COACH- consumer beware! - Page 2

Honeykiss1974 · #16 03-27-2008, 12:09 PM

Coach does have a fabric cleaner now so call your local store to see if they have it.

ZTABullwinkle · #17 03-27-2008, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texas*princess

All authentic Coach bags have a serial number embossed inside the purse right under the creed. Some pouches (the really small purses) don't have them, but all other bags do.

Coach used to supply registration cards with their bags, but they haven't done that in awhile. You can, however, register your bags online.

Thanks for the info texas*princess. I will look into registering them.

SigKapSweetie · #18 04-08-2008, 10:19 PM

Kind of OT, but a few sisters and I bought faux Coach bags while in Manhattan several years ago. They are excellent fakes, right down to the serial numbers. The next year, I was again in Manhattan for a conference, carrying a faux Chanel bag (from the same shopping trip), and got into a fascinating conversation with a buyer for Neiman's about how the fake purses are made. She said that on one of her trips to SE Asia, she toured a Chanel factory and learned that many of the good-quality fakes are made in the same factories as the 'real' bags, with the same material, by the same workers, but they are made after hours on the workers' off time and then sent overseas to family members in this country to sell on the black market.

Anyway, my question was, has anyone ever tried to register a good-quality fake Coach? What would happen if you got caught? (Not that I would condone this, of course. I'm just curious.

)

SoCalGirl · #19 04-08-2008, 10:29 PM

I just thought about that too because I had also heard that some of the workers have been known to slip a few out the back door to be sold on the black market.

KSUViolet06 · #20 04-08-2008, 10:57 PM

I wouldn't think you could register a fake because a true fake doesn't have the registration info with it. If it is registerable, then it most likely isn't fake, just one that's been stolen from a factory. I would think that Coach has ways of preventing registration attempts on fake bags.

I don't really "get" the whole fake Coach thing myself. I get why girls would carry a fake Gucci or LV, because those are quite pricey. But with advent of the Coach outlet, you can get a real one for as good of a price as some pay for the fakes. Like, I knew a girl with a $300 fake Coach tote from some swap meet, when the authentic bag costs the same.

SigKapSweetie · #21 04-08-2008, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

I knew a girl with a $300 fake Coach tote from some swap meet, when the authentic bag costs the same.

ITA. But we bought our faux bags in Chinatown in Manhattan, and while they probably would have been $300 at an outlet, they were $25 there. Totally worth it!

Also, the fakes we bought all came with Coach registration cards inside. I was tickled by that!

epchick · #22 04-08-2008, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

I don't really "get" the whole fake Coach thing myself. I get why girls would carry a fake Gucci or LV, because those are quite pricey. But with advent of the Coach outlet, you can get a real one for as good of a price as some pay for the fakes. Like, I knew a girl with a $300 fake Coach tote from some swap meet, when the authentic bag costs the same.

I don't know why anyone would pay $300 for a fake Coach bag.

I bought a fake Coach when I was living in San Francisco for $30. I showed it to my sorority sisters, and they said it looked very believable. In fact, one of my sisters had the exact same design as my fake and we compared it--the only difference between them was a slight difference in color (like my yellow looked a little more faded, a little more worn) but that was it. It even had the little Creed on the inside of the purse.

I bought that purse in April, and by June the straps had broke. lol.

jitterbug13 · #23 04-09-2008, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

I don't really "get" the whole fake Coach thing myself. I get why girls would carry a fake Gucci or LV, because those are quite pricey. But with advent of the Coach outlet, you can get a real one for as good of a price as some pay for the fakes. Like, I knew a girl with a $300 fake Coach tote from some swap meet, when the authentic bag costs the same.

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of buying a fake in the first place?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SigKapSweetie

ITA. But we bought our faux bags in Chinatown in Manhattan, and while they probably would have been $300 at an outlet, they were $25 there. Totally worth it!

Also, the fakes we bought all came with Coach registration cards inside. I was tickled by that!

I've seen fakes that had the price tags to throw people off.

