Odd Boots

maddie67

I bought a pair of tan boots on Saturday from the Swindon outlet branch of Kurt Geiger.

I tried the boot which had been on display and it fitted so took it to the counter, the sales assistant asked me if I wanted to try the other boot on but I said I didnt need to. She then went off into the back of the store and returned with the boots in the box and my husband paid for them as I was looking at other shoes in the shop.

When we returned to the car I opened the box to have a look at my boots and immediately saw that they were odd colours, one was darker than the other the soles were leather and the one on the darker boot was worn, whereas the other was smooth.

Before taking them back to the shop I thought about whether I should just keep them because they had been a bargain price of £29 but despite it being a fair old walk back to the shop there was no way I would be able to wear them as they were obviously different colours.

On our return, the same sales assistant immediately said they dont do returns or refunds, to which I said they were breaking the law. This then changed to only being able to offer me an exchange so I said I would have another pair of the boots. This was when the trouble started as they didnt have another pair.

She insisted they couldnt/wouldnt give a refund and pointed to a small A5 size sign that says all items are sold as seen etc. I pointed to a paragraph on the sign that said a refund would be offered on faulty goods but she said they were not faulty, they were just odd!!!

This went on for a good 15 mins, we asked to see the Manager but apparently she was on her break. She said that all of the shoes in the shop were slightly different colours, to which we pointed out that nowhere in the shop was there a sign warning that all of the shoes were seconds and in fact, apart from the A5 sign hidden on the side of the cash register, there were no signs saying all goods were sold as seen.

Anyway, we went around in circles for a good while and I wasnt 100% sure of my rights so I gave in and swaped them for a hat and a bracelet which I will use as stocking fillers but hadnt intended on buying, otherwise I guess I would still be standing there now.

This morning I want to email the company to complain, and I have noticed on the receipt it says the full refund policy is printed on the back, but the back is blank!

Before I go making an idiot of myself emailing Kurt Geiger and sounding off, was I in the right demanding a refund? In my opinion they were faulty and not fit for purpose as they were odd, but the sales assistant insists being odd isnt a fault basically it seems a 'fault' is only what THEY deem to be a fault.

Any help would be appreciated.

InsideInsurance

maddie67 wrote: »

Before I go making an idiot of myself emailing Kurt Geiger and sounding off, was I in the right demanding a refund? In my opinion they were faulty and not fit for purpose as they were odd, but the sales assistant insists being odd isnt a fault basically it seems a 'fault' is only what THEY deem to be a fault.

They sound as if they were faulty rather than not being fit for purposes - I would argue even non-matching coloured boots fit the purpose of protecting your feat etc.

The problem is not having seen the boots others wont know how different shades the boots were from each other. Leather is a natural product and therefore any two items are never going to be absolutely identical however there is tolerences between how different they are.

We had a slightly similar experience with Timberland (but they were much better) in that the two boots looked very different. Thankfully they didnt quibble and got another pair but they were both different too. We ended up having 6 pairs out and the misses chose the two that most closely matched each other.

Did you take any images of the boots to see the colour contrast? Ultimately it comes down to a judgement call over acceptability of variance.

In any contract dispute you will have two or more parties and each may have their own opinion on if a term has been breached which is even harder to resolve when you are talking about very subjective things. Ultimately it is why we have the civil courts to resolve issues where the parties cannot come to an agreement.

I suspect if you complain hard enough you will get a voucher as a gesture of goodwill. If you have a photo and the colours are markably different itll probably be for more.

maddie67

Thanks for your advice.

No, I didnt take pics unfortunately. The sales assistant said the odd colour was because one of the boots had been out on display, so I would have expected that to be the lighter boot, but the display boot was the dark one! Anyway, the point was I hadnt bought the boots knowing there was a colour difference and she hadnt shown them to us, just brought them out in the box and took payment.

If the colour difference was less obvious I would have kept them, but being as they were boots it was more difficult to hide and it was a very significant colour difference. My Husband asked the sales assistant if she bought shoes then got them home and opened the box to find a red shoe and a pink shoe, she would return them (thats the best way of describing the colour difference) she looked at him as if he had gone mad and said 'well they obviously wouldnt be a pair!' , ahem, HELLO!!!!

paddyrg

Good news! With a bit of attention you can get them more matching! The shop one may be paler from having sat in a window for some months, so you could let the other one fade a little too. Or try asking at a heel bar if they can dye to match if they're really different, or selective polishing may get you there if it is just a shade or two. You can even mix a tiny dot of darker Polish into the lighter ones Polish until they approach a better match.

After all you were marginal whether to keep them as they are a bargain that fits, so it could still be that bargain with a little attention!(