I thought I’d share this little story with you as a nod to good customer service which can be quite rare. I also wanted to share a great place to buy shoulderbags.

Late last year I bought myself a new handbag – one I planned to use all the time and use it all the time I have. Because I use the front zipper all the time too the fabric on the front was starting to wear off (see below). I could just see that it was going to get worse, not better so I emailed the company I bought it from – Mattt – a Melbourne based company to see if there was any chance of getting the fabric replaced.

I sent them a couple of photos showing the problem and after a couple of back and forth emails they asked me to send the bag back to them and they would replace the fabric.

It took me a while to choose a new fabric but I chose an upholstery fabric which I thought should be hard wearing and I chose colours that will pretty much match everything. They’d run out of the fabric that I originally chose.

Mattt were very quick with replacing the fabric and I’m rapt with it. As the zipper bit that you pull on to open the zipper (you can see I don’t know the proper term here) is quite short I’ve extended it with a dangly thingy (again, another very technical term) so I won’t run into the same problem. See for yourself. It’s not a very pretty option but I’ll keep an eye out for something else. Any ideas are very welcome.

I love the bag because I can separate all the bits and pieces I want to. My bus pass, building pass and keys go into the front pocket. There’s a little mobile phone pocket inside the bag so I don’t have to rifle through everything else to find it when it rings. There’s also another little pocket within the bag to keep my lip stuff and girlie stuff. My purse and other miscellaneous bits go in the main part so I know where everything is and can easily access it.

The upshot is that I’m a happy customer and hope to have this bag for years to come. And if you want one, I originally purchased mine online and it was a snap. Or if you’re in Melbourne they’re also sold at various markets. Just visit their website – Mattt – to find out the details.