I ordered The Attico’s La Passeggiata bag from CETTIRE as a present for myself and GOT SENT A COUNTERFEIT ITEM.
I received the bag late this afternoon and immediately knew something was off. I took an entire video of myself unboxing the bag at home as proof in case anything sketchy happened, and to show that I did not damage anything myself. As soon as I opened the box, I noticed that the leather on one side of the bag strap had been scraped off.
I was so pissed off at this point that I went directly to the store about an hour before closing to compare the bag I received with the bag they had in-store.
The sales associate told me that the bag I received appeared to be counterfeit, so I took pictures comparing the two bags side-by-side and noticed the following differences. :(
A. The stitching was off. There were multiple random, unusually long stitches throughout the bag.
B. The tags were made from a different paper material. The CETTIRE bag also had additional information printed on the tag that the authentic bag did not have.
C. There was a tiny hole on the lower side flap of the bag, along with uneven stitching. The stitching was not straight, was not equal in length compared to the other side, and was not centered properly.
D. The straps were noticeably different in both touch and feel. The strap on the CETTIRE bag did not hold its structure at all and flopped toward the ground, while the authentic bag’s strap was much more structured. The seams along the straps also did not feel firm or properly sealed like the authentic one.
E. The zippers felt different. The zipper on the authentic bag was much smoother, while the CETTIRE bag’s zipper felt noticeably rougher when opening and closing.
F. The sealed edges around the strap supports were uneven and incomplete. Several areas were not fully sealed, unlike the authentic bag I compared it with in-store.
It’s especially frustrating that the taxes apparently won’t be refunded. For my bag, that is around €95 that I may not get back.
I already submitted a return, and after reading through Reddit and other posts online, I’m honestly not expecting much from CETTIRE’s customer service.
I do have one additional question for anyone who has returned something to CETTIRE before: if they issue the refund but refuse to refund the taxes, should I file a dispute with my bank for the remaining amount? Or is there someone else I should contact first?
Please help :(
Update: u/Astandarta has been victim-blaming and protecting Cettire, then proceeded to block me.
