Bad experience of Le Prevo

[ScottEnglish]

I bought an Italian natural vegetable-tanned half-butt from Le Prevo about a week ago. The price seemed good. Other than some sole bend it is the first time I have bought leather from them. And probably the last.

About two thirds of the leather has significant scarring. I initially hoped for an exchange to be arranged but this has not happened. Nor were they willing to arrange collection of the leather at their own expense. Instead, I am sending the leather back myself and will be refunded the total cost of the leather plus return postage.

At no point has Le Prevo admitted the leather is inferior. Photos have been sent. Instead, they say they do not recall any significant scarring to the leather when it was picked and packed and that the scars are actually surface indentations resulting from damage during transit.

They have wasted my time, and I now need to obtain replacement leather. I have returned an expensive, chrome-tanned back to Abbey England with no problems. As a first time customer too. Excellent service. I have also exchanged a chrome-tanned side from Metropolitan Leather that was damaged during transit. Again, excellent customer service.

For potentially new customers of Le Prevo, especially those whose questions suggest lack of experience in buying leather as mine did, I would advise you to steer well clear.

Scott

[LePrevo]

Marks on veg tan don't show up too well, especially on the low resolution pictures you provided so it's been difficult to assess the issue without getting it back and seeing it in person. Hence we'd asked if the parcel had been damaged on receipt - in case the leather could have been marked in transit (parcels can take a bit of a knocking).

As per the returns policy in our Terms and Conditions (which customers accept when they place an order) if there's an issue with the items provided the customer sends it back, we check it over and you get a refund. Some people send back substituted items so we do have to err on the side of caution - but the returns policy is fair, applied equally to everyone and is compliant with customers right to cancel an order and ask for a refund. 

[ScottEnglish]

The initial photos sent weren't low resolution. They were taken indoors with a digital camera borrowed from a friend. I agree they didn't show the scars that well. However, the later photos I sent were taken with the same camera outside. There was no mistaking the grain side for the flesh side as you suggested I'd done with the earlier photos.

Yes, you have a returns policy. As is necessary for a business. However, when you send someone inferior quality leather, as my later photos clearly showed it to be, a willingness to make amends, in this instance to arrange for an exchange, would be sensible. One might even hope for an apology!

I contrasted my experience of Le Prevo with the excellent service I received from both Abbey England and Metropolitan Leather. If Le Prevo has lower-grade leather to sell, it needs to be so described and priced accordingly.

Scott

[Matt S]

Scott, thanks for bringing this to the attention of the community. Having not seen any pictures of the hide you bought, and being aware of your relative newness to the world of leathercraft, I will keep a bit of an open mind about this case -- especially as it appears to still be ongoing. That only seems fair to both sides. I can understand a certain caution for a small company to fork out for a return "sight unseen" without an established relationship/trust between you. You're asking them to buy a pig in a poke.

FWIW I've been a customer of LePrevo for many years and never had a problem with their communication or quality of goods, though I don't think I've ever had to return anything so I've never tested that aspect to the business. I've always found their descriptions and prices to be very fair. They have recently had a change of ownership/management so time will tell how that pans out.

[fredk]

25 minutes ago, Matt S said:

Scott, thanks for bringing this to the attention of the community. Having not seen any pictures of the hide you bought, and being aware of your relative newness to the world of leathercraft, I will keep a bit of an open mind about this case -- especially as it appears to still be ongoing. That only seems fair to both sides. I can understand a certain caution for a small company to fork out for a return "sight unseen" without an established relationship/trust between you. You're asking them to buy a pig in a poke.

FWIW I've been a customer of LePrevo for many years and never had a problem with their communication or quality of goods, though I don't think I've ever had to return anything so I've never tested that aspect to the business. I've always found their descriptions and prices to be very fair. They have recently had a change of ownership/management so time will tell how that pans out.

me too

I'll be keeping an eye on this as well

I've been buying from Le Prevo for about 23 years now. Only once was something missing from an order and that was corrected very quickly. I've never had to send anything back. When I order leather I give a loose specification of what I require and Le Prevo has always sent me leather that fits that spec

[chuck123wapati]

12 hours ago, LePrevo said:

Marks on veg tan don't show up too well, especially on the low resolution pictures you provided so it's been difficult to assess the issue without getting it back and seeing it in person. Hence we'd asked if the parcel had been damaged on receipt - in case the leather could have been marked in transit (parcels can take a bit of a knocking).

