Hermès New York City Stores

TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others

yeah they legally cannot do that. I believe something similar happened at Cartier if I am remembering the brand correctly (web error caused an item's price to be significantly lowered) and they canceled the customers order and that went to court. Ultimately settled out of court and the client "won"

I am appalled that this situation has become a reality for you. I'll let others chime in on their thoughts and how it may ultimately impact your relationship with the maison.
Yes, I believe it is not legal. That’s what I told him…
I asked to speak to the manager.
 
Legally, you purchased it and it now belongs to you for the price you paid. Your purchase and sales receipt will say so in some legal language. If you wanted to push this, you could and probably win, however say goodbye to your relationship as I'm guessing if you pushed, the difference would come out of your SAs paycheck. At the end of the day, you got an item for less than you should have been able to. It was never actually the price you paid but a clerical error happened in your favor. By returning it with little fanfare, your SA will likely be relieved and "reward" you in the near future for being so understanding and easy to work with.
I do feel bad for my SA. It should not come from his paycheck! Especially that I specifically remember him reading me a label.
I am asking to speak to the manager and at worst I will return it. But I am not paying the price difference nor getting the other one.
My husband was with me and he is furious because it is Hermes!
I’m actually especially offended that H would ask me for that nearly a week later.
 
I do feel bad for my SA. It should not come from his paycheck! Especially that I specifically remember him reading me a label.
I am asking to speak to the manager and at worst I will return it. But I am not paying the price difference nor getting the other one.
My husband was with me and he is furious because it is Hermes!
I’m actually especially offended that H would ask me for that nearly a week later.
We've heard similar stories in the past and it seems H's policy is to always force the payment difference, so at least know that this isn't personal or on a whim. I honestly wouldn't push it myself but that's because my relationship is worth more than $1300 to me (or the loss of a $3700 silver item (!!)). What I would be tempted to do is ask what bags will be available on Thursday when I come in to process the return. ;)
 
I’m actually especially offended that H would ask me for that nearly a week later.
I’m offended for you! I would talk to the manager too. The sa could have verbally made a mistake but it scanned in the machine. Was the reference code all wrong?

ETA. You could do what @acrowcounted mentioned and leverage a bag that way. That would be the only way I would find the situation palatable.
 
We've heard similar stories in the past and it seems H's policy is to always force the payment difference, so at least know that this isn't personal or on a whim. I honestly wouldn't push it myself but that's because my relationship is worth more than $1300 to me (or the loss of a $3700 silver item (!!)). What I would be tempted to do is ask what bags will be available on Thursday when I come in to process the return. ;)
Exactly…
It’s the principle of asking more money that bothers me.
I might just do that regarding bags. 🤣
 
You’re in the driver’s seat here since you have possession of the necklace. As mentioned, if this were another retailer, they could ask you for the difference but if you ignored them, there would be no recourse. Here, the relationship would be shot if you did that.

Really depends on what you want going forward with the store. If you want bags, then just giving in and returning it would likely be best. If you think this is ridiculous and you don’t want to shop there anymore, ignore them. Lots of grey area in between the extremes. Curious to hear how the conversation with the manager goes. I’d figure out how to use this to get to top of list for an in demand bag.
 
What H is trying to do, retroactively collect the price differential from you, is illegal in the state of New York. Whatever price you were charged at the time of the sale is the price. If any items were mistagged, I.e. a pair of earrings were priced $28 as in the Cartier case quoted earlier, but were actually $28,000, the store is legally required to sell the earrings to the client for $28. The mistake has to happen at time of sale for the lower price to stick. So if you were quoted $28 and said let me think about it and then you came back a day later and they quoted you $28,000, you cannot force them to sell you the item for $28. In your case, H sold you the piece at the lower price and then a week later is trying to get you to pay $1,300 more. They can’t legally force you to pay the extra. But as several others have said, even though you are legally in the right, you can probably kiss your relationship with that SA goodbye. I guess it depends on how much you want to keep shopping with that SA at that store.
 
I just spotted to the manager who was pretty short with me.
He said it’s legal “at Hermes” to get the charge you more.
Basically at H, the customer is always wrong and beyond the law.
I will just bring it back and it’s no big deal but I am disappointed by the way they handled this. The worst is being so insistent on making me pay more or getting the other piece that I don’t like as much when it’s their mistake.
 
I just spotted to the manager who was pretty short with me.
He said it’s legal “at Hermes” to get the charge you more.
Basically at H, the customer is always wrong and beyond the law.
I will just bring it back and it’s no big deal but I am disappointed by the way they handled this. The worst is being so insistent on making me pay more or getting the other piece that I don’t like as much when it’s their mistake.
i would never enjoy shopping with that store again.

I guess it’s not a big deal. But just the arrogance. The total disregard for the customer and what’s right. Total lack of grace.
 
i would never enjoy shopping with that store again.

I guess it’s not a big deal. But just the arrogance. The total disregard for the customer and what’s right. Total lack of grace.

1000%. Unfortunately the “incident” would likely follow the customer from store to store. They all talk.
 
Last edited:
The problem I have with this is that unlike the situation with $28 earrings, the price you paid was not so far off the mark that you should have been on notice that something was amiss. It’s not as if you were trying to scam them, they just made an expensive mistake and don’t want to be responsible for it. I’m a bit surprised that the SM is being so unpleasant about it.

I agree that if you keep the piece without paying the difference your boutique relationship is likely at an end; whether that call is worth it is something only you can assess. I’d probably return it but I’d have a lengthy and explicit conversation with the SM about how it was handled. There should be some accommodation made, and a box of chocolates wouldn’t cut it for me.
 
I just spotted to the manager who was pretty short with me.
He said it’s legal “at Hermes” to get the charge you more.
Basically at H, the customer is always wrong and beyond the law.
I will just bring it back and it’s no big deal but I am disappointed by the way they handled this. The worst is being so insistent on making me pay more or getting the other piece that I don’t like as much when it’s their mistake.
I’m so sorry you have had this experience. Feels like a let down and I’m disappointed in how it was handled by the SM. I expected far better from Hermes.
 
Thank you all!
Well we shall see when I return the necklace but I am not holding my breath. Madison has always been an « arrogant store » to me. My SA came from Meatpacking and I switched back to that store with him.
I do like him at least.
Anyhow, I will be in Paris in a couple of weeks where I have an appointment with my amazing SA at FSH. It’s always so much more pleasant there.
 
Top