Michael Rider - Designer, Creative Director of Celine

[HigthaVandah]

I guess this is the Celine thread now, so I'm posting this here. I've had a surprising amount of trouble trying to buy a brown western belt recently. Was traveling near a boutique, they only had one in my (common) size and it was stained. Got home and they were sold out online so I ordered a beige one. It arrives without any plastic covering on the hardware, which is covered in scratches. I return that and order a brown one now that they're back in stock. A thin brown triomphe belt arrives. I call customer service and a rep who is either very, very stoned or feverish to the point of borderline incoherence tells me there is an exchange process but I'm better off just returning it and emailing customer service. (I thought you were customer service?)

 

[tourbillions]

Sounds like a big adventure just for a belt.

 

[Nimsay]

So right when Hedi leaves they start email tracking and the customer service plummets.

Previously I called CS and they sent someone to my house from the Celine boutique here to hand deliver a belt.

 

[reese06]

So right when Hedi leaves they start email tracking and the customer service plummets.

Previously I called CS and they sent someone to my house from the Celine boutique here to hand deliver a belt.

This is not fair or relevant tbh.

Hedi has nothing to do with the quality of CS experiences. I can give you a million horror stories across the board from LVMH. You could have very well had the same experience but it boils down to a lot of factors.

 

[Nimsay]

I think that Hedi attracts the best sales people because they want a lot of commissions and want to be at the best brands. Therefore he does bring good CS with him because he attracts the best SAs.

 

[tourbillions]

not people thinking hedi influences customer service 😭 this has to be a simulation. Again all for a belt, i imagine if i buy a bag ill get a full bottle of champagne hand delivered to me by hedi's butler.

 

[BalkaniStaCouture]

This IS THE WRONG thread. This is MICHAEL RIDER

I guess this is the Celine thread now, so I'm posting this here. I've had a surprising amount of trouble trying to buy a brown western belt recently. Was traveling near a boutique, they only had one in my (common) size and it was stained. Got home and they were sold out online so I ordered a beige one. It arrives without any plastic covering on the hardware, which is covered in scratches. I return that and order a brown one now that they're back in stock. A thin brown triomphe belt arrives. I call customer service and a rep who is either very, very stoned or feverish to the point of borderline incoherence tells me there is an exchange process but I'm better off just returning it and emailing customer service. (I thought you were customer service?)

 

[reese06]

When you contact CS, those advisors are people who no longer want to do hardcore retail luxury sales- I am speaking from experience of managing those departments- and Lvmh has not fully figured out e-commerce especially companies like Celine and Dior who just brought their CS in house. Those commission and sales structures are totally different. Noone with a book is going to start working in CS for Celine unless they no longer want to sell.

The executive structure in cs is not going to have some big change because of hedi.

I think that Hedi attracts the best sales people because they want a lot of commissions and want to be at the best brands. Therefore he does bring good CS with him because he attracts the best SAs.

 

[HigthaVandah]

Again all for a belt, i imagine if i buy a bag ill get a full bottle of champagne hand delivered to me by hedi's butler.

Are you suggesting I shouldn't expect to receive the specific item that I ordered in unused condition within two tries unless it's part of a larger purchase?

So right when Hedi leaves they start email tracking and the customer service plummets.

Previously I called CS and they sent someone to my house from the Celine boutique here to hand deliver a belt.

I've ordered a few fragrances online and never had a problem until they lost an order of mine about a month after Hedi's departure was announced. The rep I spoke with said there was some problem with their system where orders weren't being passed on to the warehouse. So this is probably a related problem. Obviously not directly related to Hedi. Maybe at a stretch we could speculate someone in mail order logistics decided his departure was as good a time as any to institute some large scale changes and these are the growing pains.

My nearest boutique is a half day's drive away and across the US/Canada border. So I have nothing against the boutique SAs. It's also not their fault that they had zero mens coats and one style of womens coat in store, in Canada, in January... but that's not a Celine-specific gripe.

 

[HigthaVandah]

When you contact CS, those advisors are people who no longer want to do hardcore retail luxury sales- I am speaking from experience of managing those departments- and Lvmh has not fully figured out e-commerce especially companies like Celine and Dior who just brought their CS in house. Those commission and sales structures are totally different. Noone with a book is going to start working in CS for Celine unless they no longer want to sell.

