City Shoes

I was just in this mans store trying to return a pair of poor fitting shoes he sold me. He made a big deal over the fact I had purchased the shoes 14 days ago and not in the 10 day policy. I had purchased just shy of $400 worth of shoes (3 pair) and he had given me a 10 % discount. I was late returning the shoes as I was trying all three pair out and these ones were the last ones I tried. This vendor made a big deal that if I was able to exchange them it had to be right now and if I did that the 10% discount he had given me would be reversed on all 3 pair of the shoes, even though I was returning just one. Here are some points for future customers to ponder before setting foot in this store. When I went into the store for the first time to purchase shoes this man refused to measure my feet. He considered yourself such an expert it was not required. I asked him more than one time to measure my foot to which he replied trust me I know what size you where. I will inform you one pair I bought from this vendor at his GUESS estimation about my foot size were spot on and are wonderful. The second pair were flopping off of my feet and he seemed surprized I asked for a smaller size. Thankfully due to my diligence I ended up with a second pair of awesome shoes, having the very good sense to ignore the vendors size GUESS. The third pair I told the vendor it was too big, he told me it wasn’t and this is how they are supposed to fit. Stupidly I trusted him. They were indeed far too big for me and hurt my feet. When I brought them back and informed the vendor of the problem he basically ridiculed me and said they are wonderful shoes and everyone likes them. I recognized the bully tactics he was employing at that point and informed him we are all different. He did a lot of talking, most of which I have no clue what he was saying and in fact asked for clarification numerous times. When nailed down to clarify what he was saying he would not clarify my questions and continued to express his dissatisfaction I dared return these shoes. From what I understand this is what he told me. He refused to exchange my shoes unless I agreed to accept an additional decrease in the shoes value of $39.50. This is the amount of the discount that was given me on all three pairs of shoes, even though I was buying another pair. He was very concerned about the huge amount of extra work this paperwork would cause him in addition to wiping the sole of the shoe which were never ever worn outside. Here is what his poor salesmanship and horrific customer service cost him in dollars. Had he returned my ill fitting shoes, it may have caused you a little extra work. I would have exchanged at the cost value for another pair of shoes, the ones I was looking at were about the same price and no I didn’t expect you to discount this pair by 10%. Each year this is what I buy: 2 pair of walking shoes, 2 pair of dress shoes, 2 pairs of sandals, 1 pair of boots. Because I have foot problems I have to buy expensive shoes and in fact each pair will average out to about $130 each or about $945 a year. I am not an old woman and would have been a customer as long as I had lived in St Albert. So for arguments sake let’s say 10 more years or about $9450 in future sales from me alone. In addition I was going to bring 8 of my friends down to try those shoes and allowing you the opportunity of 8 more customers….You do the math on that one. So for the sake of $40 and 10 minutes of work this vendor lost this business. I do not like to complain but when people blatantly rip you off I am grateful for forums like this. Personally, in retrospect I can see I am lucky to have to go elsewhere with better service and better knowledge so hindsight he did me a favour. M Lennox
13 years ago (10-08-2012)