Weddingbee boards

So, I posted a few days ago about my dress getting in (SUPER early, I may add), and me being in Massachusetts and not able to pick it up from the store (in Los Angeles) until May at the earliest.  I was trying to figure out if I should go ahead and pay for it, or if I should wait until I can actually see it before I fork over the rest of the dough and lose all leverage if something is wrong. The bees unanimously voted that I should wait to pay and that any store owner would understand my needs/concerns.....

....well, not so much.  So I called today and told the store owner I would wait to pay until I got to LA and could actually see the dress.  She got really upset and was telling me that I had to pay now, and someone else could look at the dress.  She also told me that they would charge her a fee if I didn't pay the balance within a week.  I stood my ground, however, and she ultimately relented, and got off the phone in a huff, and basically just said "Okay, bye.".

So, I won, right?  Ummm....now I am nervous that any number of unfortunate scenarios may happen, including 1) I go to pick up my dress in May and she holds it hostage until I pay some "fee" which she will claim is the late fee that was charged by Pronovias for the dress being paid for late.  Not much I will be able to do at that point, since I will need the dress & I've already given her $500.  or 2) She will start using MY dress as a sample (I know that she sold the sample the same day I ordered mine, so unless she got a new sample, she could use mine. :-/

So, I don't know what to do now.  I could either just call her back, pay and have my mom come pick it up--and then have to go someplace else for alterations (although I think alterations from her were relatively cheap)--or just wait until May (and still possibly have to take it someplace else for alterations, depending on their attitude at that time) and risk one of these two (among others) bad scenarios happening in the interim.  

What do I do!??!? 

You should have 30 days to pay the balance (or whichever time period your contract states). Can your mom go look at the dress or another bee? They cannot let another bride try on your dress because you paid for a new dress which they ordered in, not a sample. If whoever examines your dress finds evidence that it has been tried on, then you should demand some form of refund or discount.  They absolutely cannot use it as a sample because that would be in breach of your contract. There should be a place on your contract where a time frame is stated. Also, it is not your fault that the dress came in early. Most shops would be willing to work with a bride from across the US. I'd be tempted to Yelp them to let other brides know.

Okay, so I caved. 

After I calmed down and stopped freaking out I called back (and saw that my concern was validated!) and told the woman I didn't want her to get charged a fee, but wanted to know what I could do if something was wrong with the dress and I didn't find out until AFTER I paid.  She told me (calmly actually) not to worry about the dress.  She also said that she always requires payment when the dress comes in (and I actually went back and saw that this WAS on the receipt--dangit), but because I seemed so worried about it she didn't want to press me.  Which I thought was nice, and made me rethink my interpretation of her earlier gruffness. She said she would go to the storage room and check the measurements and color of the dress, so after she did that I felt okay with it -- and okay about leaving it there without fear of retribution!  

*Sigh* My mom also thinks that was the right thing to do, and I did at the time as well, but now as I am typing this I feel bad for backing down.  But if everything is alright then it doesn't really matter I guess--that is the only reason I wanted to not pay yet, not on some other principled reason, so I guess as long as the dress is alright that is what matters.