Two brides have told the Manchester Evening News they were measured up and paid more than £1,000 each in deposits to Je Roche fashion house, only for their wedding dresses never to be delivered. Je Roche specialises in Asian weddings and has shops in Manchester, Bradford and Birmingham.
A 21-year-old bride, who asked not to be named, said £1,600 was paid as a deposit in December last year. The gown was being made in Pakistan and was due to arrive by May 10 this year, but it failed to show up. She is due to marry in front of 300 guests on August 10 and has given up hope of wearing that dress.
"I'm quite frustrated, very worried and quite stressed. The wedding is only a few weeks away. It's a lot of stress and anger," she said.
Mother pays £2,400 for replacement dress
Her mother said: "We are absolutely beside ourselves. We put our full trust in them since December and they don't understand the pain and anxiety they have caused. It's a massive day for us. I've actually reached out to the original designer in Pakistan and we're paying another £2,400 to him directly for a second dress."
The second dress had not arrived from Pakistan with the wedding days away, the Manchester Evening News reported. A message sent to the bride from Je Roche, seen by the Manchester Evening News, insisted the order had been "completed" but blamed a "dispute between the supplier and our business".
Je Roche message ruled out refund
The message said a refund was not possible because the business accounts remained subject to banking restrictions following an "incident" at one of its stores on June 9. It said the company was not ignoring the bride's concerns and concluded: "We sincerely apologise for the distress and inconvenience this has caused."
Another bride paid a deposit of £1,450 in January, but her dress was not delivered by the agreed date of June 15. She eventually married in Bolton last week in a second dress she sourced directly from a designer in Pakistan; it arrived via DHL just two days before the wedding.
Designer had stopped working with firm
She said: "I saw a post from the designer saying he was no longer working with Je Roche and I started panicking and that designer in Pakistan said that dress was never ordered."
The bride said she contacted Je Roche's manager, Mohammed Farid Anwar, who assured her the dress would come. She visited the Bradford shop but he was not there. "I messaged him and said 'what's going on' and he says 'don't worry - I'll sort it out - you're going to get your dress'. He kept saying that for a few week. Then he asked me for another £1,500 for a back-up dress that was off-the-rack. I just told him I wanted my money back."
Trustpilot: £2,400 deposit and off-the-rack replacement
Other brides have left scathing reviews about Je Roche on Trustpilot. One said she paid a £2,400 deposit for a designer dress that never showed up, forcing her to accept an off-the-rack gown.
"Just two days before my wedding, I was forced to visit the store and choose an alternative outfit from stock. As a petite bride, I was extremely worried that nothing would fit properly at such short notice. I was also forced to rush other wedding preparations, including my bridal mehndi celebrations, because I needed to collect the replacement outfit before the store closed and so close to my wedding date. No bride should be collecting her wedding dress at the last minute under that level of pressure. Thankfully, I managed to find an outfit that fit and the alterations were completed in time. However, it was not the dress I had chosen, ordered, or spent months looking forward to wearing. Despite this, I was still expected to pay the remaining £600 balance for a dress that had not been custom made for me and was not my first choice."
Manager blames robbery at Bradford store
Mr Anwar, 24, blamed a "big robbery" at his Bradford store on June 9 when contacted by the Manchester Evening News. He said dresses worth £50,000 were stolen and he was the victim of a "serious assault" during the incident.
"They trapped us inside the shop and they took keys off me and took my phone off me and I could not call the police. I was assaulted. I was punched in my neck and I was pushed," he said.
He said the incident had a "huge impact" on the business and the Bradford store has remained closed since. He said all brides were kept in contact with and that deposits would be returned in time.
Dresses were ready, brides cancelled, says Anwar
He maintained the two brides cancelled their orders themselves and that their dresses were "complete and ready" to be posted from Pakistan. Asked about the anxiety the brides felt, he said: "I did apologise to them and I totally understand why they were emotional and why they were concerned but as far as we are aware the dresses were ready to be shipped. They then told us they didn't want the dresses."
Asked about the critical Trustpilot reviews, Mr Anwar suggested not all of them were from actual customers and insisted the business had a "huge amount of happy brides" who had not left public reviews.
Company records and police response
The shop on Kingsway in Levenshulme had its shutters down when the Manchester Evening News visited this week, though it appeared to be stocked with wedding dresses.
Companies House records show the sole director of Jeroche Designer Labels Ltd is Javeria Anwar, whom Mr Anwar said was his mother. Mr Anwar is sole director of bridal jewellery firm Iberris Official Ltd, which operates from Je Roche. His address is listed as a large detached property on Chapel Lane in Hale Barns, but his father and grandmother said he no longer lives there. He was previously director of two now-dissolved businesses, Toffee Fashion Ltd and FA Clothing Ltd, both in Longsight.
West Yorkshire Police said officers were called to the Bradford store on Hardaker Street following reports of a robbery during which clothing and jewellery was taken. Four suspects have been arrested and released on bail pending further enquiries.
