In part 1 of my review of the Louise Carmen notebook, I cover the qualities of the Louise Carmen Pocket Heritage notebook itself. Now I’ll talk about how I managed to obtain it!
When I discovered Louise Carmen notebooks online, I thought they looked great. Their website, and their Instagram, feature some some pretty mouth-watering imagery, including before and after photos of brand-new and broken-in notebooks in lots of beautiful colors. It did not take long before I was itching to hit the “buy” button, except for a few things: the notebooks are expensive, shipping from France is really expensive, and the colors I liked best were sold out. And without seeing these notebooks in person, I couldn’t quite commit to such a big expense.
Since I really didn’t want to spend a ton of money on a notebook from France sight-unseen, I turned to eBay, without much optimism. But I was amazed to see several listings for Louise Carmen notebooks at bizarrely low prices, apparently due to a super-clearance of some overstock. The colors and leather style were the antithesis of all my personal notebook preferences, but for a total price of about $13 for 2 notebooks, I wasn’t going to quibble about them being metallic fuschia and gold! These were sold at Bloomingdale’s at some point. The metallic leather is still available an option for the lower-priced “Pocket Colors” notebooks on the Louise Carmen website. I bought a lot of two notebooks, just to test-drive the size, shape, and quality before committing to ordering a color I really wanted from France.
The quality of the leather in these metallic “Colors” notebooks was a bit lighter and floppier than I’d expected, but I liked them enough and figured the more expensive Heritage leather would be nicer. I was ready to place an order, but I kept waiting, hoping that the out of stock colors would be available again. In the meantime, I went into Manhattan one day and visited Goods for the Study. I couldn’t believe it when I glanced into a glass display case and saw several Louise Carmen notebooks– the Louise Carmen website makes no mention of any other stockists. Goods for the Study only had the pocket notebooks in natural and black, from the pricier “Pocket Heritage” collection. The natural leather is smooth and much stiffer than the metallic leather. The black notebook at Goods for the Study was a more supple and soft leather, also very nice. (Lots of other gorgeous colors are available on the Louise Carmen website, but it’s hard to tell from the photos which texture each color leather has.) I was really torn about which one to buy, but decided to go with something different (i.e. non-black) for a change. I still kind of want another color in the Heritage leather, as I’m feeling impatient about the natural leather developing a nice patina… but it’s already starting to soften and darken and I’m sure the end result will be rewarding.
Goods for the Study charges $129.95 for the Louise Carmen pocket Heritage notebook cover. I was charged an additional $7.95 for the notebook insert– not sure if that was a mistake, but if I’d realized it wasn’t included, I wouldn’t have bought it. (They stock extra refills in pocket and large sizes.) But the price for the cover is a relative bargain– if I’d ordered it from the Louise Carmen website, the price would have been 129 euros (something like $139, at the moment) plus about $50 for shipping. Ordering direct from Louise Carmen means you get one insert notebook in your choice of plain or dotted pages included for free, plus a little cloth bag to keep your notebook in, plus free gift packaging, if you want it. You can also get a custom color elastic (5 euro extra) and custom stamping of your name or initials (13 euro extra). Larger sizes are also available. They also sell accessories such as extra elastics and a leather care kit.
If you are in the US and you want a Louise Carmen notebook, you could check eBay to see if there’s any bargains to be had. But otherwise, I would try Goods for the Study. They don’t currently do online sales, though their website says online shopping is coming in Spring 2023– if you can’t wait til then, you could call their main store at (212) 674-4400 to place an order.
If you want to order from the Louise Carmen shop in France, you might consider a proxy shipping service, though I’m not sure if that would save you much money. Ordering more than one notebook at a time makes the per-notebook shipping costs more reasonable, so joining forces with a friend could be worthwhile. Best method of all? Book a trip to Paris! I’d love to go to the store in person to see and touch and smell these luscious leather notebooks first hand. I just wish I had known about Louise Carmen notebooks the last time I was there!
