It's the "Cruel Shoes", Cruel Shopping Experience
Written: Jan 09 '05 (Updated Jan 09 '05)
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PayLess Shoe Source, the online arm of PayLess Shoes, fell squarely into the "special torture" category of online shopping. Oh how I hate thee... let me count the ways:
The shopping experience I had with PayLess began on an up note. I arrived at their site and was pleased to discover their sort option by size and width. For the odd-footed, shopping by size and width is more than a plus, it is an essential. Happily, I zoomed from shoe to shoe, seeking solace for my feet in a few new treads. Soon, I began to get frustrated. I realized that the web site is structured in such a way that it simply won't show you a shoe if it isn't in stock in your size. That irritated me, especially when I had specific shoe styles in mind, as it eliminated the possibility of special ordering the shoe. Strike one for PayLess.
After the mild irritation of not being able to find those certain boots and special order them, I concentrated on the more plebian task of obtaining new tennies, heels and flats. Selections made, I boldly ventured into "My Cart". Almost. Except it took four tries for the link to work. When finally I got to my cart, I verified that the order was correct and began the process of checking out and payment. They offered me the option of saving shipping by having the items delivered to my local PayLess Shoe Store for pick up. Not being in a huge hurry, and being promised "7 - 10 business day" arrival, I accepted the alternative to shipping.
The aforementioned "7 - 10 business day" delivery period went buy quickly, but I received no phone call from my local PayLess Shoe Store as promised. I decided to give the store a couple of days to contact me, figuring a possible delay. Thus began The Infernal Shoe Saga. When another full week went by with no call, I took matters into my own hands and called them myself. They had never heard of me at the store. Not only had they never heard of me, they were convinced the PayLess Shoe Source website did not offer the "ship to store for pick up" option. Several phone transfers to ever-higher levels of management later, I did indeed convince the local store that the option existed and that I was in fact awaiting a now 7 day late order of shoes. I was assured they would "look into it and get back to me".
Short story long, three full weeks after the original expected delivery date, I did receive a call from the store. The manager apologetically told me that in fact the web site had only just that day shown my order as "placed" and it would be another 7 - 10 business days before receiving the items. At this point I quickly lost my cool, and was able to convince the manager that this was unacceptable (for obvious reasons). The shipment "miraculously" arrived in store the next day.
The store associates and manager were peeved indeed when I insisted upon verifying the order before taking it home (what did they expect after all the trauma thus far?). I was peeved in return when I discovered the order was wrong - wrong size, wrong color, right shoe style. At this point it would be fair to say I was in what my mother would call "a state". I had no trouble prevailing upon the manager's desire to avoid that thing that usually follows someone being in "a state", which is "a scene", and getting my money refunded to me immediately.
Just to add insult to injury, the web store tried to re-charge my credit card for the same order a total of three times on three separate dates. I had to go to the trouble of contacting both the web store and my credit card company to fix the issue.
On the whole I found the PayLess Shoe Source shopping experience inconvenient, abusive, excruciatingly drawn out and inaccurate.
I give them no recommendation whatsoever to anyone who can get themselves to an equivalent online or brick and mortar store for their shoes.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? 3 Pairs of Shoes
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About the Author
Member: Leslie
Location: New Hampshire
Reviews written: 38
Trusted by: 15 members
About Me: Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult
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