I spoke with someone from their 1800 number. I was told the following-- 10 motif hammered gold is closed for orders from the workshop, 5 motif hammered gold rose gold is closed but you can order the hammered gold, gold Guilloche earrings you cannot order but you can order hammered gold earrings. They said to check back after the holiday when the workshop announces that they are taking orders again. A kind lady to my name and a list of items I want to send to my local boutique when orders open up again. None of these are out of production it's just that there is a high demand and the workshop can't keep up.
VCA shopping experiences and insights, corporate / store policies, etc.
- Thread starter chiaoapple
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They tell me that too. I feel that the earrings are difficult to get, they told me white gold guilloche is faster when ordering though. 2 weeks ago, on the website, I saw the yellow gold guilloche earrings on the website for 1 hour then it was sold out again
I feel that the workshop thing could be true with how popular Vca has become and the designs being more specific, but I don’t know… it could be a huge sales tactic too to trigger FOMO
I am also DC based.. would love to hear more about your experience if you’re comfortable sharing!
Really annoyed by this new VCA policy. Started my VCA journey over a decade ago. I got most my collection in Europe caz there wasn’t any boutique near me couple years ago. Made couple small purchases here after the boutique opened. And have tried to make other bigger purchases bc the SA is also very nice and sweet. But I was consistently told that they were for loyal customers. That I had to my European SA. It’s not really a problem for me as I travel to Europe often. But just a pain that I had to travel to another continent just to get something. I really think their definition of “loyal” is by spend for given boutique not how much you have been purchasing from VCA. I feel stuck in a situation where the brand is making me a choice btwn my SAs, but I don’t really want to. I love the brand but really wish the corporate can change the policy so that ppl can still get the items they want based on their loyalty to the brand not the boutique or SAs and at location that is convenient for the customer. This whole process really frustrates me that I don’t shop in the brand as often anymore. It’s really not making shopping experience enjoyable.
Agreed I used to shop at Neimans in my last city and would get all the points on my Neimans card and when I moved to socal I was told I would have to restart the 85k spending to get any SO. Which apparently for my local store is actually 100k and my SA told me in 2024 the policy is changing for SO but she doesn’t have any details yet (so I suspect the spending requirement is going up for SO). If anybody has any intel on this please share!
Apart from VCA presently taking ‘interest-free loans’ from its customers in the form of pre-deposits for items and all the fabricated supply issues - I’ve had two instances where I managed to find magic alhambra earrings on their website and purchased them only to be called a few days later by customer service and be told that their website “had a bug” and erroneously displayed those creations as available for sale. Mind you, I put in these orders months apart and was sold the same lip service each time. The irony is that I have also placed a full deposit pre-order for a pair of earrings that were supposed to have come in 2 months ago…no one knows when these will ever show up. I’ve become increasingly frustrated as of late and luckily have built the collection I want so I am happy to walk away eventually if they can’t get it together. Luxury retail is dying!
I agree… Luxury retail has become a “grab as much money as we can before a global recession”
It feels like to me that vca doesn't like return nor exchange once you have worn the piece including when you walk out of the boutique wearing the new piece. That's why you have to think twice before making a new purchase.
I like this policy because it gives me the confidence that what I am purchasing is brand new or close to brand new conditions. I mean who wants to pay full price just to have a piece that has been worn and return by the previous customers? We all know that in vca boutique, there's no such thing as a display piece. Sometimes we might have purchased a piece that has been tried on for many times. Therefore, it's safe to check and check again to make sure there're no scratches nor any loose stones.
It's wise to ask as many questions as possible before making a purchase. For example, ask if the stones within the frame can be replaced or not especially for delicate stones such as malachite and MOP.
If anything makes you feel uncomfortable when worn, better choose something else than force it. If you want to make any changes by yourself later to the piece, like adding some silicone pads to the earrings or change the la pousette backing to butterfly backing to your earrings. Better bring it up and consult your SA before your purchase. This way, it prevents you from any returns or exchange.
