Van Cleef & Arpels (McLean - Tysons Galleria) — Local services in Tysons

I'm just hoping the manager sees this: Showed up at 3:50 pm on a quiet rainy Tuesday, 7/1. The family wanted to get me something for my bday, and I had done my research. I even had printouts. I made an appt for 4pm online, a week prior. Noticing I didn't receive a confirmation email the day before, I went back onto the site to book again. Still no confirmation, but I figured that was the way the setup was. When we arrived, the guard greeted us, and the lady was helping someone else. My husband and I looked around the store, and the associate passed us in the back room a couple times. At 4:05, 15 minutes in, I hear noise in the front room. I walk out and see that the associate is now helping another family. Seriously?! I walked to the front to ask the security guard if I was supposed to give my name, and he told me I had to wait for the associate. The associate walks past us to get something from the back, no apology, nothing. She could have just said, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had been waiting, something. I was flummoxed.

From the back, another lady emerges. She asked the other family if they had an appt, they said "no," but someone was helping them. Then she asked me, I said "yes." When she asked for my confirmation, I shared that I didn't have one (I came home and tried again just for kicks, no confirmation). I thought she was quite nice, but she then said that since "officially" I didn't have an appointment, we'd have to wait. I thought she was being kind when she said if I knew what I wanted, she could show me even though she wasn't an associate. When I told her the diamond/onyx alhambra bracelet, she said she wouldn't be able to show me the bracelet, which was in the case. It was still fine, but then made a passing comment that made me think she didn't believe I made an appt, and then doubled down by saying that the follow up/second one wouldn't have worked because it was only 24 hours, and online required 48 hours (again the system doesn't seem to indicate this, I checked). Why even say that? The place wasn't busy, and I'm a potential customer. Anyway, she took my name and cell number, told me if they called, I had to pickup and immediately come to store. They would only call once. ooookkkaay, a thousand better ways to handle that.

We left, and I was beyond annoyed--this was not the experience I envisioned. We both had left work early for this. My husband knew I had wanted the bracelet and speculated that maybe the associate didn't know we needed help since we didn't ask her. So we wandered upstairs to Cartier, originally my second choice. The staff their greeted us like royalty w/no attitude. The place was bigger, brighter and energetic versus the darker, sedate look of VCA. My phone did ring eight minutes after I left VCA, but I had already met Freeman at Cartier. We picked up the diamond love necklace, and my husband asked me to try on the matching earrings and bracelet just in case ; ) Fastest $7,000 I ever spent in my life, I just wore it out. My hubby said it was half the price of what I had planned to spend at VCA so he was thrilled. He also admitted he did not want to return to the store despite what he said earlier. I left Galleria very happy with my gift, but, seriously VCA, what gives? I have two college daughters who have really been fans of VCA, and I wanted to purchase a series of pieces. I never raised my voice and remained pleasant, so maybe they thought they could be dismissive. A day later, I'm still a bit stunned. Later, my daughters sent me a TikTok link to some viral lady that had poor customer service at a different location. If I had seen it prior to my experience, I would have laughed it off, but now I get it. When you are planning to purchase a luxury piece, the last thing you want is to feel snubbed and not welcomed. Go see...

I thought the negative reviews were hyperbole, that the reviewers would go in and acting silly or something. Sadly, they were not. I purchased a necklace online and had it shipped to this boutique so I can see it and browse as well. Neither the email nor the phone call that my piece arrive indicated that I “have” to make an appointment, only that I am “invited” to do so, if I wished. When I arrived, I was told I needed an appointment and the email said so too. False on both account. The doorman was not rude, but he was not useful. He said I could wait for a sales associate to free up, but that I could not wait in the store. Wait, I couldn’t wait in the store or browse? That’s a first. So I went back into the mall deciding maybe I hallucinated this event, but realized I have not been told when someone will call me and I had no idea when the sales associate would be back. When I immediately returned to find out the wait time, there was an associate! She was unfriendly and demanded I have an appointment. Okay, so the next appointment was 2 hours from then. Apparently, they were going to make me wait that long without telling me. When this magical appointment occurred 2 hours later, there was a nicer, older lady at the front door who invited me to browse and wait for the associate. Oddly enough, another customer without an appointment showed up and they were offered to look around, thoughh I was previously told I would have to wait in the mall. Anyway, I found another necklace I liked and when the associate arrive, I told her so, indicating I would get it that day. Silence. She ignored it and said to come back with an appointment! Wow, okay. Further, instead of selling me something, she wanted to know the origin of my name (Italian) and proceeded to tell me it was a shame I didn’t speak the language of my great grand parents, though she did and she spoke greek too - how this was relevant to anything is beyond me. Apparently, not wanting to sell jewelry and shame me for my lack of language skills was high on her list today. Needless to say, if I buy that necklace, it won’t be at the boutique, and if I ever need to go to a boutique - I’ll be going back to NYC. The only thing that is a shame is the brand damage so easily done by incompetent people. Any wonder why companies want to push sales online? Not at this store. Spare yourself the time and buy online or from a better boutique.

Or go to Omega or Yard House (a restaurant), and get...

As mentioned in other reviews, the security guards are RUDE and UNWELCOMING… I visited twice for this location, the first time was okay. The security guard took me as walk in customer and I was able to get in. The attitude was not the best but at least they let me in. I bought a necklace and requested for chain extension, my sales told me it takes around 2 weeks, then two weeks passed I haven’t heard back. So the second visit I wasn’t planning specifically, I was just shopping at the mall and thought I could quickly check in with my necklace. The security guard (2 men) asked if I have an appointment, I said no and they said I need an appointment and didn’t want to take me as a walk-in customer. I mentioned I want to check in with my previous purchase, they asked a bunch of questions and the attitude was very unwelcoming. I showed them the email (the email they sent to me to follow up with my visit) and very surprisingly they said whoever sent me the email does not work there. How ridiculous… and they asked who is my sales and I didn’t recall the name at that point and they became ruder and also still very unwelcoming. Despite whether I purchased or not, why the security guard was not welcoming a walk-in customer??

Once I got in, they assigned a random sales person to me, and our actual sales completely ignored me until I called out to then. They acted surprised and said that they were just about to contact me because my necklace arrived, despite that I know that she saw me when i was trying to get in as a walk-in. In the end, she took out a different necklace that wasn’t mine and became confused. She gave the impression that the necklace was given to someone else accidentally and demanded to show them a receipt to prove that I purchased it. In the end, it was actually still in repair for the extension. My sales person was very unprofessional and put me through a tiresome process that made me feeling angry afterward just to get an update on my necklace. A 1.7/5 rating is too generous and they should be a 1/5. I would rate them 0 if I...