Belen Echandia Concierge Q & A

[TejasMama]

Hi Rose,

Do you expect to have choco crash again this fall?

Also, will there be more bags in stock this fall, particularly in the new purple pebbled luxe leather and port leather? Thank you!

[peppy]

^^ Yes, there are really few bags available for immediate purchase which can be a teeny weeny bit frustrating at times. Thankfully we can bespoke what we're looking for, but still I'd like to see more bags in stock, esp if we just want a standard bag with no extras, immediate purchase is extremely gratifying!

[tlloveshim]

For Jackie and Rose
Re: leather choices for Clementine bespoke
To clarify leather choices:

[Moonfancy]

I thought the Clementine orange was all gone, tl? Is there still some more or maybe Jackie can get more?

[tlloveshim]

Originally Posted by Moonfancy

I thought the Clementine orange was all gone, tl? Is there still some more or maybe Jackie can get more?

Yes, Moonfancy, the Clementine is all gone. There was enough for 6 bags and APs and 6 gals have spoken for it already. We can now choose between orange 1 and orange 2 which are both lovely as well! The picture above is just to be sure that we're all on the same page. The new oranges don't have names yet so we want to be sure BE understands our leather choices when the Clementine Hold Me group bespoke gals state what we want on BEC.

These are going to be such beautiful bags!

[Moonfancy]

I loved that Clementine. I couldn't act quickly enough for it, though. I still have another bespoke balance due. Maybe Jackie will find more Clementine someday.

[bagolicious]

I accidentally posted my question in the wrong place, under the "picture" section. So, I'll post here. What's the difference between the colors of Crash Plum and Crash Purple? In the photos they look the same. Are there undertones of a lot of pink in the Crash Plum color? I'm looking for a true, deep purple tone. And is it possible to get a BE Couture, Love Me, bag made in Crash Plum or Crash Purple? I didn't see the color on the BE website. Thanks.

[Jenova]

I can answer part 1 for you - Plum and Purple Crash are the same

As to part 2 - you had better wait for a proper reply from BE - but I think that this leather went out of stock quite some time ago. That is what we were told about Christmas but I don't know if the situation has changed since then.

[BelenEchandia]

Hello!

Thank you JENOVA! Yes you are right.

Tejas- there is a bit of choco crash left. A store here has ordered a few bags in it for fall so I don't know how much more there will be. That tannery does not produce that chocolate crash anymore so we won't get more. tloveshim did you make your avatar in Photoshop? haha.

Hi Peppy - we have quite a lot of stock and new things arriving all the time. Just recieved some mustard bags and some orange bags - but they don't stay in stock for long, that's the problem. It's not that we are not receiving stock but that we are selling it so quickly. Also a bespoke bag can be made in a couple of days if the leather is in stock. We're trying to balance things as best we can. Hope to improve the stock situation by fall.

Jackie XX

[*suzi*]

Post by Jackie addressing issues from Quality Control area.


I've just read this thread (Customer service/Quality Control) from start to finish and first off I want to say thank you for adding it, since it is great for us to get constructive feedback so that we can learn from it, thank you Suzi!

Addressing your concerns:

1. Boxes. I've explained in the past that we used light boxes so that they could be sent with Royal Mail. We have offered couriers but people did not want to use one. This would solve the box problem right away. We have now ordered new sturdier but not heavier boxes so please do let us know your experiences with boxes sent as of today.

2. Black vs grey matte - the black is the "thick matte" - it is on our website under BE Couture. It became less popular around the time Tash bought hers at the end of 2007 because people felt it was heavier than the lighter matte. I guess opinions waver and come and go. It is not from Spain.

3. Sheen leather - is the most delicate. Pebbled luxe, crash, glossy, croc all wear really well. Exotics come from the same tannery used by all luxury companies, as does crash and pebbled luxe. Matte might be a bit more delicate but I think it wears well. It can also depend on the colour.

