One Department Store Buy Disappoints Me

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What you will read here

• Department stores sell items that look superior on the surface
• How a product attracted a buyer?
• Poor quality of some products emerge in just a few days

Most of the time, we tend to maximize our time just to save money.

When we're in a certain place like a mall, we peruse usable items that we can get our hands on and get one or two in a flash.

I was in one of the biggest branches of the most popular mall conglomerate in the Philippines two weeks ago. And I carried along my new lightweight 2-in-1 hybrid laptop.

Department stores sell items that look superior on the surface

I kind of thought of getting a small swanky men's shoulder bag of some sort for my new 2-in-1 device and that's why I needed to go to the right place to buy.

I went to a big department store to buy a fashionable satchel for my brand new hybrid laptop.

That way I don't have to clutch it all the time, though thinking about it now, I really enjoy clutching my sleek and thin laptop which also turns into a tablet with one yank of the detachable ultra-thin keyboard that quickly slips back onto the slot with a magnetized mechanism.

So I got inside the department store building of the huge mall complex and went straight to the men's bag section. I managed to browse quite a number of bags, but only one fits my purpose.

The sales clerk also gave a hard sell, but I got completely sold on it because of what it offered in the inside - a compartment for my hybrid device.

I've fallen in love with this bag as it has double protections for my laptop - zipper outside and inside is a strap that holds the laptop so that no one can easily and quickly take the compute out of the bag.

How a product attracts buyers?

For this particular product? Here how it went on my mind before the decision of buying:

1. The main pocket designed for lighter and smaller laptop came as an amazingly snug compartment for my own 2-in-1.
2. There's a strap for extra hold and protection for delayed grab just in case someone attempts to sneak out the device.
3. But yes the bag is zippered, so it's just an added protection.
4. But the ones that capped it all are these three little holders for both traditional and digital pens.
5. The pen of my device has no slot in the machine itself. It only sticks on the left side of the device with the power of a built-in magnet.
6. You wouldn't take the pen outside, with the device, it's the sure way to lose it.
7. And with the pen slots in the bag, it was a good buy for me.
8. I bought the satchel bag.

I thought buying this satchel bag is a steal. With the simple yet elegant design, the combination of handles and the shoulder strap, I have all the flexibility in carrying the bag.

Poor quality of some products emerge in just a few days

Fast forward to after five days. I can't find my digital pen in my new satchel bag. I put it in one of the three slots attached to the side opposite laptop slot.

As I was sure it's there, I groped the bottom of the bag, and I found out that it has slipped through the enclosed pen pouch. The pen had perforated through the bottom of the pouch, and it slipped through.

For me, the most important deciding factor in buying this bag is the 3-holders for pens inside the satchel. Without them, I wouldn't have bought the bag. That's the laptop pen in one of the holders.

As a lesson learned there, I used one of the two unused pen slots and this time I put the pen's eraser (top end) first, with the pen point tip on the top. I thought the pointed part was responsible for the hole.

The next day, I have to look for the pen again because it slipped through again. The same thing happened in the last third pen slot there.

It turns out that the pens pouches are just for decoration. Materials used are not tough, and so is the sewing. The pens, even traditional ones with caps, perforate the bottom of the holders and the pens slip through and fall at the bottom of the bag. And you need to grope for your pen every time.

Just like that, I thought this bag is only as good as it looks. Even department stores owned by behemoths don't pay attention to details of the products they sell, don't they?

Back to old ways

The bag has cost me Php600. I absolutely liked its exterior. But because of what happened, I don't touch it anymore.

Good for me because I get to maximize the use of my hybrid 2-in-1 device. I just carry it by hand, clutching it and I get to read important articles, news and tech stuff in a way that reminisces traditional way of reading.

Without its keyboard, it turns to books, digital magazines, and newspapers depending on the app that I use.

With just a snap of the keyboard in a second, it turns off tablet mode by which time I get to use a laptop whenever I have something to write.

As for the pen, I don't carry it anymore. I only use it at home.

Conclusion

What I've learned here? Buying merchandise in a big popular department store wouldn't make it more, or less for that matter, of a good quality product. If the makers cut corners, something has got to give. Most of the time, they do cut corners. Next time, I will meticulously inspect every part of any item that I buy.

Disclaimer

The author doesn't generalize on items that department stores sell to the public. The content of the article only delineates the fact that despite department stores sell high-quality products, there are also some products for sale in department stores, that are low-standard when it comes to durability.

Have you experienced buying a product in a branch of department store chain only to be disappointed? Share to us your buying experiences in the comments' section below.

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Vernie Mallorca

Vernie Mallorca is an entrepreneur and blogger with years of experience in selling to institutional accounts. He gradually shifted to blogging when he found out that it is his calling to write timely and helpful articles online that can help others to save money, make money, and secure their future by handling their income smartly. In this blog, he shares both managing your finances, however small it is and valuable information on running a small business.