Monday, December 17, 2012

Dear Brahmin Customer Service

So a while back my mom gave me her old iPad--woot woot!  It is awesome and it works very well for me and work.  Well the only thing was that finding a bag that holds an iPad and doesn't look like a briefcase or backpack is a challenge.  However, after much due dilligence in the shopping department, I found a Brahmin.  I must preface by saying that I've never owned a fancy-label brand purse and was a bit skeptical of purchasing a big money bag.  My husband, who says I never really spend money on myself, said to go ahead and it would be my birthday present.  Woot woot!  That was in July (an early birthday present  :-) ).    Fast forward 3 months.  The handles start cracking like I would expect on a TJMaxx bag.  Hmmm.  According to their website...they take pride in their high quality products and will repair or replace a defective product within a year of purchase, 2 years if registered online.  (Which of course I did within a couple of weeks of purchasing the bag).   I call and they send me the return form and ask me to send it back, which I did.  Fast forward 1 month and I get the bag back to me.  Did they replace the defective handles?  Nope, just lacquered them up and sent them right back to me.  Hmmm, that's fantastic!  Fast forward 1 month...the handles that were cracked and then lacquered are cracking again (is anyone else shocked?).  So I call customer care again and ask to speak to a manager.  Why?  Because a bag that should have been fixed correctly was just ghetto-rigged and sent back to me.  They say, oh weren't the handles replaced the first time?  Um no, can't you track that by the bag registration number?!?  So back it goes to get fixed.  Fast forward to this weekend and I got it back, and you know what?  I'm selling it--that is everything except the bad handles (which they nicely included in the return proving the handles were replaced).  The bad handles I'm keeping for a reason.

I train people on customer service and delivering the customer experience.  Those handles are a prime example of how a company failed on the delivery of a customer experience.  This was my first "real" purse purchase and a birthday present.  Owning the bag for 5 months and not having it for 2 months took that magic away.  The mailing of the bag back, certifying it in the mail, blah blah blah killed whatever sparkle that bag had for me when I got it.  Now whenever I see it, I see disappointment, and that's not how someone should view a luxury item.   They never offered to replace the whole bag, a free wallet, or put my name on the standard "thank-you for returning your bag to Brahmin card"...they did however put a Holiday shopper flyer in there.  Really?  Those handles will get used, but as an example of how the customer experience was demolished.

Here's the bag, if you are interested in purchasing, hit me up  :-)

3 comments:

  1. Why can't you return it? It hasn't been a year and you should be able to return it just on the basis of all the issues you've had.
    Good luck.
    (BTW - I've never heard of that brand).

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  2. Because I purchased the bag at Dillards and they have a very stringent 30-day return policy. Believe me, if I had purchased it at another store I would have taken it back and gotten my money back.

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  3. Oh, Christi. I feel just terrible about this. I love the look of Brahmin and was so hoping you would have a positive experience with your beautiful bag. I have had two Brahmins and had to return both of them. I figured I was just tough on bags and figured you wouldn't have a problem with yours. One went back to Dillards years ago before the 30-day policy and one two years ago to Von Maur. When you told me you purchased the bag at Dillards I said a prayer that you would have good luck since their return policy on a pricey bag like Brahmin is ridiculous. Reading your post is so depressing to me.

    Buying a nice bag as a gift to yourself is delightful and having these kinds of problems is the pits. When you first told me you had purchased the bag, I debated whether or not I should say anything about my experience and, in particular, Dillards. I have known so many people who love Brahmin and never had any trouble which further reinforced my thinking that it was just me. This just sucks! I hope everyone in the country reads your blog and boycotts Brahmin purchases until they get their act together. It would be an entirely different matter if the bag was ten years old but all this in 5 months? Your experience is a disgrace to the company!

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