Even though I have not shopped at Isaac Reina in Paris, I have experienced their customer care and would like to warn everyone to abstain from shopping from this company online.
Why?
After a very long internal conversation with my 'not wanting to spend money on myself' me, I decided to purchase a bag from Isaac Reina online. The company is based in Paris and I learned about it from a beautiful small shop in London, who sells bags from this brand, but just did not have the right type and colour.
During my payment process, to my surprise I was charged about €40 for the postage for a fast delivery, which I did not specifically ask for - it was the only option and I assumed it was mainly due to insuring the bag would arrive perfectly.
I did receive news from the company three days later by e-mail, telling me my order was being processed and I would be informed when it would be on it's way. Christmas frenzy, I thought. Of course it couldn't have arrived very early. To my even bigger surprise however, I received yet another e-mail another few days later, explaining they had made a mistake and the bag was in fact not available anymore. I had two options: get a refund or accept the bag in another colour. Since the whole reason for purchasing via their online shop and not in the beautiful small shop was the colour, I accepted the refund.
Now it gets interesting. They were really fast in refunding, however the prize was entirely different: roughly Pounds 40,- difference from what I had originally payed had been refunded to my account. To me it seemed they simply had forgotten to refund me the postage costs, which I informed them about. After many e-mails back and forth it turns out that they seriously expect me to pay for the bank charges both ways. Basically I have been punished for their initial mistake and payed Pounds 40 for a product I never received.
Their original words:
"..., we cannot refund you for some additional costs related to a third party.
Indeed, our company is not responsible for these additional costs... "
Since I know a little bit about customer care and online business, having one myself, this is the worst business practice I have ever experienced, especially given it was entirely caused by them. I obviously bought in good faith of the information on the website reflecting reality and not an illusion.
Be aware when buying from them online; you will be charged for banking fees and you might very well never receive the item you decided to buy.
The bags might be beautiful, their business practice isn't! read more