Have been working with current SA for a years and got one QB. However, during the whole process I was not very comfortable working with him. Couple things -
1. not very responsive on texts
2. the SA has his own rule of what I can buy to be considered as pre spending. I have friends shopping in the same store but they never heard these rules from their SAs.
3. Never gave bags that are in my wish list (or even close to my wish list. e.g. I said I want a Kelly 25 (no preference on color and hardware) and was offered a birkin 30 and he didnt tell me until I arrived the store (I live 2.5 hours drive away from the store)
4. Kept telling me my pre-spending is very low compared to other customers (actually my pre spending ratio is 1+).
Anyone has any thoughts on how to change a SA in the same store?
Ok, I’ll give it a go -
1. As has been mentioned throught this forum recently, many SA’s simply don’t have time to reply to the overwhelming number of texts they receive every day they are at work and, incentivized by the current Hermes business model, they prefer to assist customers who are physically in the boutique.
2. The SA has whatever rules they think will generate a ‘yes’ when they ask the SM if they can offer you a given bag. Those rules are very likely to be specific to the SA’s client portfolio. So if the amount you’ve spent at the boutique is less than other clients in your SA’s portfolio,
no matter what that amount is, you may or not move up to the top of the list, depending on what you’re looking for and what everyone else is looking for.
3. While I agree it would be a bit off-putting to drive 2.5 hours expecting to take a look at a Kelly and then be offered a Birkin, that’s really only a problem if you were clear at the outset that under no circumstances would you ever even consider a bag other than a Kelly; most people are more flexible. Also, you didn’t mention whether your SA gave you any idea what you were going to see, so its hard to determine if there’s a real issue here. And finally on this point, the SA may well have had a Kelly to offer you but someone more important (by whatever metric you want to use) may have come in before you or instead of you.
4. ’Pre-spend’ is an unfortunate term because as I understand it, it only has meaning in some Asian countries where it is more explicitly used as a metric. As you didn’t mention where you shop I’ll just note that my perspective is from shopping in the US and from reading other posts from shoppers in other areas.
And so, at the end of the day you’re free to do whatever you want that will make your shopping a pleasant experience, as luxury shopping should be. If you want a Kelly 25 right now, the reseller route is available to you; pay a lot of money, get it authenticated, and get exactly what you want. If you want the boutique experience, ‘patience’ is the name of the game. And I might add that since you’ve already received one Birkin, Kelly or Constance (or other style considered a ’QB’ in your boutique) many on this forum would consider you quite lucky.
If, to answer your direct question, you want to switch SA’s, go in when your SA isn’t there, and work with someone else (and keep your expectations low because you won’t really have any way to determine where you stand in the new SA’s list of clients either).
Hopefully others will chime in and correct me if I’ve been off base or truly incorrect but I hope my answers will be of some help even though they many not be exactly what you wanted to hear.