Interesting, thanks for the insight. It's interesting to read about other aspects of the industry besides design teams and marketing. I didn't realize phone/customer service reps receive commission at all, nor that they're considered counterparts of store SAs. Could the transition to in house customer service explain the e-commerce system problem I mentioned above?

 

[Monsieur Cristobal]

Although for conglomerate houses a customer spending 600€ in an accessory is literally nobody, I think one deserves at least a correct service.

If you ask me, in the last ten years customer service went downhill, like other things in luxury.
Turning point for me was 2015, when Chanel reduced to 5 years after purchase some care services for bags (precisely the ones you would need in the long run, like refurbishing).
Changes of customer care policies have been done in the last decade, officially "to meet customer's needs", most probably to adjust budgets.

 

[reese06]

Interesting, thanks for the insight. It's interesting to read about other aspects of the industry besides design teams and marketing. I didn't realize phone/customer service reps receive commission at all, nor that they're considered counterparts of store SAs. Could the transition to in house customer service explain the e-commerce system problem I mentioned above?

Celine’s ecommerce customer service team is still very new so yes that could contribute to it. Or it could be something like the rep has insight into an inventory, returns or operations delay/issue and they were trying to keep the customer froman even worse experience but didn’t know how to deliver the information in a way that eased the client and so here we are. Lol But it could also be an incompetent rep- either way they are representing Celine so I shouldn’t make excuses but I have a soft spot having been in that side of things. It suck’s when you can’t deliver on the service you know the customer should have.
Usually the commission is not anything to write home about but they do try to cultivate books but Lvmh knows that because the customer can do it themselves, that’s not where the focus is.

 

[HigthaVandah]

LOL I was expressing surprise that something seems off at the warehouse, not trying claiming to be a VVVIC. Don't worry, you don't need to bring me down to size. I just happened to make the faux pas of actually admitting to buying clothing on a fashion forum. 🙂 I don't like buying actual garments from such companies online to avoid finding myself in this exact situation, but with the added complication of more exchanges for size.

But it could also be an incompetent rep- either way they are representing Celine

It happens, not the end of the world. I misjudged how that post would land and I kind of regret making it now. Complaining about how ugly and terrible a runway show is after spending 30 seconds clicking through it is unfair but it's punching up in a way that makes it categorically different from complaining about a specific customer experience. My post was intended in the spirit of the former, just light-hearted griping.

 

[blueorchid]

I dunno, if you go onto like... purse forums (lol) it sounds like Celine's customer service has always been hit and miss, during both Phoebe's and Hedi's eras. I exchanged a wallet that smelled awful (like the leather process was done incorrectly, it was horrendous) last summer and the process was... fine.

 

[reese06]

LOL I was expressing surprise that something seems off at the warehouse, not trying claiming to be a VVVIC. Don't worry, you don't need to bring me down to size. I just happened to make the faux pas of actually admitting to buying clothing on a fashion forum. 🙂 I don't like buying actual garments from such companies online to avoid finding myself in this exact situation, but with the added complication of more exchanges for size.


It happens, not the end of the world. I misjudged how that post would land and I kind of regret making it now. Complaining about how ugly and terrible a runway show is after spending 30 seconds clicking through it is unfair but it's punching up in a way that makes it categorically different from complaining about a specific customer experience. My post was intended in the spirit of the former, just light-hearted griping.

I was not trying to chomp you down or anything. Sorry if it appeared that way.

Was honestly just trying to give insight into LVMH and how service has nothing to do with Hedi, which wasn’t directed to you.

 

[HigthaVandah]

I was not trying to chomp you down or anything. Sorry if it appeared that way.

Was honestly just trying to give insight into LVMH and how service has nothing to do with Hedi, which wasn’t directed to you.

Nope, you didn't at all. Your insight was interesting and not a perspective we see here very often. I'd be interested to hear more tales from the service/commerce end of the industry if you're comfortable sharing. If anything, your comments were the sort of conversation I was hoping to start, though I hadn't thought it through that far when writing the original post.

 

[tourbillions]

Are you suggesting I shouldn't expect to receive the specific item that I ordered in unused condition within two tries unless it's part of a larger purchase?

it was more about all of that hassle was not worth it for a belt... you're better off with a coach belt, im sure customer service will be a lot better.

Luxury customer service is really non-existent. You will be lucky to find a genuinely helpful and cheerful SA from any of these brands. They all seem to be trained to act like they are the target market when Zara interns probably have more knowledge about the brand they are working for than them.