My opinion of Hermes is changing...

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#196
I am new at buying Hermes. It only started a year and a half ago. Quality and service is the most important things for me when paying so much for luxury goods as H charges.

My first visit to the local store was not as pleasant as I would have wished for. My first visit was on a really hot summer evening, shortly before closing. The store was crowded with tourist and it was the sale season. My belief is the SA was really tired and I´m glad I did not give up on the store but went back. All other times (which have been numerous since then) I have received excellent service. Since I don´t live close by they have kept an eye out for items for me and put them aside for me to pick up later. They could easily have sold them to someone else and it makes me feel like a valued customer.

Regarding quality so far everything has been fine but I baby all my things so I have not used them so much. I have no older items to compare quality with. Regarding skunk, it has been gloomy weather ever since buying my orange Kelly in togo a month ago (R stamp) so have not been able to do a sun test. My new K wallet also bought 4 weeks ago is in chèvre and I´ve not heard about quality issues with that leather. But as soon as the sun comes out I´ll test all leather items because they are all Q or R stamped (bracelets and belt). I hope they turn out ok.
I can´t afford to spend so large amounts on items that does not last a long time.

I feel for those of you who have had quality issues. It is not acceptable with the current price tags.
 
#197
heifer said:
I'm relatively new on this forum, but I've been following and reading all of your posts for quite some time now - and I want to put my two cents in, and share my recent experience with the brand.

Lat month I bought a bag from H.com and started to wear it immediately. After 4 days of using the bag, the seam on the left hand side of the edge of the bag, (which usually is sealed by resin) started to peel off and was split in two. The front panel and the facing panel of the bag were visibly divided on a certain spot! I took the bag back to the store, were it got fixed. Deluded the problem was fixed, I started to use the bag again and after 2 days of being fixed the problem reappeared. I then brought the bag back again to the store, they couldn't offer me a replacement bag because apparently that model in that colour and leather combination is out of production for this and the coming season, they didn't want to give me any sort of refund because they wanted to send the bag, back for quality control inspection and it would've taken them 1,5 to 2 months time span to check and get back to me. Luckily enough, I met a nice SA who introduced me to the Manager and she understood the situation and they offered me a store credit.

Nonetheless, I still love the brand but it appears to me that over the time and the increasing amount of costumers, that they might have lost some bits of quality of the years...
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I'm really sorry to hear this.

Actually when I first got my garden party - maybe 8-9 yrs ago - 2nd night I went to open the snap closures to get something out of the bag and then tried to close the snaps again. Only to realise one side of the snap came off the bag.

Maybe this isn't really a quality issue but I don't expect parts of my bag to break so close to purchase.

I took it back to store and expected an exchange or refund. The manager said it had to be sent to Paris to get repaired. I said no way, knowing it would take forever to come back. I demanded an exchange explaining this shouldn't happen with a new bag.

Sales manager gave in. Not cos she was sorry this happened but bc she didn't want to deal with me anymore.

I've been careful with the snaps ever since and each time I unsnap them I hold my breath...

Though I must say that the GP has been my workhorse over the past 8-9 years... So the quality is there.

Sometimes it's less about the quality issues and more about how it's dealt with by H's ppl that leaves a lasting poor impression...
 
#198
heifer said:
I'm relatively new on this forum, but I've been following and reading all of your posts for quite some time now - and I want to put my two cents in, and share my recent experience with the brand.

Lat month I bought a bag from H.com and started to wear it immediately. After 4 days of using the bag, the seam on the left hand side of the edge of the bag, (which usually is sealed by resin) started to peel off and was split in two. The front panel and the facing panel of the bag were visibly divided on a certain spot! I took the bag back to the store, were it got fixed. Deluded the problem was fixed, I started to use the bag again and after 2 days of being fixed the problem reappeared. I then brought the bag back again to the store, they couldn't offer me a replacement bag because apparently that model in that colour and leather combination is out of production for this and the coming season, they didn't want to give me any sort of refund because they wanted to send the bag, back for quality control inspection and it would've taken them 1,5 to 2 months time span to check and get back to me. Luckily enough, I met a nice SA who introduced me to the Manager and she understood the situation and they offered me a store credit.

