If you're not asian and happen to be at Crystal Mall please becareful shopping there, my friend got ripped off almost pretty badly when she went by herself.

She decided to go last month to get a Coach purse for herself since it's her birthday, the one she saw for display at the store window was the real authentic thing, however when she went in and asked the lady for it, the lady gave her a fake one in a dustbag and box. Unfortunately she didn't notice it until she went home to take a closer look, the one she got was nothing like the on display in the store window, it was obviously made of a much cheaper material and the "C"'s were uneven. When she went back to return it the lady absolutely refused to give the money back saying that the bag for display and hers is the exact same thing. In the end she called me to the store and asked me to speak to the lady, the lady imediately pretended not to understand cantonese even though I was there a few weeks ago to buy a scarf and back then she spoke perfect canto to me. I started talking to her in really broken down mandarin and she had the nerve to laugh at me for it, finally I muttered that I was going to go to the police in canto and she quickly changed her tone. She gave my friend a full refund and offered her 50% the next bag she buys from the store for that "little misunderstanding" as she calls it.

I forgot the store name but it is in the first floor on the other side of crystal mall away from the marketplace. When I went back today her store was closed, hopefully for good.

I'm shocked at what these people think they can pull on non-asian people, this isn't the first time this has happened to someone I know.

Another time was when my friend was trying to bargain for a dress, the storekeeper refused to lower the price but when my other friend who was japanese went in later and asked for the lower price, the storekeeper took $50 off of the price and even offer to throw in a free scarf for her.

I find that most of these asian places feel that non-asian people are easy to rip off so they do it and usually get away with it. =\

Anyways here are some tips to bargaining at asian places:
- mostly only chinese owned stores allow bargaining (they cheat their taxes) so ask for a lower price especially if you are buying more than several items at their place, they even deliberately have higher prices on the items so you can't ask for too much off of the clothing or whatever.
- the japanese and korean stores in crystal mall don't allow bargaining too much unless you are buying alot, this is because they have their items shipped from Japan and Korea which costs them more
- if you really want something but don't want to pay the ridiculous $50 overprice for it, be confident, don't use "may I get a discount", try "do I get a discount if I buy ____ and ____ together"
- Crystal mall as well as Parker place mall in richmond allow bargaining (most chinese run malls do)
* I brought 3 belts priced at $15 each for $9 in total at a store once, bargaining is a given, you would have to be a fool to pay full price

And becareful when buying name brand stuff at Crystal mall (or any other asian malls for that matter), after this incident with my friend I realize that some stores have bad quality fakes, really good quality fakes and the authentic thing, which they will give you depending on whether they feel they could trick you.

Wow, that's horrible, the way the woman treated your friend! I never buy anything in those Chinese places, so I don't know much about these places. Thanks for the heads up!

ohh that sucks :(

Sorry to hear that your friend was treated that way, but never ever buy so called "authentic" items at chinese malls. Chances are it might look soo "real" but it's probabaly a really well made replica... sometimes if u put these replica next to the authentic bag, they look identical...

and if your friend was expecting to buy a real Coach bag, she might as well just shop at the Coach store.
The only thing i buy from crystal mall is 1. Food/drinks 2. designer glasses and contact lens...

^ yeah i agree

don't expect too much if yur buying a coach bag at crystal mall.

perhaps the original coach at oakridge will turn out better
:D

once i saw a juicy velvour suit there .. it looked authentic but the design on the suit didnt look very real
it was in that store across from hotgun hotpot or whatever its called
i was so shocked they sold juicy there since the store had like old people clothes and stuff

yea, the glasses there are uber nice, and the yummy bubble tea drinks atleast gives the mall some credibility. n.n

but a few stores there do sell the older but authentic coach stuff abit cheaper than if you were to buy it online since it's not sold in Coach stores anymore however most of them are fake and they would only sell you the authentic ones if it is their last option and they know for sure they can't cheat you with a fake one.

most of the juicy stuff there are fake for sure, some of the japanese and korean owned stores do have the real juicy bags though but you have to ask for the real one.

You can't buy authentic Designer items at any Asian mall here in Vancouver.. They are all fakes. BTW there are not any Japanese owned stores in Crystal mall. They may advertise that they sell fashion from Japan or Korea but it's all from China.

sorry to break it to you but designer items sold at crystal mall or any chinese-owned/operated mall are like 99.9% fake. if you want a real bag, go to the coach store.

but it still is stupid the way they treated you and your friend. it's so ignorant!

@j'adore and kinky: you can buy the really old styles of designer items at Crystal mall, yes they do exist but it takes time sorting through all the other fake crap the store has. It is usually cheaper too because it's from several years ago however it is not worth the time and the chance that you can be ripped off.

and there were 2 genuine Japanese stores in Crystal mall awhile ago, they sold japanese name brands which weren't as well known in western countries but the asian kids from my school shopped there all the time.