clark's grrrrr!

[lilsmum]

went to clarks today to get dd's feet measured as it has been 8 weeks since her last shoes and i knew she needed new ones, got there and it was mega busy...took a ticket and waited half an hour to be seen to, now some of you may now dd has had probs with her foot lately and only had her cast off on tues, so i mentioned this to the girl, that her foot may be still a little tender or dd may create as sooooo many people have "messed" with her foot lately

the girl measured dd's feet and she had gone from a 4.5 h, to a 5g, so she asked me which shoes i liked and went to get them, then came back with the shoes checked the fit and said, they are a little tight on the top and if we lossen the strap they will slip?!? then asked which other shoes i liked...this went on and on, dd was getting seriously hacked off at this stage as she had tried about 6 different shoes by now, then i asked about doodles, so the girl went into the back came out with 4 different pairs of doodles in dd's size (sigh) tried them on, no good they are not deep enough at the back of the heel, by this stage i was getting seriously wound up, why sell doodles in that size if they slip off the heel????

i asked to speak to the manager, who was on her lunch, she came out and was very off hand with me,said they could order but not on a saturday?!? explaining that the girl dealing with us was a trainee!!! then the manager walked off without saying sorry or anything, i left the shop ready to kill someone after spending near on a hour in there and coming out with no shoes grrrr!!

why measure toddlers feet and say oh yes she is a size 5g if none of the shoes that size fit her?!? completely and utterly confused

anyway there is my rant, if you have got this far, you have alot of patience lol

[nutcracker]

I have pretty much given up on Clarks. In my local one, the childrens shoes are upstairs and I have twice been in with ds asleep in the buggy and asked for a fitter to come down to dd2 and they have been really rude, and even suggested I wake ds up to go upstairs.
Also on our last trip there we waited forever and then we offered a choice of 1 style of shoe for dd2 which luckily she liked, only problem was that one shoe was missing. I asked them to ring another branch to see if they had one and they said they couldn't.
The satff in most of the clarks I have been in just don't seem bothered to me. They just want each child seen and shoes fitted as quick as poss and then as soon as you hit a prob they don't want to help.

[cod]

Message withdrawn

[nutcracker]

Eh ?

[cod]

Message withdrawn

[AngelaFavorleigh]

I don't understand your point clarksludo - why can't Clarks staff order shoes if Russell & Bromley can? If they are run off their feet they should get more staff. The customer is always right (especially given the money children's shoes cost as lilsmum rightly said)

[nutcracker]

[Caligula]

Oh Clarks are crap. I never go there, it's too painful. Brantano forever!

[Caligula]

OMG I've just noticed - Cod! Hello!

[nutcracker]

Brantanos were even worse.

[highlander]

lilsmum - I followed your DD's story and I know your family has been through a lot recently. I was very pleased to read that's she's getting a bit better

BUT, sticking my nose in here , was it such a bright idea to take her shopping on a Saturday morning when it's bound to be busy and your DD needs a little extra help, TLC etc etc??

[Caligula]

Blimey - someone worse than Clark's - how is that possible?!

I agree Saturday AM is the worse time - I know that most people don't have much choice because of work, school, etc., but I always try to go shoe shopping at an obscure time like 5PM, when normally that's dinner time. Early dinner so kids aren't hungry and bad-tempered, just tired and bad-tempered.

Same with supermarket shopping - I tend to do it between 5 and 7 now, it makes all the difference - takes 15 minutes instead of 1 and a half hours, and although it means messing around with routines, it's worth it.

[Cam]

clarksludo you can't be for real

[lilsmum]

highlander, good point but i took dd as the clarks shop i went was a small shop and when i have had a nosy walking past had never had a soul in (i normally go to the bigger one in preston town) also the fact that the dog had chewed her clarks she already had (which were too small anyway) and i did have other shoes, but wanted clarks because of all the probs with her foot, feel a little paranoid about picking a size myself, thats why i was so mad at clarks that day, i want quality and good customer service for £25 shoes that last 6-8 weeks.

[AngelaFavorleigh]

I think clarksludo is a troll

[Ailsa]

Clarksludo,

"BACKBREAKING work that Clarks kids is" - Have you even been shoe shopping with kids?

It's probably more frustrating for parents than it is for you, we have the pleasure of going from shop to shop to shop to shop to find shoes that fit correctly and that our dd's and ds's actually like and will agree to wear!

Wholeheartedly agree with everything lilsmum and others have said. None of my children ever had/have straight forward shoe fittings. However, I find my local Clarks to be lovely, dd2 had her last fitting by one of the girls that used to look after her at nursery.

[AngelaFavorleigh]

I seriously doubt cl actually has children tbh.

[swedishmum]

Assuming clarksludo is not a wind up I think we should all avoid Clarks simply because she works there. I can't stand it anyway - vile choice of school shoes for girls (all so common and clumpy), vile patterned shoes (even with light up bits on the side) for my one year old - yuk. Yes, before you shoot me down I know it is my local branch and they only stock what local mums want so they tell me.
Lilsmum - you were entirely right. They market themselves on their fitting for goodness sake!

[pooka]

dd has very narrow feet and miniscule heels which has made shoe shopping a nightmare. Plus why are little girl shows so vile and princessy? Have discovered an excellent independent shoe shop that sells Ecco kids shoes which are lovely.

[highlander]

Hmm, I hear your warning about dogs and kids' shoes there Lilsmum! 25 quid and they only last 8 weeks? I'm sooooo not looking forward to DS starting to walk.