Hot stamping rant

the1kayladawn

the1kayladawn

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Mar 4, 2012
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#1
I don't know if this is me just being OCD and whiney. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I'd love to hear your thoughts. If you think I need to give my head a shake, let me know haha.

I'm a big fan of hot stamping... or I was. I think it's such a beautiful way to personalize an item that will be yours forever and ever and then potentially be an heirloom piece to pass down with a touch of history in the form of your initials.

The last three times I got something hot stamped I was dissatisfied. I am suspecting that there isn't much training on stamping?

On the card case from my old wallet... crooked letter "K". On my hubby's wallet, they didn't wait for the machine to be hot enough, so his initials were very light and barely there. Then just last week I bought the hubby a briefcase, and he wanted his initials on it (he's the kind to never ever sell something like that and use it his entire life), and he thinks personalization is a fancy touch... so got his initials stamped on the leather on the back side of the briefcase. NOT CENTERED. That was a $2600 CAD piece. I'm pretty disappointed. I didn't point it out to him.... but come on.

I don't think I will be doing hot stamping again. I'm way too particular for it I guess.
</End Rant>
 
#2
I had one piece hot stamped (a Rosalie coin purse) because I thought it would be special. Never again. It turned out crooked and horrible. The SA tried to pass it off and wrap it up quickly. But I said no, I don’t want that! Refund me. It was embarrassing but I stood my ground. I would’ve hated looking at it. From then on, never again.
I would be super mad if it was as pricey as the briefcase. So, no, I don’t think you’re overreacting at all. Honestly LV should just stop offering the service, in my opinion.
 
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#4
Ugh right??? She told us it was final sale as soon as she stamped it. I told that to Shawn and he was like “yeah I’m not returning it”. But honestly, it bothers me so much. I look at it every day and it’s not even mine.... but it was a pretty big investment!
 
#6
Many stories of wonky heat stamps. Typically they will replace the item if they mess up, or repair that area. They replaced the chape on my speedy when it was stamped crooked. I only get luggage tags hot stamped now! And I ask for the hot stamp specialist to do it. There is a person who is specifically trained to do them, and then other SAs who aren't trained, but will do them for you. At least that was the case at my store.
 
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#7
I have only gotten my stamping done by each store's stamping specialist. I have come back on a different day if necessary. I used to love the stamps (luggage tags) but now have stopped getting them because there are so many bad stories and because they make it impossible for many to get luggage tags while others are able to buy tons of them and sell them for 5-10x the retail value.
 
#8
I've gotten my agenda pm, bi-fold wallet and Ixia bag heat stamped so far at the Montreal store and they've all been perfect but this was before the place turned into an overrun zoo. Sounds like the universe is trying to send you a message @the1kayladawn ! Might be worth skipping the personalization from now on. Very sad to hear that it happened to your husband's item. If it bothers you or him a lot, it might be worth escalating with the store manager.
 
#9
Well, some stamps are not good. There are quite some examples on the forum. But I do believe that these are still just the fraction of all the stamps they do. Most of them are just fine.
The luggage tags are the easiest, since they have a mold that keeps it perfectly in place. Bags (especially large briefcases) are quite a challenge even for the best of heat stamp specialists. This is why most stores refuse to stamp bags in general, and only stamp a portion of the SLGs, that are easy to stamp. Of course, they should have informed everyone in advance that a bag is risky and only proceed if the client insists.
The other thing that most usually leads to a percepcion of being off is that these letters are set in copper, and they have fixed widths, they cannot be egalized as the digital letters here on TPF. And because of this, the spacing can feel a little too much between some letter-combinations. But since this is the classic Gutenberg technique from hundreds of years ago, it has limitations.
And it is really applied by muscle-force, the depth and quality of the imprint really depends on how strong the particular SA is. As far as I know, they must wait until the machine reaches 175+ C°, they are not allowed to start before that.
 
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#10
JadaStormy said:
Many stories of wonky heat stamps. Typically they will replace the item if they mess up, or repair that area. They replaced the chape on my speedy when it was stamped crooked. I only get luggage tags hot stamped now! And I ask for the hot stamp specialist to do it. There is a person who is specifically trained to do them, and then other SAs who aren't trained, but will do them for you. At least that was the case at my store.
Click to expand...
This is why I love TPF. I had no idea there was a hot stamp specialist! I do want to have a couple things stamped, but now I will know to ask for this person. Thank you!
 
