Please help! Dooney Florentine Satchel quality issues... :(

Hi everyone,

I have been a long-time lurker around the forum, but I have just encountered some disappointing quality issues and would love some input from you ladies.

I live in Canada, and very disappointed to have discovered several hardware tarnish issues with the O-rings on my Brand New Florentine Small Satchels. One in the color strawberry and one in red. Strawberry satchel was bought around October last year and the red satchel recently in early June. I couldn't return them because they both passed the return/exchange limit at the store. I mainly focused on the leather at the time of purchase (evenly pebbled, or smooth throughout), I totally didn't notice the tarnish until I have "turned" the rings because it was hiding underneath the leather before.

Just when I was planning to do a reveal video on youtube, I noticed that there are defects on my NEW Florentine red satchel. I was shocked, so I went on to check my other Florentine bags and realize the Florentine strawberry satchel also have the same problem. I then turned to the reviews on the Dooney website and was surprised to see other consumers have had the same issue.

These manufacturing defects on these brand new satchels are just unacceptable. Please see pictures. The original plastic wraps are still on the bag!! :crybaby::crybaby::crybaby::crybaby::crybaby:

The issue here is, I feel it is really unfair if Dooney requires me to pay from my pocket to return their defective item back to CT. Because shipping from Canada to US insured and trackable is unreasonably expensive.

So I would love to ask for your input of your experience with how Dooney usually handle returns/issues with their quality? Anyone here lives outside of US had any experience dealing with Dooney with their defects? I've read some horror stories on here of the terrible customer service experience you ladies had with Dooney. I am so disappointed and unsure what to do at this point! I have emailed them hoping they will have a reasonable resolution.

strawberry 1.JPG red 1.JPG red 2.JPG
 
I'm so sorry you are having these problems. I don't have much experience with Dooney regarding repair of items. The 2 items I sent they said could not be repaired. But my first thought was maybe you can remove the tarnish. I'd start with a polishing cloth, maybe one made for brass, and see what happens. If it's really just tarnish, and on the surface, you should be able to remove it.
If the cloth doesn't work, there are liquids, but be very careful not to get anything on the leather.
Another thought, remove all the plastic from all your leather bags as soon as you get them. The plastic traps fumes and these might be interacting with the finish on the hardware.
Good luck.
 
I'm so sorry you are having these problems. I don't have much experience with Dooney regarding repair of items. The 2 items I sent they said could not be repaired. But my first thought was maybe you can remove the tarnish. I'd start with a polishing cloth, maybe one made for brass, and see what happens. If it's really just tarnish, and on the surface, you should be able to remove it.
If the cloth doesn't work, there are liquids, but be very careful not to get anything on the leather.
Another thought, remove all the plastic from all your leather bags as soon as you get them. The plastic traps fumes and these might be interacting with the finish on the hardware.
Good luck.

Thank you for your input :smile: I just tried using a polishing cloth but it didn't come off :hrmm:

Upon inspecting it closely, it looks like the "brushed gold" color came off, revealing a dark silver rusty color underneath. Some areas feels smooth, whereas some areas feels rough to the touch. The shiny gold O-rings (dillen satchels) have no such issue. I also discovered that my salmon florentine satchel (brushed gold O-ring) also have discolored a little, but it is relatively minor comparing to my strawberry and red. Salmon was not covered in plastic but still have such problems, so I doubt the plastic wrap caused these issues. The salmon was purchased more than a year ago though... so it is definitely not covered :sad:.

I just removed the plastic off the red satchel to try to clean with a polish cloth, but no use. So I'm going to leave the plastic on for the Strawberry, so Dooney can see these are brand new unused items that I am having issues with. I've read from other posts before that Dooney customer service sometimes blame their quality issues on their customer, so I want to minimize the chance of them giving me the excuse that their quality issue was mine :annoyed:.
 
