Maintaining an H relationship

[papertiger]

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

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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.

 

[acrowcounted]

I would really appreciate some advice regarding how to move forward with my Hermes relationship.

In 2020 I moved to Spain part time and met the perfect SA. He offered me a Kelly within 6 months of meeting, made my dog the store phone wallpaper, was always happy to order things in for me and responsive through WhatsApp. I spent a lot in the next two years with him, until he retired. At the time he retired I was in Canada for 6 months helping a sick relative so my account was not transferred.

Now I have a new SA at the boutique. She does not respond over WhatsApp. She is warm in person, but never recommends items and won’t order things for me outside of what’s available in store. I’ve continued to spend at the store, but no offers. Most recently she reserved a pair of pants for me and then never called to let me know they were in.

The store is very small with a limited number of SAs. I feel like I can’t switch again. I’m thinking about refocusing my store spend to Paris because I live half the year in Spain and the other half in a country with no boutique. Has anyone tried this with any success? I miss having a dedicated SA.

Check out the Paris thread. Many tpfers have very successful long term long distance relationships with an SA in Paris. Good luck.

 

[880]

I’m thinking about refocusing my store spend to Paris because I live half the year in Spain and the other half in a country with no boutique

Comfort matters especially when items cost this much money. Why not try paris, and if you are more comfortable shopping with a particular SA there, then that is your answer. Parisian SAs will respond to some foreign clients via WhatsApp, but they have to feel tis worth their while. (Not only in the monetary sense, but in chemistry and comfort level). In some cases, these SAs will order items, but from reading TPF, the level of service of which you are accustomed, is becoming a bit harder to find. Part of that may be increased demand and diminished supply for everything, from shoes to RTW, not just bags. I will say that if you do not go to Paris regularly, and if your spend is minimal, it may not be any easier for a new client than your home store. TPF members on the Paris thread have posted that Parisian SAs may encourage customers to focus their efforts at a home boutique. JMO, though.

 

[WhiteBus]

I would really appreciate some advice regarding how to move forward with my Hermes relationship.

In 2020 I moved to Spain part time and met the perfect SA. He offered me a Kelly within 6 months of meeting, made my dog the store phone wallpaper, was always happy to order things in for me and responsive through WhatsApp. I spent a lot in the next two years with him, until he retired. At the time he retired I was in Canada for 6 months helping a sick relative so my account was not transferred.

Now I have a new SA at the boutique. She does not respond over WhatsApp. She is warm in person, but never recommends items and won’t order things for me outside of what’s available in store. I’ve continued to spend at the store, but no offers. Most recently she reserved a pair of pants for me and then never called to let me know they were in.

The store is very small with a limited number of SAs. I feel like I can’t switch again. I’m thinking about refocusing my store spend to Paris because I live half the year in Spain and the other half in a country with no boutique. Has anyone tried this with any success? I miss having a dedicated SA.

It is important that your new SA is warm towards you in person.
It is not unreasonable to expect to be informed when something brought in for you is in store.
However you might be expecting too much too soon with regard to Whatsapp messages.
Address your disappointment in person when you next meet before you decide to transfer to Paris.
I am sure you can find a way to ask.

 

[Kisa]

Check out the Paris thread. Many tpfers have very successful long term long distance relationships with an SA in Paris. Good luck.

Thanks so much I am on my way to check it out.

Comfort matters especially when items cost this much money. Why not try paris, and if you are more comfortable shopping with a particular SA there, then that is your answer. Parisian SAs will respond to some foreign clients via WhatsApp, but they have to feel tis worth their while. (Not only in the monetary sense, but in chemistry and comfort level). In some cases, these SAs will order items, but from reading TPF, the level of service of which you are accustomed, is becoming a bit harder to find. Part of that may be increased demand and diminished supply for everything, from shoes to RTW, not just bags. I will say that if you do not go to Paris regularly, and if your spend is minimal, it may not be any easier for a new client than your home store. TPF members on the Paris thread have posted that Parisian SAs may encourage customers to focus their efforts at a home boutique. JMO, though.

From Spain it would be quite easy to get to Paris regularly. I am not sure I will reach the level of spend to become a valued customer there. My home stores are Marbella and Toronto. Marbella is very small but overwhelmed with aggressive tourists in the summer. Previously they took appointments for regulars but now it is a wait to get into the store. Additionally because it is a warm place and holiday destination they do not stock much RTW that interests me. I also think that because I spent so much time outside of Spain caring for my relative they no longer consider me a resident. I have spent about 40k euro in this boutique and more online and Canada. Naturally I shop less the less responsive my SA is. Toronto is a large boutique but very competitive. I was received more warmly in NYC and that’s saying something.

