stressful planning time that much more stressful. I’m hoping that I can get some publicity out there, and recommend people never use Men’s Wearhouse (or MW Tux), since they apparently can’t handle a tuxedo rental when given a second chance. My tuxedo was free, as part of their promotion – if your account has five tuxedos, the groom’s becomes free. Ours had six, plus mine. I can’t really get my rental any more free than it was. However, my father’s tux was incorrect in the first place, and should have been at the very least, heavily discounted. I would also like for Men’s Wearhouse to do something for my guys. Yes, their tuxedos may have been correct, but they were part of this account that included a free tux rental that was messed up. Therefore, they should be receiving at the very least a partial discount, as well.
You could fire off the almighty Executive Email Carpet Bomb to george.zimmer@menswarehouse.com, but if time isn’t a factor, we would send a letter with all the style and class Men’s Wearhouse failed to deliver. Doll up your complaint in the form of a thank-you note. Put it on nice stationery, exactly as if you were writing to your Aunt, and send one to each of Men’s Wearhouse’s executive officers at:
Men’s Wearhouse
6380 Rogerdale Road
Houston, TX 77072
(Photo: Getty)
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You know, it’s kind of depressing to think that there’s not a chance in hell that George Zimmer would be a man and visit Consumerist to make good on his guarantee. I guess he’s busy with his pina coladas in Costa Rica.
Huh? Why the crying in his beer? How aout owing up to some responsibility to CHECK before you leave the store the FIRST time?
When I got married I did the rented tux thing too. But I insisted that the garment be available at the store a week ahead of time. That a fitting be arranged the day it arrived. Any further alternations from that point be while I wait. So on the appointed day it was me, the manager and the tailor. 2 minor changes, refitted, bagged, paid for and out the door. I returned it 2 weeks later. And yes I paid extra. But I didn’t have the tale of woe this guy has.
One controls one’s own life whether realized or not.
@lightaugust: During the period of my uncle’s life when EVERY friend was getting married and he had like 4 or 5 weddings in a 3 month span, he bought a tux. It made things soooooo much easier.
@zippygaelle: My Nana bought her wedding dress, and 2 of my aunts wore it to their wedding. It’s now in her attic waiting for the next generation (my sisters and I) to have the privilege of wearing the wedding gown. So buying isn’t necessarily bad, if you want it to be a family heirloom.
I do agree with the sentiment Dad should have checked the bag before leaving the store…I don’t even leave my dry cleaners without making sure they gave me everything.
Now, now… they gave you a great story to tell the grandkids about your tux falling apart while you were trying to dance (really, you’ll laugh about it in a few years), and the non-activated gas card is just icing on the cake.
But seriously, they need to knock off one rental from the bill. Anything less is ridiculous since they did not provide what they said they could.
Haven’t people ever heard of making their own clothes? A tux is not that hard and it will fit because you did it yourself. All you need is some fabric, a pattern, scissors, and a sewing machine.
I had a terrible experience with Men’s Wearhouse for my wedding last year. I only used MW because my father-in-law needed to pick up his tux separately – in another state. I went in for the fitting, and found a jacket that fit decently.
But when I came to pick up my tux for the wedding, it was a completely different size – at least 3 sizes too big. They were reluctant to switch it – and in fact tried to convince me that it really did fit – until I insisted. They eventually were able to find the correct size from another store, but I was forced to drive back up to the store (over an hour away) the next day to pick up the jacket.
None of my groomsmen were happy with the service they received from Mens Wearhouse, and I’ve advised everyone I know to stay away from there.
Hey, this is Brad’s wife!
Thanks for any congratulations. 
It was an annoying experience, but the kicker for me was the fact they gave my in-laws a gas card that didn’t work, heh!
Anyway, thanks for posting this! We will definitely take your advice.
In regards to some of the questions here:
Checking the garment bag would have been smart. The tux was ready to pick up at 10am that day, the wedding was at 2pm. My father didn’t check the bag, and yea, the pants weren’t there. Oops. We should have checked, we didn’t… but then, we were all a little frantic considering.
