Van Cleef & Arpels (Osaka - Osaka Takashimaya) ヴァン クリーフ＆アーペル 大阪高島屋店 — Local services in Osaka

I am extremely unhappy and frustrated with my purchase today. If you are a foreigner, the staff will treat you disrespectfully, no matter how much you spend or how you present yourself. Based on my experience, I would recommend taking a train to Van Cleef & Arpels in Kyoto, where the staff provides much better assistance.

Below are photos of the product I purchased today and the name of the rude and extremely unprofessional sales assistant. I am genuinely shocked that Van Cleef, a luxury brand, would tolerate this kind of behavior from their staff. This experience was worse than buying fish at a market. The way I was treated made it feel like the product I purchased was just a casual snack for a child. This was, without a doubt, the worst sales experience of my life.

The Incident:

Before entering the store, I had to make a reservation. The staff informed me that there were 4 people ahead of me, with a waiting time of 1–1.5 hours. They promised to send me an email when it was my turn. However, after waiting for nearly 2 hours with no email, I decided to check directly at the store. They claimed they had sent the email, suggesting it might have gone to my spam folder. I showed them my phone and checked all emails in front of them, only for them to admit it was a system error.

After trying 3 watches, I decided to purchase the one shown in the photo below, priced at 3,049,200 JPY. Unfortunately, my card had a limit, so I couldn’t make the full payment with my card. The store did not allow payment using two cards, even though both were under my name. Instead, I paid 90% of the bill (2,800,000 JPY) with my card and needed to pay the remaining 10% in cash. Since I didn’t have enough JPY, my husband went out to exchange USD for JPY, which took about 10 minutes.

While my husband was away, the sales assistant asked me to leave the store and wait on a sofa in the shopping mall, as there were 2 other customers in the queue. Despite having already paid 90% of the bill, she insisted I leave because the store didn’t have seating for me. She told me that when my husband returned, we could re-enter the store together, but she couldn’t guarantee a seat for us. At this point, I was extremely frustrated and asked if I could get a refund. With a rude and dismissive attitude, she said yes, explaining the refund would depend on the bank’s processing time.

When my husband returned, I expressed my frustration about her behavior. I even considered changing stores to make this purchase. However, since we were flying back to our country the next day, we decided to proceed to avoid complications. After hearing my complaint in front of my husband, the sales assistant suddenly changed her attitude and started apologizing. Her behavior before and after my husband arrived was completely different—so fake! Eventually, after several requests, she reluctantly revealed her name. I informed her that I would file a complaint with Van Cleef’s customer service once I returned home. When I asked to speak to her manager, she simply said that her manager was serving another customer. She then left and assigned another sales assistant to assist me.

Final Thoughts:

I spent almost 20,000 USD on my favorite watch, but the experience left me completely drained and angry. Despite waiting almost 2 hours, I noticed 2–3 idle staff members who could have assisted. To make matters worse, the sales assistant seemed intent on serving 2 customers simultaneously (the new customer and me), disregarding the fact that I had already made 90% of my payment.

Imagine paying nearly 20,000 USD and being asked to leave the store to wait outside while other customers were being served. It felt like I was spending money to become a joke and to bring frustration upon myself. This experience was beyond...

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