Tiffany & Co. — Local services in Boston

I went there yesterday evening, after work, shortly before 5 PM, to look at and ultimately purchase a necklace for my wife, for Hanukkah. I’ve been coming to this location for a number of years and have had nothing but the best of experiences with every sales representative and/or employee I have dealt with. Last night I dealt with Patricia (the business card she provide me with reads Patricia Hobeika). She was absolutely wonderful. I am fairly quick and easy when it comes to shopping, although I often do have questions and truly appreciate with my questions and my presence in general is dealt with in a kind, respectful, and professional manner, as it was! After turning down, one item, as it looked out of my price range, she asked me, and I’m glad she did, as no one here has ever asked, what my budget is. Compared to other patrons of theirs, it’s not huge, I told her it was just 1k & she treated me no different than if I said 10k (I say that, as I could not imagine better treatment) I showed her a few screenshots I took; I prefer not to shop online when possible, as I want to see my items before making purchases. I truly appreciate the physicality of an object, and photos often do not do it justice (they don’t necessarily hurt nor help, it’s just that they are not accurate in a positive or negative way IMHO), and could not accurately, in my opinion represent scale and the physical nuances & subtleties that add to the beauty of said object(to my liking, at least, for others photos may suffice perfectly. I know photos suffice for many of my regular collectors/customers, and others they do not, it is clearly a personal thing). The first necklace I was looking for was an online exclusive, it was a Beyoncé collaboration, I believe, it was not available. We looked at another necklace that I had a photograph of , it was much thinner and lighter than I expected. I then explained to Patricia that my wife wanted some thing medium-thick/chunky, nothing too long, but not a choker either. She already has a lot of thin, elegant necklaces, as well as some very thick and chunky ones, some (all from Tiffanys) that wrap around multiple times, and she wanted something in the middle, something that she could wear to work regularly, or also dress up. (her regular work wardrobe is fairly dressed up, compared to most in 2023.) Patricia found the perfect necklace, it was very similar to the one I saw online, yeah better, it had a lshorter length, which I was looking for & the perfect medium thickness. I’d describe it as having a slightly muscular silhouette and overall aesthetic, yet Was quite dynamic & carries a brilliant elegance. I work right around the corner, I am a ‘Briar Pipe Artisan’ at LJ Peretti Co and I have sent many customers here before, as many have inquired about both locations, asking if the other one, the bigger one is better, asking if it’s worth going a little bit further away to the larger location. I have not been to the other one in many many years, but I have been to this one many times over the past few years or so, so I send them here, it’s a closer walk and I’ve had nothing but positive experiences. I was very pleased to know that the current staff is as good as ever. And from someone who works in retail, even though I don’t do exactly what Patricia does, I can say, she did the best one could possibly do. She was kind, friendly, helpful, courteous, gave me all the information I wanted, and no excess information I did not want. I cannot comment on the other location in Boston, but I can comment on this one: it is excellent! I’m sure any member of staff can assist you wonderfully, as they always have with me, I did not see other staff members I have dealt with in previous years, that s aid, I know Patricia will be able to help anybody and everybody get what they are looking for. And I am sure the other employees, based on my experience there, will be wonderful as well. Thank you Patricia, I am very pleased, and I know my wife...

PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT GO BY THE REVIEWS! EXPERIENCE IT FOR YOURSELF. I visited for the first time today this Tiffany’s on Newbury Street. I’d read a lot of negative reviews about this particular store; and quite honestly, I was THIS CLOSE to NOT going. But, I thought to myself….like anything else in life, you need to see for yourself. I will admit…I was apprehensive as I approached the store; BUT…as soon as I opened the door, I was immediately and simultaneously greeted by a man…I believe he was security, but you’d never know by his warm smile…and a woman behind the circular counter named Sophie😊 I feel blessed to have had Sophie as my attendant. I came prepared with photographs of a few items I’d seen online, which she showed me, and one I did purchase. The other item, a ring, wasn’t in inventory at the store in my size; she could have it overnighted. But what I truly appreciated is that she showed me rings similar to the one I originally wanted to purchase…AND….she didn’t bring out rings that were 10x the price; which, quite honestly, in the jewelry business is unheard of. She sat me down, offered coffee; and we chatted and chatted about anything and everything. (Now, I went within 15 minutes of the store opening for the day). She was warm, friendly….and I mean GENUINE friendly…not that fake kind of salesperson friendly trying to make commission. Sophie was REAL! By the end of our time together, I felt like I’d made a friend. I was happy. I couldn’t stop smiling…AND it WAS NOT because I purchased some items from Tiffanys, it was because of Sophie and the warmth and graciousness I experienced. I also met one of the managers (forgive me, I don’t remember your name). She was wonderful; and we also chatted for a few minutes. At that moment, I believe I was the only customer in the store. Sophie and I hugged and the staff said, “Stop by again, just to say hello.” Who does that? What jewelry store tells you to come back just to say hello?? I’m a born and bred New Yorker….59 years old. And I can PERSONALLY tell you I’ve NEVER had ANY retailer…jewelry, clothing, shoes tell me to come back in just to say hello. I’m going to end this review the way it was started…. PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT GO BY THE REVIEWS! EXPERIENCE IT...

If I could give zero stars, I would. The customer service is absolutely abhorrent. We were treated as less than, I've gotten better service at Chick-Fil-A. The sales associate, Patricia, rushed us out of the store when we were there to drop off a necklace to get serviced and was told that there was no time to receive the complimentary polishing. My partner had purchased a necklace for pick up in store at the same time and even that wasn't done properly- I received multiple calls after hours because they didn't process the purchase due to missing a couple of verifiers, which stands to reason since they were in quite the hurry to get us out of the door. We chalked this up to it being an off day and gave them the benefit of the doubt.

We came back this past weekend to pick up the necklace and to exchange a bracelet my partner had ordered for me. We made two full loops around the store and no one paid any attention to us. Finally, we walked up to the front desk associate (Asian, dark hair, didn't get her name since she didn't give us a second look) who was clearly avoiding eye contact and did not bother to look up at us even though we were standing right in front of her. After waiting around uncomfortably, I asked her if she could help us as I just needed to pick something up. Instead of making any eye contact with us, she looked at the security guard and said, "I'm with another customer right now, is there another associate?" Note: no customer in sight, but she couldn't just say that to us... but talked at us as if we did not exist. Extremely dehumanizing and wildly unpleasant of an experience.

At this point, we just wanted to get the necklace that was serviced, make the return, and get out of there. Due to systems error and multiple other things that apparently went wrong, we ended up being there for an hour and thirty minutes. Please do not waste your time and go to this store, we will no longer be supporting Tiffany & Co. and will relay this experience to all of our friends. We have had much better experiences at Cartier, David Yurman, and Dior- where their sale associates do not profile customers and treats everyone with respect and kindness. Avoid this location...