Plus, your DH has a certain Je ne sais quoi charm about him. There is no saying no to him. Shopping with you two is HILARIOUSLY fun, fun, fun.
What’s your unpopular Hermes opinion?
- Thread starter wowzers1941
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I’ve turned down many RTW pieces at my home boutique because they don’t offer tailoring at all. And when they do, it’s a couple hundred dollars. The boutique i live closer to now does complimentary tailoring but I always feel a bit odd asking another store for free tailoring after buying it from my home store LOL. Hermes pieces especially menswear is all over the place, I can wear an XS to an XL depending on the season
This is a two part UO:
1. It is absolutely unacceptable that shopping for luxury is not a luxuries experience with H a lot of the time. Even if we are at their mercy for bags and some more popular items, the aura should be created of our presence being desired. We should be thanked for buying a bag, not us thanking the SA for getting it for us. We should be getting texts checking how we are enjoying our purchases, not us sending mod shots as an opportunity to remind of ourselves and our spending. We should be offered appoitments, not chasing after them. My Chanel SA just checked in with me about enjoying a dress I bought last month. When I got it, complementary tailoring was done on the spot (it was minimal). That is how it should be!
2. We are enabling this behavior. Just think about all the stories people share here. If anyone else treated them (us) the same way, we would have at minimum stopped supporting that business.
1. It is absolutely unacceptable that shopping for luxury is not a luxuries experience with H a lot of the time. Even if we are at their mercy for bags and some more popular items, the aura should be created of our presence being desired. We should be thanked for buying a bag, not us thanking the SA for getting it for us. We should be getting texts checking how we are enjoying our purchases, not us sending mod shots as an opportunity to remind of ourselves and our spending. We should be offered appoitments, not chasing after them. My Chanel SA just checked in with me about enjoying a dress I bought last month. When I got it, complementary tailoring was done on the spot (it was minimal). That is how it should be!
2. We are enabling this behavior. Just think about all the stories people share here. If anyone else treated them (us) the same way, we would have at minimum stopped supporting that business.
Amen to this!
Since my SA left I''ve felt less inclined to visit the boutique (he still works for H but not in sales).
Whereas once though not a huge spender by any means I felt welcomed and looked forward to my visits and our chats now i feel the visits are purely transactional, Plus they rarely have what I want in stock (Slg's, scarves, fashion jewellery) and how can I put it..The atmosphere does not make the experience enjoyable, too many people clamoring for this and that and the SA's seem more stressed than they used to.
I was given a replacement SA when my original one left but that SA has now left the company because they found it too stressful.
I think the whole client experience as a whole at Hermes leaves a lot to be desired these days.
UO: all these talks about 'relationships with SA' have forced people to make cringey, insincere chats in the shop. These things should be built overtime, not overnight.
Was in my home store listening to a tourist quizzing my SA about her life - where she lived, what nationality she was, etc . (She was tourist as she was asking about the tax refund process). But my SA was a study of professionalism. I admire her patience.
Was in my home store listening to a tourist quizzing my SA about her life - where she lived, what nationality she was, etc . (She was tourist as she was asking about the tax refund process). But my SA was a study of professionalism. I admire her patience.
This is a huge OU opinion for me these days. I sent my SA a list of about 10 items I was interested in for my appointment earlier this month. Nothing too crazy or that I thought would be too difficult to get. She had four of them in stock (I ended up taking three of them). And despite trying, I couldn’t find anything else in the store that spoke to me. I think this was my cheapest boutique experience in years - even though I didn’t set out for it to be.
H is the one that states all the time: “it is all based on the relationship.”
And then you can’t hang out, exchange gifts or the like with SAs, AMs, FMs, SMs. What type of relationship is that if not transactional?
I went to the wedding of our LV manager, we truly hang out.
Well just to defend H on the relationship front, I think that it does matter for their brand reputation and honestly probably a bit of employee retention.
Accepting gifts? Seen as a bribe, so don’t do it or don’t let people do it.
Building a relationship? Really it should be organic, shop a couple time with the same SA and then start talking personal life not do an interrogation on first point. As a former retail employee and server, connecting with customers and chit chatting makes your day go a lot faster, which make those jobs a lot more enjoyable than doing inventory or other administrative. That being said, I still wouldn’t necessarily want to see those customers outside of work even if they’re fun to talk with.
Even now, I work in professional services and it’s still about building a relationship but one where everyone kinda knows the undercurrent is transactional (i.e. “keep me in mind for your next deal”). I don’t necessarily care to see my clients on the regular outside of work in a casual setting but will catch up at coffee, do dinners, golf, and all that jazz.
