Hermes Birkin Offer/Approval

[momoc]

I agree that for her to be able to officially give you an offer the SM should have already approved.

I have an SA whose style is that she will sometimes ask me about bags prior to getting the SM approval. Sometimes she sees something that is coming that I may be interested in and asks me to confirm my interest (I have not had an official wishlist for a while - I’m pretty open). She actually lets me know when it is expected to be a hot item and we will have competitors. She is frank with me and will say that it’s possible we won’t get it but let’s give it a try. I very much enjoy this style (it’s a purely personal preference) - while it is sad to learn that a bag wasn’t approved for me, I know she tried & is keeping me in mind, and I appreciate it. And I find it fun to hear about what bags we get besides the ones I end up getting offered. I never blame her (or the SM!) when a bag she proposed for me didn’t get allocated to me; I know our store is crazy competitive especially in 2020 with COVID. She is very clear with me regarding whether it’s prior to approval or not - when she officially offers me a bag, it is a bag the SM has approved for me. She also sometimes offers bags to me without asking/telling me about it first - when it’s something she knows for sure I would take she will directly go for approval and offer me once it’s approved.

I know some other SAs that are like mine whereas others - including ones at my same store - are the other style; meaning they will not say anything to their clients without getting the approval first. It sounds like your SA is the latter type. In that case, it may be that the bag was originally approved by the SM for you but for some reason he/she changed the decision. It could be that some VVVVIP came by and snatched it up (like others said), or it could be something else...IMO it’s not really worth asking exactly why unless your SA wants to share. The end result remains that the bag will unfortunately not be yours.

I do think that they should try to offer you something else instead! Good luck...

 

[WhiteBus]

We can all share your disappointment, but don't read too much into it.
Probably your SA just made, what for her is, an embarrassing mistake.

 

[slyeee]

What a heart breaker! I am so sorry this happened to you. Are you willing to hang in there and have the SA make it up to you? Maybe this time you will get an even better B.
Either way, that’s odd and unprofessional. You can’t play with people’s feeling when it comes to birkin!

I laughed so hard when I read "You can't play with people's feeling when it comes to birkin!" - so true. Anything from H really...

@askslam I am sorry this happened to you. Today I learned that SM has to approve the offer. How did I not know about this?! I really hope your store comes through for you in the very near future.

My SA has a title of "Selling Supervisor" - does that mean that I am working with a manager/supervisor??? She told me that their inventory is really low right now at my store, I also see that the web is super low on bags. I guess they really pulled a lot for X-Mas/holidays, but what about Valentines day and Lunar New Year?

 

[askslam]

Thank you so so much @momoc for your detailed explanation of your experience. That was very insightful. Yes I am absolutely not going to ask my SA anything further and was just curious to hear if anyone else experienced something like this. You might be right that the bag I wanted was a hot ticket item and perhaps she was trying to gauge whether I would be interested in it before asking SM for approval. It just wasn’t clear to me that that was what she was doing? I always thought if an SA offers you a bag it’s been approved by SM abs if you say yes to it you get it. I didn’t think of your alternative option as something SA’s could do ie gauge your interest in a color/size before it comes in and then ask for SM for approval. That makes me feel a bit better that you have gone through that as well but at least your SA was transparent on it!

I agree that for her to be able to officially give you an offer the SM should have already approved.

I have an SA whose style is that she will sometimes ask me about bags prior to getting the SM approval. Sometimes she sees something that is coming that I may be interested in and asks me to confirm my interest (I have not had an official wishlist for a while - I’m pretty open). She actually lets me know when it is expected to be a hot item and we will have competitors. She is frank with me and will say that it’s possible we won’t get it but let’s give it a try. I very much enjoy this style (it’s a purely personal preference) - while it is sad to learn that a bag wasn’t approved for me, I know she tried & is keeping me in mind, and I appreciate it. And I find it fun to hear about what bags we get besides the ones I end up getting offered. I never blame her (or the SM!) when a bag she proposed for me didn’t get allocated to me; I know our store is crazy competitive especially in 2020 with COVID. She is very clear with me regarding whether it’s prior to approval or not - when she officially offers me a bag, it is a bag the SM has approved for me. She also sometimes offers bags to me without asking/telling me about it first - when it’s something she knows for sure I would take she will directly go for approval and offer me once it’s approved.

