Maintaining an H relationship

[papertiger]

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

If you find it very hard to ignore certain people, please feel free in adding them to your 'Ignore' list.

For advice on how to obtain a B/K/C please go to the reading room in the Reading Room The Newbie's HOW DO I GET A BIRKIN (or other bag) Reading Room

For advice on how to shop at your local store please do a search in Hermes Shopping sub-forum and look for your store/region/country.

 

[jbeans]

The SM approves bag offers, not the SA. The company line is to always encourage sales whenever they can but it will work against you at your home store when your SM brings up your profile to consider a bag offer. (“Yes, its ok to shop elsewhere on vacation” is the same morally grey answer as “sorry, zero bag stock”). If you are looking for “easiest” path to bag acquisitions, it’s just not worth it IMO but to each their own.

+100. The SA will encourage you to do whatever makes you happy; it's not their job or priority to make sure you get a QB. The SM cares about the boutique's gross sales, so you can deduce what matters most when SMs get a long list of customers who are waiting for QBs.

 

[mamakay]

The SM approves bag offers, not the SA. The company line is to always encourage sales whenever they can but it will work against you at your home store when your SM brings up your profile to consider a bag offer. (“Yes, its ok to shop elsewhere on vacation” is the same morally grey answer as “sorry, zero bag stock”). If you are looking for “easiest” path to bag acquisitions, it’s just not worth it IMO but to each their own.

Yes I was quite surprised by the answer and it’s not that I planned on doing it. When I told my SA I was in vegas but didn’t even bother to go in because id rather buy with her, that’s when she said no you should visit and buy if you find something. I agree with you, if you are looking for a qb, I wouldn’t venture out of home boutique

 

[acrowcounted]

Yes I was quite surprised by the answer and it’s not that I planned on doing it. When I told my SA I was in vegas but didn’t even bother to go in because id rather buy with her, that’s when she said no you should visit and buy if you find something. I agree with you, if you are looking for a qb, I wouldn’t venture out of home boutique

Sometimes I wonder if SAs are actively trying to get people to mess up their profiles so it relieves them of the pressure of offering a bag since they all have way more clients than bags available.

 

[in_mybag]

All super helpful! I'm not going to risk it then - not only do I not want to mess with my profile, I also really value the SF store and my SA. Not worth it at this point...

 

[mamakay]

Sometimes I wonder if SAs are actively trying to get people to mess up their profiles so it relieves them of the pressure of offering a bag since they all have way more clients than bags available.

Haha yes my goodness that could definitely be a possibility. I also wonder if it’s just easier to be like sure go ahead shop wherever you want. It would be hard to have a “no you should shop exclusively with me” type of conversation

 

[_kiki119_]

Yes I was quite surprised by the answer and it’s not that I planned on doing it. When I told my SA I was in vegas but didn’t even bother to go in because id rather buy with her, that’s when she said no you should visit and buy if you find something. I agree with you, if you are looking for a qb, I wouldn’t venture out of home boutique

it really depends on which SAs! No SAs can tell you not to shop and buy things from another boutique! but I agree with what @acrowcounted said! SM needs to approve it and they don't know or care what your SA has said to you. i mean why risk it?

my home store is LV and my SA encouraged me to check out the newly renovated store at Wynn to check out the store design and tuff, but she also nudged me to tell her if there is anything I liked from the store to give her an opportunity to source for me. after that I just always check with her first, even items on .com. I always want to give her chance to help me first.

 

[acrowcounted]

it really depends on which SAs! No SAs can tell you not to shop and buy things from another boutique! but I agree with what @acrowcounted said! SM needs to approve it and they don't know or care what your SA has said to you. i mean why risk it?

my home store is LV and my SA encouraged me to check out the newly renovated store at Wynn to check out the store design and tuff, but she also nudged me to tell her if there is anything I liked from the store to give her an opportunity to source for me. after that I just always check with her first, even items on .com. I always want to give her chance to help me first.

During the reopening weekend for the crystals store a few years ago, I was window shopping in another LV boutique when I overheard an SA tell their client something along the lines of “sure go check out the new store but just so you know, the SM of this store is actively looking for clients of ours that buy something over there this weekend to cross them off our lists” Same city/district competition is the most fierce.

 

[mauihappyplace]

I never know what to do about vacation shopping. I have an uncommon shoe size so my store rarely has it… my SA tries to think ahead of what I might be interested in So that the store can plan ahead but she tells me to grab shoes when I see them. I am pretty regular shopper but I do wonder if I should just forgo the shoes altogether because charge sends are not really a good option either … thoughts?

 

[acrowcounted]

I never know what to do about vacation shopping. I have an uncommon shoe size so my store rarely has it… my SA tries to think ahead of what I might be interested in So that the store can plan ahead but she tells me to grab shoes when I see them. I am pretty regular shopper but I do wonder if I should just forgo the shoes altogether because charge sends are not really a good option either … thoughts?

If your goal is to get bags with minimal spend, then yes you should only use your SA. However, your profiles are significant enough to probably make a shoe purchase here and there inconsequential. Like many aspects of life, money can help overlook “bad behavior”.

 

[mauihappyplace]

If your goal is to get bags with minimal spend, then yes you should only use your SA. However, your profiles are significant enough to probably make a shoe purchase here and there inconsequential. Like many aspects of life, money can help overlook “bad behavior”.

Thanks. A few years ago I was offered a C18 Matte Marine from Madison Ave. (My absolute favorite color). At that time I really didn't understand how Hermes worked. I emailed my SA to discuss the offer, bc of course I preferred to get it from her. She was out of town and my SM answered that I should get the bag because they could not tell me if they would ever get the bag etc...I decided to decline the bag from Madison. 2 weeks later the C18 showed up in my store with my name on it. I was so glad that I declined the Madison Ave offer. It funny it's easier to be patient with bags(sort of) but shoes really seem to disappear quickly.

 

[_kiki119_]

During the reopening weekend for the crystals store a few years ago, I was window shopping in another LV boutique when I overheard an SA tell their client something along the lines of “sure go check out the new store but just so you know, the SM of this store is actively looking for clients of ours that buy something over there this weekend to cross them off our lists” Same city/district competition is the most fierce.

wow! i haven't thought about SM would espeically checked for that. that's nice to know.
I didn't even end up checking the Wynn store, i was too impatient to wait in line lol

 

[_kiki119_]

Thanks. A few years ago I was offered a C18 Matte Marine from Madison Ave. (My absolute favorite color). At that time I really didn't understand how Hermes worked. I emailed my SA to discuss the offer, bc of course I preferred to get it from her. She was out of town and my SM answered that I should get the bag because they could not tell me if they would ever get the bag etc...I decided to decline the bag from Madison. 2 weeks later the C18 showed up in my store with my name on it. I was so glad that I declined the Madison Ave offer. It funny it's easier to be patient with bags(sort of) but shoes really seem to disappear quickly.

wow! i applaud you for your restraint.. and so glad your patience paid off!

i second your comments about shoes... that's the same for with RTW, I am always interested in getting more RTW but US Hermes rarely carries enough stock in my size OR always hold for some VVVVIP.

 

[880]

Thanks. A few years ago I was offered a C18 Matte Marine from Madison Ave. (My absolute favorite color). At that time I really didn't understand how Hermes worked. I emailed my SA to discuss the offer, bc of course I preferred to get it from her. She was out of town and my SM answered that I should get the bag because they could not tell me if they would ever get the bag etc...I decided to decline the bag from Madison. 2 weeks later the C18 showed up in my store with my name on it. I was so glad that I declined the Madison Ave offer. It funny it's easier to be patient with bags(sort of) but shoes really seem to disappear quickly.

Lol, I’m the opposite I was on the fence about an FSH K25 offer bc it had ghw. My home SA was on the phone urging me to get it (he promised to be available in real time, and home stock was super low). If he had said, hey, I don’t think you will ever wear GHW, i would have refused it. My FSH purchase had zero impact on subsequent local offers, BUT my local prespend is generous 5X++ (I stopped counting). I also have enough BK that I’m not exactly pressuring my local SA for bags. In fact, I don’t know what to ask for next; I simply trust him to let me know when something perfect comes along.

If one’s primary purpose is to get QB by X date and spend the minimum, i advise following the advice of @acrowcounted , esp. post #6502 above.

ETA: I intensely dislike vacation shopping. i will only do it for a few pieces of FSH RTW, unavailable by transfer or search into my local store, and I am 100% up front about that.

 

[kerebear]

I was at my local boutique on Sunday and while in conversation with my SA he asked if i was still interested in a pair of sneakers that i had been asking about since Feb when i first started shopping with him.

I guess they had finally received stock, but i informed him that i had purchased the ones i wanted online since whenever i had asked if the store had them/were going to get them soon, or if they could be ordered he said that the store had no idea when they would receive them and no other surrounding stores had them at the time.

I was kinda nervous to say i got them online based on the general consensus that buying online can negatively affect your SA relationship. Also when i first started shopping with him and i mentioned H.com he basically said it’s better to text him if i want something to be ordered or just come into store. So i took those hints lol.

However, i was surprised that he actually was happy that i was finally able to get the sneakers that i wanted because the stock situation is so uncertain. I was also surprised that he didn’t already know that i had bought the sneakers from my profile.

This makes me think that maybe my online orders can’t be seen by him since i think my email for my in store profile and my online account are different. Does anyone know if that is the case or if it’s the same because my phone number on both accounts is the same?

 

[Culoucou]

Shady practices? People who are VVICs that treated well, when they are notorious for flipping merchandise or selling other items they purchase to build their profile to get the coveted bags. That's shady.

It can be very disheartening to see a lot of people getting offers and flipping (this can happen especially in poorly managed stores).

However, I would just like to say that those clients are not the real VVIPs. To be honest, I think there are clients who genuinely love the brand and may very very occasionally re-home some items if they find it isn't that useful or they simply have SO MUCH stuff they need to move some old items along. However, for them to flip bags would be a big loss, because their spend ratio is so high.

I say this, because I am a client who doesn't focus on spend ratio and buy lots of things. I think the general effect is that your profile becomes very strong, and you are able to eventually attain very special bags (the rare collectible sort).

Anyhow, I think no matter how much you think you've bought or spent at the store, it is often only a very little amount. I remind myself all the time that I'm only a small fish in a very big pond (at my local store). What I spend in a month may be what some clients spend in a year... but then again, what I spend in a year may be what other clients spend in a month! The SAs/SM don't owe us anything, and can only note our request (a request which would be one amongst thousands).

I feel that the factors at play include:
1. Time - how old the account is
2. Spend - overall profile spend, and the regularity of it
3. Relationship - with SA, with SM, with the store overall
4. Timing - when your profile is just right, when the right bag is available. the stars align.