BLOCKED on H.com

[TraceySH]

Wow! That's so strange! I hope you get it straightened out soon! I love your IG, btw!

Aww thank you! Clearly I have so much fun with all my junk. It's really fun to collect that's for sure. But with all that is going on right now, these are first world problems. Time, peace, faith, health, relationships etc are more important than any of this could or will ever be

 

[mrceral]

I'm surprised you would still want to give them your money. I wouldn't support a company that refuses to allow me to buy their stuff.

 

[TraceySH]

I'm surprised you would still want to give them your money. I wouldn't support a company that refuses to allow me to buy their stuff.

yeah I don't. I was waiting to see if I could purchase a spring item, as I had been told I could, and as soon as the same thing started happening, I called CS. Literally that was just this morning. So I posted this b/c I was like , I just don't think I can and feel good about it? This is a LOT of money. It's been a ton of money for me. A huge proportion of my disposable income on this stuff. So I am angry/ resentful/ irritated/ ashamed/ embarrassed/ feeling pretty darn stupid. Not sure I can use the items I have with joy even.

 

[holiday123]

Have you ever done a chargeback? That tends to get some people blocked with other retailers.

 

[mrceral]

yeah I don't. I was waiting to see if I could purchase a spring item, as I had been told I could, and as soon as the same thing started happening, I called CS. Literally that was just this morning. So I posted this b/c I was like , I just don't think I can and feel good about it? This is a LOT of money. It's been a ton of money for me. A huge proportion of my disposable income on this stuff. So I am angry/ resentful/ irritated/ ashamed/ embarrassed/ feeling pretty darn stupid. Not sure I can use the items I have with joy even.

I'm sorry it's made you feel that way. You've spent more in a quarter than my whole house costs so IMO they should be bending over backwards to help you but... yeah. I wouldn't enjoy being a patron of their any longer.

 

[momoc]

Oh no...I feel so bad for you please don't be hard on yourself, absolutely not your fault *hug*

The CSR made it sound clear that this is different from just purchase limits which reset after a time period. H and LV are the brands I deal with the most and I know both have limits, from number of pieces you can buy to the number of different stores you can buy from within a time period...but none of those should restrict you for life, which moves into "banning the customer" category. Yes, they also do ban people for life (with an official ban letter and all), common reasons are reselling, massive and unreasonable amount of returns, very bad behavior in store...etc but none of which should apply to you.

I agree with others that the most likely reason was the reseller one. Maybe whatever algorithm they use to flag resellers wrongly flagged you. H does take action to ban resellers from time to time, although obviously they don't catch them all or even care to sometimes (I know my home store has some resellers too).

But assuming that's the case, it is kinda stupid that they are only banning bag purchases (instead of everything), and only on H.com but not in stores. If it's truly a reseller, don't you want to ban them everywhere? I do think there is a slim chance that the CSR was mistaken (but I also wouldn't be surprised if companies just have really stupid rules). By the way that CSR definitely sounded like a HORRIBLE person. So sorry that you had to deal with them.

Also I don't know if I believe in the "nobody can help you" part...maybe the CSR doesn't know anyone can update your account in the system or maybe it's not in their rulebook, but if someone with enough authority orders so, the IT people for sure can, I dunno, edit it in the database. This feels more like a rulebook problem than a technical problem, and rulebook problem often means finding the person with enough power to override the rules...I don't know who that would be though & and I doubt it's your store's management chain (I get the feeling that H.com operates very independently). I hope more veteran members in this forum have better suggestions. But then again, I completely understand if you don't even feel like doing that, given the amount of trouble and headache they've caused you. I'm so sorry your H experience has been so rocky

 

[Jem131]

Sorry this happened to you but I sense there are 4 observations that likely played in their decision.
1. The number of items purchased overall during the season.
2. The number of items purchased online.
3. The number of items returned.
4. Your eagerness to continuing buying even when told to pause.
Remember Hermes is all about exclusivity, so would rather have a few pieces sprinkled here and there versus selling lots to one person. They also have indicators to alert them to reseller behavior, whether the buyer is a reseller or not. Unfortunate yes, but I imagine these indicators or “red flags” alerted them and that they chose to discontinue the relationship rather than take the risk.
I don’t know about the reseller others have mentioned but know Texas shops take suspected reseller behavior very seriously, such that people have lost jobs because of it.

 

[audreylita]

This is not new and has been going on for at least the last 15 years. I had many discussions with Hermes upper management about resellers and they are aware that the resellers themselves are not the ones buying bags from Hermes, they all have been blocked years ago. The resellers buy their bags from people like you and me, so any of us who purchase a lot of bags, in their eyes, are potentially the people who are flipping the bags over to the resellers to sell. They know, in detail, how bags are purchased in other countries and how many hands they go through until they arrive in the hands of the resellers in the states. It was really quite eye opening to hear how this is done. And yes, once you're blocked, I'm sorry to say there isn't much you can do. My only advice would be to bring someone from Hermes to your home and show them that you have all of the bags in your possession that you've purchased. Seriously if they see you're purchasing and still own all of the bags you purchased, then you may have a chance of getting taken off of this list.

 

[TraceySH]

Have you ever done a chargeback? That tends to get some people blocked with other retailers.

No, never.

