Is there a time limit to exchange faulty goods

pinkshoes

You can use your Consumer Rights here.

BUT... as you have left them for this amount of time before checking, then you will need to get an INDEPENDENT report showing that the boots are inherently faulty.

Go back to the vendor with this report and it is then up to them to replace, repair or refund. In theory the refund will be partial as you have owned them for a long period of time, but not sure how this works with unworn goods!

The store will also need to pay for the independent report if it shows the boots to be inherently faulty. 

Personally I would go back to the store and relay the above information, because as it is a manufacturing defect and they are unworn it is in the shops financial interest to sort out a solution as clearly an independent report would state this. 

Did you not try them on at all when you bought them?

sheramber

Try contacting the manufacturer direct. They may be more responsive. You have nothing to lose . 

Ergates

Essentially it's going to come down to:  How much effort are you willing to expend to enact your rights.  If you're considering taking them to a cobbler to get fixed, then that cobbler might also be someone who could write a report for you.

But, pinkshoes and sheramber make good suggestions - try the shop again, saying "Look, these have clearly not been worn, are you really going to make me go get a report done, which *you'll* have to pay for when it shows this is a manufacturing defect?"

Or try the manufacturer.

Or just get them fixed - even if you succeed with either of the above, it's fairly likely you won't get a full refund.

rickstones3

Thanks guys, to be honest I think it will be more hassle than its worth pursuing a possible exchange. !!!!!! off, but lesson learnt. As I said before, I will try to find some insoles that may rectify the problem or cobbler.  Take care x

born_again

rickstones3 said:

Thank you for your replies. I got them over a year ago in the shop.  At the time there didnt seem to be anything wrong with them. Im not using lockdown as an excuse, I genuinely didnt have the opportunity to wear them. I paid good money for these boots and wouldnt want to throw them in the bin.  By the sounds of it, I dont have any rights, so I could try to either find thick insoles hoping the lumps dont come through, or find a cobbler that could sort them for me.   Needless to say, I wont be going back to that shop again... I will stick to Russell and Bromely as I have never experienced substandard quality in their shoes. Once again, thank you x

Did you not try them on in the shop?

Manxman_in_exile

pinkshoes said:

...Did you not try them on at all when you bought them?

born_again said:

rickstones3 said:

Thank you for your replies. I got them over a year ago in the shop.  At the time there didnt seem to be anything wrong with them. Im not using lockdown as an excuse, I genuinely didnt have the opportunity to wear them. I paid good money for these boots and wouldnt want to throw them in the bin.  By the sounds of it, I dont have any rights, so I could try to either find thick insoles hoping the lumps dont come through, or find a cobbler that could sort them for me.   Needless to say, I wont be going back to that shop again... I will stick to Russell and Bromely as I have never experienced substandard quality in their shoes. Once again, thank you x

Did you not try them on in the shop?

Yeah.  I'd be concerned that the shop could argue that if the "lumps" were present from the the day of purchase, then the OP was aware of them and had accepted their presence after trying them on and deciding to buy them.

I think the OP has indicated that they had tried them on in the shop but didn't think there was a problem - which sort of argues against a fault from the outset - particularly since they've never been used until now so there's been no opportunity for the fault to get worse since purchase... ?

Too late for the OP, but my advice - after decades of buying shoes - is (1) never decide to buy after trying them on just once, and (2) never buy a pair of shoes unless you are at least 150% sure that they fit you.  Because if they don't, (a) your feet will never get used to them, and (b) the shoes will not stretch or alter sufficiently to fit your foot.  (And never buys shoes at a distance unless you are at least 500% sure they will fit.  I'm amazed at the number of pairs of shoes and boots that my wife buys on the internet, but I'm not surprised that she has to return virtually all of them!)

I will freely admit that - like the OP - I have bought stuff and then not looked at it for months or even years!  Fortunately such stupidity has never come back to bite me - but it's a very silly thing to do... 

Sandtree

If you like them and wanted them you could always take them to a proper shoe repairer (not a high street cobbler) and see if they could be resoled however it looks like they are glued (aka cemented) together which means its unlikely - this assumes its an issue with the sole.

If its an issue with the upper you can get shoe trees intended to make small adjustments to shoes... looks like a swiss cheese shoe tree which you get various lumps to put into the hole nearest to where you want to stretch the shoe/squash the lump. These work best in combination with some decent mink oil based cream 

Unfortunately nothing is guaranteed so may be good money after bad

Ergates

born_again said:

rickstones3 said:

Thank you for your replies. I got them over a year ago in the shop.  At the time there didnt seem to be anything wrong with them. Im not using lockdown as an excuse, I genuinely didnt have the opportunity to wear them. I paid good money for these boots and wouldnt want to throw them in the bin.  By the sounds of it, I dont have any rights, so I could try to either find thick insoles hoping the lumps dont come through, or find a cobbler that could sort them for me.   Needless to say, I wont be going back to that shop again... I will stick to Russell and Bromely as I have never experienced substandard quality in their shoes. Once again, thank you x

Did you not try them on in the shop?

There is a limit to how much you can "test" a pair of shoes in a normal shoe-shop - something you barely notice when walking up and down the shop a couple of times could become cripplingly uncomfortable when you're wearing the same shoes for several hours.

born_again

Ergates said:

born_again said:

rickstones3 said:

Thank you for your replies. I got them over a year ago in the shop.  At the time there didnt seem to be anything wrong with them. Im not using lockdown as an excuse, I genuinely didnt have the opportunity to wear them. I paid good money for these boots and wouldnt want to throw them in the bin.  By the sounds of it, I dont have any rights, so I could try to either find thick insoles hoping the lumps dont come through, or find a cobbler that could sort them for me.   Needless to say, I wont be going back to that shop again... I will stick to Russell and Bromely as I have never experienced substandard quality in their shoes. Once again, thank you x

Did you not try them on in the shop?

There is a limit to how much you can "test" a pair of shoes in a normal shoe-shop - something you barely notice when walking up and down the shop a couple of times could become cripplingly uncomfortable when you're wearing the same shoes for several hours.

I agree with you...

From OP.
When I put them on I realised that there are lumps on the inside of the left boot resulting in me not being able to walk in them.  These boots are in mint condition and can clearly been seen that they have not be worn,

So have not been worn for any length of time. Clear from pictures. Just grown horns while in box 🤣