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.

 

[addiCCted]

I’m curious to the impact of buying a few things from the website because it’s available and u might not get it in store but also maintaining regular store purchases for the SA relationship?

Agree with @Letter. My sa also told me to get hard to get items online bc she may not be able to get it for me. She did not say it would affect the store profile.

Going to another PHYSICAL store though could.

 

[FaubourgTropical]

No impact. Every reasonable SA knows that sometimes online purchases need to be made.

Everyone is free to shop however they want but if you really care about putting your profile in the best light for coveted item acquisition, the smart thing to do is not to risk it.

Wow! A cautionary tale, thanks for sharing. It raises an interesting point about buying a NQ bag online and potentially upsetting the SM vs requesting a NQ bag from the SA and potentially delaying your QB offer.

Without discounting the great value of the advice, I would say that context matters. It is all very highly dependent on geography and culture and whatnot. Examples are not statistics and would be better taken with bushels of salt.

Reality is there are stores, SMs, SAs that prefer to ensure that customers get what they want rather than clocking on spend, helping store commissions etc even if that means buying during travels, online etc.
Certainly the case with me in Europe.

Therefore, the view that one buys what one wants, from wherever is also valid. Even if the end goal is acquisition of popular bags.

 

[drvogue]

You should buy what you like when its available. But lets be honest, theres always something available that you would like!

Spreading out purchases in my opinion doesn’t mean ingratiating yourself to the SA. It just allows more opportunity for your SA to get to know you. It’s more important in the beginning when you’re just starting your relationship.

Even if you drop $10-15k on your first visit, your sa will hardly remember you if you never go back in a short amount of time. Some of us on this forum have the means to drop $10-15 k every visit. If that’s you great. If not, it might be advantageous to spread it out if one has somewhat of a prespend budget. That’s all.

Once you and your sa have established a relationship. Ie she actually knows who you are amongst her sea of clients. Then go ahead. Drop the 10-15 k and not see her for a while. She’ll still remember you.

Excellent advice, thank you! I had forgotten about the Hermes game for a very long time when I decided to jump back in and saw that things had changed. This is such a fascinating topic for me, not just from a fashion perspective but also sociological, psychological and anthropological...

 

[addiCCted]

Excellent advice, thank you! I had forgotten about the Hermes game for a very long time when I decided to jump back in and saw that things had changed. This is such a fascinating topic for me, not just from a fashion perspective but also sociological, psychological and anthropological...

Isn’t it!? Good luck on your next wishlist bag! ❤️

 

[WhiteBus]

I’ve given this example before but before my first Birkin (so a number of years ago but still relevant I think) there was a Twilly release that was crazy popular for the time. It was the brides de gala Love Twilly and it came in a special heart shaped Twilly box. I had asked my SA for them and they told me that they had so many requests that they wouldn’t be able to get them for me. I was a newish client so I understood. One day I saw them pop up online so I bought one. Fast forward a month later, I shopped in person with my SA and they heavily implied that I’d be called soon for my first Birkin offer. A few days later I get the call and go back to the store. My SA offered me the perfect color B30…and then spent five minutes telling me how hard they had to fight for me and how they should have been able to call me a couple of days sooner but the manager was really upset with both me, and my SA for allowing it, for buying the Twilly online. They said I was “this close” to losing out on the bag offer and to “please never do that again for both our sakes”. Everyone is free to shop however they want but if you really care about putting your profile in the best light for coveted item acquisition, the smart thing to do is not to risk it.

did you really believe that?
if what you were told was 100% true, that is very disturbing
how could your SA have 'allowed' you to buy online;
how could she be blamed for, or let alone know for what you were doing in the privacy of your own home to be in a position to prevent it

the worst aspect of this is that your store was not in a position to sell you the special twilly, so you did not deprive it of a sale

it is not as if the store had made a special effort to source one for you and that because you had bought one elsewhere, its effort had been wasted; in any case if that item were in such demand it could have made another client very happy

p.s. your SA was telling you off and effectively threatening you

 

[Megalace]

I asked a simple question about why the advice is usually "spread your purchases", I've read it countless times on here. I'm not sure how we got to "tacky" from there, I don't think it's an adjective any fashion lover or any person for that matter would like to be associated with.

