Hermes Phone Orders
- Thread starter palmbeachpink
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I am wondering what constitutes a phone order and exactly what the new policy is. I live over an hour from my H boutique and I conduct a lot of business over the phone, though I do occasionally see my SA in person. I just received a bag in the mail yesterday. I last spoke with her Saturday and she didn't say a word.
fansynancy said:
You can request items over the phone and they would hold it for you, but you will have to go into the store and pay for it in person. No more paying over the phone, faxing, etc.
They had a corporate conference meeting this past Tuesday to officially confirm this.
it is my understanding that when you take a phone order, credit card companies charge a higher fee to the merchant as opposed to when you actually swipe a card in a machine...could it be something as simple as that?!?
hypothetically on a $5000 order if a CC fee was 2% in person vs 3% on phone order, it would mean a difference of $50 that a merchant has to pay in CC fees.....
and then add in the extra security of an in store purchase........
just my random thought for the day!
^ Of course! Basically, we now have to grovel to be granted the opportunity to fork over our hard-earned money. Not a good way to conduct business. I am crossing my fingers that this new policy backfires on them in a significant way.
Online commerce faces the same risk of credit card fraud that phone ordering does. There is in fact a great chance of fraudulent activity with ecommerce because all purchases are done without credit cards' being physically swiped; at least with phone orders, SAs have met some of the clients in person at least once. I would venture to guess that the H website faces more chargebacks than the brick-and-mortar stores do with phone orders.
^ Yes, merchant account fees may be usually a bit higher when there is no physical act of swiping the credit card. But, a lot of purchasing activity is now going to be diverted to the H website. Ecommerce will have the same or even higher merchant account fees than phone orders will. At least with phone orders you have a signature on file. Credit card fraud is most often perpetrated online, and not by phone. Argh! All of these new policies are maddening.
New wrinkle: Phone orders under $1k and if it's not SLG. Just tested it and it worked.
Any more wrinkles??
Any more wrinkles??
Their website sucks, and it's going to crash often unless they improve it! And they might want to stock it better. They are really acting like it's our privilege to shop there. It's their privilege that we choose to spend our hard earned money there! I'm getting so turned off by this elitist attitude. I hope it backfires on them in a big way. All they are going to accomplish is the reseller jacking up their prices even more. Shopping is supposed to be fun, not complicated. I can go to work if I want more stress!!
I was told that the reason for this new policy is to protect long-standing and good local customers of the local boutique. It appears that with phone orders, merchandise earmarked for that particular store fly off the virtual shelves everywhere else across the country and internationally, so local customers are disadvantaged. That's the official line anyway.
So you can buy a twill, or a mousseline shawl but not a cashmere/shawl by phone? Maybe they will reduce the price of cashmere/silk shawls? Probably when pigs fly.
I do not have a business degree, so far be it from me to go on and on, but I do not understand their business model. I am so turned off right now, I am sputtering.
I do not have a business degree, so far be it from me to go on and on, but I do not understand their business model. I am so turned off right now, I am sputtering.
That sounds like the party line. But it isn't fair to local customers in SoCal where there are a lot of big spenders who the SAs court with the primo bags. All of us who live here and have shopped at Hermes for many years know full well this happens and it is highly annoying. I do not believe Hermes corporate is trying to be compassionate to local customers one iota.
I have never been able to place a SO at BH or SCP and I have spent quite a bit on scarves in both boutiques. The solution in the past has been to cultivate a relationship with another boutique elsewhere- now that option has been extinguished. Frankly, I am not going to beg Hermes to take my money for bags, etc. anymore. I find this kind of business model arrogant and I am not going to participate. FINIS. If I find a random scarf I want while out shopping and running errands, that will be all the money I spend at Hermes.