Things Remembered

I’m actually pretty surprised that this store does not have more reviews. It’s located in the mall which is convenient but I had my first AND LAST experience this Saturday (5÷17÷14). I only gave one star because Unilocal doesn’t allow us to have 0 and also because the gift was beautiful once it was fixed but I had a horrible experience.
I came in saturday morning looking for a gift for my bestfriend’s (more like my sister) bridal shower on Sunday. There was a beautiful set of Champagne flutes, cake server and knife. I decided to engrave her and her fiancé’s name in the flutes, and cake server along with their wedding date in July. The store manager, I believe her name was Delma, was at first very nice. She seemed like she was stressed and was running around the whole time she was talking to my friend and I but that is a minor detail. I asked her if she could have the set engraved by Sunday before 11:30am. She told me yes she would engrave it before she left that night to have it ready for me. I was very happy that she was able to do it last minute. I wrote what I wanted engraved on a piece of paper and went about my way.
I show up the next day as soon as the mall was open expecting the gift to be ready to go. Delma was not there but a man was and I told him who I was. He could not find my gift, come to find out that it was not in my name rather my friend’s name which was strange.
Here comes the horrible part: I opened the box right there and then to make sure everything was okay. I cannot describe the emotions that went through me when I realized that she engraved the wrong date on the cake server. The champagne flutes had the right date on it. I was shocked. I told the guy working that it was the wrong date and I could see the suprise on his face. He did absolutely nothing to rectify the situation. He did not apologize, he told me that he could not have it engraved today even though I was heading to the bridal shower the same day. I don’t even think he cared that this mistake had happened. All he told me was that he was not the one who engraved it.
I took the gift and went to run other errands and the more it sunk it, the more I realized that this was NOT okay. So I had gone back and asked that they give me a plain cake cutter in place of the other one so that when she opens the gift it doesn’t look too bad.
I think that if you work in this business, you would understand how personal and important these special events are for the people who come in. People come in for birthdays, weddings, graduations, etc all IMPORTANT milestones. Even though we still have time to fix the gift before the wedding, they left an absolutely horrible taste in my mouth and have ruined a very special moment of giving such an intimate gift to my best friend to use at her wedding.
KNOWING THAT YOU ENGRAVED THE FLUTES CORRECTLY SHOWS ME THAT YOU KNEW YOU MESSED UP ON THE CAKE CUTTER BUT DID NOT CARE ENOUGH TO RE-​DO IT. I DON’T KNOW IF DELMA THOUGHT I WOULDN’T NOTICE BUT IM HORRIFIED OF HOW IT WAS HANDLED.
I understand mistakes happen, but this was just unacceptable. I had to fight with her for a small discount after the fact. Disgusting.
I have many friends getting married in the near future and she would have made a lot of money from me being a returning customer. However, I will now discourage EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON I know to not come to this particular store.

I used to frequent the Serramonte Daly City store before this Tanforan San Bruno store opened. They both offer the same in terms of adequate customer service, decent turn-​around and prices. This one’s much closer to the workplace, and most visits to TR are work-​related, so it’s super convenient.
I’m the kind of gal who likes to acknowledge skills and spirit in the workplace so I usually end up with the task of getting award/​plaque/​gifts engraved. I’ll always volunteer since most don’t like to deal with these small things. Simple pleasures, I say!
Plus, I’m also the kind of gal who would get as many towels, bedsheets, pillow covers and handkerchiefs monogrammed if I could afford it; so, it stands to reason, that I would support any endeavour involving engraving!
My last visit included a $ 10 «carry in» fee since we didn’t purchase the plaque at TR, plus $ 3 for each word. I had three small metal plates engraved and they were ready within 24 hours.
*note: I know from first-​hand accounts that young nieces love personally engraved musical boxes as gifts!