Maintaining an H relationship

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Please focus on the title of this thread rather than each other, TY

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If you go into a store and request an item, only to be told that it is not in stock there, I see no reason not to accept an offer to have one transferred as often as that might happen.
It should not be your concern how the process is carried out if it is offered to you.
You are paying a high price for anything in a luxury store to cover the cost of providing services such as this. That is one of the things that luxury is.

However I think it would be inappropriate to go into any store (Hermes or otherwise) and say, 'I know you don't have this, but I know it's available from X store. Could you have it transferred for me?'

It is important who initiates the idea of transfer.

If you want an item and your preferred store cannot provide it, buy it elsewhere.
There is no point in going without just to preserve some misconstrued concept of loyalty.
 
If you go into a store and request an item, only to be told that it is not in stock there, I see no reason not to accept an offer to have one transferred as often as that might happen.
It should not be your concern how the process is carried out if it is offered to you.
You are paying a high price for anything in a luxury store to cover the cost of providing services such as this. That is one of the things that luxury is.

However I think it would be inappropriate to go into any store (Hermes or otherwise) and say, 'I know you don't have this, but I know it's available from X store. Could you have it transferred for me?'

It is important who initiates the idea of transfer.

If you want an item and your preferred store cannot provide it, buy it elsewhere.
There is no point in going without just to preserve some misconstrued concept of loyalty.

Thanks for your response. I never mentioned to the store that I knew the item was in stock elsewhere. In the end I just went and bought it myself.

There were multiple instances where I asked Store A about an item, but they didn’t have it in stock and didn’t offer to get it transferred from elsewhere / order it in. I asked Store B about the same items and they offered to transfer it / order it in for me. I have shopped longer and have a larger purchase history with Store A than with Store B so not sure what their rationale with transferring items is.
 
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Thanks for your response. I never mentioned to the store that I knew the item was in stock elsewhere. In the end I just went and bought it myself.

There were multiple instances where I asked Store A about an item, but they didn’t have it in stock and didn’t offer to get it transferred from elsewhere / order it in. I asked Store B about the same items and they offered to transfer it / order it in for me. I have shopped longer and have a larger purchase history with Store A than with Store B so not sure what their rationale with transferring items is.
I assume you are asking this question under the pretense that you are building a relationship toward a quota bag (its my understanding that that is the entire point of this thread and advice should be given accordingly). With that in mind, you should only be shopping at one store with one SA. Yes, it is more trouble to transfer an item in than to sell one from current available local stock, but transfers are still part of the SAs typical duties so I would not hesitate to ask for the service (and the SA should appreciate the resulting commission). Some stores play more nicely with other stores, and some items are considered “too hot” to be available for transfer, so if a transfer wasn’t immediately offered from your SA, it is likely that they know the item would be declined for transfer from the other store so they don’t even want to bother. And some SAs are just lazier than others or have a larger client base and are easily meeting their sales goals and just don’t want to be bothered with transfers. In the end, if you want the item and a transfer is offered by your SA definitely take them up on it.
 
THANK YOU for saying this! Otherwise, what's the point of a thread titled, "Maintaining a H relationship"? :smile:

I agree that that is true.
This thread should have been named "Maintaining a H relationship to get a quota bag."

This is at it's worse when posts proport to show patronising concern that a client's purchasing decisions are made so that an SA can get the benefit of commission from transactions.
As it stands, the title reflects a basic dishonesty of denial that it is fundamentally about how to ingratiate yourself with your SA to get preferential treatment.
 
Hello guys! I used to buy some stuff from H store, but most of the time they did not have the items in stock, so my SA has just send it to me. I paid for those items at the store and one time online by the link. I was wondering, are those purchases count towards quota bag? After reading some posts, I’m confused now.
 
Hi everyone. Was wondering if anyone knows how transfer of items works between stores? Does the store that requests the item from another store have to ‘trade’ it for something else? Trying to figure out if transferring items is a hassle for the store or if it’s no big deal, and if it should be avoided to request too many transfers.

I get that you should try to stick with one SA and one store, so am I correct in thinking that if they don’t have an item available it’s better to transfer it to your home store rather than going to the other store that has stock and purchasing it yourself there? Although what adds to the confusion is sometimes my SA will offer to transfer an item for me, but sometimes they won’t offer to even though I know another store in the same city has it in stock.
I’ve asked for items before not available in my store and my SA has offered to get it transferred for me. She didn’t seem concerned.
 