 

[TraceySH]

This is not new and has been going on for at least the last 15 years. I had many discussions with Hermes upper management about resellers and they are aware that the resellers themselves are not the ones buying bags from Hermes, they all have been blocked years ago. The resellers buy their bags from people like you and me, so any of us who purchase a lot of bags, in their eyes, are potentially the people who are flipping the bags over to the resellers to sell. They know, in detail, how bags are purchased in other countries and how many hands they go through until they arrive in the hands of the resellers in the states. It was really quite eye opening to hear how this is done. And yes, once you're blocked, I'm sorry to say there isn't much you can do. My only advice would be to bring someone from Hermes to your home and show them that you have all of the bags in your possession that you've purchased. Seriously if they see you're purchasing and still own all of the bags you purchased, then you may have a chance of getting taken off of this list.

I have all the bags I have purchased split across 3 of my homes which was the point of amassing a collection, to be able to do that. So this is interesting. You're saying that people get blacklisted because if they buy a lot, they tend to cycle faster, then consign them where resellers buy them?

 

[TraceySH]

Sorry this happened to you but I sense there are 4 observations that likely played in their decision.
1. The number of items purchased overall during the season.
2. The number of items purchased online.
3. The number of items returned.
4. Your eagerness to continuing buying even when told to pause.
Remember Hermes is all about exclusivity, so would rather have a few pieces sprinkled here and there versus selling lots to one person. They also have indicators to alert them to reseller behavior, whether the buyer is a reseller or not. Unfortunate yes, but I imagine these indicators or “red flags” alerted them and that they chose to discontinue the relationship rather than take the risk.
I don’t know about the reseller others have mentioned but know Texas shops take suspected reseller behavior very seriously, such that people have lost jobs because of it.

I appreciate your feedback. I returned 2 items of the 6 (kept 4) over a 2 month period. Only purchased 4 items online (I think like 2 twillies and 2 rodeos?). The season, yeah I get that I could have hit quota for those even tho I didn't know what that even meant. And I was not told to pause. Quite the opposite. By the time they told me the issue, this was after having spoken with 2 supervisors and 5 CSR who kept walking through orders with me while on the phone cuz they kept telling me it was an issue with my credit card company. So they were like let's try a different browser, a different credit card, change your billing address to another homes etc. So no, no one told me to pause until the last supervisor I had spoken with said, you are full for FW2019 just wait until spring items come.

Now, during that time I believe I successfully placed orders for 5 twillies? So all of those go through just no bags...

 

[TraceySH]

Oh no...I feel so bad for you please don't be hard on yourself, absolutely not your fault *hug*

The CSR made it sound clear that this is different from just purchase limits which reset after a time period. H and LV are the brands I deal with the most and I know both have limits, from number of pieces you can buy to the number of different stores you can buy from within a time period...but none of those should restrict you for life, which moves into "banning the customer" category. Yes, they also do ban people for life (with an official ban letter and all), common reasons are reselling, massive and unreasonable amount of returns, very bad behavior in store...etc but none of which should apply to you.

I agree with others that the most likely reason was the reseller one. Maybe whatever algorithm they use to flag resellers wrongly flagged you. H does take action to ban resellers from time to time, although obviously they don't catch them all or even care to sometimes (I know my home store has some resellers too).

But assuming that's the case, it is kinda stupid that they are only banning bag purchases (instead of everything), and only on H.com but not in stores. If it's truly a reseller, don't you want to ban them everywhere? I do think there is a slim chance that the CSR was mistaken (but I also wouldn't be surprised if companies just have really stupid rules). By the way that CSR definitely sounded like a HORRIBLE person. So sorry that you had to deal with them.

Also I don't know if I believe in the "nobody can help you" part...maybe the CSR doesn't know anyone can update your account in the system or maybe it's not in their rulebook, but if someone with enough authority orders so, the IT people for sure can, I dunno, edit it in the database. This feels more like a rulebook problem than a technical problem, and rulebook problem often means finding the person with enough power to override the rules...I don't know who that would be though & and I doubt it's your store's management chain (I get the feeling that H.com operates very independently). I hope more veteran members in this forum have better suggestions. But then again, I completely understand if you don't even feel like doing that, given the amount of trouble and headache they've caused you. I'm so sorry your H experience has been so rocky

Thank you SO much for the thoughtful response, I truly appreciate your time in writing it. I just am frustrated with the lack of transparency - just tell me like hey, you don't want my business? Fine I can go (really it's no big deal). Or tell me that I have done something wrong and give me a chance to at least explain/ defend/ reverse the reason they blocked me which was a MISTAKE on their part. But I have received no opportunities for either transparent communication, a clear understanding of what is going on, or even ONE PERSON who is saying the same thing. They all say different things.

I think my store will escalate it as much as they can. I really like my SD as well, so he might get up there and help. But if not, really, I am just kind of....nauseous.

 

[CMilly]

I would talk to your sales manager or nicely call the executive office and speak to someone. In the meantime, can you buy through yours spouse/partner or kids?

 

[showgratitude]

Sorry that you're feeling that way. I hope that if there is just a miscommunication or misunderstanding it gets fixed. Anyway, you were already given an answer. Whether or not you accept it is up to you. But, the answer is there. If I was told that, I would move on. They have nice items. But I will never let a brand define me as a person. It would be sad to be moneyed yet seek validation from a brand big time or be controlled by others heavily, generally speaking. I would consider it as good riddance if I was in your position. I am sure you can make use of your money elsewhere.

 

[TraceySH]

I would talk to your sales manager or nicely call the executive office and speak to someone. In the meantime, can you buy through yours spouse/partner or kids?

I can buy anything at stores zero issue at all. It's just bags, and only online that I am BANNED from. or blocked from, as it were.