My fiance was recently put through the ringer by Louis Vuitton, and after trying hard to get some satisfaction, we are literally left holding the (broken) bag.
The following is an email that my fiance sent her friends about the experience. What follows is a follow up from me about what has happened since her first call with x of the Garden State Plaza LV store. We would love for you guys to help us get this issue resolved, afterall, shouldn't companies be doing all they can during tough economic times to hold onto their customers so they are still there when things turn around?
Please note that my fiance loves her bags, and she has many of them. She works hard for her money, and indulges by buying a new bag or swanky pair of shoes. It is her thing, and I'm guessing that many of you share in her passion!
I look forward to reading your thoughts on what she/we went through.
From my fiance to her friends:
I just had a really bad experience with the customer service at Louis Vuitton, so much so that I will be boycotting their products here on out and thought I should share my story with all of you.
Long story short, the pull to my zipper broke last year. I brought the bag for repair and when it came back the zipper wasn’t closing properly. After months of dealing with the broken zipper, I finally brought the bag for another round of repairs. Frustrated, I was told they would try to repair it in the store, but if they couldn’t do that they would call me in a few days to let me know the bag was being sent out for repair (to add to my frustration I had a bad experience with the staffer that helped me as she couldn’t find me in the system and basically made it seem like I didn’t buy the bag or something…meanwhile they had spelled my name wrong and that’s why she couldn’t find me in the system). Any who, not surprisingly I never got a call to let me know what was going on with the bag and I had to call the store to find out that the bag couldn’t be fixed in their store and that it was being sent back to California for repair. I was then told the bag would be back in 6-8 weeks.
Well I just got a phone call from the store informing me that the bag was out for repair and in order to fix it I would need to pay $155. As you can imagine I was totally shocked and upset as no one mentioned that there would be any cost to fix the bag (the receipt I received was even marked $0). After explaining the situation, I asked to speak to a manager as I was hoping they would do something to make up for the lack of communication. Well he was a total jerk and his answer to me was that I should look at it this way: I could pay $155 for a new zipper or $700 for a new bag. As you can imagine this isn’t the customer service I expected, so I said I wouldn’t pay $155 for a zipper repair and told them to send the bag back. As a result I’ve decided that I will never purchase another Louis Vuitton product ever again and wanted to send a buyer beware to all of you (please pass along to anyone else that you think may find this information useful)…I expected a certain level of quality/customer service when I purchased the bag a few years back and just learned a very expensive lesson…just b/c you spend a pretty penny on something doesn’t mean you are going to get what you pay for.
Shame on Louis Vuitton…
FOLLOW UP FROM ME:
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After my fiance hung up the phone with the manager at LV, she called me, crying. After we spoke for a few minutes I called the customer service number and had a three way call with their CS person and x, the manager of the store. He was a bully, and didn't seem to care that he made my girl cry! He went as far to say that I was not the customer, that my fiance was, and that he didn't even have to talk to me. WHAT?!
When I wasn't getting the response I was hoping for I asked who was higher up the food chain at LV. It was explained to me that a report would be filed with the appropriate executives. This was the end of the line. Well, that wasn't what I wanted to hear.
After the call wrapped I logged into my LinkedIn (professional networking website) account and emailed a brief overview of what happened to five LV executives. Was this crazy of me to do? Perhaps, but the guy made my fiance cry!
A few days later I received an email from Louise Firestone, the General Counsel of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc. She stated the following: "I am sorry your fiance is not happy. I am not the appropriate person to deal with this; she should contact LV Customer Service."
So I replied:
"Thank you Ms. Firestone,
And therein lies the rub. The customer service department was contacted, on a three way call with the store, and when I had to put the call on hold for a moment, rather more of a mute than hold, the store manager stated, "this never happened", and the CS person said, "I know, I know". Did the call never happen? The incident?
It seems that the issue has died on the vine, but as a small business owner I can't accept that this is where this issue will end. If I treated my clients as we were treated by the representatives of your company, I would not have any clients!
Is there someone in the organization that my fiance may be able to contact about this? Sure, it is only a zipper on a bag, but providing exceptional customer service is an aspect of a luxury brand that was missed this time around. Since Friday this story has been picked up by a very popular blog, and I would like very much to be able to post on the blog that LV responded quickly to address the issue.
We would rather not run around in circles, and I would rather not see my fiance stick the bag in a drawer only for it to be forgotten about.
Thank you very much for your time,"
AND then the amazing happened. My phone rang, and it was Ms. Firestone. My first thought was that this was going to get resolved, but then she spoke and she scolded me! She said using LinkedIn to file a customer service complaint was unacceptable and then explained that she has nothing to do with LV and couldn't help me. She did offer up the name of the President of LV along with his mailing address. Thanks Ms. Firestone.
THEN 2 days later I got a call from Alexandra Winokur, VP at LV. Again I thought there would be resolution, but she wasn’t able to help at all. She stated that she knows the store manager and that she had not received any complaints before about him. I quickly directed her to YELP.com and suggested she do a search for the Garden State Plaza store and read the two complaints on YELP about the store, and specifically x the store manager.
As of today the bag is being shipped back to the Garden State Plaza store where we need to pick it up from. I asked if they could ship it directly to my fiance, but they refused. They said that they do it this way to avoid fraud.[/FONT]
[FONT="]AND that is where the story ends. Please share your thoughts!