English translation below.
Commande passée le 29/07 : un Magnum + un Portfolio pour la modique somme de 416,5 €. Oui, plus de 400 balles pour un carnet. On s’attend à du sérieux, à du service haut de gamme, à une expérience client irréprochable. La réalité ? Une blague.
11/08 : je reçois enfin mon colis. Le carton est déchiqueté. Un miracle que le cuir ne soit pas foutu. Un des carnets est abîmé. J’écris au SAV, j’explique qu’un emballage digne de ce nom aurait évité ça.
13/08 : ils me proposent un geste (2 carnets supplémentaires). Sympa sur le papier. J’accepte et je demande simplement que le renvoi soit fait à ma nouvelle adresse. Rien de plus simple. Et là… c’est le trou noir.
26/08 : toujours rien. Je relance.
01/09 : réponse lunaire. « Le changement d’adresse n’a pas pu être pris en compte. » Sérieux ? 15 jours pour changer une adresse et ils n’y arrivent pas. On marche sur la tête.
02/09 : on me promet un suivi. Jamais reçu.
08/09 : j’appelle. On me sert le discours tout fait : « désolé, on prend ça en main ». Traduction : on s’en fout. On me promet un renvoi, cette fois à la bonne adresse.
13/09 : toujours rien. Pas un mail, pas un suivi, pas une explication. Le néant total.
Résultat ?
On a affaire à une marque qui joue les stars d’Instagram, qui bombarde les réseaux avec des belles images et vidéo pseudo-luxe, mais qui derrière a un service client digne d’un site discount en liquidation. Emballage de m****, communication inexistante, promesses bidon. À plus de 400€ le carnet, c’est honteux.
Alors oui, le produit est beau et la qualité est là. Mais franchement, avec un service client pareil, ça gâche totalement l’expérience. Quand on paie le prix du luxe, on ne veut pas seulement un bel objet : on veut un service à la hauteur. Et ici, c’est clairement pas le cas.
La prochaine fois ? Je passe directement chez Paper Republic. Les carnets sont tout aussi beaux, le service client (lui) est réactif, respectueux et irréprochable. Bref, tout ce que la marque Louise Carmen prétend être… mais n’est pas.
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Order placed on 07/29: a Magnum + a Portfolio for the modest sum of €416.5. Yes, over 400 bucks for a notebook. You’d expect something serious, top-tier service, a flawless customer experience. The reality? A joke.
08/11: I finally receive my package. The box is shredded. A miracle the leather wasn’t ruined. One of the notebooks is damaged. I email customer service, pointing out that proper packaging would have prevented this.
08/13: they offer me a gesture (2 additional notebooks). Nice on paper. I accept and simply ask for the replacement to be sent to my new address. Nothing complicated. And then… total blackout.
08/26: still nothing. I follow up.
09/01: absurd reply. “The address change could not be taken into account.” Seriously? 15 days to change an address and they can’t manage it? Ridiculous.
09/02: they promise me tracking. Never received.
09/08: I call. I get the standard script: “Sorry, we’re taking care of it.” Translation: they don’t care. They promise to resend the package, this time to the correct address.
09/13: still nothing. No email, no tracking, no explanation. Absolute void.
The result?
This is a brand that plays the Instagram star, flooding social media with glossy pseudo-luxury images and videos, but behind the scenes has a customer service worthy of a bargain-bin liquidation site. Crap packaging, zero communication, empty promises. At over €400 for a notebook, it’s downright shameful.
Yes, the product is beautiful and the quality is there. But honestly, with customer service like this, the whole experience is ruined. When you pay luxury prices, you don’t just want a nice object: you want service to match. And here, that’s clearly not the case.
Next time? I’ll go straight to Paper Republic. Their notebooks are just as beautiful, and their customer service is responsive, respectful, and impeccable. In short, everything Louise Carmen pretends to be… but isn’t.