Shoddy merchandise
A couple of weeks ago I splurged and bought myself a leather coat at Mondo Pelle. Big mistake. Less than a week later, as I'm rushing in to St. Jerome's to take my last psychology of evil test, I notice that the zipper has torn out of the jacket at one point. Ugh. I drive in to the mall with Jess the next day and take the jacket into the shop; the one insists that it is a "rip, not a manufacturing defect", so they're not responsible for it "because it was tight across the chest" and so I am at fault for the rip. Great, sure, reasonable except for one tiny little thing: when she sold me the coat, she insisted that the places where it was snug were no big deal because the jacket "would stretch". Yeah, sure, or the zipper will rip out. To make matters worse, some of my pink hair dye rubbed off on the inside of the collar near the back, so she's not willing to exchange it or anything.
Joe thinks that the shop's at fault because they sold me a product that didn't last a week, without warning (and I tried it on in front of the woman; she didn't say anything about the fit, and when I noted that it was snug at my hips, she just gave me the line about leather stretching). I would have tried the next size up, of course, if they sold a larger one. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that there's anything other than general ethics that enforce that, so I think I'm screwed. Because I hate shopping around a lot and I fell for a sales line, I'm stuck with an unfastenable but expensive coat. The only thing I can do is resolve not to shop there again in the future, and tell my friends (that's you guys) that I can't recommend shopping there. Thing is, that's a pretty empty gesture anyway. I doubt I'd be looking for another leather coat in the time I'd expect to be in Waterloo, and I doubt that most of my friends are looking for a leather coat any time soon. Even if anyone is, I think most of you have broader shoulders than me, anyway, and they don't generally sell a larger woman's coat (and if I recall, their men's sizes aren't very big either).
I guess the only useful lesson I can pass on from this is that even if leather will stretch a little under snugness, the components accompanying it might not be so durable.
Anyway, I took it to the tailor shop next door (the lady at Mondo Pelle did say that the shop next door would give me a discount on the repair if I said I got the coat from them) to have it fixed. I asked them how much; the girl at the counter tells me that she'll have to take it to the seamstress in back to see if what she thinks. Fine. I wait. She comes back and says it'll cost $10 (not bad) for her to sew the zipper back in.
The zipper that ripped out of the jacket because the tape shredded from where it was stitched in (the leather part of the coat, after all, is quite unharmed).
Uh.
But hey, they know what they're doing right?
Maybe so, but if that's the case then they must have assumed I that would NEVER TRY TO USE THE ZIPPER TO FASTEN THE COAT AGAIN.
Yes, it's broken again.
They could have at least TOLD ME. If I hadn't had a similar problem with a different coat, it would never have even occurred to me that the way they were fixing it might not hold.
I'm calling Mondo Pelle some time tomorrow. I don't expect that they'll do anything useful, but I feel the need to express my anger and frustration with their crappy sales tactics and merchandise. I'm not going to yell or call the woman any names (although I unfortunately thus far cannot convince myself not to think them of her). I just want to express my belief that she shouldn't be telling anyone that the coat will stretch if there's a chance it'll break first--which we can now clearly see is the case. I certainly don't expect satisfaction from the shop unless I resort to legal action, which I'm not sure is even applicable here.
As for what I'm going to do about the coat now, I don't know. My mom fixed a similar problem on my winter coat for me this past winter (god damn it, my breasts aren't THAT big. The problem on my winter coat was closer to the throat, if I recall, anyway), but I kind of doubt she wants to dick around with my coat. I can go back to a tailor shop (probably not the same one) and ask them to replace the zipper entirely. I'm sure it'll be more expensive, and I'll have no way of ensuring that it holds. Not very satisfying.
So I don't know what I'm going to do with this thing. I feel like I paid a little too much for it to just wash my hands of it, but I also have no desire to throw good money after bad.
I've had a pretty crappy couple of weeks for material possessions, I guess, considering that my van died right around the time I wasted my money on a crappy coat.
Joe thinks that the shop's at fault because they sold me a product that didn't last a week, without warning (and I tried it on in front of the woman; she didn't say anything about the fit, and when I noted that it was snug at my hips, she just gave me the line about leather stretching). I would have tried the next size up, of course, if they sold a larger one. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that there's anything other than general ethics that enforce that, so I think I'm screwed. Because I hate shopping around a lot and I fell for a sales line, I'm stuck with an unfastenable but expensive coat. The only thing I can do is resolve not to shop there again in the future, and tell my friends (that's you guys) that I can't recommend shopping there. Thing is, that's a pretty empty gesture anyway. I doubt I'd be looking for another leather coat in the time I'd expect to be in Waterloo, and I doubt that most of my friends are looking for a leather coat any time soon. Even if anyone is, I think most of you have broader shoulders than me, anyway, and they don't generally sell a larger woman's coat (and if I recall, their men's sizes aren't very big either).
I guess the only useful lesson I can pass on from this is that even if leather will stretch a little under snugness, the components accompanying it might not be so durable.
Anyway, I took it to the tailor shop next door (the lady at Mondo Pelle did say that the shop next door would give me a discount on the repair if I said I got the coat from them) to have it fixed. I asked them how much; the girl at the counter tells me that she'll have to take it to the seamstress in back to see if what she thinks. Fine. I wait. She comes back and says it'll cost $10 (not bad) for her to sew the zipper back in.
The zipper that ripped out of the jacket because the tape shredded from where it was stitched in (the leather part of the coat, after all, is quite unharmed).
Uh.
But hey, they know what they're doing right?
Maybe so, but if that's the case then they must have assumed I that would NEVER TRY TO USE THE ZIPPER TO FASTEN THE COAT AGAIN.
Yes, it's broken again.
They could have at least TOLD ME. If I hadn't had a similar problem with a different coat, it would never have even occurred to me that the way they were fixing it might not hold.
I'm calling Mondo Pelle some time tomorrow. I don't expect that they'll do anything useful, but I feel the need to express my anger and frustration with their crappy sales tactics and merchandise. I'm not going to yell or call the woman any names (although I unfortunately thus far cannot convince myself not to think them of her). I just want to express my belief that she shouldn't be telling anyone that the coat will stretch if there's a chance it'll break first--which we can now clearly see is the case. I certainly don't expect satisfaction from the shop unless I resort to legal action, which I'm not sure is even applicable here.
As for what I'm going to do about the coat now, I don't know. My mom fixed a similar problem on my winter coat for me this past winter (god damn it, my breasts aren't THAT big. The problem on my winter coat was closer to the throat, if I recall, anyway), but I kind of doubt she wants to dick around with my coat. I can go back to a tailor shop (probably not the same one) and ask them to replace the zipper entirely. I'm sure it'll be more expensive, and I'll have no way of ensuring that it holds. Not very satisfying.
So I don't know what I'm going to do with this thing. I feel like I paid a little too much for it to just wash my hands of it, but I also have no desire to throw good money after bad.
I've had a pretty crappy couple of weeks for material possessions, I guess, considering that my van died right around the time I wasted my money on a crappy coat.