[/FONT]
The following is an email that my fiance sent her friends about the experience. What follows is a follow up from me about what has happened since her first call with x of the Garden State Plaza LV store. We would love for you guys to help us get this issue resolved, afterall, shouldn't companies be doing all they can during tough economic times to hold onto their customers so they are still there when things turn around?
Please note that my fiance loves her bags, and she has many of them. She works hard for her money, and indulges by buying a new bag or swanky pair of shoes. It is her thing, and I'm guessing that many of you share in her passion!
I look forward to reading your thoughts on what she/we went through.
From my fiance to her friends:
I just had a really bad experience with the customer service at Louis Vuitton, so much so that I will be boycotting their products here on out and thought I should share my story with all of you.
Long story short, the pull to my zipper broke last year. I brought the bag for repair and when it came back the zipper wasn’t closing properly. After months of dealing with the broken zipper, I finally brought the bag for another round of repairs. Frustrated, I was told they would try to repair it in the store, but if they couldn’t do that they would call me in a few days to let me know the bag was being sent out for repair (to add to my frustration I had a bad experience with the staffer that helped me as she couldn’t find me in the system and basically made it seem like I didn’t buy the bag or something…meanwhile they had spelled my name wrong and that’s why she couldn’t find me in the system). Any who, not surprisingly I never got a call to let me know what was going on with the bag and I had to call the store to find out that the bag couldn’t be fixed in their store and that it was being sent back to California for repair. I was then told the bag would be back in 6-8 weeks.
Well I just got a phone call from the store informing me that the bag was out for repair and in order to fix it I would need to pay $155. As you can imagine I was totally shocked and upset as no one mentioned that there would be any cost to fix the bag (the receipt I received was even marked $0). After explaining the situation, I asked to speak to a manager as I was hoping they would do something to make up for the lack of communication. Well he was a total jerk and his answer to me was that I should look at it this way: I could pay $155 for a new zipper or $700 for a new bag. As you can imagine this isn’t the customer service I expected, so I said I wouldn’t pay $155 for a zipper repair and told them to send the bag back. As a result I’ve decided that I will never purchase another Louis Vuitton product ever again and wanted to send a buyer beware to all of you (please pass along to anyone else that you think may find this information useful)…I expected a certain level of quality/customer service when I purchased the bag a few years back and just learned a very expensive lesson…just b/c you spend a pretty penny on something doesn’t mean you are going to get what you pay for.
Shame on Louis Vuitton…
FOLLOW UP FROM ME:
[FONT="]
After my fiance hung up the phone with the manager at LV, she called me, crying. After we spoke for a few minutes I called the customer service number and had a three way call with their CS person and x, the manager of the store. He was a bully, and didn't seem to care that he made my girl cry! He went as far to say that I was not the customer, that my fiance was, and that he didn't even have to talk to me. WHAT?!
When I wasn't getting the response I was hoping for I asked who was higher up the food chain at LV. It was explained to me that a report would be filed with the appropriate executives. This was the end of the line. Well, that wasn't what I wanted to hear.
After the call wrapped I logged into my LinkedIn (professional networking website) account and emailed a brief overview of what happened to five LV executives. Was this crazy of me to do? Perhaps, but the guy made my fiance cry!
A few days later I received an email from Louise Firestone, the General Counsel of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc. She stated the following: "I am sorry your fiance is not happy. I am not the appropriate person to deal with this; she should contact LV Customer Service."
So I replied:
"Thank you Ms. Firestone,
And therein lies the rub. The customer service department was contacted, on a three way call with the store, and when I had to put the call on hold for a moment, rather more of a mute than hold, the store manager stated, "this never happened", and the CS person said, "I know, I know". Did the call never happen? The incident?
It seems that the issue has died on the vine, but as a small business owner I can't accept that this is where this issue will end. If I treated my clients as we were treated by the representatives of your company, I would not have any clients!
Is there someone in the organization that my fiance may be able to contact about this? Sure, it is only a zipper on a bag, but providing exceptional customer service is an aspect of a luxury brand that was missed this time around. Since Friday this story has been picked up by a very popular blog, and I would like very much to be able to post on the blog that LV responded quickly to address the issue.
We would rather not run around in circles, and I would rather not see my fiance stick the bag in a drawer only for it to be forgotten about.
Thank you very much for your time,"
AND then the amazing happened. My phone rang, and it was Ms. Firestone. My first thought was that this was going to get resolved, but then she spoke and she scolded me! She said using LinkedIn to file a customer service complaint was unacceptable and then explained that she has nothing to do with LV and couldn't help me. She did offer up the name of the President of LV along with his mailing address. Thanks Ms. Firestone.
THEN 2 days later I got a call from Alexandra Winokur, VP at LV. Again I thought there would be resolution, but she wasn’t able to help at all. She stated that she knows the store manager and that she had not received any complaints before about him. I quickly directed her to YELP.com and suggested she do a search for the Garden State Plaza store and read the two complaints on YELP about the store, and specifically x the store manager.
As of today the bag is being shipped back to the Garden State Plaza store where we need to pick it up from. I asked if they could ship it directly to my fiance, but they refused. They said that they do it this way to avoid fraud.[/FONT]
[FONT="]AND that is where the story ends. Please share your thoughts!
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