Botched spa by “Docride’s Luxury Again Inc.” destroyed my Hermes Ostrich bag. Think long and hard about non-H Spa work!

[ByTheFireplace]

I'm so sorry about your bag. That's especially disappointing coming from a trusted, highly-respected refurbisher. I don't think one botched repair would tank such a popular business, so IMO it's worth disclosing the name. It's very kind of you to spare her, but based on her behavior, I don't know if she deserves your kindness.

 

[tking03]

I'm so sorry about your bag. That's especially disappointing coming from a trusted, highly-respected refurbisher. I don't think one botched repair would tank such a popular business, so IMO it's worth disclosing the name. It's very kind of you to spare her, but based on her behavior, I don't know if she deserves your kindness.

I agree. My guess is if OP reveals who did this to his bag, hordes of defenders will descend upon him and this thread will be enveloped by chaos. I do think OP should state the name of the person that performed the work if his intent is to warn fellow bag lovers.

 

[maxroxxherhandbags]

I agree. My guess is if OP reveals who did this to his bag, hordes of defenders will descend upon him and this thread will be enveloped by chaos. I do think OP should state the name of the person that performed the work if his intent is to warn fellow bag lovers.

I actually disagree- the op has chosen not to and I think the warning is enough without naming and shaming.
The best advice I would give to a bag lover wanting to get work done outside the H spa or a bag re-dyed is to ask any potential refurbisher to show examples of work on other H bags that they've done and also to post a thread on this forum asking for recommendations and images of what was done.
At least thats how I would go about it.
Also bear in mind the OP is still in dispute with this person and by naming and shaming on a public forum he could end up making a bad situation MUCH worse

 

[tking03]

I actually disagree- the op has chosen not to and I think the warning is enough without naming and shaming.
The best advice I would give to a bag lover wanting to get work done outside the H spa or a bag re-dyed is to ask any potential refurbisher to show examples of work on other H bags that they've done and also to post a thread on this forum asking for recommendations and images of what was done.
At least thats how I would go about it.
Also bear in mind the OP is still in dispute with this person and by naming and shaming on a public forum he could end up making a bad situation MUCH worse

I’m not sure the dispute is still ongoing. In an earlier post OP indicated that the restorer has now blocked all communications. Sounds like the deal is done from the restorer’s perspective.

 

[Rouge H]

So sorry you have been duped by these so-called expert restoration people. I hope this ends favorable for you. I’d never ever let anyone but Hermes touch my bags going forth. ❤️

 

[perlerare]

Whoever the guru is, they know they dis a sh..y job.

I feel sorry for you, and I feel sorry for your sac a depeches. ( as a lover of Ostrich skin, I do)
May be its time to say good bye to that piece and get over the whole experience ?
May be this whole thing you went through was to learn something, like don't put yourself in the hands of any guru (of any kind) ?

When in doubt, always go to Hermes and ask for an advice . They will tell you what they can do, what to expect etc.. It might take a long time (because they have to send the bag over to the ateliers ) but its always worth the wait.

 

[KellyObsessed]

I hope you can achieve some resolution.
I think we all have learned from your sad experience, and appreciate you sharing it with us.

 

[showgratitude]

Sorry to hear that this happened to you. I hope that you can recoup your money at least. I think that it is wise of you to not name the respected "guru". Because if that person has a lot of followers and believers (especially those of whom who had work done by this particular "guru" already), they will surely be unhappy with that and might malign you and lash back at you.....even if in all actuality, you are doing them a favor by exposing that person so they can avoid that person and avoid this kind of headache in the future. Anyway, even if you did not name the "guru", I get the lessons that can be derived at from here. Hope everyone reading this can learn from your experience too and remember that unwanted situations will keep happening until one learns their lesson. Thanks for the warning.

 

[Mimmy]

@roy40 I have followed this thread with sadness and shock. I am sorry that your bag went from being a thing of beauty to a reminder of a botched restoration. I commend you for not naming the restoration “guru”.

I understand that you also may not be naming them as you are still trying to remedy the situation. I think that it may also be possible that you were able to reach a resolution and one of the conditions is that the person responsible for the restoration has asked that they not be named.

If you are still following your thread and are able to, would you at least let us know that your problem has reached a resolution?

 

[BowieFan1971]

Hi longtime friends!

I’m posting this as a lament to my Ostrich Hermes Sac a Depeches that was utterly devastated by a botched restoration.