A couple mentioned that I might have gained weight, which actually isn’t true. I’m not going to lie, I am overweight, but I have actually been -losing- weight. Apparently, not enough.
There were also a few mentions of choosing a store closer to our wedding’s location. If you’d like to look up Fairlee, VT, and find a store closer that could handle everyone, I welcome you to do so.
Thank you very much to Consumerist for taking up our cause, and to the support (and fellow renters with their own horror stories). Hopefully we will hear back soon!
@ceejeemcbeegee:
I could go in and do a final fitting, and several of us actually did, but it didn’t make any difference…because they didn’t change anything!
@Michael:
What I meant by a final fitting 7-10 earlier was to go in and make sure the measurements were correct. We all did that, but on the day we went in for our “actual” final fitting 2 days before the wedding, 6 of the 8 tuxedos were WAY off still.
We actually had one young groomsman (13 years old) who is growing, I swear, like an inch every two weeks, so he went in 4 times to get measured, including 7 days before the wedding. His tuxedo still didn’t fit and was off by more than any human would grow in 7 days. So yes, it helps going in more often and close to the event for a fitting, but if the tuxes have already been processed/changes never make it to the computer, it’s all for nothing.
If you shop at Men’s Warehouse, you deserve what you get.
Their blazers are lined with George’s ass hair.
This is why at my wedding everyone will wear shorts and polo shirts while eating hotdogs and hamburgers in the back yard. Its ridiculous to spend all that money on something that only lasts a few hours. I could use all that money to put towards a down payment on a house
@linbey:
I stand and applaud.
*hopes the wife doesn’t see me say this*
Yeah, it’s already been said but I’ll count my two cents in. Brad, tell your dad if he’s willing to drive 3 hours to pick up something important, he should spend the 10 minutes to try everything on in a fitting room before leaving.
It was their fault for screwing up, but he has to take some responsibility for not trying the things on. I won’t even pull away from Taco Bell before checking they put everything in the bag. Lets have some common sense.
@ceejeemcbeegee: When have you ever heard of a tux shop that had a tux read a whole week or more before the wedding? It’s normal for any event that required a tux for me to pick it up no more than 2 days prior and return it the following day. I’ve had some more local places have me pick it up 1 day prior.
Also, most tuxes generally cost about the same to rent as the bridesmaids dresses, unless the dresses are ridiculously expensive (and then you end up with some bitchy bridesmaids… my wife had some that bitched about paying $90 for their dresses). I’ve never bought a tux, but most suits start at $200 just for the jacket and pants. Once you throw in a shirt and tie, you’re at almost $300. I imagine a tux would cost a bit more considering you have to buy a special tux shirt usually and then the vest and tie to match. Most people don’t go to enough formal events that require a tux to warrant the purchase of one. A nice suit, sure, but not a tux.
@Nick_Bentley: …
We both tried our tuxes on Thursday, and they didn’t fit.
On Saturday, he drove up to get both my tux, and his own. This was four hours before the wedding. He had a two hour drive back. When he got back, his tux was fine. Mine was not.
Basically, I want to know what him trying on my tux would have accomplished. Yea, yea many people have said “you should have checked the bag.” Probably should have, but we were understandably frantic. The onus was on MW to include the pants, and they forgot. We could have caught it earlier, but were a bit distracted, and ultimately, the responsibility does lie with them.
holy shit with the crazy wedding guys and the perfect matching tuxedos.
who told you that you had to dress in a tux anyway ? i bet it was mens warehouse. i’ve seen people get married in stormtrooper outfits ffs! suck it up nancy boys. this is why people are getting shot over a pair of tennis shoes.
@BuddyGuyMontag: Who says the attending groomsmen have to have tuxes that exactly match the groom’s? The only acceptable tux for the most common formal affairs is black, single-breasted, one-button jacket of any simple cut, pants with a black side stripe, and a white tuxedo shirt with black tie. How hard would it be to match that? Of course, my husband and I married in my parent’s backyard because we were actually buying a HOUSE instead of a wedding, so I may not be the one to ask if you want advice on how to matchy-match 15 groomsmen in rented finery.
