if you rub up against anything or set it on the floor it can cause this very quickly. Have you ever scraped your fingernail along leather? It will scrape. Leather is not invincible and cannot avoid this. It's unfortunately normal wear and tear based on by the care of the OP. It's not the bag or Coach's fault.
Normal wear.
Learned the hard way on my metallic Bonnie swingpack.
I paid my $20, sent it in for repair (I know, I know, should have known better w/ metallic). Rec'd letter back from Dale Brown that it's normal wear/tear. No discount. No credit. No nothing. Just my bag to keep using and loving!
No, I know that leather is far from invincible, however what I'm saying is that there are TON'S on bags out there that have been carried just as much as this Xoe and they aren't showing this sign of wear!!! I never think it's OK for Coachies to trade bags in when it is natural wear & tear just to get credit or a coupon. I truly believe that this is ONE Zoe out there that we've heard about this on. I believe that if it was "natural" it would be happening all over the place!!! Zoe is such an everyday bag that I can't imagine we wouldn't have heard about this from others!!
I definitely second this.
I, for one, carry my large Zoe ALL the time and haven't experienced any wear resembling this extent. In fact, my Zoe looks almost exactly the same as the day I purchased it... and I don't baby my bag at all (because, in my opinion, a good everyday bag shouldn't require delicate, oh-so-gentle handling. Considerate handling, yes. Crazy OCD handling, no.)
I agree that the best thing to do would be to take it into the Coach store. OR Apple it. Apple does work miracles, it must be said! Burlington Coat Factory sells it, as does Leatherstuff.com
My story has a happy ending! I went to the West County Coach store in St. Louis this morning. I spoke to this really nice gentleman and he was extremely helpful. He said that the bag definitely was not repairable. But...he did offer me the full value of my bag! I could not believe it. I was so thrilled. He also said that if I wanted to keep the bag, I could just get the 40% discount.
I ended up taking the full value and I bought the large Maggie in Mahogany. It is gorgeous! I love it so much! I also picked up the Waverly zip around wallet in the multi color. Which is just too cute! I'm not much of a wallet person but that one was just too much to resist.
Anyway, I just wanted to post how well the problem ended up getting resolved! I'm extremely impressed with their customer service and their willingness to keep the customer happy.
Oh dang, didn't read the last page before posting. I'm so glad you got your happy ending. I'm a little surprised that there are people here that seemed SO dead set against you even trying to bring your bag in. Like I said above, even when the damage was my fault, I brought my bag in hoping to just have them replace the zipper pull, and they gave me a whole new bag! Maybe it's sour grapes because Balenciaga won't repair or replace bags like Coach will? That's what ya get for straying!