In certain countries, they will not offer you a bag unless you have been a customer for a certain period of time. As a result, in some places, spreading your purchases out rather than a large one time purchase is important if you are interested in bags specifically.

 

[Logic]

I’ve given this example before but before my first Birkin (so a number of years ago but still relevant I think) there was a Twilly release that was crazy popular for the time. It was the brides de gala Love Twilly and it came in a special heart shaped Twilly box. I had asked my SA for them and they told me that they had so many requests that they wouldn’t be able to get them for me. I was a newish client so I understood. One day I saw them pop up online so I bought one. Fast forward a month later, I shopped in person with my SA and they heavily implied that I’d be called soon for my first Birkin offer. A few days later I get the call and go back to the store. My SA offered me the perfect color B30…and then spent five minutes telling me how hard they had to fight for me and how they should have been able to call me a couple of days sooner but the manager was really upset with both me, and my SA for allowing it, for buying the Twilly online. They said I was “this close” to losing out on the bag offer and to “please never do that again for both our sakes”. Everyone is free to shop however they want but if you really care about putting your profile in the best light for coveted item acquisition, the smart thing to do is not to risk it.

Thanks for sharing, interesting experience which I can sort of relate though mine was a non QB from the website which I bought in Nov last year. I’ve been purchasing at my home store every month up to Jan then had a break in which I received an email from my SA as a gentle nudge to come in store, this was late April. I made purchases then on the way out was gently reminded if I’d like to ‘work’ on my Kelly then I shouldn’t shop on the website and come in store more regularly.

 

[Bdbunny]

one of my prior SAs told me that the prior SM of the store (who I personally was not a fan of anyways) dinged one of her clients for a bag because she saw that the client purchased something on the website. That client had to then come in and buy something else from the store before she was subsequently approved for the bag. My old SA thought it was really silly.

I have also had mixed reactions from SAs when I show them stuff I've snagged online. One of my SAs is usually excited for me if I am able to grab a cute pegase and such online, but another one was annoyed and said, "I could've gotten that for you!" And in my mind, I thought, really? cuz you didn't! And actually I believe I said that out loud too lol.

 

[addiCCted]

one of my prior SAs told me that the prior SM of the store (who I personally was not a fan of anyways) dinged one of her clients for a bag because she saw that the client purchased something on the website. That client had to then come in and buy something else from the store before she was subsequently approved for the bag. My old SA thought it was really silly.

I have also had mixed reactions from SAs when I show them stuff I've snagged online. One of my SAs is usually excited for me if I am able to grab a cute pegase and such online, but another one was annoyed and said, "I could've gotten that for you!" And in my mind, I thought, really? cuz you didn't! And actually I believe I said that out loud too lol.

I wish I can simultaneously give you a sad face, a wow and a lol face emoji.

 

[acrowcounted]

Thanks for sharing, interesting experience which I can sort of relate though mine was a non QB from the website which I bought in Nov last year. I’ve been purchasing at my home store every month up to Jan then had a break in which I received an email from my SA as a gentle nudge to come in store, this was late April. I made purchases then on the way out was gently reminded if I’d like to ‘work’ on my Kelly then I shouldn’t shop on the website and come in store more regularly.

Yep, its just the reality of the situation. Every store is in competition with each other and that includes the website as its own individual store. I was fiercely loyal to my SA after that and he was the best SA I ever had. I got a dozen BKC (size 25 and below) from him and four special order spots and never spent more than a few thousand prespend between bags. He also told me during that chat that he didn't care about the twilly himself, it was all the SM.

People can be mad that the game exists and sabotage others' with poor advice all they want but belligerently playing against your own best interests to spite "the system" is just silly and only hurting yourself. H has plenty of clients that will play by their "rules" so if one doesn't feel the need, H wont miss them. Anyway, Ill restate my signature here to be clear: all my advice is focused on the USA market specifically and tuned to “best practices” for those in search of a coveted bag offer.

 

[nikotama]

Without discounting the great value of the advice, I would say that context matters. It is all very highly dependent on geography and culture and whatnot. Examples are not statistics and would be better taken with bushels of salt.

Reality is there are stores, SMs, SAs that prefer to ensure that customers get what they want rather than clocking on spend, helping store commissions etc even if that means buying during travels, online etc.
Certainly the case with me in Europe.

