Silken ties, sackcloth service
This is one of those many occasions when I wish Trustpilot allowed separate but simultaneous ratings for service and product. The product I bought is 5-star. A long search for a monochrome black-and-white striped bow tie brought me to the menswear site of Paul Malone in West Palm Beach, Florida. For a stunningly low sale price, I snagged an adjustable, self-tie* silk dicky and matching pocket square. Both are made of fabulous textural silk, with raised ridges that emphasise the stripes. The pattern is jauntily jolly, or prom-appropriate, rather than verging on vaudeville. A 2- or even 1-star rating, however, must go to the communications following the initial order confirmation. Or lack of them. When there had been no word of dispatch after a week, I emailed. Got no answer, but tracking became available almost immediately. When there was an "attempted delivery" to my excellent mail-forwarding agency Stackry that "failed", I was very puzzled, since Stackry's whole purpose is to take in and send on mail during business hours, and THEY have never failed me yet. I emailed Paul Malone again querying this, and the item was "collected" (from USPS?) the next day. Again, no communication from Paul Malone. So either I was just lucky in my timing on both occasions, or Paul Malone worked magic behind the scenes, but for some reason was too, ahem, modest to share that info with me. A shame. If their communications matched their products, this would be a 5-star company, and a review to match. *Any other kind is, of course, an indictable sartorial crime.
By Michael