I used MW for my wedding several years ago and all of the tuxes were either too big, too small, missing buttons, missing shoes…
Never again…
Bought my suit for my wedding at MW. Worked out great. I still wear it.
’nuff said.
I worked at a tux shop in high school and early college. We were Gingiss Formalwear, a national chain with our own franchise across the Twin Cities (MN). The place had excellent customer service.
We admittedly botched a few orders every weekend (while serving something like 20-30 weddings a weekend with 5-10 tuxes per wedding). When we REALLY screwed up or when someone had a problem a couple hours pre-wedding (think missing button), we went out there to fix it. It was nice because we had stores around the Cities and we could get something to a wedding within an hour, more often than not. I think they’re called Savvi nationally now. I have no clue how the service has changed.
We did the “wear whatever sort of tux you own or that you feel like or that looks good on you” eclectic tux mix thing and it worked really, really well.
Also we sent my bridesmaids matching fabric and let them design/make their own dresses so the dresses were made of the same fabric but everybody was in something that looked good on them, also went really, really well. (We offered to pay for a tailor, but our bridesmaids collectively said that getting a tailor to put a dress together was cheaper than most bridesmaid dresses, so we shouldn’t worry about it.)
I got married in May, and we went with MW Tux and they did a great job. We had 10 tuxes and even a couple guys had to get fitted out of state. My brother-in-law’s pants were a little big (actually, he kind of looked like he was sporting MC Hammer pants), and there were a few alterations that needed to be done, but those were done on the spot at the store when we picked up. Considering that it was right in the middle of prom season, I was pretty amazed everything turned out ok.
All chains have their good store and bad stores. The stores in Michigan all seem to be pretty good. The OP obviously got a bad one, which sucks – its time to hold George Zimmer to that “guarantee.”
@BuddyGuyMontag:
I am of the opinion that matching tuxes for groomsmen are overrated and look, frankly, silly. What difference does it make if one man has a 3 button notch lapel, while another has a 1 button shawl lapel, or another has a double breasted peak lapel, so long as they are all black?
I am also of the mind that every man should own a tux. They only going to wear a tux once their whole lives?
The reasons that MW clothing is garbage are too many to enumerate in one post here. Search the forums at http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com or styleforum.com. You’ll learn a little about how men’s clothing is constructed, the history of it, and why MW (and many other lines, e.g. most Armani, HUGO BOSS, etc.) are trash.
Right. Let me force my groomsmen to buy matching tuxes that they’ll never wear again. I had four male groomsmen (one female groomsmaid) so I’d feel really good about them buying 300-500 dollar suits that they’ll wear for one day.
How is MW clothing garbage? I’ve had plenty of clothes there that’s nice.
@ceejeemcbeegee:
I agree with you completely. Some bridesmaid dresses are so hideous that they should hardly be worn once!
A good tux is classic, stylish, and always in good taste.
This happended to me in 2005… nothing new.
If your life is so meaningless that a pair of pants ruins your wedding, you are truly a sad and petty person.
Wear blue jeans with the tux top, take the photos, and then you can always laugh at it in the future.
@Norsehawk: Point to where the OP said his wedding was ruined because of this. In fact, he said everything besides this was great.
Weddings are a stressful thing to plan for, and the fact is that MW screwed up badly, creating even more unneeded stress for the wedding party. To make things worse, they didn’t do anything to make up for said shitty service and shitty product, instead forcing already busy members of the family to spend their time and gas money to fix the problem. Even if that $10 gas card had worked, it really doesn’t make everything even-steven here.
Our only local tux rental place, a mom and pop (more like grandma and grandpa) place, almost blew our wedding.
