Is Chanel worth the price tag and/or snooty assistants or are we all lemmings?

G

glambagmissy

Member
Jun 22, 2008
38
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#1
In summary, I put forward two questions:

1) Is having a Chanel really worth the ridiculous prices, or are we just tolerating unacceptably greedy behaviour from K Lagerfeld & Co by putting up with the prices and continuing to buy these bags? Is any bag worth >£2k?

2) How committed are you to expecting a great shopping experience when buying a Chanel, or anything else? For the money you are parting with, do you expect a good overall experience, too ie helpful and polite assistants, answers to your questions etc? Would a bad shopping experience deter you from buying?

(A bit of background, if you're interested :smile: )
I'm at the point where I am questioning whether it is worth buying a Chanel any more. Would it bring me the style I thought it would? I'm not sure: in buying a bag I am encouraging greedy behaviour (by Chanel) more than buying style. Chanel's price hikes are ridiculous and far exceed the real worth of the bag; I am sure style can be achieved for less,it is not in a label.

Also, how much is a Chanel worth, and what does having a Chanel mean? Is it worth putting up with a crap shopping experience which leaves you feeling rubbish and ignored at the hands of useless shopping assistants (no comments, Chanel Heathrow Terminal 3...). I have experienced this, and it has soured my excitement at owning a Chanel so much that this,combined with the ridiculous price, is making me say thanks but no thanks. I think we can look fabulous and have style without having to have a Chanel, and in fact Chanel, through its greed, is losing its connection with female aspiration and style...The double CCs may as well be replaced with £ and $ signs...

Sorry, this is long but I have been thinking about this and it's also late at night :weird:. And I am disillusioned with the 'dream' of having a Chanel bag.

What are your thoughts, bag lovers?
 
#3
I've to say, maybe I have been lucky, all of the chanel SA I've met are all super friendly to me! help me to find hard to find pieces, take photos and email them to me, they treated me very nicely. so I can't complain in that dept.

But the prices are reallllyyyyy getting too expensive for regular people like us to get any of their stuff.....
 
#4
Well, I definitely think style has NOTHING to do with Chanel. Carrying a Chanel bag doesn't automatically make you stylish, IMO... I've seen many textbook examples of this. To be honest, I have a lot of bags, but have dramatically slowed down my new bag purchases in the past two years. Paying 2x the price for a bag I already own isn't quite so appealing and ever since the last price increase, I've had a hard time wrapping my mind around the prices in general. 4K for a bag is NEVER happening for me.

As for SAs and snootiness, I haven't experienced it as much, but it pisses me off so much. You'd think a person in the service (key word!) industry would realize that good customer service is of the utmost importance. I mean really, wth! It is what it is though. I will always love Chanel, but plan to pick and choose my battles more wisely... that's all. :smile:
 
#5
1) Is having a Chanel really worth the ridiculous prices, or are we just tolerating unacceptably greedy behaviour from K Lagerfeld & Co by putting up with the prices and continuing to buy these bags? Is any bag worth >£2k?

To me, it's the same question between buying a BMW or Kia-it's for the name, and of course a better quality. Both name and quality is still worth it in my book, Chanel classics lasts for decades, and I can see myself using the flaps 30 years down the road.

2) How committed are you to expecting a great shopping experience when buying a Chanel, or anything else? For the money you are parting with, do you expect a good overall experience, too ie helpful and polite assistants, answers to your questions etc? Would a bad shopping experience deter you from buying?

Every SA is different, there has only been 2 or 3 sub standard services I've received from the 4 years I've been collecting. Bad shopping experience will only deter me from spending money at that boutique, but not Chanel over all for as long as I still see value to it.
 
#6
I can see why you are frustrated. I believe there are some very classy Chanel bags that although over priced I wouldvstill buy. There are also some newer designs like the fabric camera bag this season which I literally burst out laughing when told it was over 1000 GBP, luckily I had an extremely nice SA who smirked too.

On to your question about SA's, I will not buy from an SA with attitude. Very luckily this has not happened to me often in Chanel in the UK. That said it can be hit and miss in the Slone Street store, so I usually stick with Selfridges and Bond St which have lovely staff.
There is no excuses for poor customer service so don't accept it, if you still want to make the purchase move on to another SA.
 