Nonetheless, I still love the brand but it appears to me that over the time and the increasing amount of costumers, that they might have lost some bits of quality of the years...
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This just feeds into my theory that the bags they sell on H.com are the leftover stores can't sell
 
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#200
**Chanel** said:
VigeeLeBrun, I have been thinking the same. I always had a preference to get my bags straight from the boutique. But now I am seriously considering if I should look for an older Kelly from a reputable seller.
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Chanel, having read the saga of your Kelly quest, I would definitely recommend going the vintage route! I never thought I would buy a bag that wasn't new from the boutique, but now I have two vintage Kellys and they both feel so special. Definitely worth considering.
 
#201
Nahreen said:
I bought a K wallet in chevre on H online. Sorry but I don't think it was there because it did not sell in the store.
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On occasion there are jewels but most of the time the leather goods are blah. They never seem to order the newer colors (or use the actual color names). I do like the scarf selection though. But enough of the beige SLGs and bags.
 
#202
IMHO, it's not the brand that's changing... but rather the stores.

My wife and I have shifted our Hermes store for one simple reason: SERVICE.

Hermes was all about the absolute best service you can get when buying quality luxury products. But their corporate stores have grown so used to new customers who would buy everything with little to no service that the SAs simply stop offering it all together to everyone.
 
#203
Nahreen said:
I bought a K wallet in chevre on H online. Sorry but I don't think it was there because it did not sell in the store.
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Totally agree with you. The people who work there, freely admit that demand exceeds supply and they try to increase output and keep the quality, a very delicate balance. That's why there is so much shortage of stock and is hard to find exactly what you want in the boutiques. One thing about vintage, is that anything made in the 60s or before was usually much better quality, not just hermes but most brands. That's just how it is, the world was a different place.
 
#204
ladysarah said:
Totally agree with you. The people who work there, freely admit that demand exceeds supply and they try to increase output and keep the quality, a very delicate balance. That's why there is so much shortage of stock and is hard to find exactly what you want in the boutiques. One thing about vintage, is that anything made in the 60s or before was usually much better quality, not just hermes but most brands. That's just how it is, the world was a different place.
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+1. Quality is changing throughout the society. Long lasting is not what companies make money on these days.
 
#205
Nahreen said:
+1. Quality is changing throughout the society. Long lasting is not what companies make money on these days.
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I recently came along this video on youtube, where they were interviewing staff at the workshop in France. For a fragment of time, you can spot on the background a craftsmen sewing up parts of the Birkin's side panels with a sewing machine - even their watches are not saddle stitched, everything is done by machine... I do not want to question nor criticise the manufacturing of the products - I've always been a great admirer of the brand and still am, but I've started to be put off by the way SA deal with matters like this. I've had both great and disappointing services, but I'm sorry, if I'm spending my hard earned money for XY at H I expect their products to be in pristine condition, and not to be defected 4 days after the purchase
 
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#206
heifer said:
I recently came along this video on youtube, where they were interviewing staff at the workshop in France. For a fragment of time, you can spot on the background a craftsmen sewing up parts of the Birkin's side panels with a sewing machine - even their watches are not saddle stitched, everything is done by machine... I do not want to question nor criticise the manufacturing of the products - I've always been a great admirer of the brand and still am, but I've started to be put off by the way SA deal with matters like this. I've had both great and disappointing services, but I'm sorry, if I'm spending my hard earned money for XY at H I expect their products to be in pristine condition, and not to be defected 4 days after the purchase
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Would you please post the link to that video? :flowers:
 
#209
azenis said:
IMHO, it's not the brand that's changing... but rather the stores.

My wife and I have shifted our Hermes store for one simple reason: SERVICE.

Hermes was all about the absolute best service you can get when buying quality luxury products. But their corporate stores have grown so used to new customers who would buy everything with little to no service that the SAs simply stop offering it all together to everyone.
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Hermes has been continuously changing.... Brand, stores, quality, styles, leathers, colors, clients, Sas, and well, how could it be otherwise when this Maison is almost 200 years old ?

Actually this thread is called : " MY OPINION OF HERMES IS CHANGING...", and of course it's all about sharing subjective reasons....;)
 
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#210
perlerare said:
Here is another reason for Hermes making me change my opinion about the brand....
DEFECT....
That's a new word in the World of Hermes....and I don't really like it. :nogood:
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agree. i don't like it all. it is no longer a new word in the H world. it is a very common word. i inspect all items myself before i leave the store..
so definitely my opinion of H is going rapidly downhill with all their defective goods everywhere from silks to leathers to their disastrous website
 
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