Treatment in Hermes Stores
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That's not illegal either.
No one is ever required to buy anything from a retailer or a reseller. That's the bottom line. There is a huge after sale market if you can't find what you want in a store. That goes for Hermes, Chanel, LV - everything. I don't understand the reseller hate either. People resell everything ... including customers of Hermes who tire of something they bought. This vilification of resellers mystifies me. And it seems to me that the people most upset seem so because they can't obtain what they want when they want it. Then they turn around and are upset because things are too widely available (like CDC bracelets recently), which they feel affects their own status items and personal sense of exclusivity. So it would seem it's fine if things are exclusive, as long as they are in the exclusive group.
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OMG Veritatem, your story makes me even more convinced that buying a birkin or a kelly in a H shop (not through a reseller) is a total dream to far to reach then!!!!
I just posted my dilemma about buying a b30 bag from a reseller (preloved, not new, just because I love the size and color) ... I wanted to wait and get it from a H shop (I don't have one in my city and my whole country only got 2 H shops in the capital)... I travel often but had never been lucky to score any so far, well only one and very long time ago...
So far the best treatments I received were always from male assistants. In Japan eventhough the ladies were still more polite than any other asian countries, the male assistants were more attentive and tried to be accommodating. There was one time that I didn't even try to get a bag, I just went it because my husband wanted to buy a jacket and after trying several pieces and he still didn't find either the right size or the right style I went up to see the teapots and cups, purchased several cups and some other pieces, I went up again until the bag section. I was just asking idly if they have any small size bag, the female associates would just said No, and that's it she turned her back.
Then I saw a GM rose jaipur evelyn and another assistant served me, a male, and I did try it on and it didn't work for me because it's too big, this assistant actually went inside to see if they had any smaller one available and in the process he managed to get me a 26cm Lindy which I eventually passed because I didn't like the color and the swift leather.
It's actually sadden me that for some of us that wanted the not so particular high end items get the particular not very high end treatment in a very high end shop.
So was my question wrong? Do I have to be specific and ask educated question about what I want? What if I just see something I like and I don't know the name or the style of the scarf or the bag, isn't it their job to educate me as well?
I just posted my dilemma about buying a b30 bag from a reseller (preloved, not new, just because I love the size and color) ... I wanted to wait and get it from a H shop (I don't have one in my city and my whole country only got 2 H shops in the capital)... I travel often but had never been lucky to score any so far, well only one and very long time ago...
So far the best treatments I received were always from male assistants. In Japan eventhough the ladies were still more polite than any other asian countries, the male assistants were more attentive and tried to be accommodating. There was one time that I didn't even try to get a bag, I just went it because my husband wanted to buy a jacket and after trying several pieces and he still didn't find either the right size or the right style I went up to see the teapots and cups, purchased several cups and some other pieces, I went up again until the bag section. I was just asking idly if they have any small size bag, the female associates would just said No, and that's it she turned her back.
Then I saw a GM rose jaipur evelyn and another assistant served me, a male, and I did try it on and it didn't work for me because it's too big, this assistant actually went inside to see if they had any smaller one available and in the process he managed to get me a 26cm Lindy which I eventually passed because I didn't like the color and the swift leather.
It's actually sadden me that for some of us that wanted the not so particular high end items get the particular not very high end treatment in a very high end shop.
So was my question wrong? Do I have to be specific and ask educated question about what I want? What if I just see something I like and I don't know the name or the style of the scarf or the bag, isn't it their job to educate me as well?
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When you coerce somebody of course it is not explicit, but it is coercion nonetheless. That is the whole point of it. Nobody can force me to buy, but if they tell me I must buy XYZ to get what i originally wanted then that is blackmail. I am no lawyer but it is at least unethical if not illegal.
I have 50 people that can tell you which day on which store and which seller said to him...we have proof.
In fact we ahve emails from Hermes that want to speak with us in private.
You know how many people have the following conversations with sellers: We dont have bags but if you buy this and this I think I can offer you a bag already reserved for other client. Its also very common to hear "for 10.000 in other items I can only offer you a normal leather bag"
Well, good luck. Not sure you will be in any better position to be offered merchandise after this.
I admit, I am a little confused about the Madrid store issues due to translation problems. . . It seems someone from within Hermes is offering to sell bags outside Hermes? That would be not okay (the old "It fell off a truck" Birkin 
), but if it's a case of straight reselling--I bought this from Hermes and am flipping it--well, that would be legal. Or is an Hermes employee steering clients to a reseller? 
I do understand why resellers annoy people--when an item appears a day after its launch marked up 200% it IS frustrating--but resellers exist because people buy from them, and people buy from them because this is a service people want. Clearly, these markups are something the market will bear.
