Stefanie Krum
Google
Unfortunately I have had very negative experience with ordering at A. Sautter regarding the item NOT MATCHING THE ORDER & the CUSTOMER SERVICE. Hopefully sharing my experience will help to avoid something like that to ever happen again.
It began with a visit in her store & a nice chat with the sales lady. I was all excited about getting a bag made to order.
1st mail contact with AS 6th of SEP 2020. We discussed my wishes & details about the bag. AS was very open, friendly & absolutely positive that she understood what I asked for. Therefore I placed my order at the 15th of SEP´20. 500€ have been transfered to AS PAYPAL as down payment.
Finish date was set for approx. 20th of OCT/ 40 days.
Before XMas AS did sent a pic front only, taken in a certain light/ with filter to make the metal look gun metal when it was not.
After receiving the bag we noticed silver metal, not gun metal & back part velvet, not napa leather as ordered. Other than that the bag was in good condition unless one scratch.
We returned the bag on my expense & up on AS promise to craft an new one matching the order until end of Feb´21.
The deal was to refund the 2nd payment after the bag is back with her. I had to ask several times for that as well it took her finally 2 WEEKS to proceed the refund on PAYPAL.
This time the bag was also not finished by then, it took another 1,5 MONTHS for AS to text on 7th of Apr 2021 to let us know the bag is finished. We asked for pics, but she did sent only one on which we noticed velvetan edge on the back of the bag, such as smaller metal parts (compared to the 1st bag) & massive wrinkles all over the handles. We asked for more pictures. It took AS 2 WEEKS to sent these pics.
On these pics the bag showed dents, folds, open seams, marks on the velvet, uneven metal surface, smaller metal parts. It did not look made well & as if it was done in a rush.
Talking about our concerns AS did sent pictures to compare the 1st & the last bag. Easy to notice that the measurements are different, height & handles are taller/ bigger.
Not even mentioning the difference in quality while having a zoom in & checking all the details. Even tough it seems like the bag could match the order it is for sure not in the quality we would expect for the agreed price.
We mentioned our concerns again & asked for total refund. Also stressed out customers right regarding EU law to step back from orders anytime. Making the point this was a personal order AS neglect this & offered either that we pay full (with no right to complain) & she will send the "new" bag or to visit her in the store to have a look on the bags together.
For someone who keeps telling that her artisanal work is her passion & it is so important for her to make a customers wish come true we did not expect to have such an unpleasant experience with AS going through such an odyssey of over MORE THAN ½ A YEAR & being asked to pay 1082€ for a bag in such a condition. Last not least we could not feel, that AS was sorry or trying to make up for any of that. In mails she did not even write names correctly but was very clear she deserves to keep the down payment of 500€.
Who would have guessed that in the end AS would offer a bag in such absolutely not acceptable condition as her passionated artisanal work.
Visiting her store I can not remember her bags etc. to have handles with wrinkles all over, edges that are about to open because the stitching does not last, neither were they covered in scratches or any similar. But my memory might be mistaken by that.
We were writing to here about going to lawyers but we decided cross border court proceedings will cost more money than to write off the down payments & to have no bag.
To us it seems like money to be more important than customer service & order fullfillment. It clearly feels like my order was disrespected & likely even me, the client, as such. Maybe it is also because I am an international client. Who knows?
This is our personal experience after a process of more than ½ a year with very difficult communication.