I know some other SAs that are like mine whereas others - including ones at my same store - are the other style; meaning they will not say anything to their clients without getting the approval first. It sounds like your SA is the latter type. In that case, it may be that the bag was originally approved by the SM for you but for some reason he/she changed the decision. It could be that some VVVVIP came by and snatched it up (like others said), or it could be something else...IMO it’s not really worth asking exactly why unless your SA wants to share. The end result remains that the bag will unfortunately not be yours.

I do think that they should try to offer you something else instead! Good luck...

 

[jmen]

What kind of hell is that? It is Hermes hell. I empathize with you and imagine how you felt reading that text. This should never happen; there is no justifiable excuse in my mind. Hope today brings you much happiness!

 

[askslam]

Yes I hear inventory is incredibly low on all fronts,I tried to order shoes, CDC, and some other small stuff and nothing was available in my size, color etc. Yah I don’t know if they are going to have more stock for V Day or Lunar New Year at this rate ! Maybe it’s only US inventory that’s low. Not sure.

I laughed so hard when I read "You can't play with people's feeling when it comes to birkin!" - so true. Anything from H really...

@askslam I am sorry this happened to you. Today I learned that SM has to approve the offer. How did I not know about this?! I really hope your store comes through for you in the very near future.

My SA has a title of "Selling Supervisor" - does that mean that I am working with a manager/supervisor??? She told me that their inventory is really low right now at my store, I also see that the web is super low on bags. I guess they really pulled a lot for X-Mas/holidays, but what about Valentines day and Lunar New Year?

 

[askslam]

Aww. Thank you! I was disappointed but that’s okay. Hermes is all about patience right?! More patience this year though with such low inventory. Lol.

What kind of hell is that? It is Hermes hell. I empathize with you and imagine how you felt reading that text. This should never happen; there is no justifiable excuse in my mind. Hope today brings you much happiness!

 

[ellabellaz]

Funny this has happened to you because it has happened to me as well just last week. I was offered three bags (B25 craie epsom, B30 tricolor sellier noir / indigo / frida, B30 tricolor sellier rouge de coeur / rose extreme / zanzibar). I chose the B25 in craie as it was at the top of my wishlist. My SA came back to me two days later informing me that this had been rejected by the SM. I was absolutely appalled...and still am! I hope this isn’t a new “thing”

 

[momoc]

Thank you so so much @momoc for your detailed explanation of your experience. That was very insightful. Yes I am absolutely not going to ask my SA anything further and was just curious to hear if anyone else experienced something like this. You might be right that the bag I wanted was a hot ticket item and perhaps she was trying to gauge whether I would be interested in it before asking SM for approval. It just wasn’t clear to me that that was what she was doing? I always thought if an SA offers you a bag it’s been approved by SM abs if you say yes to it you get it. I didn’t think of your alternative option as something SA’s could do ie gauge your interest in a color/size before it comes in and then ask for SM for approval. That makes me feel a bit better that you have gone through that as well but at least your SA was transparent on it!

No worries! My SA is clear to me whether something is prior to approval or not; she even lets me know approx. when we will get the SM decision. It is never a surprise to me when it doesn’t work out. I think she knows that I truly am not upset when it happens, that’s why she started being very transparent with me (and it took some time for us to understand this works for us; it was not like this right when we first met). Some SAs prefer to not let their clients know about not getting a bag approved, and won’t say a word unless the bag is approved and ready to be offered. Also, depending on the store and SM obviously, but for some places, for good / long standing clients, the SM will place podium orders directly with the clients in mind so the bags that are coming are already marked for the client and there won’t be a fight for approval later.

For me either style (giving heads up before submitting a proposal for you vs. only asking you once it’s approved) is ok, as long as it’s clear & you know where in the process you are, so you aren’t surprised like this. The out of the blue surprise and disappointment is the heartbreaking part here.

