Camelot Costumes

My daughter and I went in last week to find costumes for the Dickens Faire in SF. Although we found 1 PERFECT costume, they didn't have 2 more for that era in sizes that would fit my mother and daughter. We did find 2 from the Ren. era that we decided would work just fine.My daughter noticed a small tear in a seam and was worried it may get worse with more wear, and when she showed the clerk he asked if we could delay picking up the costumes til he could get it fixed- a couple days tops. We weren't planning on going to the Faire for a week so said no worries, as long as it would be ready in time.He also spent time going through all the other items in stock (skirts,bustiers etc) to see if there were any my daughter would prefer to the costume she had already chosen..\r My Mom was due to pick up costumes today but had a scheduling conflict, so I called to let them know of the delay, and that we'd pick up Sat since we weren't using til Sunday. The woman that answered the call (the owner) said no problem, and also offered to go through all the returns to see if any Dickens era costumes had come in that would fit Mom and daughter. She said she'd put any she found in with our order so we could try them on as well. When I read the prior review on Camelot I felt I had to comment, I feel the customer service was very good, and would recommend Camelot to ANYONE looking for a costume rental.\r Also, the price to me seems MORE than reasonable, considering how easy going they are on returning the costume! \r more

I heard this place was great for renting costumes for the ""living history"" field trips for schools and a good friend hightly recommended it (as she was able to rent her costume & her daughter's costume there). I checked for information on their website, but could not determined any prices or costume variety (or availability) from searching on line. So, I called Camelot Costumes 3 days ago and even though it was during store hours, I got a recorded message. I left a message asking to please call me back to let me know if they have what I needed and what their prices are. I never received a call back, but the next day, while talking with a , I discovered she had also called (and received a call back). Fortunately, my friend (who is going on the same field trip with her son), was able to give me price information that I needed. Hoping to drive to their store tomorrown I got directions from on line. In the meantime, having been fortunate enough to pull together an outfit for myself (from a friend kind enough to loan it to me from last year) and part of a costume for my 8 year old daughter, I still needed to obtain a bonnet & apron for her to make her costume complete. So, once again I called Camelot Costumes. A lady answered and I explained what I was needing...a bonnet & apron for the 1880s for my 8 year old daughter, I asked do you rent or sell anything like that? She simply said no. Surprised by her answer, I added that friends had gotten those items there...wondering to myself if maybe she would explain that they were just ""out"" of stock. She said they only rent the entire costumes (not parts of the costumes). Still surprised they could not accommodate, I said, are you sure you don't have anything? She reluctantly admitted, oh well we have some bonnets & aprons for sale, but I don't know if we have anything for an 8 year old. WOW. I said OK thanks and that was that. When I hung up the phone, I realized that it would have taken her less than 2 mintues to check for me, to see if they had a bonnet/apron for a child. She was uninterested and unwilling to help me. The way she left it, I would need to drive out there (possibly a wasted hour of my day if they didn't have what I needed). VERY disappointed in this store's lack of customer service...total lack of interest in making a customer happy and to me, it seemed, unless I was willing to rent full costumes and pay the big bucks ($25 per costume and $3 cleaning fees on each one, plus the time driving there twice, once to rent, once to return), she was not interested in wasting her time on me. Despite the fact that this store may have exactly what one might need for the 1889 living history school field trips...they are not interested in helping you out unless you are going all out. I will be hitting the thrift stores, no Camelot Costumes for us, not now and not in the future, nor will I recommend it to others. more