Fashion rant ahead. Sorry.
I ordered this bag from Zatchels in mid-August. It was during their summer sale so the price was pretty good (I think I paid about $120 including tax, shipping and currency conversion). It’s the 13” satchel in cornflower blue, with some add-ons that would usually cost extra (strap slider and quick-release clips).
Zatchels’ usual policy is that all bags ship out within 30 days (they are handmade and made-to-order) and I had read in other people’s blog posts that bags usually ship out before that. But because of the high volume of orders they received during the summer sale, the company couldn’t ship out all bags within that time frame. They sent out a mass email at the 30-day mark saying everything would ship as soon as possible, they were doing their best, etc.
However, after it had been NINE WEEKS since I placed my order, I sent a message to customer service to check how my bag was doing. No one there would answer me, even after repeated attempts. The only person who would help me was the person managing Zatchels’ Twitter account. They told me they’d look into my order and find out why I’d had to wait so long.
Turns out the cornflower blue leather was out of stock and they were waiting on a shipment of it at an unknown date. I asked if I could have a partial refund to compensate me for having to wait so damn long. The Twitter person offered me either a shipping refund ($30) or laser engraving on the bag; I took the refund.
Two weeks later, the bag finally shipped, and then it arrived today, a couple days short of TWELVE WEEKS since I ordered it. Ridiculous. I also had to pay $30 in import duties so the shipping refund was basically moot.
Anyway, it seems like a good-quality bag, at least. It’s roomy and very bright blue, and they correctly put on the add-ons I wanted. I’m sure I’ll enjoy wearing it and will get a lot of compliments on it, but I doubt I’d ever order from Zatchels again or recommend that anyone else do so.