Usually after you received a brand-new Chanel bag, you would get excited, thrilled and overwhelmed by happiness. That is for the most people, but in Jasmine’s case, it’s exactly the opposite.
Jasmine felt in love with the Chanel GST, but she wanted it fresh-baked from Paris. So when her cousin decided to travel in France, she quickly asked her to do a favor. ‘Please help me buy a Chanel GST bag in Paris’. Finger crossed!
So her cousin went to the famous Galeries Lafayette in Paris and she hit the jackpot. They had the Chanel GST in black and gold hardware in stock, exactly in the same style that Jasmine wanted. ‘But’, the Shopping Assistant said: ‘It doesn’t come with the original box and the paper bag’.
Honestly, the Chanel experience is partly ripped if you don’t get the paper bag and the white flower. The box is not only for decoration purpose, it has a function. If you’ve been a fan of Chanel for a time, you will learn that the dust bag is for protection purpose. Now you’re back from shopping all day long, together with your Chanel GST. Where to drop? In your closet? Hang it in your room where it can be exposed to dust, light and sun? No way, the color will fade and slowly, it will eat up your beautiful leather. Give me the dust bag and I will put it nicely back into the box, where it belongs!
Now about the paper bag, wouldn’t it add a lot of value if you decides to sell it one day and you still own the complete package? I mean, the box, dust bag and the paper bag with the iconic flower on it?
Back to the story, where was I? Oh yes, at first Jasmine was very happy to receive her very own Chanel GST, but partly disappointed because of the box and paper bag of course. Her mom had a Chanel GST too, and naturally she put the two bags together for comparison. And you know what she saw? THIS:
Can you see the difference? I would personally freak-out. A lot of questions were running through Jasmine head:
‘What is this?’.
‘Why is this happening?’.
‘What went wrong?’.
‘Did her cousin damage it while traveling back to Malaysia?’.
And
‘Is Galeries Lafayette selling fake bags?’.
She was worried, her mom took her to the Chanel boutique in KLCC and asked the Shopping Assistant for support and explanation. The SA couldn’t comment and didn’t want to accept the bag. Now she is torn.
Fortunately she still had the original receipt, but she didn’t know what to do. Eventually she found Bragmybag and posted her experience on our forum: ‘The right bag is less shiny, more mature feel and there is less of a bounce on the diamond shape stitching’.
Chanel has changed leather on the GST in 2010, so we asked the date of purchase of her mom’s bag. Surprisingly, her bag was bought 5 days after, so it was roughly the same time, but in another boutique.
Jasmine’s second worry was that she passed the 21 days of warranty, she doubted whether she had a chance to fight it.
So our advice was: ‘go fight it, because this is unreasonable’. I mean she loves Chanel, she doesn’t deserve such awful experience. Does she need to spend her life with a GST that is handicapped? Eventually she will have no love for the GST. But she rolled up her sleeves and decided to fight.
1 Day later: She went back to the Chanel boutique at KLCC, filed a complain and requested for a total exchange. Cleverly, she also wrote a complain letter to the customer care in France. Chanel decided to investigate the issue.
1 week later: Her request was declined and instead Chanel offered to repair the loose thread and have her bag polished. She was furious, called the supervisor and wrote another complain letter to the France customer care.
2-3 week later: The product manager of Chanel immediately called Jasmine after returning from holiday. She made her case an exception and gave her a brand-new bag in exchange.
We are very happy that despite of everything, she still got her favorite Chanel bag and in the exact shape, color and style she wanted.
There are a few lesson to learn here. First, never give up without a fight. Second, we do not belief that the Chanel boutique in Galeries Lafayette sells fake Chanel bags. The GST was real, but there was something fishy about the quality. It could be a sample version. Whenever you buy a designer bag, Chanel or not, you should make sure that everything is included and check the quality before you leave the store.
Anyone have experience a similar situation? If you have a story, please share with us in the forum.
hi everyone were form philippines and i would like to share my brother in laws experience during his euro tour in paris with the chanel m/l classic bag that he bought from galleries lafayette… my brother in law was supposedly going to buy a chanel small classic calfskin bag because that was the design that my sister wants but the sales agent at chanel store said they dont have the small one and offered him a classic m/l flap bag in caviar.. my brother in
law didnt bother to ask my sister if the offered bag would be ok for her instead he just decided to buy the bag because he trusted the place and its paris! who would have thought that chanel store at galleries la fayette will sell fake or not good quality chanel bags (tourist thoughts).. so when he got home here in the philippines and gave the bag to my sister.. my sister was shocked because the chanel bag quality she expected did not meet her expectations! instead for her to be happy because his husband bought him a chanel bag i stead she scolded her husband because she was not consulted before buying the bag… my brother in law wants to surprise her though… so my sister noticed that the chains of the bag are twisted and the leather inside the chains is not the same with the leather of the bag… she also noticed that the diamond stitches on both sides are too long and not the same length with the other diamond stitches… worst is the bag is made in italy! she wants it to be made in france because she researched that made in france xhanel bag is better tha made in italy but why would galeries lafayette of paris france sell a chanel bag made in italy? she tried to email and call chanel customer service since she has a friend that will go to paris and it is still within the warranty period… so her friend went to paris and went to galeries la fayette chanel to let the checked and be exchanged.. but the sales agent said they dont have the same style and offered the classic large flap bag caviar but more expensive of 1000 euro… so my sisters friend cant decide because of the additional amount to be paid and her friwnd cat contact my sister… her friend left paris and was not able to exchange the bag… now the problem is the warranty period of 30days is over and still my sister wants the bag to be exchanged… she tried to call chanel customer service and said that only the store manager decides if she will allow the exchange of the bag… the bag was bought jan 23, 2019 and my sister is planning to go to paris but she is available to go their in november… is their a chance that chanel galeries la fayette would change the bag? the bag costs 4800 euro and it is very disappointing for a chanel store not to change the bag with that price of bag! please help… thank you
Hi Shana, what a story. I have heard something similar. A woman wanted to exchange her bag that she bought in Paris. First of all, it’s common these days that Chanel Bags are either made in France or Italy. Qualities from both of these countries are good, but of course, if you’re in France, you want to buy made in France.
When your sister received the bag in your country, did you tried to go to the Chanel boutique in your country first. For as far as I know, you were able to exchange the bag there.
Also, if Galeries didn’t had the bag, you might wanted to try to go to other boutiques to find the bag there and exchange there. You might want to try that one too.
hi cynthia! thank you for the reply… we dont have a chanel store here in the Philippines so my sister is just waiting for a friend or relative who will go to singapore, hongkong or paris and ask them for a favor if they could bring the bag with the receipts and let it be checked by the chanel store… luckily she has a friend that will travel to paris this april so we called our aunt from france for her to accompany the friend of my sister that will go to paris galeries la fayette for a better communication with the french store manager coz our aunt can speak in french maybe she could explain better the concerns of my sister and galeries la fayette will reconsider even if it is already not with the 30days warranty period… my sister believes that the bag has really a defect and she has researched that there is 2 years warranty period consumers right law in france if you bought a defective product…. thanks again
Basically when the bag is unused and still in the box, any Chanel boutique should accept it. The store in Galleries Lafayette is just another Chanel boutique. Keep me updated =)
I got same receipt too but for the mini lambskin turquoise.