Ace of Suedes

i made 2 mistakes in taking my leather jacket here to get recoloured recently. One, I had it done 3 years ago and it faded to the point where I needed it done again. So I paid ~$ 90 each time and that’s ²⁄₃ of the cost of a new one at Danier on Boxing Day. What’s the problem this time around? Well, I took my jacket in on a day off about a month and a half ago. Little did I know, until afterwards, that this place is only open Tues-​Fri from 8 – 4. They are not open past 4 and not open on weekends. How am I supposed to get my jacket back? I go there today and they are closed for the Christmas break (Reopening on January 5). The hours are so customer unfriendly. You’d need to take a few hours off work in order to pick up your items. Never again.

I sent my Mackage cream leather jacket to this place through a North Vancouver cleaning company; Minichiello. The jacket was very dirty specially the sleeves and the collar. I had it for 5 years, but was reluctant to take it to Ace of Suedes because of the bad reviews I had read. On July 2013 I went to Minichiello to get one of my jacket’s sleeve button fixed, and I asked if they knew of a place I could get my jacket clean. They told me they had an agreement with Ace of Suedes, which was the best place in town for cleaning leather. In view of that, I decided to give it a try and finally get my jacket clean, so in October I took my jacket to Minichiello. Two weeks later, they called me to pick it up, as it had arrived from Ace of Suedes. The first thing I checked was the collar, and then the sleeves. I was very pleased to see that all the dirt, and stain were completely gone. The jacket was perfectly clean; however, the first two buttons of each sleeve were gone. I was surprised as I knew the jacket had all its buttons on, and I was always very careful with them. Also, one of the buttons had been just fixed by Minichiello only three months before.
The owner of Minichiello showed me the receipt from Ace of Suedes where it was written that two buttons were missing when they received the jacket. I knew the buttons were there when I handed the jacket to Minichiello, but I had no way to probe it, and the owner of Minichiello decided to take Ace of Suedes’ side, instead of her customer.
Ace of Suedes took no responsibility. They kept saying that the jacket was received without two buttons, as it was written on the receipt, although the receipt had mistakenly written less buttons (8) than the number of buttons the jacket actually had (12). Ace of Suede maintained that they never take the buttons off for cleaning, or loose any button during the cleaning process. Unfortunately, the Minichiello’s owner opted to believe what the person of Ace of Suede told her, rather than believing on my word, or pursuing an investigation on what really happened.
A few days later a friend of mine phoned directly to Ace of Suedes and talked to a very kind person there, I think a secretary. She told my friend that there are many lost buttons in Ace of Suedes, because many times the buttons get stuck on their machines.
After many complaints from my side, the Minichiello owner luckily found an identical button from a friend, and I gave her my only spare button, so I could get my jacket fixed, but I was very disappointed with the Ace of Suedes’ customer service, and lack of responsibility and accountability. I thought I was saved because I was using their services through another company, but obviously they don’t really care. It was too bad that Minichiello didn’t want to pursue any investigation on the matter either. I have two more leather jackets that need cleaning very badly, and I have no idea where to take them, but I’m not going to be that stupid to take them to Ace of Suedes again. By the way, my incident happened on October, 2013

I’m simply writing a short review for a friend who also had a $ 10,000 leather coat destroyed by this company. Clearly not a one off situation, looking at all these other reviews, aside from the one written by the firm itself. How is it this company is allowed to stay operating while destroying peoples irreplaceable things? They should be sued out of business.

I brought in three handbags, 2 white ones that were very dirty from rubbing on jeans, and a lovely blue bag that was about ten years old and had some yellowing/​fading leather. I wanted the white ones cleaned, and I read that they can re-​dye items so I thought I would resuscitate the blue one.
They wrecked all three.
The first was a nearly brand new reed krakoff white leather (yep never buying a white bag again). The texture of the leather where they «cleaned» it is really awful now, all dried out and cardboard like. And they dyed right over top of the black leather edging, so now half my bag is missing the dark edging which really ruins the look. For the nearly $ 300 I paid for this cleaning, I expected them to pay more attention to detail. I can still use this bag but it is just not the same anymore.
The blue dyed one is beyond any more use at all, it looks so ridiculous now. Their «dye» job looks like someone layered on a thick coat of finger paint. Completely ruined the texture of the bag, it is now like cardboard. The color is flat and awful. Had I known that this would happen, I would have stuck with the yellowed, faded look it had.
The third white bag looks ok color wise, but again they lacked attention to detail and painted white over everything including logos and dark trim. It too is dried out. The worst is the tassels that were on it. They are so dried out they might break if i squeeze them, and they are rock hard and look absolutely ridiculous. This bag is also now unusable it looks so bad.
So basically I paid nearly $ 700 to have three bags ruined.
I would strongly advise against using any sort of «dying» at their facility. I’m not sure how something would come out if it was just cleaned, but needless to say I will never go back there.

