Gentle Monster New York — Local services in New York

Extremely disappointing experience at Gentle Monster! I want to share a frustrating experience with Gentle Monster to warn other customers. Last month, my husband purchased a pair of Gentle Monster sunglasses from the American Dream store as a surprise for my first Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, I discovered the surprise early—and while I appreciated the gesture deeply, I didn’t particularly like the style of the sunglasses. Since I had never worn them, I planned to exchange them in-store for a different style. This past Sunday was the last day within their 14-day return window, and since both my husband and I had to work, we asked a friend to go to the Soho store on our behalf. Here’s where things went downhill. At the SoHo store, my friend handed the untouched sunglasses to the staff, who began inspecting them with an unreasonable level of scrutiny—claiming there were scratches and therefore the item was ineligible for return or exchange. My friend called me, and I watched the inspection via video. The so-called "scratches" were completely invisible to the naked eye. It honestly felt like they were looking for a reason to deny the return. I requested to speak to the store’s assistant manager, who repeated the same excuse and said their “return policy” prohibits returns if there are any scratches. I pointed out that I never wore them—how could they be sure the alleged marks weren’t there when we first bought them? They claimed that since the sunglasses weren’t purchased at their location, they couldn’t speak for how carefully the product was inspected at the time of purchase at the other store. Eventually, they offered to extend the return by one day so we could go back to the American Dream store. Later that evening, I looked up Gentle Monster’s official return policy—it makes no mention of “no scratches allowed” .It simply states that returns of new/unused products are accepted within 14 days if the customer is unsatisfied. To make sure we weren’t missing anything, my husband and I examined the sunglasses under flashlight. WE COULDN'T FIND ANY SCRATCHES. This morning, we went back to the American Dream store as soon as it opened. The assistant manager there examined the sunglasses and admitted he couldn’t see any scratches either. However, after making a call to his superior, he told us he still couldn’t process the return—because of "Gentle Monster protocol." I asked him: – What exactly is this protocol? – Could I see it in writing? – Did he personally see any scratches? He honestly answered: “No, I didn’t see any scratches.” He also mentioned: “I would like to process the return for you, but my higher-up said no.” After firm insistence on our part and multiple questions, he finally said: “I will process the return as an exception.” This left me with the impression that they had no valid reason to deny the return in the first place—but were just trying to make it difficult. To make matters worse, my colleague posted a negative Google review of the SoHo store describing the issue, but Google later marked the post as “visible only to you.” That means no one else can see it. It’s unclear whether this was caused by platform filters or if the store reported it. Either way, it makes it harder for real customers to be heard. After checking other Google Reviews, I realized I wasn’t alone. Others have experienced similar situations—some were even denied returns on the same day of purchase. Gentle Monster promotes itself as a high-end brand, yet their after-sales service is completely inconsistent with that image. If you truly want to be seen as premium, start by respecting your customers and honoring your own return policy. Otherwise, IT'S A SCAM! DON'T LIE TO...

I love the look of my Gentle Monster glasses but man did I just have a really unpleasant experience getting them adjusted. I purchased my glasses a few months ago and, since I mostly wear contact lenses, I just now decided to ask for help with the tightness pain I had been feeling with the legs and the nose pad. The young associate helping me was nice enough but they seemed to need help assisting me, so a manager (I assume) came out and asked that I try them on for him and then he laughed and commented on how crooked they were on my face. I didn't really understand what he meant because I had never noticed them to be crooked before, or if he was trying to suggest that this is the reason they felt tight. He then said that I must have bumped my head (?). It didn't really make sense and the tone came across rude. He then adjusted my glasses further and before they were returned to me, he said in a very snarky manner to the associate "the lenses REALLY need to be cleaned and wiped down too," which felt like he was trying to insult me. He then immediately disappeared to the back following that comment. The associate cleaned them and handed them back to me, we exchanged an awkward glance, and I left. It was a really awkward experience as a customer and I don't think I will be returning, at least to the...

Worst return experience ever. The staff checked the sunglasses for quite a long time and said that there is a scratch. And she asked for a second opinion. Later she agreed to fully return the money to me. But what she said was "this time we will fully refund". So I clarified that if there is a scratch, then it was there when you sold to me. I definitely did not make a scratch just by trying them on in front of the mirror at home for a few minutes. (If it happened so, I would consider their product has poor quality.) She didn't respond directly, but repeating "This time we will fully refund". It sounds very passive aggressive to me. She also said that when she sold them to me, she checked as carefully as this time.

The truth is that the time she spent checking on the glasses when she sold them to me was MUCH MUCH shorter than the time she spent when I returned them. This can be proved by checking their security camera.

Very poor experience. The attitude of that female staff is terrible. Never going to this store again. (I had experience returning clothes to Reformation, and it was...