It is not because it's cheaper. It's just the way the leather is made. I have always advised people about this. It is probably not the best leather for an AP, depending on taste. We use it because some of the colours are beautiful. Many people choose it regardless of my warnings. I will add a note to state its delicacy on BE Couture, I think that will be helpful, thanks for the suggestion.

4. XXXX (omitted for privacy) - we have made some mistakes and I believe we have always rectified them in a professional manner. Each situation has its own set of facts and we are trying to maintain some element of flexibility. I personally hate it when "computer says no". However, if people value consistency over flexibility in a given situation, that gives us food for thought.

5. Stock. We actually have a lot of stock available right now, with some new bags just arrived in orange and mustard. BE Couture is new, so we are still feeling our way on the balance of how many stock bags to order. Many people prefer to bespoke at the moment. I'm not capable of intentionally forcing people to do anything. The stock issue is however a very good feedback. We will do our best to order more stock, the truth is that we are growing and have some "growing pains" in terms of how much stock to order/when/with what colour lining/hardware etc. We'll do our best to rectify this. Thank you all for the feedback.

6. Timings for BEC. On this note, did you know that if you order a BE Couture bag you can often have it in a couple of days if you say that's what you want?

7. Agreed about the leather choices being confusing - I have to decide to what extent to respond to immediate requests for new leather and to developing long-term projects. We're trying to do both :) I must say though that we will never be able to offer all bags in all leather choices at least not until our business grows larger and probably not then as we'll probably have even more choice!

8. xxx (omitted for privacy) bespokes don't take long if we have the leather. One customer ordered last night. They're already at work on her bag and it will be sent out on Monday!

9. xxxx (omitted for privacy) concern about the leather vs the price. Have you had issues with pebbled luxe, crash, glossy or croc or just the sheen leather? Sheen is the red/cobalt etc. It used to be called glossy til we found a more hard-wearing glossy. :)

10. XXXX (omitted for privacy and would be better in PM),

11. It's funny to read all these comments about corner wear, because we get hardly any. I would ask if you have a complaint about corner wear to please let us know.

12. Resolution to that previous complaint - I must jump to Elizat's defence because as I have also told Suzi I had asked Elizat not to post the specific resolution because I felt that it was a private transaction between her and and BE. Perhaps that was a mistake, but every situation is so different and we want to maintain our flexibility to respond in a flexible way to each issue. In Elizat's case I don't mind admitting that we had totally let her down - we missed an email and her bag sat in our warehouse for 4 weeks before she emailed us to ask where it was. This is clearly disgraceful and I was very upset for her. Then when the corners were also missing, that was the final straw. Elizat asked if we could give her a discount instead of replacing the corners and that's what we did. We offered this quickly and I did have to explain this to a few people who had received a very different impression from TPF. Elizat was a delight to deal with by email and very kind and courteous to me at all times.

Hope that all helps. We'll have the pin board up and running in a couple of weeks.

Jackie

XOX

[Moonfancy]

Jackie, I'm glad you explained the black matte/thick mattte/Italian leather/Spanish leather thing. When I read about that earlier in this thread, I wondered why you'd stopped using leather from Spain if the Spanish leather was better. I was even going to email you and ask if I could see a piece of the leather from Spain. Now I understand that the leather in question was never from Spain but always Italian, even when your pocketbook workshop was in Spain. Thanks for addressing this!

[Loquita]

Jackie, Thanks for your comments. They are very helpful, and as always you are clear, courteous, and professional (and not to mention kind -- a very hard to beat combination!) when addressing your customers.

[tlloveshim]

Thanks for the responses, Jackie, to these concerns. I've had one 'issue' come up with BE and I really hesitate to call it an issue. It was just something I was unhappy about and I kept it between you and I. We worked out a resolution and I didn't post it here because it wasn't something that anyone here would learn anything from except if I had posted how pleased I was with the outcome. Then perhaps it would be a testimony of my happiness with the customer service I received.