Just for the sake of sharing… a lot of you might be aware of this but I visited my SA yesterday and we were chatting and I asked her, have you been busy? She was like, “yes, as always:-)”. I asked more follow up questions like: “so what takes most of your time?” She said, “I like my job but I get tired of saying the same things over and over again both to the customers in store and to my customers through text messages.” I asked, “is it ‘handbag’ talk?” And she said, “oh my gosh!!!!! Yes!!!” People keep badgering me about birkin - kelly - birkin - kelly - birkin - kelly!! It’s nice when I have customers that come to the store to visit and chat without asking for bags all the time. I get around 15 to 20 clients per month. And they all want a bag now. It doesn’t work that way. So I end up with one client staying long term and wanting to develop a relationship.”
 
Just for the sake of sharing… a lot of you might be aware of this but I visited my SA yesterday and we were chatting and I asked her, have you been busy? She was like, “yes, as always:smile:”. I asked more follow up questions like: “so what takes most of your time?” She said, “I like my job but I get tired of saying the same things over and over again both to the customers in store and to my customers through text messages.” I asked, “is it ‘handbag’ talk?” And she said, “oh my gosh!!!!! Yes!!!” People keep badgering me about birkin - kelly - birkin - kelly - birkin - kelly!! It’s nice when I have customers that come to the store to visit and chat without asking for bags all the time. I get around 15 to 20 clients per month. And they all want a bag now. It doesn’t work that way. So I end up with one client staying long term and wanting to develop a relationship.”
Great honest feedback form your sa! This proves you have a wonderful relationship with them :)
I would hate to be in those shoes… so repetitive and tiring :)

i could’ve been one of those ppl but i am glad i found this forum to learn the proper way and etiquett
 
Just for the sake of sharing… a lot of you might be aware of this but I visited my SA yesterday and we were chatting and I asked her, have you been busy? She was like, “yes, as always:smile:”. I asked more follow up questions like: “so what takes most of your time?” She said, “I like my job but I get tired of saying the same things over and over again both to the customers in store and to my customers through text messages.” I asked, “is it ‘handbag’ talk?” And she said, “oh my gosh!!!!! Yes!!!” People keep badgering me about birkin - kelly - birkin - kelly - birkin - kelly!! It’s nice when I have customers that come to the store to visit and chat without asking for bags all the time. I get around 15 to 20 clients per month. And they all want a bag now. It doesn’t work that way. So I end up with one client staying long term and wanting to develop a relationship.”
That is great feedback for those of us waiting for a bag :angel: I just watched an old Sex and the City episode where Samantha is told to wait for 5 years for a Birkin. Wow! Keeps everything in perspective.
 
Great honest feedback form your sa! This proves you have a wonderful relationship with them :smile:
I would hate to be in those shoes… so repetitive and tiring :smile:

i could’ve been one of those ppl but i am glad i found this forum to learn the proper way and etiquett
Yeah, it might be challenging. They might be perceived, by the majority, as a pathway to a bag. Unfortunately, that’s how they made the system to work. It’s hard to get out of that mindset when we must have a relationship with the SA to get a bag. I think at the end of the day she is trying to get into the sweet spot of being seen as a person, develop some relationships that will help customers to get the bag, receive commission for items that are not leather items, and also have a relationship that doesn’t make them sound like a robot all day. “Sorry I don’t have a birkin. Sorry I don’t have a birkin. Sorry I don’t have a birkin.”:whut::whut::whut::whut: It’s tough if we think about it. So many hoops to jump through from both sides
 
I have to say I love my primary SA. We talk about all kinds of things - her kids, her previous jobs (she came from Prada, before) the characters who come into the store (in the abstract) and things that I have going on at work, etc. over the pandemic I spent a great deal of time on a boat because I ended up getting stuck in the South Pacific when borders closed, and we had an hour long chat about boat life :cool:

The store is in possibly one of the busiest tourist areas in the world and I really appreciate that she always remembers what bags I have, what colors I like, etc. She loves to talk scarves and we spend hours trying on all the scarves.

I don’t make any mistake - she is not my friend, she still has something she wants me to buy - but I find her pleasant to be around and we enjoy our chats. I don’t always buy anything, and I try not to waste her time, but we have a good mutual respect going on.
 
I have had relationships with 3 different SAs at 3 different locations in the US and they all complained about the same thing: “people walking to them asking for bags non-stop.” One of them said: “I kid you not, I will punch the wall next time someone asks me for a birkin.” LOL. She said, “it’s so refreshing to talk to customers about the brand and the items they love without always being fixated on talking about a birkin all the time.” This is a catch 22 in my opinion because the brand caused this fixation and the SAs are caught in that crossfire. So my 2 cents, if we want a bag we will need discernment to listen to what the SA is saying. They are communicating that we take our eyes from the bag for a little bit and look around. With Hermès I am learning that although we want the “bird” pretty badly the process is not always about the “bird.” And I think that applying that insight wisely will help a lot of us in the long run. Happy shopping to all!!!!
 
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