Extreme Fading-What to do?

[carolinagirl23]

Hi All,

I'm so glad to have stumbled upon this forum, it's awesome!

I have a 7 year old black Signature Duffle, #6347, that I purchased from Nordstrom. I used it only ocassionally and have had it in my closet for the better part of the last few years unused. I recently took it out and noticed that it has become severely discolored. It's got a reddish/brown tint to the fabric with and a few small spots that are quite red.

My husband used to work in Loss Prevention at Nordstrom and knows their return policy is to take anything no questions asked, regardless of the time limit, so I figured with an obviously defective bag and that policy, I'd be fine. Well, the first lady gave me a hard time saying that she couldn't even tell it was discolored. I had her hold it up to another black bag and it was so obvious, I don't know what she was thinking! She told me I should take it up with Coach. Not wanting to really press the issue since it was an older bag and I didn't have a receipt, I walked over to the Coach store to see what they thought. As soon as I took it out of the bag, all 4 girls at the counter immediately saw the discoloring and said that was no good and Nordstrom should definitely take it back, either replacing it with a comparable bag or giving me cash. So back I went to Nordstrom and explained the Coach salespersons opinions on the bag. She got her manager, who agreed that the bag was defective. When I told her the first lady said it was fine, she rolled her eyes! Anyway, since they couldn't find the purchase in the system, she said she could only give me the last selling price, which was $59. I politely declined and said I wanted to explore my options first. When I told my husband, he was mad b/c working for them, he knows they should have taken it back at full value, but I guess at this point, that's neither here nor there as I don't want to press the issue there. I'm not one to ruffle feathers.

So I was thinking of seeing where I could get with Coach directly. I know their lifetime guarantee applies to the lifetime of the bag, and I would think that's more than 7 years. The discoloring is horrible and I don't want to use the bag as is. So my question is, would I get anywhere with Coach? Do I call them directly or take it to a store? Does it matter I bought it at Nordstrom? Or should I just cut my losses and suck it up? Thanks!

 

[Italiahaircolor]

I believe it's universal policy that when returning without a receipt you typically get the lowest-sold-for price. That, to me at least, doesn't seem unreasonable. I think it safeguards the company against people--who did buy the purse for $59.00--from getting $398 or whatever the full price once was. If you're looking for a "for sure" call customer service for Nordstrom...you'd probably get further with them then a SA.

I also really believed that Coach only considered the "lifetime" of the bag to be 5 years? So, if that is the case, then there wouldn't be anything Coach could do.

 

[carolinagirl23]

Thanks. I don't believe that is unreasonable at all, but I know that's not Nordstrom's policy. My husband has crazy stories about people returning all kinds of things, very expensive things, and Nordstrom's policy is no questions asked unless the person has 3 no shank, no receipt returns. I understand that's a very generous policy and I'm really not trying to take advantage of it, hence why I didn't press the issue.

5 years seems awful low for the "lifetime" of bags that cost several hundred dollars. I have cheapo bags from Target that have worn better over that many years

 

[Italiahaircolor]

I think you should call Nordstrom CS.

Did you pay with your store CC? It would seem possible for the company to look up your account and see what you paid for the bag.

 

[Toonces]

I believe that 7 years exceeds what Coach would consider the normal life of the bag. To be honest, I'd just let this one go, maybe Ebay it to someone else, and take whatever you get and put it towards a new bag.

 

[katierose]

I would call Coach customer service and maybe they'll have you send it in to take a look. I think if a bag is unrepairable they give you a 40% coupon towards a new bag, so it's worth a try. Not sure on the time frame for that though, someone else here will know.

I'm guessing you could have the bag redyed by one of the companies that do restorations, but it's probably not worth the expense to you since you say you haven't used it for a couple of years.