I think it’s awkward when people do it without considering conversation flow. It’s even more awkward when people encourage it at stores like in Paris where you really have one shot to potentially get a quota bag.
Accepting gifts? Seen as a bribe, so don’t do it or don’t let people do it.
Building a relationship? Really it should be organic, shop a couple time with the same SA and then start talking personal life not do an interrogation on first point. As a former retail employee and server, connecting with customers and chit chatting makes your day go a lot faster, which make those jobs a lot more enjoyable than doing inventory or other administrative. That being said, I still wouldn’t necessarily want to see those customers outside of work even if they’re fun to talk with.
Even now, I work in professional services and it’s still about building a relationship but one where everyone kinda knows the undercurrent is transactional (i.e. “keep me in mind for your next deal”). I don’t necessarily care to see my clients on the regular outside of work in a casual setting but will catch up at coffee, do dinners, golf, and all that jazz.
I think it’s awkward when people do it without considering conversation flow. It’s even more awkward when people encourage it at stores like in Paris where you really have one shot to potentially get a quota bag.
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All really good points. The problem is that in your scenario it is either that the SA is trying to build the relationship with the customer to retain that customer or it is mutual. In H world, it is the customer who is trying to build the relationship with the SA which is convoluted, awkward and leads to @Angiebbb. When an SA tries to build a relationship, they can offer exclusive merchandise, access to sales, store gifts, listening ear, fashion advise. What can we offer our SAs? Only our money, preferably spent on RTW and preferably on the pieces already in stock. How is that not transactional?
I’m starting to question if I feel morally bankrupt for playing the H game in this wild uncertain financial climate the US is in. There’s always this unspoken handshake about buying a couple H items that I’m not 100% in love with in the hopes of gaining that amazing QB… and I dunno I just don’t know if I feel good about it anymore. This feeling is new and I’m trying to wrangle what this is that I’m feeling. Thanks for letting me share my random thought
Edit: in reading the Hermes chat thread I realized it’s the panic buying I don’t longer enjoy. The frivolous kind of buying in exchange for the dream bag.
Edit: in reading the Hermes chat thread I realized it’s the panic buying I don’t longer enjoy. The frivolous kind of buying in exchange for the dream bag.
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I have a friend that hangs out all the time with her Chanel SAs and many people from corporate (including CEO), also with SAs and people from corporate at Van Cleef. She is a very VIP client in both. I went out many times with them too; you see that they truly like hanging out, and they reach out to go out again, nothing to do with the store or store events most times.
I heard from one H SA outside the US that in that city many people had arrangements with their clients at H and get “gifts”. Reseller buys in that store in the open. Also heard that the same happens in Paris.
My friend takes her SA on vacation and stays at her/his properties in different countries.
When one can’t have a true relationship with the SA, you end up seeing polar opposites.
I made a list of eight bags I don’t have and that I truly want and started looking resale, and also asking if friends or their friends want to sell.
If I continue the way I am going I will have 1,000 boxes of items I haven’t had a chance to wear in years because I can’t keep up.
Does everyone manage to use/wear everything they get? I am having trouble with that and boxes keep piling up. My husband is not the slightest thrilled (quite the opposite).
It arrived a point that even the doormen noticed the quantity of boxes when doing repairs, hence it is time to reduce drastically/take a break.
Totally understood and I actually agree with you just trying to offer another perspective on that relationship building front when thinking of it truly as a transactional retail relationship.
I do think that the H relationship model is a bit backwards. In fact, I think Hermes shopping can be viewed as a bit predatory because they know probably 90% of their clients are gunning for that elusive QB. The problem with the model at the end of the day is the power dynamics shopping at Hermes are shifted compared to any other shopping experience. We want the bags so they can demand whatever they want from us (i.e. our money) because they hold the power. Until interest dies down and people stop spending money, there’s really no way to fix it across the board for everyone unfortunately. Maybe there will be a shift if we have a worldwide economic meltdown but only time will tell. Perhaps that’s why we saw more people getting no pre-spend offers during the pandemic.
Along the same lines, my UO is SAs see right through it and it really doesn’t matter if you’re not spending. Although I will say SAs can sense when you’re just buying to buy versus truly “buying your best” as in trying your best to be authentic to yourself and also not wasting their time. I think that actually matters to some SAs.
That’s the beauty of a capitalist system imo. Market will dictate the price. And as long as there is a market, H will continue to have the unfair advantage….until they don’t. And then we may see walk in birkins again 🤣 a girl can dream right? Although will you want it if you can walk in and get it? ….im such a glutton for punishment.