Two months late, Poor communication, Unacceptable fit
I went for a fitting in July of 2023. It is now November 2023. I was initially told to expect a turnaround time of 4-6 weeks. After 6 weeks I called to ask when I could come in - I was told there was a delay and to expect another few weeks. I called every 2-3 weeks and was always told there was a delay. I was never offered an alternative, a solution, or anything by way of explanation.
I cannot comment on the clothing as I am currently waiting on delivery.
I may adjust my review depending on when and how delivery goes.
Update based on a late delivery:
I got delivery mid November. The fabrics are nice - but I selected it and it matched the swatches I selected. The overall fit was ok, but clearly not excellent. There were multiple disappointing things that came out.
1) The reason for the delay could have been explained to me much earlier and a potential change or solution could have resulted in a delivery that was just a week or two later than promised
2) The single specific detail I asked for was done wrong and it was done wrong in a way that could not be fixed. I was told in the shop that it was ok - but upon consultation with another tailor they explained why the detail was wrong and why an alteration to get the detail as I desired was impossible without having additional fabric and then remaking most of the garment. This tailor recommended donating the clothing to goodwill as it they considered the fit unacceptable for either custom or made to measure clothing.
To sum up: if you use this company you are at severe risk of wasting your time and your money.
MI
Mike
Lack of customer service for the price
We wore KEP for our wedding and unfortunately the experience we had was overall stressful and disappointing. We would not recommend KEP to anyone that has a strict deadline and/or anyone who expects a high level of customer service.
After receiving a few recommendations from friends, my now husband and I made an appointment in the NYC store on May 10 looking for white jackets and black pants (for made to measure) for our wedding on the west coast on August 20 (so, at least 3 months in advance). After a LOT of back and forth (finding white vs. cream fabric is a lot more difficult than it sounds) we finally found fabric that we wanted and on May 24 went through the entire process of getting measured and paying a lot of money (thousands of dollars each) for the outfits. Since KEP was a well-known brand, especially in the gay community, we were excited about our decision to splurge a little bit on this, with the expectation that the service would be great and that this would be something we didn’t need to stress out about last-minute. We were very wrong.
Fast forward a month later, on June 21, we received a call from KEP saying that they actually didn’t have enough of the white fabric we chose to make two jackets, and there wasn’t enough time to wait until they received more in stock. So they said we should come back in to pick a different fabric. Since we already paid and already got measured and frankly didn’t have enough time to go elsewhere, we rushed into the store to pick a different fabric. The new fabric we chose cost more than our original, and given the situation KEP offered it to us at no additional charge. We felt like things were back on track and looked forward to our fitting a few weeks before the wedding to make any last-minute adjustments.
More time goes by, and then we hear from KEP saying that they need to push our fitting from a few weeks before the wedding to 10 days before the wedding. We became more nervous, especially because we had planned for KEP to ship the outfits to the west coast so we wouldn’t have to travel with them. Then, when that date approached, KEP said we would have to push it to 8 days before the wedding (the Friday before). We became more nervous. When we came to the fitting, we learned that only the jackets were ready, and not the pants. The jackets needed adjustments. We asked when the pants would be ready for us to try on and they said they would let us know ASAP. The entire weekend went by and we did not hear anything from them. We called, messaged, and texted just about everyone we could find who works at the company and heard nothing until Monday morning (5 days before the wedding), when they said that everything is fine and that they are shipping our pants directly to the west coast. This obviously made us extremely nervous because this meant that we wouldn’t be able to trying our pants on prior to the wedding. We asked them to ship the pants to the west coast as soon as possible so we could get them tailored there if necessary. Miray (the co-founder of KEP), instead of apologizing for the last-minute scramble and rushing, reminded us how they have been good partners and assured us that the pants would be fine and that we had nothing to worry about. The pants arrived on the west coast 3 days before the wedding and they were, as expected, too big. In the midst of everything else going on, we had to rush a tailoring job (through a tailor we found on our own) and paid $90 to fix the pants. We picked up the pants the morning of the wedding.
The thing that bothered us most was not the fact that our outfits arrived behind schedule. It was the extreme lack of service we experienced throughout the entire process. Communicating with the co-founder of the company, as well as the NYC representative, was always terribly painful. There was a lack of responsiveness, a lack of answers, and a lack of urgency. For a high-end store, we found the service to be seriously disappointing. Having to deal with last-minute adjustments before your wedding (among everything else) is one of the most stressful experiences in itself, but the feeling of having to deal with it alone, without the support of the company you just paid thousands of dollars to, is the highest insult. No one from KEP ever apologized for this experience, instead saying that they understand weddings can be stressful.
After the wedding, we emailed Miray asking if they could reimburse us for the $90 rush tailoring. She did not respond. I followed up and said that we were planning to write reviews of all of our wedding vendors online. She did not respond.