At any rate, I prefer that resolutions be kept private and personal so that they can be unique to each individual. In my case, I wouldn't have been happy with a free Angel Purse as part of the resolution but perhaps someone else would have. If you always offer a free AP, someone is going to be unhappy. But if you offer a free AP to someone who loves APs and you offer a discount to someone else who could care less about APs, then you end up with happy customers. Does that make sense? I like being treated as an individual and if I'm unhappy with BE I don't necessarily want the same resolution that customer x got. I want to work the situation out with Jackie until we both are satisfied with the solution.

I realize that it needs to be kept 'fair' so that someone doesn't get a free $200 AP while someone else gets a $10 mark down (exaggerated to prove a point). But perhaps BE could have choices set ahead of time when an issue does arise? Such as BE could determine that someone can a) get a free in stock AP or b) receive a 10% discount off a future bag or c) receive a certain percentage off an already purchased bag if it's defective or incorrect. Just some ideas but you get what I mean. Ultimately you want customer satisfaction but you also don't want such a lenient return policy that people are returning used bags or simply because of buyer's remorse.

That's just my .02. It's hard when growing pains hit but it'll make BE stronger and better in the long run. BE is unique with the BEC process and the access to the designer so I believe it'll continue to grow and thrive. I've continued to give BE my business because I'm happy with my bags and content with the service I receive. (Although my wallet would like a break!)

[bagolicious]

Thanks Jenova and Jackie for the answer about the purple crash and plum crash leather. I just e-mailed Rose and Maya about it earlier today. I guess I should have checked the forum first.
I just received my purple leather samples today and out of the group of samples have narrowed it down to either Light Purple Sheen or Light Purple Matte. It's good I came on the forum because I didn't know that the Sheen leather is delicate. So, now I need to think that one over. But, I take very good care of my handbags, so if I choose it hopefully it'll be fine. I was really leaning toward the sheen leather.

[BelenEchandia]

Hello all. I'm here for a special request - I want your BAG ART PICTURES!!!! but whilst I'm here I feel the need to quickly clarify something.

The standard procedure if someone has an issue is:

1. For us to get a picture of it - so long as any "issue" is visible it doesn't need to be anything fancy. I just need to understand what the problem is.

2. If it is something that could be fixed locally - a new stud or whatever - we do our best to organise that. this means that you don't have to be without your bag for long and it also saves us the exorbitant shipping costs. Everyone's happy.

3. If not, or the customer doesn't feel happy with that, we arrange for you to send it back to our workshop. EVERY bag that arrives is now fixed the same day and immediately sent back, the same day. We have hardly any so we are able to do this.

4. You send us the shipping costs and we refund them.

However, as tloveshim points out, we do try to be flexible with every customer. There are reasons some people get a certain treatment that they themselves might not even know about. If we know they've had a sad or challenging time personally, for example, we might give them an extra treat. We remember these things! We once sent a customer flowers on her birthday, but we don't do that for everyone. I know that's not the usual way to do things, but I'm proud that BE is not your usual type of company. In fact with the lilac AP there were enough remnants to make two APs (and nothing else ever) and the atelier made them and popped one into that bag when he sent out the new one without me even asking him to. I sent the other as a gift to a different customer for a different reason entirely - nothing to do with BE at all. So things are not always as they seem - and there are no particular "special customers". Maybe in future we'll become more standardised or move towards a more certain system of "the more you spend, the more brownie points you get" but I'd like to think we'll never lose our personal touch.

I also want to clarify that I didn't intend to "call anyone out" in my post above - writing @name is the standard format for responding to a question posted by someone on the web. I didn't see the need for privacy because those people had posted the comments themselves and I was simply responding to them. However, I'm very sorry if anyone was in any way offended by that.

Enjoy this gloriously sunny day!!!!!

Oh and before I go - PLEASE send us your ART PHOTOS!

Jackie XOXOXOXOX