Because of various unique factors in my experience with Ace of Suedes, I have no recourse to have things made right. I do however, feel obligated to warn other people about leaving or irreplaceable expensive items with them.
Lest I be thought an idiot, I wish to put in great detail, the events leading up to the disappearance a coat which cost more than $ 20,000.00 USD and the reasons why I did not pursue a legal course of action.
In 1980/​81, a West End dry-​cleaners sent a full length leather coat, made by Pierre Cardin, for cleaning. I got it wholesale through a friend for $ 500.00. Ace of Suedes burned down and I was offered 5 or 10 cents on the dollar or nothing. I took the money.
Around ¹⁹⁹⁹⁄₂₀₀₀ I moved into The Drive area. Ace of Suedes is a few blocks from my home and on various occasions between 2005 — 2008, I brought in for cleaning and alteration, a variety of pant & coat suits which I had designed.
I was extremely pleased with their work and because of this, In December 2010, I took to Ace of Suedes, rather than Holt Renfrew, two calf-​length mink coats for cleaning and alterations.
One, a reversible greyish casual I purchased in Finland the year before for about $ 3,000.00 USD.
The other, a formal, men’s black-​glamma which I inherited. It was custom made for Armand of Beverly Hills at a cost of more than $ 20,000.00 USD and his label sewn into it. Armand was my best friend for many years, so for me the sentimental value far exceeded the monetary.
One week later, December 25^th 2010, I became ill, and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. It was not expected that I would live more than a few days. My visit extended to 5 months. I was unable to call Ace of Suedes and they were unable to contact me because an orderly at St. Paul’s had dropped my cell phone into a glass of juice and I was ebbing in and out of consciousness.
Finally, after about 3 months I was able to get a friend to get a message to Ace of Suedes explaining my situation and ask them to hold on to my coats. They said that would be fine and wished me well.
I mistakenly thought I would be going home soon and another month went by before I was able to call myself. This time, they said everything was fine except for one problem; they had only one coat (the less expensive), not two.
In May 2011 I was released from hospital but could barely walk let alone drive. I phoned A. of S. and they kindly said they would deliver the coat they had to my home. They still had no recollection of the black-​glamma mink and could offer no further explanation.
A young man showed up with the grey mink and gave me their copy of the receipt from when I dropped them off. It was hand written on an Ace of Suedes company receipt, faded and illegible, containing two separate reference numbers, machine printed. The price for the cleaning and repairs, strangely enough was crossed out and a reduced price was put in it’s place.
Two more months passed by and though I was very weak, when I could walk, I went the three blocks to their store and presented the receipt, that had their logo, which their delivery-​boy had given me. They could not read it either and still could offer no reason for my missing mink, other than to suggest I had not brought it in in the first place.
Sadly, the work on the coat they returned to me was shoddy. The stitching came apart and two of the buttons fell off within a month.
A month or so later was shopping on Commercial Drive and thought, why not give it another go. I’ve kept the chit in my wallet. A very nice middle aged man (who I think is the owner) also couldn’t make out what it said or what the two different numbers referred to, but interestingly, he told me they do NOT ever deliver.

It’s rare that I write a complaint on Unilocal… so please consider this to be the God-​truth, unbiased and accurate. Last year I had two leather jackets cleaned here, and the company did a great job, and the staff were very helpful.
This year, however, it’s as though their management has been thrown out and done a 180 degree turn. I took an expensive leather glove (Valentino) to have a single stitch repaired. I was very explicit in letting them know that I did not want them to use glue. A week later and, hey, glue used and the glove badly stained as a result. After I complained (and having the glove literally thrown back at me) I was told that they would fix the glove and only do a single stitch… all that was required. A week later. the $ 200 glove is ruined. After insisting on talking to the manager, and being ‘permitted’ by a very reluctant worker, I can now see why there is such an incompetent, belligerent and rude attitude going on here. It stems from the manager downwards.
Do not give this company your time, money or patience… it will only end in tears and ruined apparel. Stay clear… please.

This is one of the oldest and the finest leather specialist in the northwest… Yup thats right if they cant nobody can. What ever your leather needs are theses are guys, they can bring back leather products that you would think are totally ruined.
Family run since 1965. They are honest and reliable I can say enough about this place !!

I brought in a $ 400+ Mackage coat for dry cleaning and upon receiving it i saw that it was still dirty and had a patch of fuzz. I brought it back asap and they told me they would redo it «on the house». well here I am over a month (nearing 2) and I haven’t received the coat yet. Every time I call to inquire they have a new excuse. Once they told me it was going to be done on Sunday. Guess what? They’re not even open on Sundays! Keep in mind this is just one of their many excuses! Well i’ve been calling everyday and there hasn’t been any answer. I went there a couple times and no one’s there. I really don’t know what there’s left to do. All I can say is I’m very worried about my coat. These people are very unprofessional. I would not recommend this place to anyone! STAY AWAY!
Update 1:
When I finally got a hold of my coat all the buttons had broken because I guess they were suppose to remove them before drycleaning but didn’t. Luckily mackage sent me new buttons. This place sewed them on for me but did such a bad job that most of them are loose. Ughs.
Update 2:
I still hate this place more than ever! If you live in the lower mainland PLEASE advise me on where else I can go to have my jackets drycleaned by «leather specialists». Sadly, I had to return to this place to dryclean another one of my jackets which require a «leather specialist». When I got my jacket back I saw that there were dirty spots running down my jacket as if all the dirt accumulated when it was being washed and just dripped down but didn’t leave the jacket completely (so sorry for the awful description). Nevertheless, the jacket was still obviously dirty (and even more noticeably dirty since the dirt must have accumulated to certain areas making it more noticeable) and I brought this up to them and even showed them and they just told me it was normal and didn’t offer to clean it a second time nor a (partial) refund. What’s wrong with them? I basically paid them to make my jacket more noticeably dirty. UGH!