I sent what was a stunning bag to an esteemed Hermes leather “guru” to try to refurbish my bag to its natural state (natural ostrich). I regret not asking for my treasure back when the bag looked even worse in the pictures she sent me after “degreasing.” She insisted that she alone had the skill and resources to work on this precious skin / potentially do some color work—work she said Hermes refuses to do and businesses like “Leather Surgeons” (LS) do by spray painting bags. I’ve since found out from LS founder that they do not “spray paint” bags, nonetheless, learn from my mistake and do not send your bags anywhere other than the Hermes spa.

This “guru” called me to suggest moving the color route. I felt like I was being upsold, but respected her reputation. She did a color test on a separate swatch of ostrich and told me that if we were to proceed with color, green would be the preferred route because of yellow undertones in the blue. She said that the green would be translucent and existing staining would still show through, but anything opaque would “suffocate” the skin. Translucency = a healthy skin and a sign of properly done color work. She said the darker we went, the better hidden it would be. With much to process, I explicitly asked for more time to decide how I wanted to proceed.

In the interim, I reached out to LS founder Garry Gallagher who told me he felt confident about doing a very conservative restoration on the bag which would bring it back to its original color. Feeling happy with this direction, I contacted the “guru” to tell her that I decided against moving forward with my bag with her. Guess what? She had proceeded to color my bag without my explicit consent. My fiancé—who was with me for all these phone conversations—and I were horrified. However, the “guru” insisted that the bag looked gorgeous and that she had gone “so dark—closer to a black than a green” that the stains were obscured. She stated numerous times on the call that she was happy with how the restoration was going and that I should be. I took a step back and felt a sense of relief that, perhaps, she had produced a bag that she was proud of without compromising the integrity of the precious skin. I accepted the fact that she had “jumped the gun;” she had attained the seemingly unattainable—obscuring the staining, all while maintaining my one caveat, I wanted to maintain the bag’s transparency and feel: it’s integrity.

She sent pictures a few hours later and, in fact, the bag looked gorgeous from afar. I asked whether the natural patina of the skin had been maintained and she stated it was as “ostrich should be.” I would later find out that the finish she applied was artificial and not that of the actual ostrich. Before shipping the bag back to me, she sent me final pictures and a text stating the “hand feel [was] quite good.” She told me that she wasn’t able to dye the inside of the bag and added that she didn’t want anyone know that she had done the restoration on this particular bag. My fiancé and I didn’t understand this odd statement, but she played this off as her being a restoration purist. I would soon find out it was because this was a botched restoration.

I received the bag and was horrified. The bag felt like plastic. I called her. She could have bitten my head off. She called me ungrateful for not recognizing how much work she put into the bag (mind you, I spent nearly $600 on this “restoration”).
When we spoke weeks before, she told me that the bag took color beautifully, she was know admitting that the bag “fought” her and that she had to apply a lot of pigment to get the bag looking uniform. In doing so, she took away the natural feel of the precious skin. She had said the week before that bag had a good hand-feel, but literally now admitted it felt “awful.” Once again, with my fiancé listening, we couldn’t believe what we were hearing. Additionally! The gold goat skin on the inside of the bag was not properly taped off / protected and has green stains all over it. It’s a mess. The area surrounding the Hermes logo shows the true story that she had hidden up until that point.

She denies any accountability for the damage she did to this treasure of a briefcase and pressed me to ignore the sloppiness: “well, doesn’t it look better overall?” and “look at it from 3 feet away.” This “guru” reduced my $15,000+ retail briefcase into that which she warned me against. With no way to “turn back the clock” and hundreds of dollars spent on this restoration, I accepted a resolution to take back the bag, so she could at least attempt to at least address the area around the logo, etc. The only glimmer of hope was that, despite the circumstances, the bag would at least look as it would have coming back from a place like LS. She asked for what the insurance value on the bag would be (I’m assuming to protect her from having to pay out full retail during litigation) and then, immediately proceeded to cancel the label. She has since ignored six attempts to come to a peaceful resolution.

This is what I said:

Could you please refund the cost of refurbishing my Ostrich Hermes Sac a Depeches in addition to the shipping cost? I would genuinely like to put this episode behind us and head our separate ways amiably.

If you agree to this resolution, I will thereby release you of any liability regarding the bag.

Friends, do any of you have any suggestion? The bag has been “painted over.” The skin can no longer breathe and while it may look fine from afar, my heart aches for what was once a treasure.

