Yes, I have definitely learned a huge lesson from this....document everything, even take pictures of the item in box and the shipping label. Thank God I had the shipping receipt from UPS. I never thought I would have to worry about anything like this from Fashionphile. I will not purchase from them again. In addition to this, the item that I received was not at all as they described. It's just not worth the risk anymore for me!
**Buying from Fashionphile** shopping experiences/questions
- Thread starter MissMcCrocodile
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Nope. Nothing. I emailed and asked for the reason why and they just said the case was closed. I also asked for someone to contact me back so that I could discuss my situation with them and figure out what was going on, nobody ever returned my calls. They just ignored me.
I also recently had a TERRIBLE experience with Fashionphile. I started purchasing from them back in April, the first time I ever purchased second-hand and not in a boutique. It was addictive and I spent north of $5k in a short 3 months. The latest item I received from them, however, I got right before I left for a 3 week work trip in Europe, and because of their long processing times, it was almost 5 weeks before I finally saw the bag and noticed a major undisclosed flaw - the canvas near the handle is pretty seriously cracked on one side of the bag.
I contacted them and of course, they are super backlogged on responding to customers. I said I understood retail business is very hard, but this is a pretty big oversight as LV canvas cracks are a serious issue that should 100% have been disclosed. I tried to be flexible and said I would accept store credit, even at a discount to my purchase price. They said because of the time that had elapsed, they could not do anything to help me. I made the order 6/30, it arrived 7/9, ad I contacted them around 8/28.
I told the customer service rep (not her fault) that this decision is akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face, and was frankly a bad business decision to piss off a customer that just started buying from them and that has purchased something every 3 weeks from them in just the past 3 months. I just filed to return an item, and am closing down my account and won't be shopping with them in the future.
I just can't support a business that makes such poor decision. The only person who comes out ahead in this situation is Bernard Arnault because I won't be shopping second-hand ever again.
I contacted them and of course, they are super backlogged on responding to customers. I said I understood retail business is very hard, but this is a pretty big oversight as LV canvas cracks are a serious issue that should 100% have been disclosed. I tried to be flexible and said I would accept store credit, even at a discount to my purchase price. They said because of the time that had elapsed, they could not do anything to help me. I made the order 6/30, it arrived 7/9, ad I contacted them around 8/28.
I told the customer service rep (not her fault) that this decision is akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face, and was frankly a bad business decision to piss off a customer that just started buying from them and that has purchased something every 3 weeks from them in just the past 3 months. I just filed to return an item, and am closing down my account and won't be shopping with them in the future.
I just can't support a business that makes such poor decision. The only person who comes out ahead in this situation is Bernard Arnault because I won't be shopping second-hand ever again.
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Wow! As you had proof your return was delivered back to them via UPS, with signature upon delivery, it makes no sense you've been treated as if you've done something wrong. I'm not sure what else they expected of you. They at least owe you an explanation. I wish people would stop supporting these companies that behave so unethically.
Amen! That's why I was so flabbergasted at how everything unveiled. I felt like I was living in a twilight zone as I was being shut out first by Fashionphile, then by UPS. I almost felt as if it was a conspiracy to cover up a mistake they had made. No clue what I did wrong. At the very least I still would love to hear an explanation of what in the world happened to the package and why they treated me so horribly!!!
Thank you for sharing your story!! Yes, word needs to get out when these sorts of things happen! It really sux!!! I have pretty much resolved as well that I will stick to buying new, and preferably items that I can inspect. I've had waayyy too many issues lately with things arriving either defective, or damaged....even after I have asked for SA's to thoroughly check things out to be my "eyes." It's sad. : ( But we need to stand firm behind our principles. Hopefully if enough people who were wronged stand up for themselves and spread the word, then maybe we can make a difference in numbers collectively, causing companies to pause and think twice before they treat their customers so poorly.
I recently decided to take the plunge into secondary resale market and tried Fashionphile after reading good things about them online. My first few purchases (under $1k each) went off without a hitch, so I decided to dip into more expensive items and purchased something for ~$1.7k. That turned out to be a disaster.
Their processing time now is really long. I purchased 6/30 and it didn't arrive until mid-July, at which point I had to leave for a 4 week work trip in Europe.
When I finally got back and had time to seriously inspect the item, I noticed a major undisclosed flaw - the canvas near the handle is pretty seriously cracked on one side of the bag.
I contacted them and of course, they are super backlogged on responding to customers. I said I understood retail business is very hard, but this is a pretty big oversight as LV canvas cracks are a serious issue that should 100% have been disclosed. I tried to be flexible and said I would accept store credit, even at a discount to my purchase price, and would entertain any resolution they offered.
They said as it was past the return period, there was nothing they could do. To be frank, that is just ridiculous with their current processing time.
