A different pair of shoes

Reading Kara’s excellent recent entry Way to make a girl feel special!, instantly brought to mind a very different online footwear experience I had this past fall.

Kara loves Fluevog shoes. But she didn’t so much love some technical difficulties she encountered when recently trying to purchase a pair online. Unsurprisingly, since the Fluevog brand is internationally famous for not just creating great shoes, but also creating a great experience for their customers — the rest of Kara’s transaction more than made up for the upfront glitches.

Like Kara, I’m a sucker for well-made shoes. But let’s just say when it comes to Fluevogs, I prefer a shoe with a bit more hair on its chest. Which is what led me last May to purchase my second a pair of Blundstone boots. Most of you probably don’t require an introduction to Blundstones. The Australian company has been around since 1870 and makes a distinctive laceless boot.

The boots have gained a reputation for being as tough as the Tasmanian devils who share their namesake with the Blundstone company’s hometown. In fact, over time the quality of the boot has earned what is certainly the envy of any brand — ongoing and free word-of-mouth advertising. The message most often plays out with some variation of “Those things will last forever.” A claim the company coyly carries on via their website warranty page, with a humble brag that both protects and projects simultaneously.

Over the years a lot of customers have told us that our boots last forever. Although that is very flattering, no leather boots will last “forever.” We can tell you that Blundstone boots are made from the best and thickest leather available which helps to explain why the Blundstone brand is still going strong after 140 years.”

Of course, even if they did offer a lifetime warranty, they’d most likely exempt Nova Scotia — a place where the damp slushy weather and resulting salty sidewalks, tend to eat boots for a living. However, my Blundstone story has nothing to do with an external assault. Mine is an inside job — which I’ll get to soon.

When I bought my Blundstones, I bought them because I’d already bought into their brand promise. The promise that if I pay a bit more for my boots, my feet would be in good hands for years to come. A promise that had been validated by the original pair of Blundstones I’d purchased 6 years earlier — which were still wearing well. A promise that was decades in the making, and as I mentioned earlier, an incredibly valuable asset for any brand.

So last May I purchased a new pair from Neon, while in Montreal. Although my other boots were still fine, Blundstone had recently brought out a pair that featured red elastics and soles. They looked sharp — and I was gettin’ ‘em whether I needed ‘em or not! So perhaps at heart, I’m not so different from Kara. Even if I like my boots to have some sturdy biceps, I’m also very much in favour of them wearing a jaunty cap.

Fast-forward about 6 months, and something big started to happen. Okay, something small started to happen to my big toe. The inner lining in the toe of the right boot had worn away, exposing a plastic cap that had also began wearing away — splintering into an imp-like toe-eating fiend. The result was holes in my socks and a perturbed big toe. To me, this was not an acceptable 6-month development and a no-brainer for replacement at Blundstone’s expense. I was wrong. At least I think I was. I never found out for sure.

I started by doing what most would do in my situation. I sent them an email.

ME:

Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2015 2:27 PMTo: service@blundstone.ca

Subject: Sad Toes

Hey Blundstone Folks,

I’m unfortunately contacting you with a bit of a problem. Only five or six months ago I purchased a pair 1316 red and black boots while on vacation in Montreal.

I love them. However, already the inside toe is wearing out, which is exposing a plastic toecap. The cap itself is also deteriorating, ripping my socks and bothering my toes.

I think given the expectation of quality Blundstone have earned, it’s a bit early for that to be happening, if it should be happening at all.

Can you help me with this?

Thanks, Trevor

BLUNDSTONE (SORT OF):

Hi Trevor,

If you would like an assessment from our warranty department you can submit a claim via: http://www.blundstone.ca/pages/warranty-claim-form

If this does not work, you could also choose to contact our warranty department directly at: warranty@blundstone.ca

Regards,

Reilly and MikeTin Shack Ltd.

31 Stewart Rd.Collingwood, ON L9Y 4M7

Right away I was mildly put off by the obvious boilerplate response. Before shunting me off to a claim form, a small nugget of “We value your business and we’re sorry you’re experiencing issues with your boots” would have been appreciated. Already my belief in the brand’s authentic, hardworking, hardwearing, down-to-earth Australian charm began to waver.

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, because with closer inspection I noticed the message had not come directly from Blundstone, but instead from Reilly and Mike at some company called Tin Shack in Collingwood, Ontario. Why I had been sent outside the Blundstone stream was anyone’s guess. But I believe that anyone sanctioned to speak for a company, is by proxy, the company themselves.

