Returning shoes to my employer: where do I stand?

InaPickle

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Just wear them at work, keep stopping to rub the blisters and looking incredibly uncomfortable. I would think that an employee who looks in agony is going to reduce sales, after all?

:rotfl:I like that, Jojo, but we do so many 'miles' in them that it would just end up affecting me earning commission which I will need to live and pay for the blummin' new shoes! I may just have to chalk this one up to experience and get the new ones, which are rumoured to last a very long time anyway.

Morty_007

you have the same rights as any other consumer regardless of whether you are an employee surely!!? What have trading standards said about it?

InaPickle

Morty_007 wrote: »

you have the same rights as any other consumer regardless of whether you are an employee surely!!? What have trading standards said about it?

That's what I would have thought but herein lies the bone of contention...if I were a normal consumer I don't think I would have had a problem, returning them sooner (or even if I had been able to return them sooner myself I would have been ok), but the fact that they have barely anything that fits me well and I am obliged as an employee to wear something that they sell as part of my job puts me in a precarious position as I couldn't have found something else to replace them with sooner. I personally feel that if I had just been another employee with a normal sized/width foot who had not returned them sooner, then I could have been reasonably expected to have asked for a refund/exchanged them for something else sooner, but given that there has been nothing really suitable, I have not been able to do so. The shoes are now a real state due to wear-and-tear and I think the shop would be able to reasonably state that a normal customer should have returned them earlier, but the problem is that I HAVE to wear shoes sold by the company and since there has been nothing else I could wear, then I have had to make do with what I had until they have become truly unbearable. I can guarantee that there is no way I ever would have bought those shoes were this rule not obligatory.

I haven't asked trading standards as I have been working non-stop these past few days, but that would really constitute rocking the boat, so I was asking for some advice that I could try to use to get a satisfactory result myself, without necessarily getting anyone else involved. I believe that there is a phrase involving the words 'rock' and 'hard place' which accurately describes my situation...

OlliesDad

Morty_007 wrote: »

you have the same rights as any other consumer regardless of whether you are an employee surely!!? What have trading standards said about it?

Nobody is doubting that, but we are using a little common sense when advising that if you want to stay in a job, invoking your consumer rights wouldn't be appropiate.

Also, are you really advising her to report her employers to trading standards?

jdturk

I would have thought that if the company are requesting you wear shoes from their company that this is part of the company uniform and as such the company should be paying for these shoes anyway.

However I have to say that 5-6 months of wear and tear for a retail person who is on their feet every day to me is just about at the bottom of the acceptable normal time for wear and tear.

However for the price of what £20 its probably not worth taking it any further and risking your job

Dick_Van_Dyke

You've had the shoes for 5-6 months and can't return them.
You seem to have now replaced them and want to return them for this reason. Its a complete non starter.

bcl999

, haven't read entire thread yet but I bought a pair of dress evening shoes in patent leather from M&S on-line sale at start of year. After only just trying them on in the house for a few minutes, they creased terribly. I returned them and the assistant said it is a known problem with patent shoes.

Morty_007

OlliesDad wrote: »

Nobody is doubting that, but we are using a little common sense when advising that if you want to stay in a job, invoking your consumer rights wouldn't be appropiate.

Also, are you really advising her to report her employers to trading standards?

ahhh, nope, i'm suggesting she approach trading standards and ask their opinion. Invoking your consumer rights is not grounds for dismissal, thats common sense! And if dismissal proceedings DO follow then how about an industrial tribunal for unfair dismissal? If the OP worked for Tesco and bought a top that the seams fell apart on after a month of wear would you suggest they did nothing for fear of rocking the boat? If something is faulty, its faulty!

jackieglasgow

Are you or your spouse a member of a union? The one I am with offer my spouse advice on work matters, too.

samhuzz

Could you not return them to another branch of your shop i.e. not the branch you work in? Then see what they have to say?