Charity store mistakenly sells $1,081 Balenciaga bag left behind by a customer: “I don’t know what the truth is.”
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We’re all imperfect human beings, right? We’re all bound to commit a couple of mistakes from time to time but oh boy, some can be much more expensive than others.

A charity store has been forced to apologize after it sold a $1,081 Balenciaga bag that was accidentally left behind by a customer.

Balenciaga is a popular, high-demand, luxury brand known for exquisite craftsmanship and haute couture. It has a revenue totalling around $1 billion. Their popularity is a huge factor as to why their products are so expensive.

Zharkyn Ermekovna, originating from North London, was window shopping in East Finchley op shop when she decided to try on some clothes. As many of us would while fitting, she placed her handbag down and suddenly realized she had to go and pick up her children. This prompted her to leave the store in a hurry, and forget about her bag completely.

Zharkyn’s Balenciaga bag retails for about $1081. Image Credit: 7news​

Later that same day, Zharkyn attempted to return to the store to retrieve her handbag but failed since the shop had already closed. When she went back the following day, much to her dismay, she was told by the staff that the bag had already been sold.

The op shop that was run by RSPCA admitted they sold her bag for a fraction of its original value. This left Zharkyn feeling extremely devastated.

“You can’t sell something just like that, especially when it’s a designer product,”

She claims there were still keys in the bag when she left it behind the changing rooms.

“I asked how it was sold full of items and they said it was empty and they would not look at the CCTV…” She said. “It’s shocking. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know what the truth is.”

According to a spokesperson for the charity shop in an interview with The Sun, they had apologized to Zharkyn and are trying to track the item down.

“We have apologised to the owner of the bag for selling it, it was a very genuine error made in good faith, and we are making efforts to track it down…” they said.

“It would appear from CCTV cameras that the owner of the bag left it in a changing room for around an hour and then it was brought up to the till by a customer asking if they could buy it.”

“We believe the handbag was emptied before it was brought to the till and there were no obvious signs that it was a misplaced personal item so was sold in good faith. It was only when the owner of the bag returned the next day that it was discovered a genuine mistake had occurred…”

“The charity has reported the matter to the police and we would urge the bag owner to also report this to the police and the branch will assist with the investigation. The branch is appealing for the customer who bought the bag to get in touch so it can be returned to its rightful owner.”

What a dilemma! What are your personal thoughts on this? Share it with us in the comments below.

Want to know more about Balenciaga? You can read this article here.

 

[DrivingGirl]

The Charity shop is to blame here!
Everything should be price marked and if the sticker isn’t there they should not sell it without checking their own inventory. Yes it’s a bit of a process and they operate on a shoestring budget- however if you had a $1000.00 + haute couture item in the store, don’t you think they might have noticed!

 

[Gaena]

I feel for the real owner of the bag she must be devastated, but, I have to admit that my first response when reading the article was, what is she doing shopping in a charity store if she can afford a handbag that expensive, or did she spend her entire allowance on it and still needed some items of clothing. Yeah I know too cynical me

 

[Ma-to-3]

The charity store is definitely not to blame!!! Having worked in one I know from experience that customers swap price tags or remove tags in the hope of taking the item to the counter and getting a cheaper price. So it doesn’t surprise me that someone dumped the contents and made like it was on the shelf. Our policy was if an item didn’t have a price tag it had to be returned to the pricing area to be retagged. Also, the majority of volunteers in these stores wouldn’t know haute couture if it bit them “you know where”. In doubt items are referred to managers for advice or researched before being priced but things sometimes slip through.

 

[Jonathan Leane]

The charity store is definitely not to blame!!! Having worked in one I know from experience that customers swap price tags or remove tags in the hope of taking the item to the counter and getting a cheaper price.

Wow, just lost a little more faith in humanity @Ma-to-3... It's very sad that there are people who would do that in a charity shop.

 

[Ma-to-3]

Wow, just lost a little more faith in humanity @Ma-to-3... It's very sad that there are people who would do that in a charity shop.

You wouldn’t believe what goes on in charity stores !!! We used to mark down items with a red pen ... until a customer was found with her own red pen doing her own mark downs, of course on the more expensive items. We then had to use a unique stamp on our tags in addition to the red pen.

 

[DrivingGirl]

Wow, just lost a little more faith in humanity @Ma-to-3... It's very sad that there are people who would do that in a charity shop.

This must happen a lot then I guess, what a pity that people are so shameless.
It doesn’t sound as though any of the protocols you mentioned from your experience @Ma-to-3 were applied in the store in question though.