I had gone in with a swatch of the bridesmaids’ dress fabric since we wanted to color-coordinate as best we could. I found what I liked for myself and the groomsmen, which came in the exact color we were hoping for. Fast forward two months to two days before the wedding. I get a call on my cell that they need me to come in ASAP. Turns out, the rental place THEY rent from had discontinued that style and color. Apparently, they normally wait until the Thursday before the event, then call their rental place, get everything overnighted, and you pick it up not at all long after they took it out of the UPS box. So less than 48 hours out, I’m stuck trying to find something else when I’ve got better things to be doing.
@Norsehawk: He didn’t ever say that at all…it was just stressful, we already had way too much crap to do, haha.
Even though we did a lot of planning that day was still very hectic!
This is scary, because I went to that same store in Nashua, NH to get fitted for a tux for a wedding in California just last month! They wound up sending it to the wrong store! Luckily the store that had it was just a short drive from the one they sent us to, but I can’t fathom what would have happened if they stranded us near San Diego with no tuxes. Looks like we were pretty damn lucky compared to these guys.
my husband’s father accidentally left his digital camera in his tux jacket pocket after our wedding. even though we called the store only a couple hours after the tuxes were returned (as soon as we realized what happened) they’d already been “returned to the hub” & there was “nothing they could do” to locate it. needless to say, it mysteriously was never found.
so some MW Tux employee got a brand-new camera last April, along with some presumably-lovely pictures of our wedding that we will never see. now, granted they do emphasize that they aren’t responsible for anything left in returned garments, but I was still pretty disappointed with their total inability to help us out.
As someone who once worked for a tux rental place (not MW) as a “survival job,” I would like to offer some tips that will help prevent problems regardless of where you rent.
1. Come in and get measured. I know you think you know your sizes, but, trust me, must guys don’t. Really.
2. Any tux place will measure you at no charge for your order wherever. Tip the guy giving you the measurements, however, since you are taking his time and most of them work on commission.
3. Make sure you have at least two days between the day you pick up your tuxes and the day you have to have them perfect. So, if you are leaving town on Friday, arrange to have your tuxes picked up on Tuesday. If your wedding is Saturday, arrange for Wednesday. Trust me on this, it will save you huge headaches.
4. Pick up your tuxes at the earliest time possible. Insist that every single person try their tuxes on in the store before leaving with them.
5. Expect corrections. Yes, it is a pain. But this isn’t custom tailoring. Measurements are taken and an average fit produced, even in the best of circumstances. Most times that works — sometimes, corrections are needed.
6. Expect corrections. Yes, it is a pain. But hundreds of tuxes are being assembled and people make mistakes. You should have the silver tie, but got the blue. Woops!
7. Pick up your corrects exactly when they are ready. Try everything that was corrected. Make sure it is right.
8. The people who do this stuff know you are stressed and the good guys try to help out. They often will offer to deliver things or otherwise help out. The problem, however, is that if they do this, you reduce the ability of the store to fix continued problems. Try to pick things up in the store. Often they can fix things on the spot that would otherwise cause you huge problems.
If you follow these rules, you’ll pick out your stuff (1 visit), get measured (same visit), try stuff on (2nd visit), pick up corrections (3rd visit) and still have your stuff the day before the wedding.
Most problems (like the OPs) occur when the tux store is far away and insufficient time is left between pick-up and event.
Bad headline: the OP makes it clear that his wedding was not ruined, he’s just unsatisfied with one of the tuxes.
Stuff missing from a tux package might not be unusual for Men’s Warehouse though; when my brother got married, my dad’s tux didn’t come with the tie it was supposed to have. So he had to wear a different tie, he happened to have one with him for the dinner the night before, and it wasn’t the end of the world. But it’s probably a good idea to check and make sure that you have everything you’re supposed to have before you leave the store.
I am a vendor to MW. I helped design and implement their new shipping system. Anyway, I would agree with what adistius stated. I would recommend that you have the TUX arrive a few days earlier than the wedding. This allows for any mistakes that are made to get corrected. Also make sure to get measured. This way if they took your measurements you then have a valid argument when you issue a complaint. Also just a FYI, the TUX’s generally arrive the day before your pickup date.
