New shoes!! (Clarks Shoes & Sandals)

Member Name: D-RAY2000

Product:	Clarks Shoes & Sandals
Date:	07/08/08 (317 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: see review

Disadvantages: see review

Clark`s is a British shoe manufacturer with a huge reputation for kids shoes especially although they do make adult shoes also. I can remember my mum and gran going on about Clarks shoes as me and my sister grew up, saying how they were the best things for kids feet and how good and long lasting the shoes were and I took all this on board.

I now have very split opinions on their shoes and service now though because years down the line and I have kids of my own and have fitted them out in Clark's shoes with differing outcomes. When I took my daughter for her first pair of Clark`s shoes over four years ago now there was no problems at all. The service in the shop was excellent and the advice I was given on the right type of shoe for her was very useful.

We were told that she should be in what they call cruisers which are shoes designed for infants who are just trying to walk and are using the furniture to get around. The shoes we bought were both very nice looking and seemed to be of good quality and I guess were as we were able to pass them on to a younger niece when our daughter was finished with them.

Years on however and a completely different situation with Clarks, my wife and I took my one year old son who was walking on his own to be fitted with a pair of shoes at Clarks. The young and I do mean very young girl serving us asked what we were looking for rather than giving any advice but as our son was walking we knew what we were after anyway but she never even asked if he was walking unaided.

We then took her at her word when she measured our sons feet but when we got home and put the shoes on for the first time they were clearly too big.

We took them back to Clarks and an older girl measured his feet again and came up with a completely different size both in length and width. So we got the shoes changed and these ones did fit fine. The next problem was not far away though, when we washed these light brown shoes in the washing machine as the label said we could they turned almost white as they lost their entire colour.

We were very surprised when the girl at the desk at Clarks on our return commented that this was happening more and more with certain ranges of their shoes and perhaps they were not suitable for machine washing after all.

We were even more surprised and appalled when she said because the shoes were three months old and he probably needed a bigger size she would only give us 50% discount rather than a new pair. Needless to say I did not accept this nor did I accept a new pair after that but refused to leave the shop before getting my money back which after a heated row with the manageress I eventually got.

It was such a shame to have such a bad experience with a shop I had trusted and hopefully it was a one off but I will certainly not be back to find out.

Summary: A real mixed bag!!