After months of searching, Barbara Kirsch-Regalski found the wedding dress she wanted at Wedding World on Route 51 in Pleasant Hills.

It was a white dress with a high neckline, long sleeves and a long undetachable train.

After measuring her, the sales clerk told Kirsch-Regalski she needed a size 22 dress. The cost was $853. Kirsch-Regalski's $540 deposit included a $200 gift certificate. The sales clerk told her on Feb. 10, 2003 that the dress would arrive in about six months. It did.

	Barbara Kirsch-Regalski in the wedding dress purchased at Wedding World. Click photo for larger image.

But, when Kirsch-Regalski went to the store for the first fitting on Sept. 23, she discovered the dress was too small.

Kirsch-Regalski, 31, of Bloomfield, an administrative assistant for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, returned to Wedding World for a second fitting on Sept. 30. She picked up her dress a few weeks later, just in time for her Oct. 18 wedding.

"The dress was beautiful," she said. "Hilda the seamstress did a wonderful job."

Kirsch-Regalski said store manager Catherine Lesczynski told her alterations usually cost about $100. When Kirsch-Regalski was billed $180 for her alterations, she asked Lesczynski for an $80 refund.

Kirsch-Regalski said Lesczynski promised to forward her request to the main office, Kaufman's Wedding World in Altoona. She said Lesczynski told her it would "typically take about eight weeks for a decision of this nature to be made.

"She refused to give me the phone number for the corporate person who will be making this decision."

Kirsch-Regalski said Wedding World's failure to return her calls prompted her to check the company's standing with the Better Business Bureau. She wished she had checked before she bought her dress. The BBB's Web site -- www.pittsburgh.bbb.org -- said: "Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the bureau due to a history of not responding to customer complaints brought to the company's attention by the Better Business Bureau."

I called bureau President Tom Connolly.

"They have a way of making their customers mad at them," Connolly said. "I have spoken with them numerous times about it. I've forwarded complaints to them and asked them to take care of them, but I've received no cooperation at all. I don't understand it. That's not the way to do business."

Margaret Kaufman, one of the owners of Wedding World, said the family-owned company has been in business for 109 years. The company has seven stores in the Pittsburgh area, several others in the state and some in Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia.

"We try so hard to give good customer service," Kaufman said. "And we just decided [yesterday] to be more responsive by asking our customers to send us an e-mail if they have any concerns or comments."

Kaufman said it can be difficult to properly size women because some gain or lose weight between their initial measurement and first fitting. "Sizing is a very serious problem. It is not cut and dried. It is a guess sometimes."

Kaufman declined to refund any of the money Kirsch-Regalski paid for her alterations "because that's what it cost to do the work that had to be done. And, if I give her a refund, it would unleash a flood of people who also would want their money back or want free alterations."

Kaufman insisted Wedding World has been responsive to complaints forwarded to them by any Better Business Bureau, including the one in Pittsburgh. I told her what the local BBB said about her company and gave her Connolly's name and phone number. "I'll speak with him because we want to turn that [negative] report around," she said.

If you have a problem with Wedding World or any other business and have been unable to resolve it with the company, you can contact the Better Business Bureau of Western Pennsylvania at 412-456-2700 or go to its Web site. You also can contact the state Bureau of Consumer Protection at 1-800-441-2555 or go to www.attorneygeneral.gov.