Brass Tack Shoe Repair

Completely dishonest, ruined a $2500 pair of shoes

Completely dishonest and one of the worst experiences I've ever had with a company. A friend of mine dropped off a very expensive pair of Lebron shoes for me that needed a sole reglue (they're almost 8 years old) while I was out of the country. They took half the money for the deposit, and about a week later, my friend picked them up, paid the other half of the money, and left. Upon inspection, not only was the glue job itself sloppy and not completely done, but the silicone coating on the shoe was completely trashed.

My friend took them back, showed them the issues with the shoes, and they tried to say they "hadn't worked on them yet." They claimed that the shoes were never touched, yet the charged the balance of the repair and gave the shoes back without a mention of this. So my friend said he'd leave them there and come back next week.

The following week, he went back and they had a new story that this was a "manufacturer defect" and that's why the silicone was peeling on the shoe. Mind you, this shoe is almost 8 years old and was completely fine until they were in their possession for a weeks time.

Today, I took the shoes back myself with a photo of the separation before I brought them in (this was the only issue with the shoe and the reason I had them brought in). The owner was out of the country but I dealt with the kid at the front desk as well as his mother (via speakerphone from another store). He started out by saying all of the same stuff as before, but there wasn't much disputing the photos that I was showing him.

His mother was another story.... she just kept bickering with me and saying that they never worked on the shoe. I told her to ask the kid at the store what he thought because he was the one physically looking at my before photos, and he confirmed that it did look like the shoe was worked on. Again, she held firm that they didn’t touch the shoe and that it was already peeling. When I asked why they didn’t mention this when the shoes were brought in or when they were completely paid for, she didn’t really have an answer.

They told me that I could come in next week and talk to the owner, Carlos, but she more or less confirmed that he was going to tell me the same thing. I have irrefutable photos from before and after that show that the shoe was in fact worked on (as well as proof of down payment and final payment from the job), but they apparently don’t care about any of that.

Because of the rarity of them, these shoes are about $2,500 for a new pair, so I guess the next step is to take them to small claims court to get it sorted out. It would have been nice to have them be reasonable people and just admit their mistake, but I’m going to be dealing with this for months now.