And yes, I think it's pretty widely known that at least at some boutiques, sometimes, there is a tacit or explicit expectation that a customer must buy from a variety of product lines in order to be offered a bag. This may be a perversion of the Hermes ideal that its customers "embrace the brand." What Hermes would like, I think, is someone who can afford to--and who wishes to--use Hermes products from more than one of their lines, so housewares, RTW, jewelry, etc. as well as leather goods. But perhaps SAs, knowing that this process is a gradual one and also knowing that the client standing before them is a tourist who really just wants a Birkin, are condensing that concept down to, "Buy $ amount from other departments and you get your bag." Again, I don't know, but if you as a client don't have the opportunity, the patience, or the inclination to buy anything but one specific bag, I can see how this "buy in" approach might arise.
As others have said, it is always the client's right to walk away.
), but if it's a case of straight reselling--I bought this from Hermes and am flipping it--well, that would be legal. Or is an Hermes employee steering clients to a reseller? I do understand why resellers annoy people--when an item appears a day after its launch marked up 200% it IS frustrating--but resellers exist because people buy from them, and people buy from them because this is a service people want. Clearly, these markups are something the market will bear.
And yes, I think it's pretty widely known that at least at some boutiques, sometimes, there is a tacit or explicit expectation that a customer must buy from a variety of product lines in order to be offered a bag. This may be a perversion of the Hermes ideal that its customers "embrace the brand." What Hermes would like, I think, is someone who can afford to--and who wishes to--use Hermes products from more than one of their lines, so housewares, RTW, jewelry, etc. as well as leather goods. But perhaps SAs, knowing that this process is a gradual one and also knowing that the client standing before them is a tourist who really just wants a Birkin, are condensing that concept down to, "Buy $ amount from other departments and you get your bag." Again, I don't know, but if you as a client don't have the opportunity, the patience, or the inclination to buy anything but one specific bag, I can see how this "buy in" approach might arise.
As others have said, it is always the client's right to walk away.
what are you trying to achieve with this so called proof? Are these recorded conversations? So Hermes will probably let the SAs go...but they still need to hire new ones. What's to stop the new ones from turning? Hermes is aware of these issues, they weren't born yesterday. They try to deal with it in some ways but I doubt they can come up with a perfect solution except to stop making B and K. As long as someone covets these bags, this will continue.
And some of these resellers are their top VVVVIPs who spends gazillions on their jewellery and RTW and furniture. So what? They are entitled to resell their belongings. Not illegal. Will H stop selling to these people? NO.
Actually they did touch the law, but in the grey area. The consumers are protected by the law that the shop should not refuse to sell what they have in the shop. That's why normally Hermes never say "we have this but we can't not sell to you because we want to choose to sell to our good client", in any case they would use such a term" sorry we do not have in stock"
I'm also not 100% clear on the situation, but H is not a right it's a choice. There isn't a formula or list and that can be frustrating, but it's life. I don't think H is going to meet w a client then miraculously grant them a croc B after learning about shady sales by sa and resellers if this is true. The reseller could always say I'm H Vip and therefore the SA treats me to shorter wait times.
Resellers do have an unsavory reputation and H tries to ensure we aren't resellers. No one is perfect and there are bad seeds in every profession.
To me a reseller buys multiple bags with the purpose of selling the item for a profit.
In life this is business, people buy homes renovate and sell for a profit - we call them smart. That's a transparent transaction.
With H, it seems they create a "limited" supply and if someone is buying bags to sell it at exorbitant prices to others it can be likened to ticket scalping. It's not illegal to sell a pocketbook and plenty people downsize their collection, that's different than being a reseller who goes to H and pretends they are buying a bag for themselves. To me this doesn't include websites that buy bags from people then sell it to others.
Resellers do have an unsavory reputation and H tries to ensure we aren't resellers. No one is perfect and there are bad seeds in every profession.
To me a reseller buys multiple bags with the purpose of selling the item for a profit.
In life this is business, people buy homes renovate and sell for a profit - we call them smart. That's a transparent transaction.
With H, it seems they create a "limited" supply and if someone is buying bags to sell it at exorbitant prices to others it can be likened to ticket scalping. It's not illegal to sell a pocketbook and plenty people downsize their collection, that's different than being a reseller who goes to H and pretends they are buying a bag for themselves. To me this doesn't include websites that buy bags from people then sell it to others.
Can you quote a reference the law on that please? From an official source. My understanding is actually no shop can be forced to sell anything, just like they can't force anybody to buy anything. When goods are still in the shop, they are possessions of the shop. Shop owners are free to treat the goods where they see fit.
Proof of what exactly? Proof of a store sold a item to a legitimate customer via legitimate means?