Saint Laurent

I visited the Saint Laurent store in Chicago and found it to be a truly pleasurable experience. I worked with several different employees and they were all incredibly personable, enjoyable to work with, and down to earth, unpretentious, and welcoming. The store itself was very pleasant (be sure to check out the «hall of mirrors» dressing room, which has to be experienced to be believed) and the staff was wonderful in their willingness to show me special items in the back that weren’t on the floor. Saint Laurent Chicago won my enthusiastic business– I will look forward to continued patronage. Special thanks goes to Chelsea McGrath and doubly especially Scott, who stepped in and, despite being a stock person, fooled me handily in his work as a sales associate while other patrons occupied the formal sales staff. Scott was a true pleasure to work with and was an A+ representative for the store to this new visitor.

I’m writing this post to share an experience that I recently had at the Saint Laurent store in Chicago as a warning to future SL customers. On 9÷21÷15, I bought a tuxedo from Saint Laurent for $ 4,096 for my wedding in October. I was scheduled for an evening fitting, but called the store to let them know that I was running late due to work. When I arrived, rather than informing me that the tailor had left, and that I would have to reschedule my fitting, my salesperson, Becky Russell, sent in someone posing as a tailor. He proceeded to mark up my suit. I quickly realized that this guy hadn’t the faintest idea what he was doing. I questioned him, Ryan Gola, the manager, and he embarrassingly confessed that he wasn’t a tailor. Luckily, I caught this as it happened. Sadly, this was only the beginning of the comedy of errors and lies that is SL.
On the day of my wedding, my tuxedo ripped across the back as I bent to help my fiancé with her dress. I couldn’t believe it. I honestly didn’t know what to do – this was during my wedding reception. My family and I scrambled around to find someone with a sewing kit. Thankfully, one of the photographers was able to help sew the back of the tux to make it presentable. The entire incident was so utterly embarrassing – little did all the guests know that I spent over $ 4,000 for this cheaply-​constructed suit.
After the wedding, I called Saint Laurent to explain what had happened. I spoke with the salesperson, Becky Russell, who conveyed that she couldn’t do anything, but would let the Manager/​Assistant Store Director, Ryan (i.e., the fake tailor), know. Buyer beware: once the sale has been made at SL, you’re on your own. This is the big difference between other high-​end companies and Saint Laurent. The level of customer service, or even of basic human decency that you would expect when you buy a luxury item, just isn’t here. Good luck to you if the item is found defective, misconstructed, or their in-​house «tailors» do not fit your item of clothing correctly. I repeat: you’re on your own.
Ryan Gola, the manager who assumed responsibility after the salesperson deferred to him, was generally impossible to get ahold of. Ultimately, after multiple calls, I got through to Ryan. He said to bring in the tux, which I did.
Here’s where things get even worse. Ryan took a picture of the ripped tux and said he would escalate to Corporate. Ryan then promised to call me back on a certain day, and does not call back for days. Ultimately I go to the store to speak to him only to find the tux already sewn up – without my permission. This was the store’s cover-​up resolution: sewing up the tux and handing it back to me, claiming that «these things happen.» «These things,» as in the manager of the store pretending to be a tailor, the tux being fitted incorrectly and ripping on my wedding day, taking three weeks to escalate the issue to Corporate, failing to return many of my or my family’s calls and/​or putting us on hold till we’re forced to hang up, and then ultimately bearing no real responsibility? It’s just so shameful.
Word to the wise: don’t spend your money here. I have literally never had a worst customer experience. The people that work here are downright dishonest, and their actions fraudulent. Moreover, the clothes are not the level of quality that you would expect for what you spend. God forbid something were to happen after you’ve given them your money, as it did for me.
Having given up on dealing with the store, I have decided to take the company to small claim’s court, and have reported the incident to the Better Business Bureau.

Beautiful store selection seems to be far less compared to the previous store on oak st and much smaller. Surprised they opted for such a small store in Chicago.