So I headed off to Mr. Online Claim Form. Mr. Form was very inquisitive, asking me a myriad of questions, detailing my entire history with the boots, and finally what the issue was with them. But that’s not all. They also requested I upload no less than 8 photos of every conceivable angle of my boot. One of the requested shots was of a date stamp located on the sole of the boot that was so small I had to put on 4 pairs of glasses to read it, and hold my IPhone statue still to achieve a proper focus. Fun. But then the money shot. Quite reasonably one of the photos they required was of the problem area of my boot. Can I even take a picture of the inside of my boot I wondered? Ten minutes of experimentation later, the answer was yes! I post it here with apologies, because it does look much like a skin disease.

The whole process took about a half hour. With a feeling of accomplishment I pressed “Submit” on the form. At which point the page locked up and timed out. I cursed a little bit. Just a little. And then repeated the entire process, save for the glamorous photo session, which I’d already completed. The submit button treated me with more respect the second time.

Not long after, I received the message below for my efforts. Note that Blundstone is back in the mix.

UNNAMED ROBOT AT BLUNDSTONE:

Hello from .

Thank you for contacting Blundstone Canada. This email confirms that we have received your warranty submission claim. Our warranty team is currently working on your request and will contact you if any additional information is required. Please note this process may take 4-7 business days, so please do not attempt to contact us before this time.

Thank you.

Warranty Department, Blundstone Canada

So pretty much “We don’t care how many hoops you jumped through to answer our form, stay out of our way, don’t contact us, we’re deciding your fate and that takes time.” No wonder they didn’t care to identify themself in the email’s salutation.

Two days later I receive another email, this time from Tin Shack again. Reilly and Mike had hit the road and a Tin Shacker named Laura had entered the fray. I began to posit that Blundstone chose Tin Shack as their representatives because of their shared curt style of email communication.

TIN SHACK:

Hello,

Please completely fill out the attached form and return it with your boots for warranty assessment to:

Tin Shack

31 Stewart Road

Collingwood, ON

L9Y 4M7

Please mark the package with RA#21197 and allow 3-4 weeks for this process. Please ensure the boots are returned to us in a clean condition. We suggest returning the package to us by Canada Post-regular ground delivery as this is economical and they provide a tracking number for the return.

Please DO NOT return the boots in person as we are not open to the public.

Thank you for your attention to this and for any questions or concerns, please contact Laura by email or telephone at:

1-888-214-4622

laura@tinshack.ca

I didn’t fill out the form. I was pretty much formed out. And I was tired of being treated like a problem, rather than a fan of a brand. A brand, that as it turned out, was as about as authentic as your average ham-fisted boilerplate. Not to mention, I wasn’t much interested in sending my boots to a tin shack in Collingwood — only to wait 3 to 4 weeks to discover my fate.

I wasn’t quite ready to throw in the towel though. I did reach out to Laura hoping to gain a better understanding of the process and the chance of getting a return on my investment if I did mail the boots away at my expense.

ME:

Hello Laura,

What are the various possible outcomes if I send my boots to you for appraisal? And what is your appraisal based on — above and beyond what I’ve outlined in my submission and the photographs I’ve supplied?

T

LAURA:

Hi Trevor,

Everything is treated case by case. I will be checking to see if this is caused by regular wear and tear or if it is in fact a manufacture defect.

ME:

Have you encountered this issue before within this time frame?

And that’s it. I never heard back from anyone at Tin Shack.

And that was the end of the journey for me as well. I was bemused and irritated into losing interest in a brand that I’d long held in high regard. Had indeed been one of the many word-of-mouth ambassadors they’re so lucky to have. Should I have called? Maybe. But I didn’t really care to communicate with them any further.

What would I have wanted? For them to review the evidence I provided and send me a new pair of boots. That would have created an uber-brand ambassador for life. What would I have settled for? Just to be treated more like a valued customer throughout the process. And it would be such a simple thing for them to accomplish. As the smallest of table stakes, even slightly more friendly boilerplate messages would help a great deal. That means a mere $200 and a decent copywriter could create a better experience for thousands of customers.

Fluevog understands what Kara values about their brand — they make her feel special. Surely Blundstone must understand that a big part of what draws people to their brand is durability. So why on earth would they not invest more care in creating a rewarding experience when dealing with customers’ product issues?

Blundstone might want to consider that continuing to ignore their customers' sore toes, literal or metaphorical, will gradually erode a brand currency that has been decades in the making.

And slowly but surely, when it comes time to part with their money, people will likely choose a different pair of shoes.

Trevor Millett is an independent Creative Consultant based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Transforming the science of marketing into the art of connection is Trevor’s passion. You can reach Trevor at trevor.millett@gmail.com.

#Service #CustomerExperience #Retail #Branding