I’m also in the US and currently the spending at my store for a desirable bag like a size 25 is so crazy! Definitely getting higher and higher since 2020 because of COVID. I think there are many factors - from the supply side shipments were impacted & workshop was closed; from demand side more people can’t go to Europe and have to shop locally, and more people began shopping Hermès (some stopped shopping Chanel after their crazy price increases in 2020, some made some cash in the stock market, some got bored at home / finally had time to focus on an H journey...). I’m so addicted to this forum and I did notice a decent amount of new members who came here in 2020 and started shopping H, I was actually pretty surprised by how many there were).

I hope your SA (and SM) work with you and get you another offer & are also more clear with you in the future so there aren’t surprises!

 

[Kitty S.]

Funny this has happened to you because it has happened to me as well just last week. I was offered three bags (B25 craie epsom, B30 tricolor sellier noir / indigo / frida, B30 tricolor sellier rouge de coeur / rose extreme / zanzibar). I chose the B25 in craie as it was at the top of my wishlist. My SA came back to me two days later informing me that this had been rejected by the SM. I was absolutely appalled...and still am! I hope this isn’t a new “thing”

OMG! B30 tricolor sellier! It must have been a tough choice to made. And to think that after such a great expectation, to not ended with a bag is indeed a huge disappointment So sorry. I hope your SA intends to make it up to you. S/he should!

 

[ellabellaz]

OMG! B30 tricolor sellier! It must have been a tough choice to made. And to think that after such a great expectation, to not ended with a bag is indeed a huge disappointment So sorry. I hope your SA intends to make it up to you. S/he should!

It was heartwrenching She informed me to keep spending and wait until March for the next delivery. After seeing how distraught I was my husband (bless him ) went and spoke to the head of the leather dept who offered us a mini lindy as a consolation...I turned it down as it is not for me. I made the decision to switch SAs after this. Unprofessional and an absolute damper on the Hermès experience

 

[880]

It was heartwrenching She informed me to keep spending and wait until March for the next delivery. After seeing how distraught I was my husband (bless him ) went and spoke to the head of the leather dept who offered us a mini lindy as a consolation...I turned it down as it is not for me. I made the decision to switch SAs after this. Unprofessional and an absolute damper on the Hermès experience

This would really upset me. I’m so sorry this happened. Fingers crossed foe a better outcome with another SA! Hugs

 

[demicouture]

This thing about SMs not "approving" a sale of bag is utterly unprofessional. If my or a SA said that to me I would literally challenge them. Why not say something more polite in the form of " I am so sorry, there must have been a misunderstanding within the team, as my manager confirmed that this bag was already reserved for another customer before I offered it to you. My mistake and I sincerely apologise!"
I have formed quite a few Sales people in my career in the luxury industry and I can assure you, I would never go back there if I was told that... sorry.

ETA: I would like to add however that all my B bags I got in the past (except my very 1st one) I was offered on the get go. I asked, the SA would see if anything was available and hence also available to sell to ME and then bring it out to me to see. Never would the SA promise me sth without checking if it was ok for me to buy. That would be a major let down ...

 

[KN89]

My first offer - she told me what bags were arriving and I said I was interested in X and Y but wanted X 100%. I was told when I came back on the day the shipment arrived that I was not approved.

I have since learned that my SA asks abt bags before getting approval

 

[Summerof89]

This does happen and I think this is the responsibility of the SA or simply a misunderstanding.

All the SAs in one store may want the same bag for their client but the SM must approve prior to making the actual sale. Most SA knows what is coming in an expected delivery, some may tell their clients first to get them excited without getting the SM's approval first. I know what happens sometimes is:
Bags arrive > multiple SAs stick their names on the box > SM picks the client that it goes to or the SA that it goes to.

The SM is often under a lot of pressure from all the SAs and the clients when they complain.

So my guess is your SA wanted to tell you something you like is coming because she or he got very excited but then forgot that perhaps it shouldn't have happened without getting the SM's approval first.