A shopper is now questioning whether Van Cleef uses real gold after her new bracelet started to tarnish.
Maison Van Cleef & Arpels (usually just referred to as Van Cleef) has been around for more than a century. It is a luxury jewelry brand known for having excellent craftsmanship, high-quality materials, and timeless designs, according to Sandr Jewellers.
The brand claims to have some of the most skilled jewelry artisans, and the company has a patented ‘Mystery Set’ technique that involves setting gemstones in a way that prongs aren’t visible.
They also lean into quality materials like gold, platinum, and a variety of gemstones, making them retain their value in the resale market.
But this consumer says she was deeply disappointed in the quality of her brand new Van Cleef bracelet, saying the piece doesn’t match the brand’s luxe reputation.
Van Cleef customer says they gaslit her
In a viral video with more than 5.4 million views, content creator Monica Hamada (@mangomoniica) shared the ongoing negative experience she had with Van Cleef after purchasing one of the brand’s most popular bracelets.
“Let me de-influence you and tell you not to purchase anything from Van Cleef,” Hamada said.
Hamada explained that she bought the yellow gold five-motif bracelet (which retails for $6,150 without taxes). However, two months in, it’s already rusted and tarnished. In the video and photos, the center of one of the motifs appears reddish-brown.
“Mind you this is an 18-karat yellow gold, it should not be tarnishing,” Hamada pointed out.
While pure gold doesn’t tarnish, 18k gold has a high enough concentration of gold that it shouldn’t tarnish quickly. Still, it is possible because it’s not pure gold.
“It will take at least 2 to 3 years of regular usage before it can develop any noticeable tarnishing. However, regular cleaning of the jewelry will be required,” Jewel Jaunt states.
When Hamada brought the issue to Van Cleef, where she bought it from, they cleaned the piece for her twice with their ultrasonic machine and shipped it to NYC to be professionally polished.
But after getting it back, she said it still had a visible dark mark.
“When I voiced my concern, the manager of the store had the audacity to make me feel as if I’m blind,” Hamada said. “She was gaslighting me to the point where I wanted to cry.”
According to Yamada, the manager insisted there was no discoloration and that it was just a shadow from her reflection.
Even after showing in a zoomed-in photo and getting other people to agree, the manager wouldn’t let up.
Did the piece get fixed?
The manager gave Hamada two options: She could either pay $180 to ship the piece back to New York for the same polishing it already got, or she could pay for a replacement motif piece.
“Clearly, it’s something wrong with the jewelry. Like, what is going on with the metal?” Hamada said. “Is this gold, or is this something else?” She added that her Cartier bracelets have never tarnished, faded, or looked coppery.
Hamda said for Van Cleef to be such a prominent luxury store, she had expected better customer service and for them to stand behind their pieces.
In a follow-up video, Hamada said she called customer service, but they told her that there was no warranty on the piece and that after the 30-day purchase period, it was up to the boutique to decide how they’d proceed.
“If I knew that it was going to tarnish, I would not have purchased this,” Hamada pointed out.
With more than 7.5 million views across all the related videos, the brand has possibly lost more from the bad PR than if they’d just replaced the bracelet or even the one motif for Monica.
Is the bracelet gold-plated?
The Van Cleef website does not state anything about the bracelet only being gold-plated. It simply states it is “18K yellow gold.”
Monica’s most recent video was of her sharing that she’d going to jewelry to get the piece tested to see if it’s real gold or just plated.
Viewers swear off Van Cleef
“Girl even my dupe doesn’t tarnish,” a top comment read.
“Go back and tell her that more than 100k people can see it,” a person said.
“Girl, the trick is to go to Arab or South Asian jewellers. They’ll make you the same exact jewellery but with high carat gold. Places like Cartier and Van Cleef are charging you for their name,” another suggested.
“Escalate it to corporate. The manager will change attitude,” a commenter pointed out.
@mangomoniica Sharing my disappointing experience at @Van Cleef & Arpels !! #vancleefarpels #vancleefbracelet #worstexperience ♬ original sound – Monica
The Daily Dot reached out to Hamada for comment via email and Instagram direct message. We also reached out to Van Cleef via email.
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