This was my first experience buying something from an actual store (as opposed to online). I don't mean to compare my what I consider bad experiences to anyone else's. I just think that the misinformation and unequal treatment that we witness all the time in these stores is ridiculous -- I'm incredulous that this happens in a store of this level. Any "normal" department store in the United States would operate better than Hermes. And yet...I'm a customer, just like each one of you.
I looked at boutiques in Paris (Faubourg St-Honore), Basel, and Avignon for a Vision II agenda, to no avail. I was pretty open on skin, except I did not want an exotic. I did want it to close with a pen, however. I was treated as terrible as everyone in FSH. Refused to call other stores regarding availability, had to ask him twice to even look in the computer. When he said that he could not call or contact Avignon, he did not bother to explain that it was a franchise. And generally treated my friend and I with contempt. The SA in Basel was as helpful as he could be, and the ladies in Avignon were also lovely.
In Barcelona, I found a barenia in ebene. Yay me. Had the fun experience of watching what appeared to be a Russian oligarch's wife picking up either a Birkin or a Kelly in a green exotic (I think crocodile). They explained very carefully to her what to do at the airport with the customs forms. Then a guy paid for some perfume...this all went on for some time.
I paid and did not get any explanation on the forms. They put all of the documents in the envelope. This means that when I arrived at the airport, I gave all of the forms to the refund booth -- including my invoice, which the store should have put in a separate Hermes envelope. They could have told me to keep it. I've contacted them since then and they sent me a scan. I should ask them to mail it to me.
After I paid for the item in the store, I suddenly realized that I should ask about the leather. This all happened so fast that I did not think to take my time to ask those questions when they actually found one for me. (I had given up in my mind that I would find it on this trip.) I was also not very impressed with what they had to say. Never told me that it was lambskin...just mumbled about patina. Did not mention that it would easily scratch, either.
As I was paying, another woman came in the store, obviously had had a lot of work done. She gets treated very well.
I suppose that I "asked" for it in a sense. My aunt and I had just checked into our hotel after arriving on the train and were walking down Prasseig de Gracia when we saw the store. I thought that this would just be a matter of running in and finding out that this store did not have what I was looking for, either. So I was neither ready to impress nor really even to buy the item.
Barcelona did not have the pen but sent me to another store a few blocks away. This store should have known that no store in the city would have a pen to fit this agenda. It takes a pen that is exactly 5 mm -- and not a smidgen more. I know, because I measured the one stubby pencil that I managed to find in a random Barcelona paper store which fit with a caliper. I found pens that were 5.5 mm -- no go. Secondly, the SA could have asked me how long I would be in Barcelona and then should have looked for it. I was in Barcelona for an entire week -- it was totally doable.
I go back home, far far away from any store. Since I am American, I call Madison Avenue. The SA informs me that Hermes is no longer carrying a pen to fit this agenda and refers me to S.E. Dupont, which made the pen. I scour the S.E. Dupont website; some pens are skinny, but it's impossible to tell what will fit. Then I start looking for dealers in the United States. It's evident that all of them just carry cigar accessories (lighters and that sort of thing). I'm getting frustrated...but at least I have a stubby pencil!
I mistakenly called the Wall Street store, but did not realize it. A nice SA promises to look for the pen, and also promises to call me back (internationally, I might add). She follows through, but I'm driving -- she leaves a message. Then I call the SA back...at the Madison Avenue store. I still don't realize the mistake I made. Madison Avenue is totally confused; the SA on the phone decides that I must have made a mistake on the name. That SA takes a message and promises that the right person will call me back. (Do I have to actually spell it out, that no one ever called me back from Madison Avenue?)
If I haven't lost you yet...then I listen carefully to the message again, and realize that it's the Wall Street store that I called. All is hunky-dory. She needs to receive the refill from Madison Avenue, and then we can complete the sale.
But...did you notice? Madison Avenue insists that the pen is no longer being made and does not try to look for it. How long can it take to look for this item??? And what does it hurt to help a customer? Why tell me a LIE -- that the pen is no longer being sold by the company -- and send me on a wild goose chase all over the world?
My fab SA receives the refill...oh, but it's for the shorter pen (the one on a chain). I will have to stuff something into the top that can give some resistance to the refill so it won't slip into the pen. So, this means that I have to wad up paper or something and stick it in my $330 sterling silver pen to get it to work. Okay.
The pen and the refill have arrived, and I figured out how to bend a paper clip that I've stuck in the top, getting pen ink all over my hands in the process. That's okay too.
Again, I don't mean to compare myself or this situation to anyone else's, but I just want to say that -- although it did not come up in the store -- I am actually in a profession in which I can actually use all of those international timetables, lists of holidays all over the world, and map that came with the agenda refill. I'm going to keep buying these refills for years to come, because I need that information. It's amazingly handy for me. I'm the customer that they want, regardless of my fresh-off-the-train yoga pants look. But it seems that they prefer oligarchs' wives and plastic surgery addicts. That's okay....
I'm so sorry that's how you've been treated... But I was treated the same way in Madison Ave. I was looking casual (and a little sweaty from all the walking in the humid heat) and nobody would give me the time of day. But Wall Street was amazing, I was not wearing anything H, nothing designer either except my bag, but all the SAs were accomodating, even complimented my non-H bag! Even though I went back to both stores before I left NY, I only bought from Wall street again, though the second time Madison paid more attention to me coz there were less customers.