Faulty children's shoes

[Bob34]

Hi

I'm really hoping someone has some advice cos I'm tearing my hair out with this.

I bought a pair of school shoes for my 4 year old son on 21st Aug this year and on 18th October I tried to return them to the shop as they were worn beyond belief. I've had much discussion with the shop and they have also been sent back to the manufacturers for tests (the shop insisted on this, I had to buy another pair of shoes so they could do this). The shoes were Startrite brand so not cheap and expected to last, as all his others have done, until he grew out of them.

Startrite have sent a report back to say there was no manufacturing or materital fault, it's down to irregular wear (my son only wore them for school, so in effect wore them for 31 days) so the shop are refusing to refund/replace. I have pointed out that as the retailer they are obliged to prove no probs with the shoes (which I don't think Startrite have done as they didn't address all issues - design fault and excessive were also showing to the soles, which wasn't consistant with the amount of wear they had) so wanted an independant test - they have refused to do this.

Not sure what to do now.

Help!

[raydetinu]

Get an independant report and take them to court, and if you win you can claim the cost of the report; but is it worth it? stress, time etc. just dont buy those shoes again or go to that shop.
You could try a direct approach to the manufacturer, have you seen the report and have a copy.

[Bob34]

Thanks for reply - I've only seen the letter cust service sent to the retailer, which just says '...no manufacturing fault or fault with the materials...'. The conclusion is the shoes have not been subject to 'regular wear'.

I've tried contacting the manufacturer but they have not ring me back about it yet.

I had a horrible feeling it was going to get into all sorts of legal stuff at this stage, I know it seems like a lot of hassle but the amount I paid for the shoes is a lot of money to me so I don't really want to throw that away.

[gyzmo]

I would then argue that you have been sold goods not of reasonable quality in terms of it's durability (sale of Goods s.14). It would probably take a tap dancing grizzly bear to cause that much wear after such few wears. This is one of those cases where their own report will work against them if they class this as normal. May be worth getting opinion of a foot specialst (coz I cant spell orthopediatrist or whatever they are!) to confirm that your son does not walk "abnormally".

[Bob34]

How did you know my son was a tap dancing bear?

Good idea on the foot specialist (I can't spell that either) - only other thing I thought about was to take the shoes into a rather more well known shoe shop and see what they would do or even if they have any clues as to how the shoes could have got so worn. That would mean getting the shoes back - something it has just occurred to me the retailer hasn't done.

[gyzmo]

Hmmm. Careful with that - there may be accusations of another seller having an interest in rubbishing a competitor and agreeing with everything you say. I'm paranoid, but it works for me!

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[Bob34]

That's true - hadn't thought of that, don't want to muddy the waters.

[Bob34]

Gyzmo - I've had a breakthrough thanks to your advice. I retrieved the shoes from the shop today and took them to a chiropodist/podiatrist (checked the spelling in the dictionary).

He thinks that the shoes aren't shoes at all but more like trainers (it's all to do with the shape and look of the soles apparently). He doesn't think they should ever have been sold as school shoes, on the surface they didn't look like trainers to me but I'm not an expert! Also you can see and feel where my sons toes have been inside the shoes so the quality of the inner isn't good either and even if the outer had been ok my son still shouldn't be wearing them apparently because they will damage his feet. Basically just wearing them for the time he has will already have harmed his feet. He had a full list of problems with the shoes/trainers particularly as I specified they were for school.

Another letter back to the shop then - he also advised to check their shoe fitting credentials and consider reporting them for the bad advice given.

[gyzmo]

Well I really thought I was pushing it by suggesting that - or at least that it may cost. But nice one!

Did you get a writen report or anything from them?

What is needed now is another letter to the seller arguing the same points. But now you also have the potential of using reasonable care and skill against the seller if they hold themselves out to be professional or skilled in that area.

Don't give any quarter to them now. Frankly, they are buggered.

[Bob34]

Didn't get it in writing but he will do that for a fee if necessary. Seller does advertise expertise in getting the right shoes for the child so I don't think they can wriggle out of it but due to the recent experience with them I think they'll try to!