As per the returns policy in our Terms and Conditions (which customers accept when they place an order) if there's an issue with the items provided the customer sends it back, we check it over and you get a refund. Some people send back substituted items so we do have to err on the side of caution - but the returns policy is fair, applied equally to everyone and is compliant with customers right to cancel an order and ask for a refund. 

i have a couple of questions for you. When someone returns a piece of leather do you just re sell it until some one accepts it or what happens to it? When you get your leather from the tannery do you send back bad hides or do you just sell them without inspection? 

[ScottEnglish]

Hi Matt S. Thanks for your balanced post. Thanks too for your comment fredk. Thanks also to chuck123wapati for your questions. All three of you have freely shared advice and experience with me. I thank you for this.

As fredk mentioned in a recent thread Le Prevo is now under new management. In effect, it's a new business. Therefore customer experiences prior to the changeover of management are irrelevant. So too are those of established customers. No sane business is going to send inferior goods to such folk. Far more relevant are the experiences of new customers since the change of management. Especially those like myself who asked a question that suggested little experience of buying leather.

As to the leather I've bought, it is as follows:

Three sides of chrome-tanned leather from Metropolitan Leather,

three sides of chrome-tanned leather from J. Wood Leathers (one of them should have been returned),

a hide of black scuff leather from J. Wood Leathers,

a shoulder of economy-grade natural veg-tan leather from J. Wood Leathers (which was far superior to the leather Le Prevo sent me),

and two shoulders of hot-rolled natural veg-tan leather from J. Wood Leathers (these also were far superior to the leather Le Prevo sent me).

I've also been in possession of another chrome-tanned side from Metropolitan Leather and a back/half-back of thick chrome-tanned leather from Abbey England. Not a lot of leather, but sufficient to give me some idea of what to now expect when I buy more.

As to the photos I sent Le Prevo, I am unable to upload them. If someone can help me to upload them, this will be good.

Scott

[fredk]

29 minutes ago, ScottEnglish said:

As fredk mentioned in a recent thread Le Prevo is now under new management. In effect, it's a new business. Therefore customer experiences prior to the changeover of management are irrelevant. So too are those of established customers. No sane business is going to send inferior goods to such folk. Far more relevant are the experiences of new customers since the change of management. Especially those like myself who asked a question that suggested little experience of buying leather.

I dispute this on the basis that the former owner Stu retired, the staff are the still the same bods, most of whom I have dealt with. The company is small, only about 6 workers. and as far as I'm aware it was those staff who bought up the company

@LePrevo might come back on this

I have placed a few orders now since Stu retired and my experience has been the same as before

[ScottEnglish]

[ScottEnglish]

[Doc Reaper]

Just like Tandy stores do when they get an order, wrap it - ship it - but collect the cash and say it’s been roughed up in shipping 

[AlZilla]

3 hours ago, ScottEnglish said:

 

Based on these pictures, I completely understand wanting to see the hides in person.  You don't say what you're using it for, but maybe you should only buy leather in person.

Are these full grain, top grain, or what?

I hope you get whatever satisfaction you're seeking.

[ScottEnglish]

19 hours ago, ScottEnglish said:

a shoulder of economy-grade natural veg-tan leather from J. Wood Leathers (which was far superior to the leather Le Prevo sent me),

 

Actually, it was two shoulders of economy-grade leather. Both were superior to the leather Le Prevo sent me.

The inferior quality leather is now on its way back to Le Prevo for a full refund. Hopefully, upon receipt of it, they'll admit it's poor quality and acknowledge this on this thread. I hope my experience was a one-off and no other customers of Le Prevo will be disappointed and inconvenienced as I've been.

[ScottEnglish]

The inferior quality leather arrived back at Le Prevo at just after noon today. I await a response from them.