Therefore, the view that one buys what one wants, from wherever is also valid. Even if the end goal is acquisition of popular bags.

Very eloquently put! I greatly respect and value advice from @acrowcounted and @Helventara. I am a relatively new H customer and shop in the US. Back in March, during my shopping appointment I mentioned to my SA that I had loved a coat I saw on the website and would love to get it. SA said the coat was not in store and they were going to transfer it for me from another boutique. During my next visit a month later, SA said the transfer could not be possible. I requested a charge send so I could buy it from the other store but that was unsuccessful as well. It just so happens that I am traveling internationally and spending time in Montreal. I saw that the coat was available on the Canadian website in my size and ordered it online to pick up from the Montreal store. My SA knows this and said they were happy for me to get it from Canada since all attempts to get it through them were unsuccessful. A week later, I was shopping with SA and they said that they may have a wishlist bag (kelly) for me while I was traveling and would contact my husband about it. The bag offer hasn't happened yet but it was brought up a week after we discussed me getting the coat online in Canada. I hope the coat example showed my SA that I am not buying things just to get a bag offer but that I genuinely love/want other H merchandise and will do my best to first get it through my SA/store!

 

[FaubourgTropical]

I have also had mixed reactions from SAs when I show them stuff I've snagged online. One of my SAs is usually excited for me if I am able to grab a cute pegase and such online, but another one was annoyed and said, "I could've gotten that for you!" And in my mind, I thought, really? cuz you didn't! And actually I believe I said that out loud too lol.

This is also my experience. I am not a big enough client for SAs to think of me each time something that I like comes. So if they don’t reserve for me, too bad. I buy somewhere else. If anything, it shows my SAs that I am serious. If I want something, I will get it.

People can be mad that the game exists and sabotage others' with poor advice all they want but belligerently playing against your own best interests to spite "the system" is just silly and only hurting yourself. H has plenty of clients that will play by their "rules" so if one doesn't feel the need, H wont miss them. Anyway, Ill restate my signature here to be clear: all my advice is focused on the USA market specifically and tuned to “best practices” for those in search of a coveted bag offer.

We all try to share our experiences here and no advice is poor or sabotaging. The point is, context is important especially when people do not follow the thread closely so that one can 'tailor' the maintenance advice to their own situations. Thanks for the additional info.

 

[drvogue]

Thanks for sharing, interesting experience which I can sort of relate though mine was a non QB from the website which I bought in Nov last year. I’ve been purchasing at my home store every month up to Jan then had a break in which I received an email from my SA as a gentle nudge to come in store, this was late April. I made purchases then on the way out was gently reminded if I’d like to ‘work’ on my Kelly then I shouldn’t shop on the website and come in store more regularly.

LOL on the euphemism: "working on the Kelly". I need to remember that...

 

[acrowcounted]

Very eloquently put! I greatly respect and value advice from @acrowcounted and @Helventara. I am a relatively new H customer and shop in the US. Back in March, during my shopping appointment I mentioned to my SA that I had loved a coat I saw on the website and would love to get it. SA said the coat was not in store and they were going to transfer it for me from another boutique. During my next visit a month later, SA said the transfer could not be possible. I requested a charge send so I could buy it from the other store but that was unsuccessful as well. It just so happens that I am traveling internationally and spending time in Montreal. I saw that the coat was available on the Canadian website in my size and ordered it online to pick up from the Montreal store. My SA knows this and said they were happy for me to get it from Canada since all attempts to get it through them were unsuccessful. A week later, I was shopping with SA and they said that they may have a wishlist bag (kelly) for me while I was traveling and would contact my husband about it. The bag offer hasn't happened yet but it was brought up a week after we discussed me getting the coat online in Canada. I hope the coat example showed my SA that I am not buying things just to get a bag offer but that I genuinely love/want other H merchandise and will do my best to first get it through my SA/store!

Your SM wouldn't have seen the coat purchase when approving the Kelly since different countries are on different profiles. I'm solely talking about making purchases at other place on the same single profile. If its not on your same store profile, it wont have a (big) effect. (Unless your SA really digs and wants to be petty.)

 

[Letter]

I also think timing matters. Shopping post Covid is a new beast.