#7
fieryfashionist said:
Well, I definitely think style has NOTHING to do with Chanel. Carrying a Chanel bag doesn't automatically make you stylish, IMO... I've seen many textbook examples of this. To be honest, I have a lot of bags, but have dramatically slowed down my new bag purchases in the past two years. Paying 2x the price for a bag I already own isn't quite so appealing and ever since the last price increase, I've had a hard time wrapping my mind around the prices in general. 4K for a bag is NEVER happening for me.

As for SAs and snootiness, I haven't experienced it as much, but it pisses me off so much You'd think a person in the service (key word!) industry would realize that good customer service is of the utmost importance. I mean really, wth! It is what it is though. I will always love Chanel, but plan to pick and choose my battles more wisely... that's all. :smile:
Click to expand...

:tup::tup::tup::tup:
 
#8
1) Is having a Chanel really worth the ridiculous prices, or are we just tolerating unacceptably greedy behaviour from K Lagerfeld & Co by putting up with the prices and continuing to buy these bags? Is any bag worth >£2k?

The price will never be worth it but the allure is well worth it.
 
#9
about the price increase....honestly i think chanel style is very classic and well made but i don't think it's worth 3 or 4K. but where are you going to buy the same quality and design bags w/ a justified price? but i think 2nd hand and vintage chanels are the ones i start to really love...the quality is much better.

in terms of SA....if i get an attitude, i take my business somewhere else. i am lucky in NYC...there's more than just one chanel store and i find dept store SA have better attitudes. i can understand if there's only one store in town, then it can be tough.
 
#10
I don't care if I'm buying a $100 pair of shoes or a $4K bag - I'm not dropping a dime if I get an SA with an intolerable attitude - ever.

As for the price of Chanel ... I just purchased my first Chanel last month and although pricier than other bags I had been contemplating (Ex: Prada), in the end I still went with Chanel because of the fashion endurance factor. If I'm paying $2K+ for a bag, it better be in style for a long time. I'd rather pay $4K for a bag I can wear every season for the next 20 seasons than 2K for a bag that I'll be lucky to get 5 seasons out of. Chanel is one of the only brands who's style is truly ageless.
 
#11
Let's face it, all designer bags are technically over-priced. It really doesn't matter if it is Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Prada etc. A big part of the price tag is the name and the advertising that goes along with the name. I feel like as a consumer it is your choice to buy into it or not. You can buy a made in Italy bag of high quality for a fraction of the price of a Chanel, but there is no name brand attached to it. I wish I could be happier buying bags like this and so does my husband, but there is something very classic and timeless about Chanel and other brands that I am drawn to and therefore I will pay the extra money for it. I think if ethically you think the price is too high, then you would probably only regret purchasing a Chanel, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If, on the other hand, you like having designer bags and can pay for them, then that is fine too. Another comforting thing is that even though these brands are a lot of money, they do retain their value and you can keep them a lifetime if your careful. If you think about that, the bags seem like a better investment!
 
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#13
i agree but i also think as opposed to a random bag in italy that is super high quality the epitome of chanel is the classic flap that has a long history of being the "same" even outside the bigger "brand" this icon has been built, by chanel as a company, and is what we pay for along with the allure of that and the promise that it's a good classic "investment" piece... i use that phrase very loosely, but still my mom and i were looking at her jumbo flap receipt from 2002 earlier today and it was like $1500 or something... o my. she would likely get at least that for her used bag today... truly some sort of "investment", even outside of enjoying the bag! and thankfully i have been blessed with overall positive sa experiences... but some people just might choose to think spending that much $$ on even a bag handmade in france or italy is crazy and that's their prerogative ;)
hellokatiegirl said:
Let's face it, all designer bags are technically over-priced. It really doesn't matter if it is Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Prada etc. A big part of the price tag is the name and the advertising that goes along with the name. I feel like as a consumer it is your choice to buy into it or not. You can buy a made in Italy bag of high quality for a fraction of the price of a Chanel, but there is no name brand attached to it. I wish I could be happier buying bags like this and so does my husband, but there is something very classic and timeless about Chanel and other brands that I am drawn to and therefore I will pay the extra money for it. I think if ethically you think the price is too high, then you would probably only regret purchasing a Chanel, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If, on the other hand, you like having designer bags and can pay for them, then that is fine too. Another comforting thing is that even though these brands are a lot of money, they do retain their value and you can keep them a lifetime if your careful. If you think about that, the bags seem like a better investment!
Click to expand...
 
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