A letter from Louis Vuitton Criminal Enforcement Department

konfetka

Member
Dec 19, 2007
50
4
Oh my dear gals, I just need a shoulder to cry on !
So here is the story - about 2 months ago my girlfriend who lives in Paris sent me a gift - LV sunset blvd clutch, via Fedex, the tracking updates stopped when the package arrived into the US. A few days later I received a letter from US Customs stating that the purse was seized and they had reasons to believe it was counterfeit . They said the purse's marked value was $50. My friend said that she just wanted to save me some $$$ on the import duties ( she did this without my knowledge - I've read multiple stories about US customs seizing designer purses so I know better , oh well she didn't ...) . And yes the purse was a 100% authentic, she's extremely well off and she bought it in a boutique (the one on champ elysees) and kept a receipt.

Anyway in the letter they said that if i believed that they made a mistake I should write a notarized claim or smth like that , appear in court in DC with all the supporting evidence - or just give up any rights to the purse and have them destroy it. As hard as it was to do this and with my gf permission I gave up any rights. I was surprised that they didn't list any other options like show the proof of purchase and just pay the import duties.

So today I received a letter from LV criminal enforcement department !
Saying that they've been informed I tried to import a fake LV purse blah blah, that they wanted me to know that such behavior is punishable by law, that the trademark owner can institute a civil action for trademark counterfeiting , seek my imprisonment or have me pay up damages up to $1 000 000, blah blah ( I will attach the letter ). LV demanded the purse to be seized and I was not to interfere in the process and that they want to get a written confirmation of my compliance with the demands.

And now it's time for me to spill my guts :cry::cry::cry: I feel so humiliated.
I am actually insulted by the fact that someone might think that I have to do something with the illegal counterfeiting. I have never purchased a fake purse and never will, I am a loyal LV customer. What if they put my name on some kind of a oh she imports fake LV's list ? I just picture myself buying another purse and SA looks up my account and bammmm ! i am on the list ! I know it's just me overacting but still I have to change my name before I dare to buy another purse under my current name , I know , I know that's ridiculous ...I am just upset :crybaby:

It's great that LV does something about counterfeits but ... what about Canal st. in NYC ? It's infested by fakes ! I mean I am such a small fish, and get that kind of a letter... What about all those website where they sell hight quality replicas ? Shouldn't they concentrate on something more big ?
They used such words that made me feel like a criminal ...

One more thing - english is not my first language as you might have noticed,I've been speaking English only for 3 years so please forgive my grammar , anyway I am not so sure how to respond to their letter - should I explain the situation or should I just say that I understood everything and will comply with their demands? I have 10 days to respond , so I have no idea what to write.

Any way I just wanted to spill my guts to someone ...
 

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omg that is terrible!!!!!!
can you request that your friend made a mistake on the declaration form and you can provide proof of purchase?
or since you already forfeited your rights to the item, the poor bag is already destroyed?

I didnt even know they had an LV criminal enforecment dept...that sounds intense. you should at least write back to them to explain your situation.
I'm sure you won't be blacklisted or anything.

sorry to hear about your troubles =(
 
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You'll need your gf's receipt of the purchase to have on hand.

I find it odd they would target one sole shipment of one bag instead of the hundreds to thousands of replica bags in crates coming into the States??
 
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Wow, that's crazy! My gosh, we have entire consignments around here that sell nothing but fake bags, and they get away with it.
I guess I really don't understand why you forfeited your rights to the bag. If your friend had the original receipt, and being that she just purchased it, I'm sure all of the purchase records are available..why did you agree that it was counterfeit and tell them to go ahead and destroy it???
I think that by doing so, you really have no recourse now in saying that the bag was authentic.
 
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OMG!! That's horrible. I'm like rainrowan. I wonder why they are targeting one person and not the ship load of fakes that come through our ports everyday. Sorry this happened to you.
 
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I would definitely write back and explain the situation, and maybe get your friend to fax you a copy of the receipt. I am so sorry this happened to you how incredibly frustrating!
 
I would tell them the truth, your friend thought that it was harmless to claim a lesser value of the bag. Did she mark it as a gift?
Respond with a copy of the original receipt for proof of purchase, hopefully you won't have to pay a fine for trying to pull a "fast one" on them :shucks:
 
Wow, that's crazy! My gosh, we have entire consignments around here that sell nothing but fake bags, and they get away with it.
I guess I really don't understand why you forfeited your rights to the bag. If your friend had the original receipt, and being that she just purchased it, I'm sure all of the purchase records are available..why did you agree that it was counterfeit and tell them to go ahead and destroy it???
I think that by doing so, you really have no recourse now in saying that the bag was authentic.

Well the only way to appeal was to go to Washington DC , which is ridiculous
And i didn't sign any paper where i said that yeah the purse is fake, I only said that i give up any rights to the purse , that's all.

Besides I am not dealing with US customs now but LV folks .I don't think that they share any info so they would not know what i signed or didn't sign.

US customs form was a joke, it was smth like if we do know receive any reply from you then we will just destroy it anyway
 
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omg that is terrible!!!!!!
can you request that your friend made a mistake on the declaration form and you can provide proof of purchase?
or since you already forfeited your rights to the item, the poor bag is already destroyed?

I didnt even know they had an LV criminal enforecment dept...that sounds intense. you should at least write back to them to explain your situation.
I'm sure you won't be blacklisted or anything.

sorry to hear about your troubles =(
They really do have a department, I have an email address for that specifically. I report replica sites to them that offer payment options through Paypal and Western Union.
 
I would tell them the truth, your friend thought that it was harmless to claim a lesser value of the bag. Did she mark it as a gift?
Respond with a copy of the original receipt for proof of purchase, hopefully you won't have to pay a fine for trying to pull a "fast one" on them :shucks:

That's what i am going to do ! I don't think they will try to fine me it's just so weird to get something like that in a mail...
 
I would definitely write back and explain the situation, and maybe get your friend to fax you a copy of the receipt. I am so sorry this happened to you how incredibly frustrating!

Thank you for your sympathy !
Also I posted this for others to learn from my experience - don't mess with the declared value ! (it's not like I did - my friend did but now i have to go through this )

I kind of calmed down now so I will just right a letter to LV saying that i am sorry and it was a misunderstanding, and I will attach a copy of the receipt
 
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