Hunter wellies for kids - my advice do NOT buy them as they fall apart within 6 months!

[VinoEsmeralda]

Ok you can flame me for buying designer wellies for kids but we needed wellies that were high and the lady in the shop said they had a 12 month warranty against manufacturing defects ( and in small print it says with the exception of fair wear and tear) and no other high ones in stock.

Within 6 months my DD's pair has no profile left on the soles plus the heel has holes in it. DS's pair of Hunters has the same problem but within 3 months!

We use the wellies for dog walks (once a day for the kids) and one long family walk on a Sunday. Kids go in the river with them and walk mainly in fields.

So I took them back to the shop and to summarise what was said by the sales assistant was that it was fair wear and tear plus she had never seen a pair of wellies lasting for 6 months or more on a 7 year old. Could she measure her feet and give me 25% of the next pair?

Obviously told her this wasnt what I was expecting from these so called 'top of the range' wellies and a reputable shoe shop and I would take my business somewhere else.

I then phoned Hunter who stood fully behind their retailer! I was absolutely gob smacked. Stayed v calm during conversation and read out the information on the warrantly labels and got absolutely nowhere....

Anyone else any experience with them? I have since found that Shoezone does high ones as well as does Primark and they seem to be of a more robust & child proof material and cost around £9-12 and not £32!!

Am I the only one that was gullible & stupid enough to buy them.

DD has Hunter wellies and they have always lasted until she grew out of them.

I only started buying Hunters as I was so sick of the cheap ones splitting. And, so far, I'm happy with them.

Thanks onlyaphase we used Joules before which have v poor seams and leak quite quickly and before just cheap wellies which lasted till they outgrew them but they only went half way up the calves.

Am going to try the cheap high ones and see how long they last.

we also have hunters for ds 8, the current ones have lasted over a year (ds doesn't grow!). They are still like new and like yours dc my ds goes in water and does lots of walking in them.

My friend also buys them for her DD and she only replaces them when her dd feet have grown, and usually hands them on to others.

My Ds's feet dont grow either Strange, we must have had a bad batch then as I am really dissapointed with the quality and more so the customer service of both the shoe shop and Hunter itself.

I work in a shop that sells outdoor gear. I would not have sold you standard Hunter wellies if I knew you were going to use them for daily dog walking. We sell them, but they are more of a fashion item. Even their top end ones are really only intended for mucking out horses or vehicle access shooting, not regular long walks.

Dog walkers, out every day rain or shine, are the people who use (batter) their gear the most and thus need hardwearing kit.

You should have been steered towards walking boots and gaiters. Kids walking boots (eg Hi-Tec - most have a waterproof lining and go to size 5 or 6) generally come in cheaper than Hunters.

I both agree and disagree with the retailer. 6 months in to a 12 month warranty, the Customer Service Manager where I work would probably have sent them away to Hunter for investigation. Of course, Hunter might still have said no.

Mainly, I think you bought/were sold the wrong kit for your needs.