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I am also waiting to buy in store because of the quality issues on these items. The pain of ordering, receiving, and sending back because they can't seem to inspect items before they go out is frustrating to say the least!
Want to share my Cles searching story here since it seems to be a common issue to either not be able to get them (online and in-store!) and once you get them the stitching on the bottom seam seem to have too wide of a gap...
Bit of a long story but here it goes...
Where I am there are 2 LV stores...at first I went in to the big store front one and they only had the Cles in DE (I was searching for Monogram specifically). They offered no service in terms of helping me check other stores' inventory but at the time I was pretty new to shopping for designer items in store so I thought that was just something LV does (or don't do!). Then I made my way to the smaller boutique inside a department store where the host at the door was able to tell me right away that they didn't have any in stock but was able to look up which other stores had inventory and told me that I could call them and pay over the phone and have it shipped to my place free of charge. I was shocked with the difference in service.
Anywhoooo, I managed to get a hold of one of the stores in a different province (I'm in Canada) and they did have the one I wanted. SA on the phone sounded helpful, took down all my info including my cc info, told me after 24hr, which is the time they needed to do a security check on my cc first, the item would be on my way to me...days passed and I did not hear from anyone. No email updates, nothing! I ended up having to call them multiple times before getting through again. This time a different SA answered and told me yes the item is still on hold for me but he isn't sure why the item was never sent out. Told me he would follow up and call me back...shocking, I never heard back from anyone so I ended up calling CS and spoke to different agents 3 times(!!!) before they finally had this resolved. Overall this took I think almost 2 weeks?
The item finally arrived to me. At the time I was not aware of the "Made in France" vs "Made in USA" difference but somehow I had this feeling to look it up and that's when I found a ton of videos of people saying the "Made in USA" ones tend to lack in "craftsmanship" and sure enough mine was Made in USA and had this gap in the seam...I decided to keep it anyway because at this point I was so annoyed and did not want to deal with LV again.
Few weeks later I was back at the LV store with a friend who was shopping and on a whim I asked the SA if they had any Cles in stock, Made in France ones in particular and minutes later she came back with one and told me it was the only one out of the shipment they got that was Made in France. On the spot I took out my Made in USA one and compared them side by side and the Made in France really was perfect. No gap in the seam! The SA told me the gap is perfectly normal and it does not affect the durability of the pouch and even waxed the zipper on mine for me so it opens more smoothly but I knew I had to buy the Made in France one right there.
Maybe it's because I went through so much (annoying) hassle to get the first one that by the time I received it it did not spark any joy and I needed that feeling, the feeling of joy and excitement one should get when buying something precious!
So what I learnt from this is if you are able to go a store, go to a store! Unless you are not as particular about what you get as long as it's an authentic piece. It's a game of chance unless you know a SA super well that he/she can text you upon receiving a shipment. You can also call the CS number on LV's website to have them check which store(s) near you has the item you want in stock but they won't be able to help you purchase the item (at least from my experience anyway).
PS- During this time I was sort of debating whether to just get the 6key holder instead because it was available right there and then and months later I won 1 through an IG contest so now I have both!
Want to share my Cles searching story here since it seems to be a common issue to either not be able to get them (online and in-store!) and once you get them the stitching on the bottom seam seem to have too wide of a gap...
Bit of a long story but here it goes...
Where I am there are 2 LV stores...at first I went in to the big store front one and they only had the Cles in DE (I was searching for Monogram specifically). They offered no service in terms of helping me check other stores' inventory but at the time I was pretty new to shopping for designer items in store so I thought that was just something LV does (or don't do!). Then I made my way to the smaller boutique inside a department store where the host at the door was able to tell me right away that they didn't have any in stock but was able to look up which other stores had inventory and told me that I could call them and pay over the phone and have it shipped to my place free of charge. I was shocked with the difference in service.
Anywhoooo, I managed to get a hold of one of the stores in a different province (I'm in Canada) and they did have the one I wanted. SA on the phone sounded helpful, took down all my info including my cc info, told me after 24hr, which is the time they needed to do a security check on my cc first, the item would be on my way to me...days passed and I did not hear from anyone. No email updates, nothing! I ended up having to call them multiple times before getting through again. This time a different SA answered and told me yes the item is still on hold for me but he isn't sure why the item was never sent out. Told me he would follow up and call me back...shocking, I never heard back from anyone so I ended up calling CS and spoke to different agents 3 times(!!!) before they finally had this resolved. Overall this took I think almost 2 weeks?
The item finally arrived to me. At the time I was not aware of the "Made in France" vs "Made in USA" difference but somehow I had this feeling to look it up and that's when I found a ton of videos of people saying the "Made in USA" ones tend to lack in "craftsmanship" and sure enough mine was Made in USA and had this gap in the seam...I decided to keep it anyway because at this point I was so annoyed and did not want to deal with LV again.
Few weeks later I was back at the LV store with a friend who was shopping and on a whim I asked the SA if they had any Cles in stock, Made in France ones in particular and minutes later she came back with one and told me it was the only one out of the shipment they got that was Made in France. On the spot I took out my Made in USA one and compared them side by side and the Made in France really was perfect. No gap in the seam! The SA told me the gap is perfectly normal and it does not affect the durability of the pouch and even waxed the zipper on mine for me so it opens more smoothly but I knew I had to buy the Made in France one right there.
Maybe it's because I went through so much (annoying) hassle to get the first one that by the time I received it it did not spark any joy and I needed that feeling, the feeling of joy and excitement one should get when buying something precious!
So what I learnt from this is if you are able to go a store, go to a store! Unless you are not as particular about what you get as long as it's an authentic piece. It's a game of chance unless you know a SA super well that he/she can text you upon receiving a shipment. You can also call the CS number on LV's website to have them check which store(s) near you has the item you want in stock but they won't be able to help you purchase the item (at least from my experience anyway).
PS- During this time I was sort of debating whether to just get the 6key holder instead because it was available right there and then and months later I won 1 through an IG contest so now I have both!
The online CS told me they cannot hold an item for me, that’s how I miss the second time. I text them, and they said it’s available at the store. I went next day first thing in the morning, it’s out of stock. I was pretty much not happy. I felt like we are spending few hundred $$ on this small pouch and still had to put so much effort buying it? I told myself that I will try one more time and it’s done, I will buy the Gucci one instead. But I got it the third time.
My first hunt, I get to see it at the store but stitching was very poorly made, so I didn’t take it. It’s a bit frustrating that you are paying for luxury good and still have to check the quality yourself but oh well.. she’s so pretty
I was debating about getting the 6 keys instead of the pouch too, but I do carry only 1 house key and 1 key fob. The 6 keys is a bit more than I need, but they both are so pretty.
but I still think it's a super handy item to have for when I'm just running errands and don't want to carry a purse. Now I'm on the hunt for a MIA in DE as a catch-all so wish me luck lol. PS - went to the store today already and no luck but it is only my first try in store XDThanks!! by chance, do you have a photo of yours? I'm not sure what level of exposed stitching would be considered "decent"
If you get a chance, please share a picture.I have the light shining through with my MIF.