It is important that your new SA is warm towards you in person.
It is not unreasonable to expect to be informed when something brought in for you is in store.
However you might be expecting too much too soon with regard to Whatsapp messages.
Address your disappointment in person when you next meet before you decide to transfer to Paris.
I am sure you can find a way to ask.

I am going to take your advice and give my SA another chance. I reached out to her to inform her I’m back in Europe and can be reached through regular calls and texts at my European number again. I think I will ask her directly in person next time if I should switch my focus to Paris.

 

[shadesofpink]

if you were offered a non-qb while traveling abroad, not Paris, would you wear it to your home store or even tell your home store SA about it? I guess it depends on each person’s individual relationship with their SA. part of me feels like my SA would be excited since shopping online for hard to get things/colors has never been an issue with the rest of my spend, but wondering if anyone else has been in my shoes. would love to hear your thoughts! tysm

 

[acrowcounted]

if you were offered a non-qb while traveling abroad, not Paris, would you wear it to your home store or even tell your home store SA about it? I guess it depends on each person’s individual relationship with their SA. part of me feels like my SA would be excited since shopping online for hard to get things/colors has never been an issue with the rest of my spend, but wondering if anyone else has been in my shoes. would love to hear your thoughts! tysm

I’d wear a bag my SA had gotten me instead, not as an anti-shopping-elsewhere thing but more of a showing you wear what she offers you every chance you get.

 

[shadesofpink]

I’d wear a bag my SA had gotten me instead, not as an anti-shopping-elsewhere thing but more of a showing you wear what she offers you every chance you get.

thanks for your response! this is what I normally do… I suppose it would only be an issue if I ever got an offer for the exact same bag type!

 

[880]

if you were offered a non-qb while traveling abroad, not Paris, would you wear it to your home store or even tell your home store SA about it? I guess it depends on each person’s individual relationship with their SA. part of me feels like my SA would be excited since shopping online for hard to get things/colors has never been an issue with the rest of my spend, but wondering if anyone else has been in my shoes. would love to hear your thoughts! tysm

Yes, but my spend is generally maintained at 5X plus at my US Maison home boutique; I do get 25QB offers there, and I’m picky re accepting them. I also ask my local SA’s opinion before buying anything big in other stores (he and my DH often have better taste and my local SA knows what I have). I find multiple opinions helpful in guiding my decision process. I also only shop at FSH twice a year (with a regular SA), and occasionally in Manila/Singapore, and my local SA knows about both situations. However, I do not shop anywhere else in the US. Neither FSH nor Ny seem to have any issue with QB or non QB, so I believe that the rules are interpreted differently depending on the situation

 

[smoothsailor]

In a similar vein to my last question - when (in terms of time / shopping ) did your current SA feel like the SA for you? Was there anything in particular they did to draw you in as their client?

I work with the SA who gets me the stuff I want.
I don’t shop spontaneously (too expensive to do that and massive remorse if I were to find a more preferred colourway of the same item later), so I like an SA whom I can send my wishlist to before I go in store. Then I just drop by to pick up the items set aside for me.

 

[smoothsailor]

I would really appreciate some advice regarding how to move forward with my Hermes relationship.

In 2020 I moved to Spain part time and met the perfect SA. He offered me a Kelly within 6 months of meeting, made my dog the store phone wallpaper, was always happy to order things in for me and responsive through WhatsApp. I spent a lot in the next two years with him, until he retired. At the time he retired I was in Canada for 6 months helping a sick relative so my account was not transferred.

Now I have a new SA at the boutique. She does not respond over WhatsApp. She is warm in person, but never recommends items and won’t order things for me outside of what’s available in store. I’ve continued to spend at the store, but no offers. Most recently she reserved a pair of pants for me and then never called to let me know they were in.

The store is very small with a limited number of SAs. I feel like I can’t switch again. I’m thinking about refocusing my store spend to Paris because I live half the year in Spain and the other half in a country with no boutique. Has anyone tried this with any success? I miss having a dedicated SA.

I would suggest you not to take it personally. From the start of this year or late last year, my SAs hardly hunt down stuff for me anymore (could be only my own experience). The stores wants to cater more stock for walk in customers. I think it makes sense because there were so many walk in but the stores did not have much stock to sell.

Additionally, new to me SAs probably won’t make a lot of effort to transfer stuff because they don’t know if I am fickle minded. My previous SA who knows my shopping style well knows I will take the item 99.9% of the time I requested for it.

