Fake Bags at My Salon!

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CastoCreations

CastoCreations

Member
Jun 16, 2006
1,367
4
#1
Well, crap. I just went in to get my hair done for my company Christmas party tonight. (I'm going to make my hubby take photos because it's 30s style and totally awesome!)

And as I am waiting I notice purses on sale so I walk up and start looking at them. I am NOT an expert and usually would never know a fake from a real purse...but these were SO obvious that even I could tell they weren't real. They just felt...wrong. I took photos on my cell phone but am not sure how to download them. As soon as I figure it out I will post them.

There was Coach (holiday patchwork), Gucci, Chanel all for less than $150 (with those plastic tags that say "made in Italy" or wherever).

So what do I do??? I said something to the girl working at the reception desk but she didn't seem real concerned. The owner works with clients who get to sell things there (like jewelry) and apparently this client holds those stupid fake purse parties. I read an article about people holding those parties getting in big trouble (fined huge amounts) and those purses are illegal, right?

The owner is really super cool and I just can't imagine she'd sell illegal items on purpose. Should I write her a letter and tell her? What do I say?

Gah! I would never have known they were fake if I hadn't been part of this forum. :smile: I'm so glad Vlad and Megs set this up!
 
#2
Wow! That is terrible! Yes, I'd say write a letter in the very least and if you know the owner well enough either give her a call or visit her in person. Then you could explain to her why you believe those bags are fakes, the details etc. and how selling them is illegal and immoral. Maybe even more information on the consequences of selling fake bags would help too, such as an article on people being fined and arrested. She could even come here and read up on fakes and why they are wrong. It just kills me to have to worry about whether my Coach bag is real when I bought it at Macy's or that I have to know a bag inside out before I purchase it on ebay, all because of immoral people and fakes. Good luck!
 
#3
OMG I would leave a message for the manager/owner. Saying you know it's busy, but that their selling or allowing someone to seel fake/ie illegal in their store has you concenred, and makes you question them. ANd as you are a customer you would hate to see them receive negative feedback for the negative action.
 
#5
Not the first time I've heard of a salon selling fake bags.... I remember someone in SF saw a fake petrol stam in the window, and the store confirmed it was fake! don't they realize that's illegal??
 
#6
I was in a similar situation! I was getting my hair done when this man came into the salon with a huge garbage bag full of fake purses. All the women knew him by name and greeted him so I assume this was not the first time he was there. He asked all the women sitting around if they wanted to buy a purse and we all said no. The purses looked totally nasty, too.
 
#7
There was a guy at the main desk too and he totally admitted that they were fakes. I mentioned that it was totally illegal and people get in big trouble for selling fakes and he was surprised. He had no idea. And I guess before I got more interested in designer purses I didn't know. But even if it wasn't illegal why would a nice salon lower itself to sell FAKES!?!?!

I think I am going to write a letter because I seriously do not want to go to a salon where fakes are tolerated - it just looks bad and is totally tacky. :sad:
 
#8
If you think the bags are fraudulently labelled, I would probably suggest to the owner that she might want to have them authenticated, to avoid problems in case law enforcement in your community should elect to expend resources on seeking out instances of violations of the trademark laws.

And if the bags are on display for sale in plain sight, that would definitely make her vulnerable in such an event.

She may not be aware of the need to authenticate such items, nor of the risk to her business of displaying items that contain logos or labelling which they are not authorized to contain.
 
#9
Shimma...that is a good idea.

They are DEFINITELY fake. I mean...okay, I'm new to the whole designer purse thing, right? But I was at Nordy's the other day oogling the Coach purses and the feel of them was just ... great. :smile:

These pieces of crap felt like plastic! I don't recall any of the Coach bags at Nordy's having those tags attached with plastic to the handles or any plastic covering the handles. The coach holiday patchwork even had a stain on it!

*sigh* The whole thing just sucks.
 
#10
In town, a lady set up a fake bag boutique in her husband's auto repair shop. Someone reported her to the police for selling fakes. She got into some trouble.

The owner of the salon may not realize that she can get into trouble for having a display and selling them in her shop.
 
#11
CC, I don't doubt for a minute that you are correct. Since you don't know what, if anything the owner knows or thinks about the subject, "don't take my word for it, take them to a store" is not just giving her your opinion, but advice that she get a definitive verdict from an "official" source who will also be able to show her examples of the real ones, set them next to the ones she has and go "look here. see that?"

Hopefully that would not be necessary, and she will not feel so invested in it one way or the other, and will simply suggest to the person who brought them there that SHE take them to the store for authentication, etc, and inform HER of the risks, maybe ask her if she has some that don't have those labels in them/on them etc.

The thing is, that the average BagQ on here is just so many light-years away from the general public's, and for every storefront with a back room and watchers and walkie-talkies there are at least 10 people selling bags with fake labels on them who really have no idea that in the US there are laws against it!

I know the typical thing is people charging hundreds of dollars for the things, because they do know that a particular label has status, whether they know selling them is illegal or not, but there are also people who sell them for next to nothing, and some of them will know less about bags than I do, which is saying a lot, and even less about trademark laws.

I have seen bags with those multi-colored LV monogram prints made of such cheap plastic Wal-Mart would turn it down, being sold for $5 on street corners next to sofa-size Velvet Elvii and mink blankets imprinted with roaring leopards.
 
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