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#11
I've had lots of pieces hot stamped, and they're all pretty much perfect. Once I got a pocket agenda cover stamped and it was terrible, so I told them I wasn't happy and they gave me a new one, with a perfect stamp. I don't think you're overreacting at all, if it's bad you should always say something about it! It may be unrealistic to expect perfection, but crooked/wonky/peeling stamps are not acceptable. The one I refused was all smudged, it looked horrible. They couldn't even have tried to claim that it looked okay. :lol:
 
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#12
BULL said:
Well, some stamps are not good. There are quite some examples on the forum. But I do believe that these are still just the fraction of all the stamps they do. Most of them are just fine.
The luggage tags are the easiest, since they have a mold that keeps it perfectly in place. Bags (especially large briefcases) are quite a challenge even for the best of heat stamp specialists. This is why most stores refuse to stamp bags in general, and only stamp a portion of the SLGs, that are easy to stamp. Of course, they should have informed everyone in advance that a bag is risky and only proceed if the client insists.
The other thing that most usually leads to a percepcion of being off is that these letters are set in copper, and they have fixed widths, they cannot be egalized as the digital letters here on TPF. And because of this, the spacing can feel a little too much between some letter-combinations. But since this is the classic Gutenberg technique from hundreds of years ago, it has limitations.
And it is really applied by muscle-force, the depth and quality of the imprint really depends on how strong the particular SA is. As far as I know, they must wait until the machine reaches 175+ C°, they are not allowed to start before that.
Click to expand...

The spacing isn't the issue, it's where it's placed on the bag. Like it's not centered on the piece of leather where it was stamped. I am pretty confident that if a person cared, they could measure to make sure it was being placed in the middle and not to the left by a quarter inch. I'm no stamping specialist, and I think I could do this with a little bit of math. To me, it was carelessness.

And just because they "must" wait until the machine reaches 175+ doesn't mean that the person DID while stamping hubby's wallet. She even said, "I don't think it was hot enough, that's why it's so faint".

We have to remember these are humans doing this, so if they don't put care and effort into it, they're going to do a terrible job... just like anything. It's not limitations of the process. It's caring to do it properly.
 
#13
boyoverboard said:
I've had lots of pieces hot stamped, and they're all pretty much perfect. Once I got a pocket agenda cover stamped and it was terrible, so I told them I wasn't happy and they gave me a new one, with a perfect stamp. I don't think you're overreacting at all, if it's bad you should always say something about it! It may be unrealistic to expect perfection, but crooked/wonky/peeling stamps are not acceptable. The one I refused was all smudged, it looked horrible. They couldn't even have tried to claim that it looked okay. :lol:
Click to expand...

So glad you've had good experiences. I haven't had a single one be a good experience. I was told in this instance that it was final sale as soon as they stamped it. I dunno. It is what it is, like I said, hubby doesn't notice or care and he's in love with the bag. SO it's just me being a nut job.
 
#15
the1kayladawn said:
The spacing isn't the issue, it's where it's placed on the bag. Like it's not centered on the piece of leather where it was stamped. I am pretty confident that if a person cared, they could measure to make sure it was being placed in the middle and not to the left by a quarter inch. I'm no stamping specialist, and I think I could do this with a little bit of math. To me, it was carelessness.

And just because they "must" wait until the machine reaches 175+ doesn't mean that the person DID while stamping hubby's wallet. She even said, "I don't think it was hot enough, that's why it's so faint".

We have to remember these are humans doing this, so if they don't put care and effort into it, they're going to do a terrible job... just like anything. It's not limitations of the process. It's caring to do it properly.
Click to expand...
This sounds like an awful job. And final sale shouldn't mean that when they take it back for stamping, you'll be stuck with it no matter what. Whenever we got stamped anything (and we had a lot), they showed us the print if we like it and accept it. If yes, from then on, it's a no return final sale. But if they f*ck up, it would be exchanged immediately. So she not just messed up the stamp, but abused almost all corporate policies regarding heat stamps. I am really sorry about that.
 
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