MR
Mike R.
Avoid Klein Epstein &…
Our experience with Klein Epstein & Parker has been stressful and unnecessarily unpleasant. A reputable company would never behave as they have. We live in Phoenix, Arizona and while in LA on business, my 27-year-old son went into their Hollywood location in mid-October, 2019 and was measured for two custom suits, an extra pair of slacks with each, plus dress shirts and casual shirts. The measurement process seemed meticulous and exacting and took nearly an hour to complete. They were given additional instructions to fit these on the looser side to allow for freedom of movement. The total cost was over $4100, and the garments were to be shipped to our home in Arizona prior to an important business meeting where he wanted to look impeccable. They understood that he could not return for alterations since he lives out of state, but all were in agreement that custom clothing should come out close to an ideal fit, which is a reasonable assumption. My son was excited about receiving wonderful fitting custom designed suits.
When they arrived in December, the dress shirts were not included, but the suits and slacks were so small that he couldn’t even get them on, as were the casual shirts. They were sized for a child and he had even lost a few pounds in the time between the fitting and receipt of the clothes. They were so off; it was obvious these were not made to his measurements and it had to be a mix-up of the paperwork in processing or production.
We immediately contacted them, but several days went by and there was hostility and push back about a credit to his credit card. Surprisingly, there was no explanation for why this had occurred, never an apology, and no concern for his situation. He had to run around and get another suit made up in rushed and stressed conditions for his meeting. They offered to have him come back to LA for modifications, but this was not convenient or possible, plus there was no way these could be altered to fit anyway. There was not even close to enough material to even begin such a process. It would require starting from scratch.
A superior business would have understood immediately the importance of customer service. Were this my company, I would have immediately apologized, told the customer that this was so unusual that it had to be a clerical mixup in processing, and I would have assured the customer they were not at risk for their money. I would have done everything to assure them I would get them their credit and offer a discount if they were willing to give us another try, but not Klein Epstein & Parker. The CEO, Miray Bik, was hostile, defensive, and unconcerned with us, just protecting her own financial interest. She offered a partial credit, which was unacceptable, and it forced us to initiate a dispute with our credit card carrier, and that has taken us an additional four months of time, correspondence and work to get processed. We have a complete email thread and photographs we will be willing to share with anyone who requests them. This is all factual, and I am not happy to have to post this about any company, but it is important that anyone considering the purchase of very expensive custom clothing know the manner in which Klein Epstein & Parker does business. Hopefully this will prevent anyone else from having to go through the misery we have.
AN
Anonymous
Rude and unprofessional staff
Rude and unprofessional staff - customer experience is not their priority. The quality of their work is inconsistent. For the price point, might as well go to a JoS. A. Bank
Response from Klein, Epstein & ParkerJun 6, 2019
Hello, Thank you for writing a review, we sincerely appreciate you bringing this issue to our attention. We take customer reviews seriously, and are sorry to hear you had not the best experience. It would be great if you give us the opportunity to discuss this further with you. Please email us at [email protected] and one of the Klein Epstein & Parker founders will personally reach out to you. Hope to hear soon. Great day
AM
Anthony M.
Things are slipping in a bad way!!
Things are slipping in a bad way!!
Response from Klein, Epstein & ParkerJun 6, 2019
Hi Anthony,
Thank you for writing a review, we sincerely appreciate you bringing this issue to our attention. We take customer reviews seriously, and are sorry to hear you had not the best experience. It would be great if you give us the opportunity to discuss this further with you. Please email us at [email protected] and one of the Klein Epstein & Parker founders will personally reach out to you. Hope to hear soon. Great day
PP
Paul P.
Do you have an enemy who doesn't know…
Do you have an enemy who doesn't know they are your enemy? Send them to KEP for a wedding suit!
My made to measure wedding suit was made made grossly incorrectly across numerous dimensions. They attempted to fix it repeatedly, and failed (while claiming it was fine). I eventually had to bypass their in-store people and go to their tailor directly. He said the suit had to be to be remade, but we had no time (because they dragged their feet). He had to cut the collar and add extra seams to get through my wedding, and it still didn't fit properly. One day of wedding usage damaged the fabric.
They then made a replacement. It fit worse than before and I couldn't even put on the pants.
To their credit, after this 3mo of hell they gave me my money back. Not to their credit they sent me an email out of the blue asking me to write this review.
Response from Klein, Epstein & ParkerJun 6, 2019
Hi Paul,
Thank you for writing a review, we sincerely appreciate you bringing this issue to our attention. We take customer reviews seriously, and are sorry to hear you had not the best experience. It would be great if you give us the opportunity to discuss this further with you. Please email us at [email protected] and one of the Klein Epstein & Parker founders will personally reach out to you. Hope to hear soon. Great day