On December 13, 2016, I purchased a small Goyard tote for my wife for the holidays. She loved the bag and used it to carry her laptop to/from work everyday. After six months it had a hole in the side of the bag.
Let me get into the particulars. When I purchased the bag, I debated between the larger tote and the smaller tote. The sales person asked what my wife was going to do with the tote. I told her that it was going to be an everyday office bag to transport a laptop. She advised me to go with the smaller bag since the larger tote was sized for weekend get aways.
My wife discovered the hole in the bag at the beginning of May, and on 5/16, I emailed Goyard asking if there was any way to repair this either under warrantee or for a fee. There was no response for two business days so I wrote back to Goyard asking for a response. Finally they responded with an apology asking for a picture. We sent them pictures as requested. The same day, 5/18.
Apparently, they called me on 5/22 without leaving me a voicemail. I'll admit that there is a 212 area code phone call on my phone FOUR days after we sent them the pictures. I didn't recognize the number and didn't pick up the call. I emailed them again on 5/23 asking for a response. Again they did not respond to email, but called. Again I didn't recognize the number so I ignored it. Goyard, if someone emails you, they expect a response via email. This time they left a voicemail though so I called them back. They said that they couldn't repair it since it was normal wear and tear.
I understand that you can't exactly re-sew a hole closed, but could they give me a discount on a new bag. They said no, since this isn't their fault. They said the bag is advertised as a beach bag not a bag to carry a laptop.
I have three complaints:
1. Goyard DOES NOT respond timely to their own published email address.
2. Goyard insists that the sales person would have told me that this was a beach tote and not to carry a laptop. I don't recall that conversation and admittedly, they may have told me that when I bought it. I believe that if I heard that I would have made an alternative decision. I also believe that their sales people are human and can make mistakes as well, despite their insistence that I was told that six months ago during the busy holiday shopping season.
3. Let's assume it is a beach tote. It should be able to handle the weight of beach items, a good book, bathing suit, towel, flip flops, sun glasses, maybe a Swell bottle with water to a sandy beach (sand is a bit rough at times) next to a corrosive salt water ocean. But it can't handle carrying an executive weight laptop to and from the office in a luxury car for six months.
I didn't ask them for a warrantee repair, I didn't ask them to replace an item I believed to be defective. I asked for a discount on a new replacement bag for my wife. I do expect the quality to be a little higher. And I do expect Goyard to respond to their published email address in a timely manner.
More than that, I expect a luxury product company to have excellent and timely customer service.
Product is beautiful (kudos to the designers), the customer service is condescending, slow and ineffective since I will no longer be a customer. read more