I didn't know you can register your bags until I read this thread. This weekend, I will register my Coachs and Dooneys.

PM_Mama00 · #24 04-09-2008, 12:57 AM

If you try to register one of the "fakes" you will have the cops at your door. Happened to someone my aunt knew. I also heard that the "fakes" are reals that they can't sell because of a defect... for example the thread coming off my Chanel bag, the zipper pocket inside falling apart, etc. I'm not a name brand person but I really loved the actual look of these bags. We were in Soho.

Honeykiss1974 · #25 04-09-2008, 09:09 AM

Typically when it comes to fakes, the "good" (and I use that loosely) manufactures will buy an authentic one and copy every detail of the design. This is why fakes have "grading scales" which determines how much to charge (which is probably why KSUviolet's friend paid $300 for a fake - which is still CRAZY btw).

I personally don't see the point in buying fakes, especially when so many lower cost designers replicate many popular high end designer styles. I know Wilson's Leather has nice leather handbags in pretty much every high end designer's style (ie. Birkin, Speedy, etc.) so why waste money on an illegal bag when you can have something nicer?

texas*princess · #26 04-09-2008, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Honeykiss1974

I personally don't see the point in buying fakes, especially when so many lower cost designers replicate many popular high end designer styles. I know Wilson's Leather has nice leather handbags in pretty up every high end designer's style (ie. Birkin, Speedy, etc.) so why waste money on an illegal bag when you can have something nicer?

Agreed WHOLEHEARTEDLY.

My philosophy is this: If I can't afford to buy 1 or more of the REAL thing in any given year without it breaking my pocketbook, I shouldn't try to pretend like I can...cause really, that is what you are doing when you buy a fake.. you're pretending. Which is why I don't carry fake LVs, fake Fendis, or fake Chanel bags.

I will never be a supporter of knock-offs regardless of how little they cost, or how "close" they look to the REAL thing. It's sick really.

Remember that episode of Sex & the City when Samantha takes her fake Fendi to the Playboy mansion and looked like an idiot when she accused a girl there of stealing her bag?... yeah.

Honeykiss1974 · #27 04-09-2008, 09:23 AM

/\/\/\/\/\ I hear ya! I wasn't always able to afford LV or Gucci.

There was a time with Nine West bags and I were BFF!

lonestaradpi · #28 04-13-2008, 12:01 AM

My mother had a similiar situation to ASUADPI. She was help up at gunpoint,

yes, that's right and her purse got stolen. She is fine and the police did recover her Coach. Idiots only took her cash, sunglasses and cell phone. Sadly, there was a gash in the side of her bag, so she sent it to be repaired. She sent a note along with it just informing them of what happened, along with her check. They sent it back basically saying too bad, so sad. She was ticked off royally! We decided that Coach wants to run with the "big boys" in the handbag industry, but maybe their customer service isn't up to the customer service of the "big boys". She had vowed to never buy anything Coach ever again. I don't know if her check was cashed.

ASUADPi · #29 04-13-2008, 12:06 AM

Because we know that sane people deliberately destroy 200+ dollar purses.

I filed a complaint with the BBB and I have a case manager working on it. We shall see.

texas*princess · #30 04-13-2008, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

Because we know that sane people deliberately destroy 200+ dollar purses.

I filed a complaint with the BBB and I have a case manager working on it. We shall see.

I think it was already mentioned somewhere in this thread, but sometimes people took advantage of the Coach repair service (i.e. if they couldn't repair it, they'd give you a credit for a new one) by purposely doing things to their bags so they could get credits to get new ones which is why Coach won't repair/credit bags that look like they have been slashed.

I work for a really big corporation in an entirely different industry, so it sucks when your company has a policy that you can't make any exceptions for because the people who aren't trying to abuse the system are the ones that have to deal with the consequences of those that did. Because like they say, "if you make an execption for one person, you have to do it for everyone". And since I'm busting out the cliches, "one bad apple ruins the bunch".

I think a case like lonestaradpi's mom they should have definitely tried to do at least something to help rectify that. How traumatizing