Rafaello Furs Collection & Leather Craft inc Shearling Repair and cleaning — Local services in New York

I went to Rafaello's to clean just the hood of my Moose Knuckles coat, which is lined with Toscana shearling. I chose his shop based on social media reviews, not Google, and that was my first mistake. Rafaello claimed he could restore the hood to look fluffy again. It had gotten curly and a bit worn from snow and moisture. He promised to clean it and apply a glaze to bring it back to life. I dropped it off on a Friday, expecting it back Monday. When I arrived for pickup, his shop was cluttered and disorganized. He was helping another customer and made me wait about 10 minutes. When he finally handed me the hood, he barely acknowledged me—just tossed it over and said, "Here you go." Thank goodness I checked it before leaving. The hood looked worse than when I dropped it off. It smelled terrible, was stiff, had lint in the fur, and was even curlier than before. When I expressed concern, he insisted he did a good job and began steaming it again on the spot, which only made things worse. I left upset, especially because I had already paid him $100 cash—a ridiculous price for just a hood. (He also forced me to pay in cash via his ATM.)

That same day, I picked up the rest of my coat from my neighborhood cleaners—who I had initially doubted. They saw the hood, laughed, and asked how much I paid. When I told them, they said, “You were robbed.” They took the hood to the back and within five minutes, it looked perfect—exactly how I wanted it in the first place.Outraged, I called Rafaello immediately to let him know how disappointed I was. I told him I felt bamboozled and asked for a partial refund. As a fair and faith-driven person, I offered him a solution: return $50 and I’d move on. He reluctantly agreed and told me to come the next day. When I returned, he refunded me the $50, but he did so rudely and told me to “get out.” I’m thankful I got something back, but this experience was awful from start to finish.

If you're looking for reliable, respectful service for high-end coats, do yourself a favor and go elsewhere. Rafaello’s is not it. Should be 1 star but I'll give 2 respectfully for the...

I am not exactly sure what positive reviews are talking about this "shop" but here is my input. My stunning vintage fur coat didn't make it through the "repair services" of so called "Rafaello". It was a small-scale job to patch over the hole in elbow which wasn't big enough for him. Rafaello wanted to extend the job to the total revamp of my coat with all the bells and whistles and charge it through the nose, $800 including a steep discount. That would be a funny joke, if I had said no and left. Unfortunately, we settled just to mend the little problem only, and I left my coat with that unskilled inexpert, who needed to get his bargain worth, meaning, he demanded on top of his guaranteed cash payment that I 1)advertise his shop to my girlfriends and on mass marketing media 2)sleep with him, 3)have my hair done at his cousin's salon, 4)help him to sell new brand of Vodka to major restaurants during pandemic, 5)have tedious, prolonged, and frequent phone conversation with him etc... Finally, I got my coat back after a month of waiting, and him redoing "his job" twice. I thought he was going to keep it hostage. The result was frightening. My fur got glued together all over the problem area and if you comb you fingers through the fur, you would feel the nasty hard lumps of dried glue and fur together as if Rafaello's specialty was in breaking things not mending or healing them. And last but not least, if you cast your eye over his entire "shop" to examine, you'll see the shoddy craftsmanship that brings shame on all his ancestors who taught...

I found Rafaello's shop because I'm a regular at the Recover studio upstairs. I'm so glad I finally came in and brought my knitted fur mittens for a cleaning and repair. Being very happy with the results, I decided to bring my faux fur parka hood lining to be replaced with a much better quality real fur that I purchased online. A true pro, Rafaello was able to do this flawlessly, and done in less than a week! Now my down parka is transformed and the fur hood looks absolutely gorgeous, I can't wait to wear it when it's colder. I really appreciate the natural furs because nothing is warmer and more comfortable. It is a material to be cared for and used for a lifetime, and I really appreciate having a master like Rafaello who can work with and care for such precious materials. Always happy to support our local furriers. Thank you for your beautiful, quality work! I will definitely be back and recommend you to my friends, and hope to own some of your beautiful...