Before I begin my review, I would like to say that I have purchased items from other designers and they all have an air of snobbishness/austerity, but no one tops Céline.
I initially purchased my item at Harrods in December 2017, but soon after noticed an issue regarding the varnish on the handles. They were cracking within a few months, so I took the item for repair in mid 2018. When I got to the store, I tried identifying my profile in their system, however the SA refused to do so. Apparently, Harrods was not within the Celine "realm" of stores so there would be no profile. They then told me because of this I could have very well "picked my item off the back of a UPS truck for all they know" and they would have no way to prove I purchased the item. They tried their best to usher me out of the store and told me to call their customer service. I persisted and asked them to try to at least look it up. After much more back and forth they finally conceded and ultimately found my profile. They begrudgingly sent the item off for repair and the issue was resolved, or so I thought. Also as a tidbit, when I received my item back I asked the SA how to store my item to mitigate the risk of the issue happening again, they told me to place it in the dust bag and in the box.
I did not use my item for months, afraid of further cracking of the varnish. When I went to use it in mid 2019 the cracking was back. Mind you, I had not once used it since receiving it back from repair in 2018. So, in September of 2019 I sent it back for repair again at this store with a very apprehensive staff. But this is a $3,000 item, of course I'm going to ask for it to be repaired and enhanced to the quality that price dictates. They also asked how I stored my item, which was in the box as suggested by the prior SA, and they said that the issue was my fault because I was storing it improperly although their colleague a year ago told me otherwise. Needlessly it went out for repair. It came back a little over 2 weeks later in October and I noticed that the issue was still apparent. They had fixed one of the cracks, not both. I refused to take my item, to the amusement of the SAs, even after the SAs tried to basically bargain with me to walk out of the store with it as is. It felt like they wanted me, not the issue, to go away. I persisted again, as you do at a high-end store, to have the issue resolved. They said they would send it for a "quality assessment" to their office in New York and then let me know as soon as possible if a repair would be suitable or if other "measures" could be taken. Fast forward a month to November, and I have heard nothing. Absolutely nothing from the store. I called inquiring about my item and those calls went unreturned. Everyone I spoke to deferred me to the store manager who never called me back until I finally had to reach out to the Celine customer service who at least gave some effort in locating my item, apparently it was in the repair shop. Funny, because the most recent repair took a little over 2 weeks.
Fast forward another month, it is now December and I have been without my item for 3 months. Still not receiving any customer service, calls have still gone unreturned and I have no idea when I will receive my item back.
So to potential customers of this store or Céline in general, proceed with caution. The staff at designer stores in my opinion forget that us customers are paying for the service that tags along with the merchandise. And the staff at this store as well as their corporate customer service do not care about you and will reluctantly "help" you.
To the manager of this store, do better. This is ridiculous, your staff are rude, and you have made my experience absolutely miserable. read more