I told the customer service rep (not her fault as it was a management decision) that this is akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face, and was frankly a bad business decision to piss off a customer that just started buying from them and that has purchased something every 3 weeks from them in just the past 3 months. This experience left an extremely bad taste in my mouth. To be honest, for items that are below $500, I don't care to check condition too closely and I almost never return items. I am a very easy customer and leave almost all 5star reviews on yelp. But this was truly just an untenable and crappy thing for them to do.
The only person who comes out ahead in this situation is Bernard Arnault because I won't be shopping second-hand ever again!
Their processing time now is really long. I purchased 6/30 and it didn't arrive until mid-July, at which point I had to leave for a 4 week work trip in Europe.
When I finally got back and had time to seriously inspect the item, I noticed a major undisclosed flaw - the canvas near the handle is pretty seriously cracked on one side of the bag.
I contacted them and of course, they are super backlogged on responding to customers. I said I understood retail business is very hard, but this is a pretty big oversight as LV canvas cracks are a serious issue that should 100% have been disclosed. I tried to be flexible and said I would accept store credit, even at a discount to my purchase price, and would entertain any resolution they offered.
They said as it was past the return period, there was nothing they could do. To be frank, that is just ridiculous with their current processing time.
I told the customer service rep (not her fault as it was a management decision) that this is akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face, and was frankly a bad business decision to piss off a customer that just started buying from them and that has purchased something every 3 weeks from them in just the past 3 months. This experience left an extremely bad taste in my mouth. To be honest, for items that are below $500, I don't care to check condition too closely and I almost never return items. I am a very easy customer and leave almost all 5star reviews on yelp. But this was truly just an untenable and crappy thing for them to do.
The only person who comes out ahead in this situation is Bernard Arnault because I won't be shopping second-hand ever again!
What bag was it? the handle looks quite new yet would have tear like that, probably previous owner had put very heavy stuff in the bag that caused the stress. Buying from second hand market is like treasure hunting, I can't tell you how many times I received items were not as described (not specifically mean which seller or what site), but many many times was really great purchases. If I was in your situation, I would evaluate the condition of the bag, will it still usable? How much can I sell it for if I sell on my own? Would it be better just sell back to Fashionphile and take the loss if really don't want to deal with the bag?
P.S not trying to make excuses for Fashionphile, but the volume of the items going through their store, they may not notice the damages when they listed it. I had made similar mistakes too.
Yes I think I am just realizing now that with Fashionphile / 2ndary market purchases, QC burden is on the buyer. Before April, I never purchased second-hand but always directly from the LV store due to concerns about authenticity. I buy confidently from LV, and never inspect items, as I feel that they have a reputation to uphold and I trust their QC process.
With my first few purchases on FP, I purchased smaller ticket items and found no issues. So I started to trust their QC process and unfortunately it was with a much bigger ticket item that I ran into this issue.
The handles have clearly been replaced - the handles' vachetta is a lot lighter than rest of the bag.
It is the Sofia Coppola monogram bag; it was limited edition ~2008-2009 I think.
They should've seen that flaw and mentioned it in the description of the item. It sucks you paid that much for cracked canvas. Fashionphile has grown too fast and lacks consistency in quality control.
Yes I agree, I think the perspective of "buyer beware" in the secondary market for luxury goods is not a good one, because there is definitely information asymmetry. Putting the QC responsibility on the purchaser sets a bad precedent given buyers may only see a few luxury items in their lives, and a few may be neophytes, versus companies see thousands if not tens of thousands. When I go to LV, I do not expect to have to inspect their items. If I really did find something wrong, LV would fix it or issue a recall. $1,700 is a lot of money and as expensive as many items you can buy directly from the store, so if one is trying to sell something at almost the same price as LV, the QC had better be there.
If Fashionphile has a lot of volume, then they need to hire more people to inspect and QC. After all, I do not work for them. It is not my job to do QC for them.
could be the previous owner had handles wrapped, the bag doesn't look that used and it would be too expensive to replace handles unless it is too well used.
Again, sorry to hear you bad experience, yes, it is very tricky to buy from secondhand, Sofia Coppola is a very practical bag it should holds value well if you decide to resell it.
I appreciate the kind message
. If I resold it, I would 100% disclose this issue, and probably take a big price hit for it. This has colored my experienced and ability to enjoy the bag. AsBuddha said, though, anger is a hot coal I pick up to throw at my enemy only to burn myself. Perhaps the best outcome is to just enjoy the item as much as possible and not feel so much resentment and anger.Your best bet, imo, is to sell it back to them if and when you decide you don't want it. They take all their own items back through the buyback program; you lose a bit but at least they give you back a portion of what you paid and you won't have the hassle of dealing with your own buyer. They have grown really fast and seem to be taking shortcuts these days with lots of things, including item descriptions. The one thing they do not ever negotiate is pricing or a reduction/discount/credit because you're unhappy, they do returns within their window and that's all.I appreciate the kind message