I have to take it back on Matt & Nat (so far)

Last month I waxed rhapsodic about an online handbag vendor I found via ecofabulous, Matt & Nat. They are a Canadian company that makes vegan bags, and in some of the cutest styles you'll ever see.

The very day I wrote the post I ordered two bags. (That was on Christmas Eve, 12/24/07.)

Now, they did have a message on the site saying that due to the holiday crush, orders placed would take 2 weeks to arrive.

But tomorrow it will have been four weeks, and no bags. And the holiday crush was over about four weeks ago too, so i'm not sure what excuse there is.

Worse than that, they have no easy way identified to check order status, so I'm left emailing whatever email addresses I can find on their site and from the original order confirmation (none of which are identified as the place to go to check on orders, but I'm hoping someone can have mercy on me.) I have thus far emailed three times, with no response...not from their info@email address, their shopping@ email address, or even their onlinereturns@ email address.

The only phone number available for the store is in Montreal (no toll-free, unfortunately.) I called it once, got a phone tree recording, which mentioned the info@ email address, so given the tolls to call Canada, I decided to hang up and try email.

I guess my next step is calling that number again...which I can tell you from experience will cost me a lot of money. So yeah, I'm thrilled to be spending money, so they can have more of my money.

There's no purse I need this badly!

I love their style, but I need service too.

I often say that eco products need to be as fashionable and functional as non eco products if they want to make inroads past the converted into the mainstream. I guess I should add that companies that make eco products need to have just as good customer service too.

So, I wouldn't recommend shopping at Matt & Nat at this point. And that makes me feel sad.

Comments

[Elisa Camahort]

I think the email I used that finally got the first response was:
shop@mattandnat.com

[Another angry customer of Matt and Nat]

thank you for the e-mail, i didn't have that one. :) hopefully they'll answer.

[Another angry customer of Matt and Nat]

Update on my matt and nat situation, the e-mail address that you posted worked! :) They responded, and gave me a tracking number! Now I have to wait a week to get my bags, at least I know they're on their way! :) Thanks for your help Elisa.

[Pissed]

I'm pissed too! I orderd a bag for my sister as a Christmas gift on 12/19. I knew it was going to be delayed and was fine with that but it is now MARCH 6 and I have yet to see my bag. The second time I emailed I got a response saying that they would send me a tracking number - I have yet to get one. I've probably left a total of 15-20 emails and voicemails now. I've emailed info@mattandnat as well as the customer service email. I would never recommend them to anyone now - which stinks because I really like what I see on their site.

Darn!

[Elisa Camahort]

Wow, I had no idea what I was starting with this post.

And I guess now we've discovered that the Matt and Nat folks either don't Google themselves or don't care what we peons in blogs think. If you Google "recommend Matt & Nat", you'll see that this post is the fourth hit:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en-us&q=recommend+%22Matt+%26+Nat%22&btnG=Search

And it clearly says I wouldn't.

And if people keep coming to this post and talking about their crappy service, this post will eventually go up in the search engine ranks not just for terms like Matt & Nat service and Recommend Matt & Nat, but just for the brand name alone.

That ain't good.

[Leanbean]

I have been trying to get a hold of the ocmpany as well and have failed miserably. Not only have I already been charged but my mom will have to do without a present on her birthday. Worst customer service ever!

[carol2000ine]

just a comment, i ordered my bag on Feb 14th, and i also have NOT received my bag (and have been charged). However, the Montreal number 514-388-2334 worked well. I got hold of the customer service pretty quickly. She promised to send the tracking number... lets see if it works.

[emily]

I was so excited to buy my "eco-friendly" purse but hadn't really done my research beyond word of mouth praise. My bad. I received my purse last week and the label read 100% PVC made in China - double whammy! PVC is a highly toxic, non-environmentally friendly material (http://archive.greenpeace.org/toxics/pvcdatabase/bad.html) and the carbon footprint to ship the bags from China are huge not to mention the numerous human rights issues associated with manufacturing in that country. I didn't see a policy on the M&N website about fair labour so I don't want to jump the gun on that but wow - talk about a non-eco-friendly bag! I'm soooo disappointed!

[Elisa Camahort]

Hi Emily, thanks for the comment.

To be fair, Matt and Nat does have a recycling program for used bags...which I haven't seen from other retailers:
http://mattandnat.com/blog/en/?cat=4

Also, to be fair their primary stated purpose is to designs stylish cruelty-free, vegan bags, not to design eco-friendly bags. I don't think that's really part of their brand promise like the vegan part is.

But if you check out their various lines they do call out some lines where the materials are recycled or recyclable.

They may have redesigned their site, but it's still a really bad site. Info about where the bags are made, for example, would be really helpful.

On my hierarchy of ethical shopping criteria vegan does come first, with eco-materials second. I seem to be more their target customer than someone whose primary concern is environmental friendliness.

[Amanda]

Hi there. Like many of you I have been waiting for ever for my bag. I've actually been waiting 7 weeks and am having trouble getting ahold of anyone. I thought I would see if anyone out there recieved my bag because I know that some people have received the wrong order. The bag I ordered was a small Jorga Fox, brown leather with yellow stitching (or they call it cognac with mustard) if someone has it please let me know.