BOTKIER Quality Issues (or Raves) -- Do Share Here!

#16
cocojo said:
The purse manager at an upscale dept store said this was one of the worse designer purses to buy. She said they were beautiful to look at and touch but the color on the leather ran on some of the bags and they just could not hold up to regular use and abuse. I guess she was not trying to make a sale!!!

I have not owned one of these but my girlfriend has one. It is wonderful to touch. The leather is so soft but she almost never uses it. She says it is too fragile to carry.
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I've worried about this, too, since it is brought up on the forum from time to time.

The Bianca is arguably their softest most fragile leather, but I've used my medium in toffee for over a year. Not only has it held up wonderfully, but the leather has definitely gotten better with age.:love: Some of their bags, like the Crosby line, have really thick goatskin that feels like it could stand up to anything. Not as pretty to look at as the Bianca leather tough:shame:

I don't think it's the toughest leather out there (but that wouldn't be as pretty) but I don't think it's significantly more fragile compared to a lot of other brands. I would put it somewhere in the middle of all the bags I own. You just can't trust SAs to know everything.
 
#17
1) Trigger in Twilight Metallic (2005?): been my everyday-bag for *years* and seems to be undestroyable. Showing some age now (metallic shine wearing off in the corners, handles thinned by the huuuge weights I always put in the bag) but still a great bag. Actually my absolute favorite! It's pebbled leather, so wights a lot, but I love the fact that I can drag it around and it follows me always faithfully.

2) Tote in Metallic Olive (2006 spring): as soon as I got it out of the bag, one of the side studs fell off. It's a huge problem for me to send back stuff to the States for a variety of reasons, so I just decided to do the reparation myself. I cut through the inner lining and fixed the stud, then sew back the lining. That bag is not very practical though, it doesn't have any kind of closure or fastening on then top.

3) Essex e/w satchel in brown (2006 fall): extremely disappointed by the magnetic closure, cannot get it right *ever*. The bag is too shallow for my needs, but that's my fault, not their, the quality is otherwise superb as always.

So, in the end, I would say that I love more their older bags than the newer ones. I think I'll purchase another Trigger soon, but I am not equally in love with all their other products.
 
#18
bump-
I love botkier styles, leather and all hardware except the rings used to attach the tassel zipper pulls to the sides of Uma. I find them to be very thin like the width of a metal safety pin. I'm hoping they will use thicker, more durable rings in the future.
 
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#19
^^ I agree about those metal pulls. I also worry about that. Plus; be careful when buying from Botkier.com. I have had 2 bad experiences with defective bags. They must not even look at the bags before they are shipped.
 
#20
I came on here looking to see if anyone else has discovered trouble with their Venice Hobo. Haven't gotten too far yet in that quest, but I'll post here real quick before I have to go make dinner!

I was thinking of selling my Venice Hobo in Ocean, so I just took it out to look at it. It's been in my closet in the dust bag for about 2 months. The leather is discolored in spots! Under the straps and in creases that appear to have not been exposed too much, it's the blue color it originally was, but the rest of the bag has mostly turned a grayish blue - much more grayish than Ocean was.

I bought this bag brand new and used it for maybe 2 months, then put it in its dustbag in my closet. My stomach absolutely hurts over this. I can't sell it - I mean, I would disclose the discoloration, but who would buy it?! I am pretty upset. I think the most I can do with it is try to dye it. :sad: I've heard of this happening with Koobas, but I've never heard of a Botkier discoloring and I've never had it happen to me with any other bag.

Has anyone else noticed this with their lighter-colored Venice Hobo?
 
#21
Fabae, that sucks. Have you tried contacting Botkier? I've heard blue dyes in general are incredibly unstable, so they (blue bags) seem to have a lot of issues. I know LP croc blue bags had fading issues as well but they faded uniformly all over- LP did take the bag back and issued full credit for the bag, so it might be worth a try contacting Botkier. Don't they have a warranty for at least one year?
 
#23
^ That is not good. :sad: Sweetsusan just sent in her Venice Hobo for a repair and they were quick to help her out. Hopefully they can do something for you fabae. I wish you luck! :flowers:
 
#24
fabae said:
Well, the Botkier website says this:
"BOTKIER MAKES NO WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER."

So, I'm going to contact them, but I'm not holding out hope. We'll see....
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Wow!? I had no clue their attitude was so bad :shocked: !? Over the years, I've wanted several Botkiers but Holts stopped carrying the line almost 3 years ago (?) and the Bay picked them up fairly recently. This is not good - they should stand behind their product.
 
#25
Sorry you're having this trouble.

While all of the Bots I've purchased from the recent lines (5) have been dark colors like black or burgundy, I did recently borrow an Ocean Venice satchel from BBOS and I noticed right away that the color was becoming kind of mottled for a bag that while borrowed heavily in the short time available, was not that old. It was the deciding factor in my not getting an Ocean Venice satchel. If I do buy one it will be black.

fabae said:
I came on here looking to see if anyone else has discovered trouble with their Venice Hobo. Haven't gotten too far yet in that quest, but I'll post here real quick before I have to go make dinner!

I was thinking of selling my Venice Hobo in Ocean, so I just took it out to look at it. It's been in my closet in the dust bag for about 2 months. The leather is discolored in spots! Under the straps and in creases that appear to have not been exposed too much, it's the blue color it originally was, but the rest of the bag has mostly turned a grayish blue - much more grayish than Ocean was.

I bought this bag brand new and used it for maybe 2 months, then put it in its dustbag in my closet. My stomach absolutely hurts over this. I can't sell it - I mean, I would disclose the discoloration, but who would buy it?! I am pretty upset. I think the most I can do with it is try to dye it. :sad: I've heard of this happening with Koobas, but I've never heard of a Botkier discoloring and I've never had it happen to me with any other bag.

Has anyone else noticed this with their lighter-colored Venice Hobo?
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#26
Wow I've been on the fence about one of their bags, but not if this no warranty thing is their idea of service. Was going to BBOS the Venice hobo as well, but I guess I won't bother.
 
#27
Hmm, this is very strange that their website actually states this, because from what I can tell, based on experiences that have been posted here, Botkier definitely stands by their bags and are great at fixing any problems. fabae, have you contacted them yet? Any word so far?

I haven't had any particularly light-coloured Botkiers, but like pigalle mentioned, blue dyes do seem to be more unstable sometimes. Lambskins also tend to be more delicate, so I don't know if this may also be a contributing factor? The "lightest" coloured Botkier I have is Deep Purple (a cowhide) and Navy (a lambskin), but I haven't had any issues with either of these so far.

Hope Botkier's CS gets back to you soon, fabae -- that definitely should not be happening with your Venice.
 
#28
Okay, so I contacte Barb at MyObsessionsBoutique.com, where I got the bag. She got back to me right away and, having contacted Botkier herself, told me that Botkier is having problems with the Ocean leather. She said to ship it back to her and she'll send me a new one in pink or black. She's amazing. She really is; she deserves people's business.

On the other hand, right before I e-mailed Barb I also emailed Botkier about the issue. Whereas Barb got back to me that same night, Botkier got back to me a couple days later, and here's what they have to say:

"We are so sorry to hear that you are unsatisfied with your Venice Hobo. At Botkier we take pride in our product and use only the highest quality natural skins from Italy to create our handbags. All leather articles are natural so each type of leather wears differently. The beautiful Ocean color of the Venice Hobo was achieved by using an all natural pigment, and over time as the bag is worn in, the natural undertones of the leather will begin emerge. We understand your concern and would like to offer you a new Venice Hobo in Ocean as a replacement."


Uuuuuummmm.....okay, so they KNEW the leather would revert to original color (tan?), but didn't bother to let anyone know from the outset that their blue bags would eventually be brown? That's....disappointing. I'm trying not to be harsh, but 1) that sounds like something you should disclose before a customer makes a purchase and 2) it sounds like bs that was made up after they found out that the dye wouldn't "stick."

I'm going to stick with Barb.
 
#29
Fabae, Barb is great, I have nothing but the best things to say about her and obviously so do you. That's wonderful she is sending you the replacement. I don't quite understand what Botkier is saying- the blue dye will eventually disappear? Why would anyone buy the ocen bag if that was the case? Anyhow it's good that they're offering a replacement as well.
 
#30
fabae said:
Okay, so I contacte Barb at MyObsessionsBoutique.com, where I got the bag. She got back to me right away and, having contacted Botkier herself, told me that Botkier is having problems with the Ocean leather. She said to ship it back to her and she'll send me a new one in pink or black. She's amazing. She really is; she deserves people's business.

On the other hand, right before I e-mailed Barb I also emailed Botkier about the issue. Whereas Barb got back to me that same night, Botkier got back to me a couple days later, and here's what they have to say:

"We are so sorry to hear that you are unsatisfied with your Venice Hobo. At Botkier we take pride in our product and use only the highest quality natural skins from Italy to create our handbags. All leather articles are natural so each type of leather wears differently. The beautiful Ocean color of the Venice Hobo was achieved by using an all natural pigment, and over time as the bag is worn in, the natural undertones of the leather will begin emerge. We understand your concern and would like to offer you a new Venice Hobo in Ocean as a replacement."


Uuuuuummmm.....okay, so they KNEW the leather would revert to original color (tan?), but didn't bother to let anyone know from the outset that their blue bags would eventually be brown? That's....disappointing. I'm trying not to be harsh, but 1) that sounds like something you should disclose before a customer makes a purchase and 2) it sounds like bs that was made up after they found out that the dye wouldn't "stick."

I'm going to stick with Barb.
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I don't own any blue Botkiers, but I can say that even the very high end bags like Balenciaga have some SERIOUS issues with blue dyes in particular (but other colors are effected as well) fading to brown... :shrugs: It almost goes without saying that if you buy a blue Balenciaga, at some point it will fade from my experience. Still, that's no consolation and I'm sorry you're going through this
 
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