I also have a florentine bag that has this issue on the handle orings. It is on the ring where the leather wraps. It is not as bad as yours but I fear that it may get worse. I have yet to use the bag. It was purchased somewhat recently from TJMaxx. It still has the tags on it. It did not come with the plastic wrapping. The bag is stored in its dustbag in a cool, dry area.

My best guess: It is a reaction resulting the metal being under the leather. The moisture from the leather is trapped where the handle attaches to the bag causing a corrosion. The brushed gold finish is just that......a finish or coating. I have yet to check other bags but I hope it is the only one. I do know that it is an older bag because it has the leather key keeper even though it was purchased within the last year. The trouble is, we don't know how long these bags are sitting on a ship or in a warehouse where time sittting stored in plastic can only exacerbate the reaction. So, is it due to long storage under wraps, poor quality oring, poor finishing, a bad batch? Who really knows but it is something for us to keep an eye on. Please let us know if you get any info from Dooney.
 
YD: since you bag still has the tags on it, if you want you can take it back to TJM. They may not give you a refund, but if you have your receipt you will probably get at least store credit. TJM is usually pretty good about these things as long as you have a receipt.

It's disturbing that this is happening. A recent Dooney purchase of mine had something on the o rings... a white substance. But it rubbed right off. I wonder if it was some chemical that eventually would have caused the o rings to discolor and tarnish?
 
Ugh, how disappointing. I don't know why handbag manufacturers don't use solid brass hardware like they used to do. I guess I need to check my Florentine satchels and see how they are holding up.

Frankly, I don't expect much from Dooney's "customer service." OP, did you register your bags? They should stand behind the 1-year warranty.
 
I also have a florentine bag that has this issue on the handle orings. It is on the ring where the leather wraps. It is not as bad as yours but I fear that it may get worse. I have yet to use the bag. It was purchased somewhat recently from TJMaxx. It still has the tags on it. It did not come with the plastic wrapping. The bag is stored in its dustbag in a cool, dry area.

My best guess: It is a reaction resulting the metal being under the leather. The moisture from the leather is trapped where the handle attaches to the bag causing a corrosion. The brushed gold finish is just that......a finish or coating. I have yet to check other bags but I hope it is the only one. I do know that it is an older bag because it has the leather key keeper even though it was purchased within the last year. The trouble is, we don't know how long these bags are sitting on a ship or in a warehouse where time sittting stored in plastic can only exacerbate the reaction. So, is it due to long storage under wraps, poor quality oring, poor finishing, a bad batch? Who really knows but it is something for us to keep an eye on. Please let us know if you get any info from Dooney.

Hi YD! You are right, the brushed gold finish is just some sort of coating. Definitely not brass rings like the vintage dooneys. Although my salmon satchel have the same issue with the o-rings, I could still "hide" it underneath the leather wraps because it is not a very large area. But the strawberry and red is very visible, I also worry that it will get worst since the corrosion "process" have started before I even used the bag! :sad:

I am guessing the cause of this corrosion problem must be somewhere along defective o-ring (poor finishing/bad quality) + bad batch. Will definitely post updates from Dooney once I get a reply!!
 
YD: since you bag still has the tags on it, if you want you can take it back to TJM. They may not give you a refund, but if you have your receipt you will probably get at least store credit. TJM is usually pretty good about these things as long as you have a receipt.

It's disturbing that this is happening. A recent Dooney purchase of mine had something on the o rings... a white substance. But it rubbed right off. I wonder if it was some chemical that eventually would have caused the o rings to discolor and tarnish?

I agree that this is truly a very disturbing experience. I bought many Dooneys over many other brands for 2 reasons - their timeless style and craftsmanship. But slowly bit by bit I can see that their quality and parts are getting cheaper, can't withstand normal use (or no use!!), plus their infamous customer service, I really don't know if they are worth my money anymore. :hrmm:

Maybe it is the chemical they used to treat the leather caused the o-rings to tarnish and corrode, maybe they did not wait for the chemical to thoroughly dry up before attaching the o-rings and handles, maybe the concentration of chemical used on these bags were higher than normal causing the issue. Since not all of my brushed gold o-rings have the same issue, then I assume it must be a certain batch of o-rings/bags that was exposed to the many possible factors creating this issue. I am for sure not the first customer who have issues with tarnished hardware, perhaps Dooney took time to investigate and figured out what the issue was and fixed it, perhaps they never did find out and the problem went away naturally (or not!).
 