For earrings, I don't recommend purchasing online because you have no idea whether the earrings sit well on your ears or not. And there's the weight of the earrings that you need to consider. It's understandable that not everyone lives near a vca boutique but for earrings, you really need to go to a boutique to try on first. If you purchase the same style of the earrings that you have purchased before, that's another story but still, remember that some styles got higher and lower hole for vca to adjust the earrings for your ears, that is another reason to go to a boutique to do so.
I like this policy because it gives me the confidence that what I am purchasing is brand new or close to brand new conditions. I mean who wants to pay full price just to have a piece that has been worn and return by the previous customers? We all know that in vca boutique, there's no such thing as a display piece. Sometimes we might have purchased a piece that has been tried on for many times. Therefore, it's safe to check and check again to make sure there're no scratches nor any loose stones.
It's wise to ask as many questions as possible before making a purchase. For example, ask if the stones within the frame can be replaced or not especially for delicate stones such as malachite and MOP.
If anything makes you feel uncomfortable when worn, better choose something else than force it. If you want to make any changes by yourself later to the piece, like adding some silicone pads to the earrings or change the la pousette backing to butterfly backing to your earrings. Better bring it up and consult your SA before your purchase. This way, it prevents you from any returns or exchange.
For earrings, I don't recommend purchasing online because you have no idea whether the earrings sit well on your ears or not. And there's the weight of the earrings that you need to consider. It's understandable that not everyone lives near a vca boutique but for earrings, you really need to go to a boutique to try on first. If you purchase the same style of the earrings that you have purchased before, that's another story but still, remember that some styles got higher and lower hole for vca to adjust the earrings for your ears, that is another reason to go to a boutique to do so.
Your VCA collection is fabulous - sorry to hear about Hermes disappointing you - might just be the DC store?
I hope VCA treats you well- you have inspired us all with your VCA choices!
Hi all,
I wanted to get some advices regarding a recent negative experience I had in VCA. I pretty recently started buying from VCA and I have an SA I commonly work with. He has been pretty nice and easy to work with, and yesterday I set up an appointment with him to put down a deposit for a 5 motif. I even brought my sister with me so we planned to do two purchases for a 5 motif.
When I came, the store was closed for inventory - I asked the concierge / security and they let me know that this was planned 5 days ago, and yet he did not let me know. I also drove an hour to make the purchase and I let him know, but he did not seem sympathetic at all , just quickly apologized and just brushed it off. Has anyone ever experienced this, is it normal? I would think he would put more care based on the possible purchase and our history.
Such a shame as I really enjoyed talking with him and we got along really well. I’m considering changing SA’s but would this be a big offence? I’m pretty mad as I told him I would drive an hour for this.
I wanted to get some advices regarding a recent negative experience I had in VCA. I pretty recently started buying from VCA and I have an SA I commonly work with. He has been pretty nice and easy to work with, and yesterday I set up an appointment with him to put down a deposit for a 5 motif. I even brought my sister with me so we planned to do two purchases for a 5 motif.
When I came, the store was closed for inventory - I asked the concierge / security and they let me know that this was planned 5 days ago, and yet he did not let me know. I also drove an hour to make the purchase and I let him know, but he did not seem sympathetic at all , just quickly apologized and just brushed it off. Has anyone ever experienced this, is it normal? I would think he would put more care based on the possible purchase and our history.
Such a shame as I really enjoyed talking with him and we got along really well. I’m considering changing SA’s but would this be a big offence? I’m pretty mad as I told him I would drive an hour for this.
I agree with you. I would be upset as well. If I were an SA I would be very apologetic and send over some flowers or a VCA candle or a travel pouch with a sweet note.
What store? Did the SA get his dates mixed up? Did he offer to do the deposit remotely after? Inventory is a major activity and would have been planned for well in advance. I would have been frustrated too since it was such a long drive.
That sucks. I would ask to speak to the manager next time. And explain the situation.
Thanks for the insight, yes he did not offer any of those you mentioned and his first reply to me was an apology and him asking me to come back Wednesday -- which was very dissapointing.