Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. We are sorry to hear that you are disappointed with a number of points, which I hope I can go some way to answering.
Here at our head quarters in Norwich, our Design and Technical teams specify every detail of the products that we produce and also test all of the components and final shoes in our laboratory. In addition, all our styles are tested in wear trials here in the UK, prior to production to ensure that they are capable of withstanding the wear and tear of children’s everyday activities. Only top grade materials are used, and checks are carried out throughout the whole manufacturing process.
However, leather is a natural product that is not indestructible and the life of a pair of shoes is governed by the care that they are given and the activities they are subjected to. Having said that, shoe making is a craft industry and individual problems with shoes can occur despite rigorous quality testing. If you wish to return the shoes that you refer to, to us together with details of when you purchased them, we would be happy to have them quality checked by one of our Technicians to establish if there is a fault with either the materials used or the manufacturing process of this style. If you wish to do this, please contact our Customer Service team who will be happy to assist you.
With regards to the availability of the style you required in your local store, this is of course dependant on the styles and sizes that they choose to purchase from us, of which we have limited control over. As a brand, we offer a wide choice of styles and fittings, but as I am sure you will appreciate, it is difficult for retailers to carry the entire offering. To overcome this, retailers are able to order individual shoes that they would not normally carry as standard stock. This service is offered by us on a 24/7 basis and is usually delivered next day. However, there are some occasions when we do not have stock of a particular style ourselves, in which instance the retailer will be advised of the expected delivery date which we would then expect to be passed on to the consumer.
Finally I come to your comment regarding our online gauges. All of our gauges, whether those used by retailers or the ones available from website are carefully calibrated and extensively tested. However the gauges used by the retailers in-store, depend upon the experience of the trained fitter using them. To enable parents to measure at home, extensive mathematical algorithms are used to compensate for the lack of the trained fitter, which then enables us to predict the best possible fit and size to offer for our online service. Unfortunately, there are instances (such as a high in-step) when the algorithms cannot compensate enough, which is why it returned an incorrect size. In cases such as this, we would always recommend that your child’s feet are measured in-store by a trained fitter who will be able to offer you further advice.
Helen Cook
Online Manager
