A woman in Ridgewood, New Jersey, ordered a $1,800 bag from a major luxury designer. Instead, according to her, she received a cheap knock-off, and now she is calling the brand out after they have refused to fix the situation.
Kristen Marie shared the story on TikTok. She is an extension transformation artist whose content usually revolves around her business. The clip attached above, however, became her biggest, garnering 1.6 million views, 115,500 likes, and more than 4,600 comments.
The New Jersey woman detailed that she bought her bag from Jil Sander, a very prominent fashion house that offers jewelry, shoes, fragrances, and, of course, bags. Kristen detailed that she had purchased the Cannolo Small bag for a little over $1,800, including shipping and taxes.
However, once the bag arrived, the box had no branded tags or barcodes on the outside, and no authenticity cards or invoice were in the bag. Once she opened the package, she knew she had not received what she ordered.
While similar at first glance, the stitching of the bag Kristen received was completely different, and she even believes the bag was not made with real leather.
“And it came with this tag, which is held on by a little piece of yarn and a random ripped price tag,” she added. “And it came with a random little lipstick on the inside, which I did not even order.”
No Change Or Refund Possible
Kristen immediately filed a return and called customer service. A few days later, after sending evidence of the bag, she got a response. Jil Sander agreed that the item she had received was not theirs, but said that they were unable to approve a return, refund, or exchange as no “identifying elements” were visible in the provided photos.
The New Jersey woman theorized that another customer had kept an original bag and sent a fake one instead. This faux bag then went unchecked, ultimately reaching Kristen, with a very disappointing outcome. Still, she believes Jil Sander could’ve handled this completely differently.
“This whole thing could have been avoided if they had just said, ‘You know what? We’re so sorry. We’ll send you the right bag,'” she said. “But instead they’re just lying to me and taking my money and letting me keep this fake bag, which is gonna get thrown in the garbage.”
Reactions
The video sparked multiple responses online.
Some viewers blasted the brand, even theorizing on what had occurred. One said, “Nope. Internal job. Worker did the swap.” Another one commented, “The lipstick was added for proof of weight in comparison to the authentic bag. This was done in-house for sure.”
Others told Kristen to get her money back, with one writing, “Call your credit card company and open a dispute.” Unfortunately, Kristen responded, “I purchased this with my own money using my debit card. Rookie mistake.”
The online backlash was so strong that, eventually, according to Kristen, Jil Sander offered to exchange her bag for a new one. She didn’t get an apology, though, so she will be requesting a refund instead.
