A pair of shoes usually lasts me a little more over than a year because of how often I walk. Walking is something I often do and so long as a shoe is comfortable, I can walk far distances. I also keep them on all day when I work so that’s why they ware out quickly. But five months ago, I bought a pair of Nike shoes. Recently, I discovered that pair of Nike shoes has a rip above the sole of the right shoe and they are only five months old!!!
I got super pissed when discovering the huge rip! I paid about $120 for them and already they show signs of being worn out? I often hear how people say that things aren’t made the way they used to anymore. While I may have seen signs of that before, clearly, these shoes confirm the saying so often said by many.
Nike is a company with a long history of shoddy employment practices in shoddy countries like vietnam where my shoes where made in. Everything from child labour to not even paying there employees in there factories is often criticized by workers rights groups, and anti sweatshop groups. So while Nike gets there products made by the cheapest and inhumane way possible, they sell such products at hefty prices. I bet the actual cost of materials and labour to make my shoe is probably less than a dollar or two at most! Yet here I paid $120 for them!
So because Nike gets away with some would argue slave labour, will they now go with cheaper quality? Calling shoes that fail after five months of use is anything but quality. Instead of Nike spending a few dollars to manufacture a shoe, do they now feel the need to push profits higher by cheeping on the quality?
The shoes thankfully comes with a two year warranty. Since they failed within five months, I am well within that warranty period. Getting a warranty claim apparently is another story.
After discovering the rip on the shoe, I started to look for the box and proof of payment of the place I bought the shoes. Once I found the proof of payment, I went to the store with them pretty much being unhelpful. They told me that they don’t deal with warranty claims by the manufacture and to deal with Nike. That really pissed me off because I can go to Walmart, or even Best Buy to deal with warranty issues with the products they sell at those stores. Why does the lazy sports store not deal with manufacture warranty issues?
As if that was enough to make me mad, Calling Nike did not make things any better for me. They told me that I must mail the shoes to them at my expense. After seeing the address was within Toronto, I asked them if I just come and drop off the shoes at the mailing address. They told me no and theres nothing they can do about it!
Sending the shoes to them would have cost me at least $20 if I sent them through regular postal service. Since I work at a place that sends out bulk amount of parcels every day, sending the shoes just costed me about $5. I even get a tracking number to see when they get delivered. I sent the shoes on thursday but no one was there to pick them up on Friday. Thankfully, someone picked up the parcel yesterday.
So Now I wait and see if Nike will send me a new pair of shoes. If they don’t for whatever excuse, Then I would seriously blow up and someone is going to take the heat of that! I don’t think I will buy Nike shoes anymore. Seeing how badly they treat there employees and the complete lack of quality that was put into these shoes really turns me off. It’s unacceptable that these shoes only lasted me five months!
