No 12 warranty?

Roundtable

Guys,
Don't know if this is on the right forum, apologies if not.  I’m after a little advice if you don’t mind.
Purchased a pair of running shoes in Sept 2019, direct from ASICS online, these are proper running shoes and have only been used for running, so no user abuse with them.  They cost £100 and about 6 weeks ago I noticed they were coming apart on the vent holes, which are designed into the fabric of the shoe, so not the material itself, but rather the cut vents are getting bigger.  I have contacted ASICS, which took best part of 8 weeks and only got a reply when I took to Twitter.  ASICS are claiming that unless a fault developers within the first 6 months, they are no longer liable, although they say they offer a 12 month warranty. But state at the same time, that the fault must be registered within the initial 6 months, this confused me somewhat, as this sounds like a 6 month warranty.  I asked for the initial response to be escalated as they offered only to give me a 20% discount on buying another pair of shoes, which I didn’t want, I want the original pair dealing with.  They agreed to escalate and promised that I would be contacted by the complaints department within 72 hours, they did contact me within the time line, but only to say that there decision is final and that they will be taking no further correspondence regarding this matter and the case is now closed.

The only view that would give on the faults, was that I may have been tying the laces incorrectly, for the shape of my foot, they then sent me some diagrams on how to do my shoes laces in different way, amazing.......

Can anyone confirm my best route to take, or wether they should be offering the 12 month cover.  As it happens the runners have only covered 300 miles and still look new, as I rotate my runners for even wear.

thanks in advance
Will

DoaM

Bought from ASICS where? (Exact website please). However I suspect you may have misunderstood what they said (or they mis-stated what they meant) ... the legal position is that after 6 months from the point of purchase then the burden of responsibility falls on the consumer to prove that any non-conformance of the goods was caused by an inherent fault - something present but not apparent at the time of sale. A design fault would fall into the "inherent" meaning. You would do this by getting a report from a suitably-qualified person who states (in writing) the nature of the fault and whether (on the balance of probabilities) this was inherent. The reasonable cost of the report would be recoverable from the seller in the event it finds and inherent fault.

However, a warranty can have any (reasonable) terms it likes - if the warranty requires you to prove the fault then so be it.

Sandtree

You firstly need to be careful of considering your statutory rights, which is against ASICS online as the retailer, -v- any warranty that ASICS may give as a manufacturer which is separate and above your statutory rights.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 you are entitled for the items to be defect free and last a reasonable life, exactly what reasonable is isnt defined in law and will inevitably vary by item (the law of limitations effectively creates an upper bound of 6 years in England and 5 years in Scotland). However, once the items are over 6 months old it is up to you to prove that the items do not meet the requirements rather than for the retailer to disprove it. This is normally done by commissioning an expert report on the goods and adding the cost of the report to your claim (naturally if the expert says its fair wear and tear then its your loss) 

DoaM

You read my other post then 👍

Grumpy_chap

Pair of running trainers nearly a year old and used to go running in.
Just worn out.
Buy another pair.

The_Rainmaker

You will get no joy after 6 months on a pair of shoes.

DCFC79

You've had at least 10 months use out of the pair, is that stamdard for a pair of running trainers ? £100 for 10 months use isnt bad imo, Id buy a new pair, try a different brand.
Get the view from an expert

Roundtable

Guys, thanks for all the replies.
Got to say I hadn’t actually realised I had them 10 months ☹️.  Think taken into account that my only real option without any fuss, would be to replace them with a different brand, probably a little annoyed more to do with their response and the way they handled the initial contact back in May.

As they say, let your feet do the talking and I’ll buy elsewhere.

Thanks again.

Manxman_in_exile

Why on earth are you buying direct from ASICS?  I only use ASICS running shoes (Cumulus usually) and getting them direct is really expensive.  (I buy from StartFitness.co.uk).  The only time I've bought from ASICS directly was to get a specific cross-trainer that I couldn't find anywhere else.

And most running shoes will be starting on their way out after 300 miles.  (This site advises shoes will last for 300 - 500 miles which they equate to four to six months at 20 miles per week:  https://www.fleetfeet.com/blog/how-long-do-running-shoes-last).

EDIT:  And advice on different ways of lacing your shoes can be very good advice.  I always lace-lock my shoes but there are many different ways depending on many different variables such as foot width, arch height, whether you pronate or supinate etc  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXjOLWgWq9k

And you should be rotating your shoes to give your feet a rest, not to even out wear on more than one pair.

cymruchris

I've got several pairs of Under Armour Hovr running shoes that have built in bluetooth chips. They track how much you use them very accurately, and warn you when they are at 'end of life'. My first pair ran 600km at which point the message received was 'it's time for a new pair'. That was 4-5 months after buying them - so it had shown I'd done a fair bit of running in quite a short time. I've not been running for 6-7 weeks due to illness - but starting again next week.

My km were treadmill km though, and they'd only ever been used indoors, and aside from some minor wear to the edges of the soles where my feet had struck the treadmill belt, they were still in great condition so continued to use them. I know the cushioning will probably be on its way out, and have since bought a couple of other pairs - but you might want to check out the HOVR range (there are a couple of models that dont have bluetooth - but each one that does in its description will talk about connecting to 'Mapmyrun'). I think you've had reasonable use out of your Asics based on the time you've had them, running shoes don't last forever, and although visibly they may look ok, they do wear out, so definitely go out and buy a new pair - and forget all about your ASICS experience.

Roundtable

Thanks Chris, I’ll check these out.  Always thought ASICS were good, but sure there are much better out there....