Unhappy with last two purchases (long)

Alexenjie

O.G.
Apr 21, 2006
2,286
891
Last week I was waiting anxiously for two handbag purchases I had made. Since I have joined this forum I have been on a terror of buying handbags left and right - but these last two purchases will probably stop me right in my tracks (which is probably not a bad thing).

The first purchase arrived early last week from an e-bay seller - a vintage Coach bag in a style that I had not seen previously that seemed perfect for me, here is a link to the e-bay auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6885095628&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1

The bag looks great but smells awful. I can't even describe what the bag smells like. It is almost like smoke, or a cleaning solvent, or some combination of God knows what .... I worked for a week, first cleaning the bag with leather cleaner, using suede cleaner inside the bag, then placing coffee grounds in a small cup inside the bag, finally over the weekend I stuffed the bag with rolled up newspapers with orange essential oil dropped inside (none touching the inside of the purse), hoping to absorb the obnoxious and overwhelming odor but nothing has worked.

This morning I wrote the seller and tell him I am unhappy because the bag stinks and he immediately wrote back for me to return the bag and he will refund my money. That is nice but I would rather he had offered to replace this bag with one that didn't smell or offered to try himself to get the odor out. I also would never buy from this seller again (and he has alot of seemingly nice Coach bags) because I wouldn't want to go through this whole horrible smell again.

My second purchase was directly from Fossil and was delivered this morning. I know they are not considered high end here but the bag I ordered was $186, which for me (someone who prior to joining this forum had never even spent the money on a Coach bag - and now I have 2 new Coach bags and several more pre-owned ones that I got off e-bay) is still alot of money. Here is a link to the bag:

http://www.fossil.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=30361&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=1033&iSubCat=1040&iProductID=30361&selectedcolor=1869

This arrived very poorly packaged. There are two black spots on the bag - one looks like a tiny ink mark on the bag itself and the other is a small black smudge on one of the handles but that is not the worst of it - the bag is wrinkled because they did not stuff it properly nor did they send it in a box. There was a box that the handbag was in but no separate box inside for just the handbag (hope that makes sense).

So I just wrote them as well, expressing my extreme displeasure at the appearance of a brand new bag and the first Fossil purchase I have ever made. I expect I will be returning this bag as well. What could they possible be thinking by sending a wrinkled bag out? They have Fossil bags at Macys here but not every version of each of their bags. Now I would never order directly from Fossil again.

Anyway the above is my rant. Thanks for listening. Peggy
 
I'm sorry that you've had 2 bum buys right after another. It can get really aggravating. I hope your "bag-luck" gets better, and something that you love crosses your path, and that it arrives on your doorstep in perfect shape. :o)
 
Awww, that stinks! It doesn't matter the brand or the price IMO. We buy something w/ certain expectations, and if thpose expectations aren't met it's SO disappointing!
Better luck in the future!
 
Sorry to hear of your bad experiences! Thanks, though, for sharing about Fossil - I always appreciate it when Forum members shed insite on their purchasing experiences with known sellers. It's good info.
 
You could try an open box of baking soda in the Coach bag, it might absorb the odor. It worked fabulously for me when my freezer broke down and everything defrosted and melted. That was a smell like no other. :yucky: Was gone after about a week.