Moral of the story: if Hermes botched a restoration, they’d fix it on their dime. My ostrich bag is now as good as “spray painted.” I would have taken it to the Spa in a heartbeat, but was told by this “guru” that she would do a better job than the spa, including color work they wouldn’t. There’s also a secondary moral here ... I pine for my original bag. Despite its staining and wear, it was stunning. A huge loss, but “things” come and go and are replaceable.

I’m posting pictures to show before and after degreasing / closeups of the sloppy work. It looks respectable from a few feet away, but the closeups and interior shots show the work of a charlatan.

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Wow...I am so sorry. It looked better before, even before the degreasing. And the stains inside?!?
I hate hearing this story, but I am glad you told us. It just confirms my thought, especially given some of the reasonable prices that others have shared for work by Hermès, that taking a bag to them first is the best way to go.
She is still something special and it is a nice color of green. Maybe you can love her where she is.

 

[roy40]

@roy40 I have followed this thread with sadness and shock. I am sorry that your bag went from being a thing of beauty to a reminder of a botched restoration. I commend you for not naming the restoration “guru”.

I understand that you also may not be naming them as you are still trying to remedy the situation. I think that it may also be possible that you were able to reach a resolution and one of the conditions is that the person responsible for the restoration has asked that they not be named.

If you are still following your thread and are able to, would you at least let us know that your problem has reached a resolution?

Thank you all for your words. The problem has not reached a resolution as the “guru” still refuses to engage with me to accept any responsibility.

 

[roy40]

Wow...I am so sorry. It looked better before, even before the degreasing. And the stains inside?!?
I hate hearing this story, but I am glad you told us. It just confirms my thought, especially given some of the reasonable prices that others have shared for work by Hermès, that taking a bag to them first is the best way to go.
She is still something special and it is a nice color of green. Maybe you can love her where she is.

Thank you, this is very kind. As someone above stated, I simply need to move past this bag. It contains a sad and upsetting story I want to move past. However, I agree. The bag looked worse after degreasing.

It’s the work of a charlatan.

 

[csshopper]

Just curious why you felt compelled to mention the "guru" is on tpf? Your bag is damaged, the work was shoddy, but without the knowledge of whom to avoid, you have potentially cast unnecessary doubt over innocent people on the tpf.

There are instances where Hermes spa is not an option for work that needs to be done on a bag (access to the service, bag previously had some non H work done so no longer qualifies for spa service, for example). tpf seems a logical site for people seeking information about who might be a viable restoration/repair option. All the references to an unnamed tpf "guru" have clouded the issue of proceeding with someone here and, as a result, may have potentially damaged some business opportunities for qualified people who may need the income. I fear there will be a tendency to shy away from every female, wondering "is this the woman he was talking about?"

I am not in the business of restoration/repair of bags so am not personally affected.

I really do understand your justifiable upset, looking at the "after" of your beautiful ostrich bag is painful. And agree, the most perfect solution for any repairs is Hermes spa, and when that is not an option, finding a really good skilled, ethical craftsperson is critical. I do understand not wanting to name the person, so why mention the tpf link? It's not relevant as a "blind item", sharing the experience with us made your point regardless of a tpf link. Your pictures are a graphic caution. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Rouge H]

Just curious why you felt compelled to mention the "guru" is on tpf? Your bag is damaged, the work was shoddy, but without the knowledge of whom to avoid, you have potentially cast unnecessary doubt over innocent people on the tpf.

There are instances where Hermes spa is not an option for work that needs to be done on a bag (access to the service, bag previously had some non H work done so no longer qualifies for spa service, for example). tpf seems a logical site for people seeking information about who might be a viable restoration/repair option. All the references to an unnamed tpf "guru" have clouded the issue of proceeding with someone here and, as a result, may have potentially damaged some business opportunities for qualified people who may need the income. I fear there will be a tendency to shy away from every female, wondering "is this the woman he was talking about?"

I am not in the business of restoration/repair of bags so am not personally affected.

I really do understand your justifiable upset, looking at the "after" of your beautiful ostrich bag is painful. And agree, the most perfect solution for any repairs is Hermes spa, and when that is not an option, finding a really good skilled, ethical craftsperson is critical. I do understand not wanting to name the person, so why mention the tpf link? It's not relevant as a "blind item", sharing the experience with us made your point regardless of a tpf link. Your pictures are a graphic caution. Thank you for sharing.

The OP stated she was giving the benefit of this person resolving the issue amicably. It’s not hard to figure this out at all.

 

[csshopper]

ok, thanks for your insight.