I'll give you the short version. I went to pick up a pair of dress shoes for a funeral, found a…read morepair of Steve Maddens, cost me $116 and I left. Next day I came back to exchange them for a half size down, since they felt a little big when I tried them on at home, and the girl working there (not the same girl that sold me the shoes the previous day) showed me the size I asked for.
First I noticed the box she took the shoes out of had what appeared to be black dog hair all throughout it, but I figured I'd just ask for a different pair when the time came, then when I tried the shoes on I noticed one of them looked worn, and had creases that form only from the toe of the shoe bending when you walk (if you know what I mean), so after I tried them on I asked her if they had another pair I could take since that pair looked like they were used/worn, which seemed to tick the sales girl off, and she very tersely said : no, I wouldn't sell you a used shoe, and she assured me that that was just the way the leather on some of them looked, so I reluctantly accepted that answer. So she rang them up, and as she was about to put them in the box full of dog hair when she stopped, dumped the dog hair covered tissue into the garbage and continued to put the shoes in the dirty box, leaving much of the dog hair still in it. If I wasn't so eager to get out of there and be done with it I would have said something, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe it was just a dirty box they accidentally used for the "new" shoes. When I got to my car I inspected the shoes more closely and that's when I knew I'd been lied to. The bottoms of both shoes were covered with sticky tape residue, along with some actual tape still on it, and outlines from where tape once was, the soles on both the shoes were peeling off on the inside (more so on the one that had the wear by the toe) and in one of the shoes there seemed to be some grooves inside near the toe left by someones toe imprints. So I immediately went back and pointed these things out to her, they were clearly used, and worn, and ruined. So she denied they were used, and said that was the only pair they had in my size, I obviously wasn't going to leave with these shoes though. So at this point she was being very rude, she seemed to take it personally, and amidst the discussion she told me I "shouldn't be complaining" since the person who sold them to me originally gave me them for about $15 less than she was supposed to unbeknownst to me. As if to say: sure I lied about the shoes being new, sure they're filthy, sure the soles are coming off, but since we screwed up the price by a minuscule amount which you had no control over, you should keep em and shut up. Shame on her (by the way, she said she was the store owner when I asked to speak to someone else because she was being so rude) a store owner treating a paying customer with such disrespect... Anyway after she said I shouldn't be "complaining" I'd had enough, I told her sweetheart, I have every right to complain, you sold me ruined shoes, and treated me like absolute garbage. She said why don't you just take your money back and leave, and I gladly did. I've worked in retail all my life, you NEVER treat your customers with such disrespect, and it doesn't pay to lie or bend the truth just to move a product out the door, I've never been so insulted by an employee, no less a store owner. Bottom line: the apparent owner (if what she told me was correct) has zero class, and is in the wrong business if she thinks that sort of behavior is acceptable in ANY business. I needless to say will never return, and I suggest you heed my advice and do the same if you value honesty and respect as a customer and more than that as a person.