 

[haute okole]

Yes, but my spend is generally maintained at 5X plus at my US Maison home boutique; I do get 25QB offers there, and I’m picky re accepting them. I also ask my local SA’s opinion before buying anything big in other stores (he and my DH often have better taste and my local SA knows what I have). I find multiple opinions helpful in guiding my decision process. I also only shop at FSH twice a year (with a regular SA), and occasionally in Manila/Singapore, and my local SA knows about both situations. However, I do not shop anywhere else in the US. Neither FSH nor Ny seem to have any issue with QB or non QB, so I believe that the rules are interpreted differently depending on the situation

@shadesofpink My BH SA tends to be quite possessive of me and I would not wear a purse he did not offer me. This is not hard because I obtained all of my bags from my home store. In fact, I, @880 and her DH shopped, strike that, played dress up, at Beverly Hills with my SA and @880 said that she would noT be buying because she does not cheat on her Madison SA while shopping in the US. My SA told me he thought @880 was “so sweet” for being loyal to her SA and thought it was admirable. I don’t shop at the other stores because it is so not fun without my SA.

 

[periogirl28]

I think the advice given is excellent for the current situation. I have never really played by the "rules", but then I do not shop in the USA. I carry whatever bags, whenever, to wherever I shop/ travel/ reside because after a decade and a half of being a customer, I am too old to remember who offered me what, where.

 

[GreenBagsOnly]

I think the advice given is excellent for the current situation. I have never really played by the "rules", but then I do not shop in the USA. I carry whatever bags, whenever, to wherever I shop/ travel/ reside because after a decade and a half of being a customer, I am too old to remember who offered me what, where.

This ^

I totally overthought it for a while in the beginning so I get the concern/question. Then I just decided to be myself and plan my bag with my outfit, not for other people. (And at times, I was unexpectedly in the area of my H store and popped in without an "H bag plan" anyway so all the worry or planning went out the door.)

I always show my SAs that I happliy use/enjoy the bags that I bought from them, but I have also walked in with H bags that I bought H.com or my one bag from FSH. I have only gotten compliments on the bags, have never been chastised/guilted/punished for buying a bag at FSH or on H.com. IF they even care, I figure they can see my profile anyway (they could see my FSH purchase when I was living in Europe and now the US can see all my H.com purchases). Suppose it depends on the SA, but I have not encountered any issues with tihs.

 

[tinkerbell68]

This ^

I totally overthought it for a while in the beginning so I get the concern/question. Then I just decided to be myself and plan my bag with my outfit, not for other people. (And at times, I was unexpectedly in the area of my H store and popped in without an "H bag plan" anyway so all the worry or planning went out the door.)

I always show my SAs that I happliy use/enjoy the bags that I bought from them, but I have also walked in with H bags that I bought H.com or my one bag from FSH. I have only gotten compliments on the bags, have never been chastised/guilted/punished for buying a bag at FSH or on H.com. I figure they can see my profile anyway (or they could see my FSH purchase when I was living in Europe and now the US can see all my H.com purchases). Suppose it depends on the SA, but I have not encountered any issues with tihs.

I have a lovely SA from whom I purchased a B30 in 2022 and while she's offered me various other bags, I have yet to purchase another from her. However, I have three bags from Paris (one of which she explicitly told me to take), a vintage K, a B35 from Fashionphile and an aging Herbag and I carry whichever bag works with my outfit of the day. I also have numerous scarves, many of which my SA sourced for me, but not all. I don't have the energy to worry overmuch about whether I'm wearing/carrying something that she found for me and I think she's okay with it...she continues to order stuff for me and offer me bags so...

 

[smoothsailor]

if you were offered a non-qb while traveling abroad, not Paris, would you wear it to your home store or even tell your home store SA about it? I guess it depends on each person’s individual relationship with their SA. part of me feels like my SA would be excited since shopping online for hard to get things/colors has never been an issue with the rest of my spend, but wondering if anyone else has been in my shoes. would love to hear your thoughts! tysm

Doesn’t matter for non quota bags. It’s not like your SA have an abundance of it for your selection anytime you want. I have been shopping at a certain store for 3 years and been with 2 SAs. Both of them could not offer me a mini Evelyn. I got one elsewhere and just happily wear it to the store.

Another store SA told me bags don’t count. So it doesn’t matter.

I think non quota bags don’t matter because you can get it anyway as walk in customer if the store happen to have it available for you. For quota bags, it could be a giveaway of betrayal. Lol….it could mean you were pre spending on other stuff elsewhere to get the offer.

The only impact to you would be that your home store SA do not offer you a quota bag. So, if you don’t really care about the offer, don’t worry about it. But if you do, just avoid carrying pre spend items and quota bags not purchased from that SA.