Needing basic business attire in a pinch, I bought a suit at Jos. A Bank across the street (some would say that was my first mistake), and the salesman suggested that I take the pants to this shop at the Burlington Mall for hemming. He said he had been referring people here "for years" and had "never had a problem." I strolled over to the mall expecting to become a small part of this track record of excellence.
I walked in to speak with the husband and wife running this place. To their credit, they were able to take care of the pant alteration relatively quickly. They charged $20 for doing it within the hour, versus $15 for doing it within a few days. The former price is to be expected for rapid service, though the latter seems a bit high for the area. But it's in the mall, so perhaps that inflates the price.
The man who took my measurements was professional enough. He's not going to win conversationalist of the year, but he took the measurements properly, albeit with a no-nonsense attitude. Again to his credit, he also noted (correctly, as it turned out) that the pants sold by the salesman were too big, as the waist bunched a bit. But we can get to that problem in a Jos. A Bank review.
He took care of the pant hemming, and they were ready for pickup at the time promised. Here's where things started going downhill. When I walked in to pick up the pants I realized that the stitching had not been removed from the suit jacket pockets - I had forgotten to mention it earlier. I asked if he could take care of that for me; after all, I had just used his services and it takes almost no time. He looked at his wife - a person who has seemingly inspired fear and loathing among my fellow reviewers - and spoke in a rapid fire staccato in a highly animated tone. Alas, their conversation was in a different language, and is thus lost to the ages. When it concluded after about 15 seconds, he turns to me and says "$20." I actually laughed and said, "Really? To pull out the stitching?" He nodded vigorously. Knowing that this task would take less than a minute with a tailor's stitch remover, and mindful of the fact that I was already overpaying for a simple procedure, I told him to forget it. Still in disbelief, I paid for the hemming, irritated to have given him even this limited business. Shortly thereafter, I brought my jacket to a tailor in downtown Reading (Magic Cleaners, incidentally), and the kind woman there did it for free. I insisted on paying her for it, of course, but it just goes to show you the difference in service.
So in short, V.I.P. Tailors, you can pat yourself on the back. In an attempt to gouge me you have instead assured that I will never use your services again. I would advise prospective customers to use these folks only if they are in a time crunch, because they seem reliable even if their fees are exorbitant. Otherwise, I would look elsewhere. Not only are the people gruff, they seem to have little regard for building customer relationships. read more