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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the shoe fitter in clarks should not.........

29 replies

milliec · 01/12/2007 21:04

Message withdrawn

OP posts:
ChasingSquirrels · 01/12/2007 21:05

YANBU - of course they should have checked the fit, size is only the starting guide.

cornsilk · 01/12/2007 21:06

This is pretty usual service for Clarks. Did you have to wait for at least 30 minutes to be served by the 16 year old/ bored/ gun chewing assistant also?

beansprout · 01/12/2007 21:06

That is outrageous. I would complain and not go back there.

So, when they "check the fit" are they just pretending?!!

Camillathechicken · 01/12/2007 21:06

she tried to sell you shoes she had not fitted!

that is outrageous, lazy and shoddy, so YANBU!

i have not been to clarks for years, always got poor, rushed service, and never had anything in DSs size. and they staff always seemed amazed that hte children did not sit still for hours, whilst waiting to be served.

i go to a local independent shoe shop now, get excellent service and they do a loyalty scheme, so you get £10 off your 4th purchase from them

MrsLynetteScavo · 01/12/2007 21:09

Is there any mother who doesn't have a story about the uselesness of Clarks fitters.

7G sounds perfecly normal to me.

DD is 2, and a 7H, as her foot is very narrow. I've been told Clarks just can't help her.

TrinityRhino · 01/12/2007 21:12

we don't have a startrite near us and I hate clarks

you and not being unreasonable, what a stupid woman

bozza · 01/12/2007 21:14

7H is actually a very wide fitting. And yes Clarks do seem to struggle with the idea of H. But I would have thought that 7G should have been fairly manageable.

SantasLittleToiletFlusher · 01/12/2007 21:14

That is awful Complain to Clarks Head Office (address on website). I did this once and got a £15 voucher to spend in...yep you guessed it! A clarks shoe shop.

Bah! It is still sitting on the side unspent as I have well and truly thrown my teddy out the pram with them......

southeastastra · 01/12/2007 21:16

she sounds like she cares but has maybe lost her way a bit.

deckthehallswithFEETofTIGERs · 01/12/2007 21:17

7G isn't all that unusual - dd was that size for her previous pair and there were loads for her to choose from. And to sell them without checking the fit - very very bad. Even though Clarks set such store by sizing properly there is still a huge variation between styles.

DD is now a 7.5 G at 3.5 - she has little feet but we have had no probs getting shoes in her size.

NAB3littlemonkeys · 01/12/2007 21:18

Report her

I am butted as the lady we used to see at an independant shoe shop has retired. She was so fab with the kids and never got it wrong.

Misdee · 01/12/2007 21:19

i try and avid clarks and head to john lewis.

reminds me, all dd's need new shoes again. [sighs]

southeastastra · 01/12/2007 21:19

report her lol

Misdee · 01/12/2007 21:20

dd3 measures up as an F fitting but is actually a d/e fitting due to how her foot narrows down.

dd2 is a G fitting, and clarks generally dont have her size in stock, dd1 is an F fitting and has her pick of shoes.

NAB3littlemonkeys · 01/12/2007 21:22

Gutted

southeastastra · 01/12/2007 21:24

i think the shoe industry has given up on us now, once upon a time they cared for our feet, now they can't be bothered.

santaoftheopera · 01/12/2007 21:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mellymooks · 01/12/2007 21:42

Ahhh, this makes me so sad hearing these stories, i used to work as a shoe fitter for clarks and i loved it, was trained well and always did a proper job, it's obv. gone down hill from 10 years ago....

stinkymalinki · 01/12/2007 21:42

We have the same issues re Clarks - DS is a size 7.5G and we usually get no choice of design, as they only tend to have one pair in that size in the store.

Also, got DS's feet measured the other day, in the same store we always go to, by the same fitter as normal, and she told me that he was a size 7, when she'd measured him as a 7.5 2 months ago! Absolutely useless.

YANBU

bossybritches · 01/12/2007 21:46

The only way they can improve their service is if mums complain get writing those letters girls!

We have a really good shoe dept in our local retail outlet (Downtown near Grantham if you're interested) they have Clarks AND Startrite in the same dept & VERY experienced older ladies who are great with the kids. W eall have wide feet in our family & it's the only place where my DD's get a choice of shoes!

catsmother · 01/12/2007 22:19

Both my children have wide feet and I too always go for Startrite shoes as opposed to Clarks. It was once suggested to me - very rudely, and at length, I might add - by a Clarks fitter - that the reason my then 15 month old daughter had wide feet was because I'd "failed" to put her in "proper" shoes soon enough.

I was literally rendered speechless and flounced off but so wish I'd had the guts to tell the arrogant old hag that she was talking a load of irresponsible bollocks and that I would be complaining to head office about her.

Since when has squashing - which is what she was suggesting - a very young child's foot into a rigid shoe been good footwear advice ? The way she was going on - as if my daughter's shoe size was somehow my "fault" - I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd recommended footbinding next.

I also complained years ago to Clarks - both in store and to their head office - when I couldn't get any Doodles summer shoes to fit my son. They then (don't know about know, I don't go near Clarks) only went up to an F fitting even though they did G winter shoes. When I pointed out this anomaly the official line was that the demand for summer shoes was so small that it wasn't worth their while manufacturing a G size !!

Bloody useless.

MrsLynetteScavo · 02/12/2007 10:47

Just to clarify, I ment 7E, not 7H! Sorry

Ubergeekian · 04/12/2007 14:03

Our local Start-rite fitter told us we should put His Nibs into shoes (he didn't wear them at all until he was 15 months old and even now only wear them outside) because otherwise his feet would get wide.

That's a nice selling point, isn't it? "Put shoes on your child to crush their feet nice and small!"

We went for plan B. Get the kid's feet measured (more than once, because fitters are never consistent) then buy shoes of the right size from Ebay and check the fit yourself. We only use half the pairs we buy, but it's still far, far, far cheaper than handing over thirty quid each time.

Measuring and fitting shoes is not rocket science.

kittylouise · 04/12/2007 14:17

Clarks is a crock of shit.

Where else are you made to queue for the best part of an hour, in 10 square feet of space surrounded by fractious children, to have your kids feet measured and then - THEN - you cannot even chose the shoe you want. You have to wait another 15 minutes for someone to bring out the only selection of shoes in that size, which are usually vile and patent leather.

I used to HATE going there. Mind you, now dd is 11 and in adult shoes that is a whole other world of pain

SoupDragon · 04/12/2007 14:19

I've never had a problem with Clarks.