try Julian, he's the co-founder along with Sarah
Just an update
You guys can see my posts on both the AS thread and the AFPOS SF thread
Sarah immediately replied
Hi Winston,
We’ve seen on SF that you have posted pictures and are clearly very unhappy with your shoes and with the service you have received from us. We pride ourselves on providing the best possible service to all our customers, so seeing this from an unhappy customer is most disappointing.
Also, though we know you’ll understand that we do have to be careful about accepting returns and giving further discounts on discounted goods out of fairness to AS and other retailers. We cant accept every fault or defect reported by our customers, since being handmade, shoes do have differences and naturally occurring flaws which are standard. We stand by our original email to you, that we doubt they would be deemed faulty by AS but clearly though you are not happy with them, so we will try to resolve this situation to your satisfaction.
I think the best solution will be for you to return the shoes to us at your earliest convenience and we will get them inspected by the factory. If they are found to be substandard then of course, they’ll be replaced for you and your shipping costs refunded also.
We would ask that you please consider this matter now resolved with regards to commenting further on SF. The forum usage policy states it is really for general discussions rather than for airing a specific complaints about services received.
My reply was this
"Hi Sarah
A few things I need to clarify.
1) The post I made on SF was in no way made with an aggressive tone. You will see in fact, that I started off the post with praise. Sure, I highlighted perceived defects. But all comments were made in a neutral fashion, stating facts and even the reply from AFPOS, was directly quoted from your email. No confabulation on my part. Again, I deal with facts and I presented them. So yes, this is a general discussion, and I was welcoming feedback and opinions from other forum members. I used words like "suprising" and "confused" instead of directly derogatory or obivously subjectively negative words like "unacceptable" or "horrible". I think my post was very reasonable. Consumers are the ones spending the money, and they deserve to know the facts, I presented them as best I could without trying to offend anyone. Regardless, I will stop posting on your SF thread. I am a reasonable man.
2) Your initial reply was extremely unprofessional and bordering on condescending. In your second sentence, you used inverted commas over the word "warping". I used the word warping because that's what it is. It's not scratched, it's not scuffed, it's not discoloured. I do not believe "bent" or "folded" is an appropriate descriptive term for leather, so yes, the leather is warped. The fact that that you used inverted commas over the word either implies that I do not understand English sufficiently well to understand what the meaning of the word "warp" means or implies that I am delusional and imagining a perceived defect. The defect is there, it is obvious in the photos and at least one other person on the forum agrees with me. So yes, I took offense, and quite frankly, to an adult professional, it's downright insulting. You could have used the phrase "the defects you have highlighted" instead if you disagreed with my use of the word "warping". This would have been perfectly reasonable and acceptable and really come across as much more professional. I don't want to make a big deal out of this since I understand you receive a large number of emails and you might not consider these things for every reply. But I do think exercising a bit of prudence in official correspondences goes a long way to promoting your brand and also upholding your values of good customer service.
Secondly, you immediately jumped to the conclusion at the end of your paragraph that I was just after additional discount for the shoes. This is not the case, I would be perfectly happy with an exchange because all I want, is to buy a good pair of shoes. Yes I keep a lookout for good deals, but then again, almost everyone does, right? It is not nice to assume that every customer is just hankering for an additional discount or more freebies. I am not like that. The shoes I own, and the other retailers I have dealt with, can attest to the fact that I do not hesitate, when spending on good shoes. I buy them, I wear them, I love them. I don't expect you to know this, but I think it would be nice not to jump to conclusions.
Please note, I do not intend to breed conflict with my first 2 points. These are points to illustrate my feelings and emotions, I do not want to attack AFPOS.
Finally, in your reply, I am confused by the following 2 statements.
" I think the best solution will be for you to return the shoes to us at your earliest convenience and we will get them inspected by the factory. If they are found to be substandard then of course, they’ll be replaced for you and your shipping costs refunded also."
"As soon as we receive back the box, we will issue a refund or exchange according to your wishes. If any extra sum is payable or due you in refund this will be organised by us once we receive back the goods. Please be advised, as per our term and conditions, postage charged for outward shipping is non-refundable."
So in the event that AS finds the faults unacceptable and a replacement done, will the costs incurred shipping the shoes back to you be refunded to me or not? And will I have to pay for shipping of the replacement pair back to me?
Best regards
