are all Hermes SAs super rude?

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lilpicotin

lilpicotin

O.G.
Apr 28, 2007
3,046
180
#1
hi girls,

sorry this might be a bit of a rant. my mom and i have never bought anything from hermes, but we love bottega veneta and the bottega veneta SAs are so nice, we regularly drop thousands of dollars there. but since the hermes boutique is pretty close by, we decided this weekend to stroll over and see what the fuss was all about. first, one of the SAs started following us around and staring at us, and asked if she could help. i was browsing the agendas, and she said, "they're just agendas. why do you need to look at them?" then five minutes later, as we looked at scarves, she asked us to step aside, she needed to preserve these items for buying customers.

my mom and i left completely outraged - how did she know whether or not we were going to buy anything? *we* didn't even know whether we would buy anything - we didn't get the chance to see what was available! and why was she following us around as if we were going to steal something? is it part of the cachet of buying hermes that the SAs distinguish between "worthy" and "unworthy" customers? are all hermes SAs like this or were we just unfortunate? i'm this close to writing off hermes entirely just because of their lack of customer service... bottega veneta can have all my money.
 
#2
oh, that definitely sounds out of character. as with any company, there are good and bad....but i've never had an experience even close to that. my SA is great, but i know others who aren't as good...it just depends. but really rude is definitely not the norm.
 
#3
That is awful. Please, follow up with a call to the manager. That behavior is unacceptable.

I have yet to deal with a rude SA (maybe I've been lucky). The really good ones actually get excited when you come to look at the scarves because they like telling the stories behind them, the process in making them and tying them onto you. The ones I deal with want me to love and use their scarves as much as they do.
 
#4
I went into Vegas Hermes, and needed an alternate watchband for my Cape Cod, and the girl took me in back and let me view the whole tray; then she called me a month later to tell me that she never could find a "Kenya" PM bangle in Palladium. She was lovely, and I spent $200.00.
 
#5
I've had both wonderful experiences and less than wonderful expereiences at H boutiques but never the likes of the rudeness you and your mother experienced. At most I have had some snobby and unhelpful SAs. I am so sorry for you. I'd consider going back and asking for a "nice, helpful SA" or asking for the store manager.
 
#7
that's WAY out of the norm! i've had a few "snobby" SAs but not at my local boutique (which just opened), but none that implied (or outright said) that i couldn't buy any of their things! i would call the manager to let him/her know of the "service" you received. don't let it dissuade you from going back there in future, there are lovely SAs out there at Hermes! :yes:
 
#8
I've had great service, and lousy. My regular SA is great, and even the ones that I've dealt with over the phone...(NM) are really helpful. However, there was one SA, I won't mention where. She was horrible. I put it down to perhaps part time help. Just decided that I would stick with the people I know.
 
#9
Gosh, sorry to hear that you have had a bad experience. This must be an exception. I have nothing but fabulous SAs who go out of their way to help me.
 
#10
Wow, thanks for the responses, guys. I was really shocked because we were simply looking at the items for sale, and we've just never received such treatment! I hope you're all right and that this was just one SA....
 
#12
I don't think so. The ones I've talked to over the phone have been super nice, and some of them even call me at home to tell me of stuff they think I might like. This weren't expensive items, even! Mostly scarves and enamel bracelets.
 
#13
I have had a better experience with the SAs at my local Hermes boutique than at most "upscale" department store (NM, Saks, etc). The SA who has helped me the last few times I have visited has been great, and everyone else there is very nice and helpful.

IMO, I would stop by or give the store a call and ask to speak to the manager. There's no reason for you and your mom to be treated rudely.
 
#14
BlueGenes - it says you are from NY. Let me guess it was the Madison avenue store. I had poor service there too. I spoke to a sales assoc there and after about 10 minutes I told her I have been looking for a 30 black birkin for a year and ask if she would take my info and let me know if they ever get one that is not spoken for. She looked at me and smiled and said they had a couple in the back and she would be right back, she came back in a few minutes and looked defeated and said they didn't have any. Than she turned back to look at someone in a door way who was looking at me (mind you I was in a Chanel jacket carrying a JPG birkin) and my sales assoc said to the person in the doorway, are you sure and the chic in the doorway snapped NO. All I could think was they obviously had the bag and the wretched woman in the doorway deemed me unworthy. I can't tell you how much that offended me. (It's been months and you can tell by my post I'm still bitter about it) I'm happy to say, I have not had that exprience anywhere else but if I had not already been such an H fan I may have let that experience sour me to the label all together.
 
#15
I'm so sorry about your bad experience, but please don't let this put you off H - some of the SAs are real dolls. I haven't shopped a lot at Hermes, but I had a wonderful time in the H store in Copenhagen last saturday - the SAs were so sweet even though they knew I was only getting a twilly (I ended up with two, actually, but still, it's little money compared to what everything else costs there) they helped us (me and Annanas) and even showed us the lookbook and chatted with us. A wonderful experience :yes:
 
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