Saturday 2 August 2008

What a bad turn of events!


My Gucci Bag Is Defective!

It seems my shopping dilemma #01 is giving me a lot of problems. Remember the Gucci Brown Guccissima Tote bag I just bought a week ago...it's giving me grief now! Apparently while taking it out for it's maiden use, unknowingly, I found out there is a small crack on the leather on one side of the bag. The crack is small, almost blending into the creases of the leather, since the original leather is a bit distressed, so it takes a really sharp eye to be able to spot it amidst the huge bag. The reason why I found out was because I shoulder carry the bag and use my hand to hold the side of the bag for additional support. Somehow as my hands ran thru the soft leather, I felt a difference in the textural feel of the leather. There was something 'coarse' brushing against my finger tips. So I examine that portion of the bag and to my horror, I found a small crack(about 0.8cm long, vertical down) on the leather surface. It's so upsetting! A new bag and it happened for Gucci, which is supposed to have reputable quality. Furthermore, my bag is bought a week plus ago, not even fulfilling the 14 day exchange deadline the store has.

(BTW, even though I have taken the bag out for use for just a few hours, I have been very careful not to let anyone, anything 'touch' my bag. It was handled very carefully and no knocks or bumps along the way. I made sure of that. And I was not carrying heavy things. I also examine the crack, it does not look like tearing. The crack was not on a high stress area like where the handles are. It could be the bag already has this defect, just that I did not managed to spot it when I bought the bag. The crack was too subtle to spot. How unlucky!)

As I was in town when I found out this, I immediately brought the bag to the Takashimaya store. The SA told me to bring the bag on Monday so he can show it to the buyer. But the thing is I feel I should be able to exchange the bag immediately and not have to wait to get this resolved. And I feel more could be done to appease my dissastifaction about this incident. This will be a test on Gucci Singapore's service standards. If I do not get good resolution out of this problem, then we will all know what sort of service they offer. The verdict will be out soon.

Do you think I have a right to get an exchange since I can do an exchange on defective goods within 14 days? Or wait till Monday to see what the buyer says?

One thing that upsets me is that the SAs keeps mentioning about repairing the crack on the leather, they did not even remotely mentioned about exchanging the bag, like it was my fault that I damaged it thru my few hours of using the bag. I am seriously not happy about this!

8 comments:

Kevin @ myMANybags said...

Bottega and Hermes is one league above Gucci in terms of quality.:-) They are top end.

BTW, last night while attending my fren's birthday dinner, one of my friends just got a new large Birkin in brown colour! It's fabulous...but so expensive. You can probably pay a quarter of the 10% downpayment for a condo!

Anonymous said...

i'd return it at once. i don't understand why the SA asked you to bring it back. was the store manager not around to make the decision?

Kevin @ myMANybags said...

I am going to return the bag tommorrow. Maybe becos I was using the bag today...all my belongings is in the bag..so the SAs did not ask me to leave the bag behind.

I text the SA I know just now and told him I want to bring the bag back tommorrow as I do not want to carry the bag all the way to the office and then to the store. It's too much hassle. I rather do it over the weekends.

Let's see what happens tommorrow. Do you think I can insist on an exchange instead of waiting for buyer on Monday?

whats-he-wearing.com said...

sorry to hear about that
you should be able to return it. good luck :)

Carlos said...

Gucci has a crap quality. I was in a Gucci store and watched and wore shoes. Seams and crossings are messy. Gucci sneakers were totally unconfortable. There's no comparison league brands as Dolce & Gabbana. My Gucci bag yet has broken seams. Gucci? No more.

Anonymous said...

Hey Kev,

Sorry to hear about your "lemon" acquisition.

I agree Gu**i could have done more to allay your fears and/or dissatisfaction.

My only question is why the need to wait for buyer to examine the defect? I am assuming it is a genuine product flaw and in this case wouldn't a simple comparison with a similar bag in store help ascertain it. Plus there is a reason why they institute a 14day exchange policy. You have every right to exercise that policy.

Kev, you have to be the mean guy here. You have to really express your unhappiness and lay it out clear you are disappointed. Plus you obviously are a regular so all the more they shouldn't have given you the treatment which suggests you were trying to scam them off.

This will be a test of their brand and quality standards. Tsk Tsk Tsk SHAME ON YOU GU**I! Train your staff well.

There was once I had bad service "royally" served up to my face at a certain certain Italian high end shop in Forum. I asked the sales person if there was a similar size but different colour for a certain item and he brushed me off with a "No". I was instantly sure that this is bad customer service. He was certinly lazy enough to not even attempt an effort to help me look. I walked up to the rack of clothings, determined to find a one myself. And true enough i did. I pulled it off the rack and immediately walked right to the store manager and provided feeback on that individual's service standards. I recall vividly telling the manager I am paying top dollars to shop at a C21 boutique not at a market. So I expect top dollar service standards as well.

Kevin @ myMANybags said...

Hi Jay,

I will definitely be firm today. I will want an exchange, unless they offer me a good explanation why they cannot.

Defective goods is defective goods. It should never have happened in the first place.

Yeah, shopping luxkury brands means I am paying top dollars and I want top level service to go with it.

The one thing I am most upset about is I dun feel I am treated with the kinda of service I deserve. the person in charge of repairs was out for dinner and the SA told me to come back in half an hour. I feel like crap then. very upset. Today I will be very firm.

Anonymous said...

Insist of an exchange!