Faulty shoes - any possible action I can take?

veggiedom

Hi all,

I bought some Merrell Chameleon Wrap Slam Gore-Tex® XCR shoes intending to use them for summer hiking. However after only one summer’s use, holes appeared in both shoes, both sides, in the same places on the GoreTex upper; rendering the GoreTex shell on each shoe useless.

I have used Merrell shoes for years and have an old pair that must be 7 years old, with NO grips, but the top surface remains intact. Whereas these latest shoes have plenty of grips, but ineffective waterproof shells.

Unfortunately I have lost the receipt, so I sent them back to Merrell stating my dissatisfaction. They said they would make an assessment on the “fair wear and tear” of the product, resulting in them, on inspection, concluding that the holes were due to fair wear and tear.

In my opinion the position of the holes are due to the material repetitively bending in normal use. I think the position of the reinforcement sections are such that they continually stress the material in specific pinpoint positions, hence premature failure of shell, well before anything else.

I am 100% convinced this is a design fault resulting in material failure.

There is plenty of life left in these shoes, but only on bone dry days. I paid the extra money for the waterproof shell, so am furious with Merrell for fobbing me off.

Has anyone had a similar problem?

Is there anything I can do to claw back my money or demand a similar shoe replacement?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

CuriousMeerkat

So they basically told you to take a hike? :rotfl:


Sorry

Meepster

You can pay for an independant expert to take a look at the shoes and write a report accordingly. This is the only way you can prove they are actually faulty and the problem isn't due to wear and tear...