Ugh, how disappointing. I don't know why handbag manufacturers don't use solid brass hardware like they used to do. I guess I need to check my Florentine satchels and see how they are holding up.

Frankly, I don't expect much from Dooney's "customer service." OP, did you register your bags? They should stand behind the 1-year warranty.

I know right? For the price of their bags, they could surely afford brass hardware. They used to be able to afford normal metal feet (instead of plastic feet), leather key keeper, interior pocket leather trims, solid brass hardware before they increased their product prices. So now they are charging more but can't provide us the quality they used to give?

I didn't register my bags yet, I still have the registration cards for both bags though. Since I live in Canada, I never really bother to mail it in since I never had an issue. But I can surely show/send the two registration cards to them. Both were bought within the year so they should definitely stand behind their warranty.

The problem is, if I live in the US, they could easily provide some sort of pre-paid return shipping label for me to mail it back to them for an exchange or repair, but I am in Canada. Although they sell to Canadian customers, they do not have a properly developed return policy in place or information available pertaining the details of exchange/repair/return for non-US customers.

I have a feeling that there will be alot of frustrating back and forth correspondences with their CS. This is not what I signed up for when I spend money to buy a bag :crybaby:
 
I have never returned a damaged item to Dooney, but for regular website returns they do not provide any shipping label. It is on the customer to provide return shipping. I think I remember reading that someone who returned a damaged bag was able to get their return shipping costs refunded from Dooney, though. (But I believe they had purchased directly from Dooney.)
 
I have never returned a damaged item to Dooney, but for regular website returns they do not provide any shipping label. It is on the customer to provide return shipping. I think I remember reading that someone who returned a damaged bag was able to get their return shipping costs refunded from Dooney, though. (But I believe they had purchased directly from Dooney.)

I think it is reasonable for the customer to pay return shipping if they changed their mind/no longer want the item. But if the item is damaged, it makes no sense to have the customer return the product with manufacturing defects (in fact, brand new bag in my case). It also makes no sense if Dooney does not refund return shipping cost for defective items just because the item was purchased at major department stores like Nordstrom/Bloomingdales instead of directly from them. If this is true, Dooney is basically punishing the customer for their defective product.

This is why eBay refund buyers the full purchase fee including the original shipping, as well as return shipping fee if the item was damaged/not as described. Because the notion of "customer pays return shipping even if the item is damaged" is utterly flawed.
 
Normally if a defective item is purchased from a department store, it is returned to that store as well. Have you tried to return the bags (as defective) to the store(s) where they were purchased? I hope this works out for you.
 
Normally if a defective item is purchased from a department store, it is returned to that store as well. Have you tried to return the bags (as defective) to the store(s) where they were purchased? I hope this works out for you.

Thank you MB! I did not try to return the bags to the store, because the Strawberry was bought last October and the red one have also passed the 30 day return. I really hope Dooney can work out something with me. Otherwise, I'll just have to look for innovative ways to fix it myself :frown:.
 
Uncertain: MB, raises a good point. Better stores will stand behind their merchandise for longer than 30 days. Generally discount stores stick to the return policy date. But if you have your receipt, it would be worth a try to contact the store to see what they will do for you. Even if you can't get a refund, maybe a store credit will be offered.
 
Uncertain: MB, raises a good point. Better stores will stand behind their merchandise for longer than 30 days. Generally discount stores stick to the return policy date. But if you have your receipt, it would be worth a try to contact the store to see what they will do for you. Even if you can't get a refund, maybe a store credit will be offered.

Thanks LJ! I am still waiting for Dooney's response to repair the bag under waranty, rather than losing the bag. Hopefully it'll work out :sad: