Complaining - about purchases, by you or somebody you know? What happened ?

[G#Gill]

My mum told me, of a time during WWII when she bought a pair of sandals for my oldest brother. She polished them - my mum always polished new shoes before they were worn - to give added protection to the shoe. They were bog standard childrens' sandals, brown leather, with a buckle to fasten them. My older brother always got the 'new' clothes etc. then they were 'handed down' to my other brother, then eventually to me when I was old enough - I was only a new-born baby at this time!

After a week of wearing these new sandals, my mum noticed that the 'uppers' were coming away from the 'lowers' in both shoes, and the leather uppers were cracking in several places! She went back to the shoe shop in the middle of the town, as soon as she noticed these faults. It was quite a major job to do, with a 4 year old, a 3 year old and a babe-in-arms to have to cope with.

When she described the state of the sandals to the shop assistant, my mum was told that the child had been rough with the sandals. Mum asked to speak to the manager, and the manager said the same thing and there would be no refund or exchange possible. Mum insisted that her son was not rough with his clothes or his shoes, and that with 3 little children, she had not undertaken bringing the sandals back, lightly. He had only worn them for a week, the soles were hardly marked! They cost my mum a lot, considering the small amount of income she had, and the clothing coupons that she had available to her. But the manager would not change her mind, under any circumstances.

My dad, fortunately came home on leave a couple of weeks later. Mum told him all about the sandals, and he was disgusted. The next day he donned his army uniform, picked up the sandals and the receipt, and caught the bus into town. He went straight to the shoe shop and asked to speak to the manager.

He explained all about what had happened to my mother, but the manager was unmoved. My dad said that he had precious little leave time before he had to go back to the 'front' and he did not appreciate wasting his valuable 'home time' having to sort out such miserable actions by money-grabbing shops taking advantage of stressed young mums. Still no change of heart by the manager, even though my dad pointed out that it was the poor workmanship on the sandals that was at fault. My dad looked at the manager and said "Well I've given you a chance to sort this matter out in an amicable manner, so now we take it to the next stage!" The manager just shrugged her shoulders and insisted that the damage had been caused by mis-use by the child.

My father left the shop, stood outside the door in the entrance way and proceeded to stop everybody who was headed for the shop door, showing them the sandals, saying they were a week old, and bad workmanship had caused them to basically disintegrate and the shop refused to exchange or refund the money and coupons. Most of these potential customers were horrified, could see dad was a serving soldier, turned round and went elsewhere. Dad was there for nearly 3 hours, and he must have caused an awful lot of lost trade for that shop. The manager approached him and said she would refund the money and the coupons, but he must go away and stop accosting her potential customers.

My dad went back home, presented the money and coupons to a very relieved mum. That afternoon she took my brother into town to get sandals from a different shop, while my dad looked after my other brother and me at home.

My mum was never sure whether it was the intimidating look of the 6 foot soldier, or the actions outside the shop, or both that won the day.

But it just shows that persistence can pay off, even today.

The sandals were similar to the brown pair on the right, but with only one strap across to one buckle.

[Oscar Namechange]

A Lovely story Gill.

In this day and age, taking back goods Is a doddle when you only have to say the following once:

'You have sold me Un-merchandisable goods. I Insist on a full cash refund Immediately or I will have no option but to contact Trading Standards.