[fredk]

We all await the outcome of this. I hope Le Prevo can get its reputation back

[ScottEnglish]

Below is the email I received from David Richardson:

Hi Scott - got it back just now - definitely grade 2 now we can see it in the flesh and shouldn't have gone out as a full price piece - can only assume the packer picked up the wrong roll of leather up for your order as that grade goes out into the shop clearance section.

We'll get the refund processed for you this afternoon.

Regards
David

[LePrevo]

On 2/8/2023 at 12:40 PM, chuck123wapati said:

i have a couple of questions for you. When someone returns a piece of leather do you just re sell it until some one accepts it or what happens to it? When you get your leather from the tannery do you send back bad hides or do you just sell them without inspection? 

For context this is the first return of leather for this reason in the 8 months since I took over Le Prevo. Anything that isn't up to what we would be happy to send out sight unseen goes in the shop clearance section where a customer can look it over and see exactly what they are getting (and priced accordingly). In Scott's case we think a rolled piece that was meant to go out in clearance got picked up as for his order by mistake. Inevitably mistakes happen but these scenarios are covered by the returns policy - for some things we really have to see it in the flesh to see the issue - which was the case here. 

[LePrevo]

On 2/8/2023 at 1:40 PM, fredk said:

I dispute this on the basis that the former owner Stu retired, the staff are the still the same bods, most of whom I have dealt with. The company is small, only about 6 workers. and as far as I'm aware it was those staff who bought up the company

@LePrevo might come back on this

I have placed a few orders now since Stu retired and my experience has been the same as before

I'd been a customer of Le Prevo for around 15 years - was in the shop one day and Stu said he was going to close the place. Shame to see that happen and I'd be stuck for leather so gave it all of 2 seconds thought and said "how much for the place?".

Will and Nick came over with the shop (thankfully) as did all the contacts, stock, suppliers etc. so not much has changed there. It's a small team of leather crafters happy to give impartial advice on tools and materials - we're not some warehouse operation where just the top hide in a pile gets picked and dispatched. If you want a hide of a certain size we'll look through stock and hand select one for you.

If there's an issue with a piece we'd tell you beforehand - unfortunately in Scott's case something got sent out by mistake and we had to see it back in the flesh to confirm the issue before sorting it through the returns & refunds policy. 

A shop customer looked over the returned piece on Friday and happily bought it from the clearance section - more like growth marks than scarring and suitable for what they wanted. As you noted buying leather in person is often preferable.

[chuck123wapati]

2 hours ago, LePrevo said:

For context this is the first return of leather for this reason in the 8 months since I took over Le Prevo. Anything that isn't up to what we would be happy to send out sight unseen goes in the shop clearance section where a customer can look it over and see exactly what they are getting (and priced accordingly). In Scott's case we think a rolled piece that was meant to go out in clearance got picked up as for his order by mistake. Inevitably mistakes happen but these scenarios are covered by the returns policy - for some things we really have to see it in the flesh to see the issue - which was the case here. 

it only takes one sometimes. good luck to you!  

[Matt S]

Sounds to me like things were handled well.

[ScottEnglish]

I'm returning my second purchase of leather from Le Prevo as it's once again of an inferior quality. As before it's natural vegetable-tanned leather. But this time a shoulder rather than a half-butt. I would like to be a regular customer of Le Prevo if possible so hope this will be the last time I'm sent leather like this.

[ScottEnglish]

There are more photos which I'm trying to add which show that the marks (I presume stretch/growth marks) extend across the entire length of the shoulder. I've also a photo with part of the shoulder lifted up revealing the flesh side of the leather. The stamp mark states the size of the shoulder to confirm this is the actual shoulder that Le Prevo sent me.

Edited March 11 by ScottEnglish

[ScottEnglish]

I'm having trouble adding more photos.

[ScottEnglish]

To quote forum user fredk in the seventh post of the topic entitled Price quotes from UK suppliers: "With Le Prevo I've bought 2nd quality, or damaged or leather with scars from them in their discounted list and I know what I'm getting. All other leathers were first rate, blemish and damage free." This is the experience I would like to have from Le Prevo.

[ScottEnglish]