Also, it does help if you can place as many of the orders from the same store as possible. They generally try and bundle orders together in a shipment. Doing this should help to ensure that your orders arrive together and if an item is missing from your order chances are it could be in one of the other garment bags or in the box it was shipped in.
Solution? Don’t get married.
Reading this particular story shocked me. I worked as a CSA (person who does the measurements/sets up the wedding party/all around bitch work) for TMW for a year and while there were a few hiccups here and there, there was never problem that we could not handle.
There were multiple occasions where I would drive to another location, with the closest next Men’s Wearhouse just over an hour away, to retrieve garments or accessories for a customer. There were even times where I would deliver the tux to a person, which usually ended up being at least an hour away.
I was under the assumption that all MW stores operated in this fashion, I guess I was just being naive.
As for tipping the guy who does your measurements, it really is a nice gesture. Even though we are more than happy to help somebody out (I was at least), that particular position at TMW is an hourly job, no commission to be had (unless you buy the wedding gifts).
First off let me say I am a manager of an MW Tux location. Second let me say that no matter where you go there is always a bad egg that can ruin things. My suggestions are simple:
1. You are not a trained professional DO NOT MEASURE YOURSELF.
2. If you choose to get measured at a location other than one of our stores DO NOT CHANGE MEASUREMENTS that you think are incorrect.
3. DO try on your tuxedo at the time of pick up. 99% of the problems we encounter are the legnhts of jacket sleeves, pant legnths, and loose buttons. These issues can usually be rectified in a matter of 10-15 mins at the store.
4. Regretfully we are not psychic, and cannot tell the following things without the customer telling us; you lost weight, gained weight, measured yourself, or called in measurements and did not specify a certain fit.
5. REMEMBER 5-10 pounds of weight gain or loss can change not only the pant size, but the size needed for every other article or clothing we have ordered for you.
6. The pick up is scheduled for two days before, PICK IT UP THEN. This allows time for major issues.
7. Question everything we do when it comes to the initial fitting and final fitting/pick up of your tuxedo. If we are not told something is wrong we cannot correct the issue.
10. Not every style or cut will look good on everyone. This being said the RENTAL tuxedo is an average and boxy fit. We cannot custom tailor a rental nor are we allowed to.
11. For the most part the sales floor is 85% of our store. We do not have bushels of product waiting in back and cannot take it from another order or a display for inventory reasons.
12. The nicer you are to us the more accomodating we will be. Yelling just puts us as employees on the defensive. While I am a fan of being nice to everyone no matter how much they yell or curse at me, not everyone is this way and an understanding customer SHOULD ALWAYS get treated nice. (don’t forget the bad eggs)
13. Speak to the manager if you are not satisfied!!!!! A large number of decisions cannot be made by the average associate.
14. If we could deliver every screw up we would. However we are slaves to schedules, transportation our staff use, and other customers who need our assistance as well.
15. This reminds me YOU are not the only customer we will serve. We will do our best, but repeating the same thing for hours only slows us down to serve others and to rectify your particular issue. Let us do our jobs and I suspect you will be surprised what we can pull off.
16. Most of us are pros. Do not question what we do in the back room. As a tux employee I have learned hundreds of tricks to “adjust” the fit of a garment without harming it. Some of these methods do require concentration and care and are best done uninterrupted.
17. I will repeat it again. Ask questions, and talk to the manager on duty if necessary.
I work for a Men’s Wearhouse and Tux based in the St. Louis area, and as a worker this is a very horrible story to hear, I do apologize for the grief this caused you on your big day. I hope that the people that worked for that store definetly learned a lesson in how we are suppose to do business. Men’s is all about customer service and I would like to think that at my store if something goes wrong we can fix it. This is way we like for our customers to give us their email so we can notify them right when their tuxedos enter our store. Also why people come in and try on tuxedos because as much as we all hate to admit it, our bodies grow and change weekly. However you have to understand that people do make mistakes, doesn’t matter what company it is. The associate should have double checked their work and I hope this experience with one store doesn’t effect your idea of Men’s Wearhouse it really is a wonderful place to rent and buy men’s apparel. Very sorry for your inconvenience.