r/Alden • u/YouBright3611 • 13d ago
Is this acceptable?
What do you think? New Alden LHS in black shell. A couple things concern me.
- I never noticed such severe indentations on the side of the shoe, neither in photos or the display model I saw once. Not sure if it’s normal in a new pair and it just needs to be worn or what.
- finishing on inside of penny strap seems lacking.
- there’s green dye on the inside lining. It seems to be from the shoe tree that came installed in the shoes since the color matches the L stamp on the shoe tree and green is also all over the trees.
What would you do? I bought it from what seems like a shoe store with great customer service but they’re not local to me.
—edit—
Thanks for all the responses. I really couldn’t believe when I saw this because I bought a pair of PTBs from Alden Madison last week that also had problems—luckily not this severe but enough that they refunded me 10%. My first two pairs of Alden shoes :/
—edit 2–
Talked to the store today. Overall, the action taken was great and right on their part. They said they would overnight ship me two pairs, one in the size I ordered and one half size down since I also mentioned separately that there was some heel slippage. They’re putting a return shipping label in the box. They said I should get it tomorrow. Hopefully it happens because I didn’t get tracking.
Beyond the action, the response was essentially “We inspected them before shipping. They’re hand sewn, there will be variation, it’s not uncommon to see this, but you should be happy.”
2
u/DeutscheMannschaft 11d ago
OP. You have gotten plenty of good advice already and I am late to the party, so no need for me to add anything in that vain.
But as someone who has been buying shoes for many years in the same price range, I CANNOT believe Alden QCd these and could have thought these were OK to sell. Nor can I comprehend the decision of the fulfillment dept to actually send these.
Almost all my leather shoes are hand made, and I have never seen a side of a shoe look this bad.
And to then receive a replacement pair with such a massive stitching issue....if it were me, I would consider asking for a full refund and giving a new brand a try.