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Original poster

clarks should be obliterated from the face of the earth

115 replies

morocco · 20/06/2005 15:42

utterly pissed off about the whole crappy buying shoes palarva. How hard can it be to train a few people to measure kids feet? I could do it after about 2 minutes training. So why is it every shop I went into today had a queue that took 20 minutes to get to the head of, (while all the adult specialist shoe box carriers stood idly by with nothing to do) then they never have the right size anyway, as if the difference between f and g could be that drastic. I notice French people don't have totally deformed feet but manage to get by without width measurements as well.
oh, piddly poo - will have to go back again next week.
It's all a massive marketing con imo to convince us the £30 we cough up with (outrageously infated surely???) is a quality buy that can only be sold by their specialist staff. Do they think we are stupid?

OP posts:

kazoo · 22/06/2005 14:26

Agree with anchovies when your child has wide feet, my ds takes a H fitting, there is no choice and you have to take a ticket and wait in the queue. I am destined to pay inflated prices for his shoes until he is old enough to buy them for himself. Just hoping ds isn't going to be the same.

Pruni · 22/06/2005 15:28

Message withdrawn

jessicasmummy · 22/06/2005 15:31

i bought Jess her first pair of crawling shoes the other day, mainly because she is on her feet cruising 90% of the time and was doing it on tip-toes so thought shoes might help her put her feet flat, and they have! She only wears them occasionaly though, not all the time.

CountessDracula · 22/06/2005 16:11

Don't know where you live but One Small Step, One Giant Leap are brilliant, if rather expensive. They do sell all the start rite stuff too at the same prices as other shops and you can get bargains in the sales, and unlike Clarks they seem to stock things in all sizes so you are not left with a choice between two pairs that look fit for a granny rather than a toddler. No queues anytime I have been in either.

Puff · 22/06/2005 16:16

Clarks sold me a pair of shoes for ds1 - each a different size. I didn't notice until it was time to buy a new pair .

Got the new ones free - should think so too - doughnuts!

lilaclotus · 22/06/2005 16:18

i completely agree, morocco.
btw, am i the only one who gets asked if "i'm alright" about 5 times before i even get to kids bit in clarks shops?

chipmonkey · 22/06/2005 17:05

Puff, that happened to me too!

Melpomene · 22/06/2005 17:25

Clarks said my dd had one foot size 6, the other size 6 1/2. She tried on some size 6 1/2 sandals and the assistant said they were too small so we ended up with size 7 sandals. After buying them we discovered they don't fit well and if she wears them without socks they rub her feet leaving visible marks and she complains that they hurt.

Haven't been able to take them back to the shop or buy any more shoes for her as I'm too busy with 8 week old baby and husband in hospital. So dd just has to wear her sandals with socks.

LilMissy · 22/06/2005 19:34

Just found this thread and would like to point out although i'm a student and a saturday worker for clarks i'm NOT Clarksludo

(And personally I agree with what most of you have said. Service at Clarks can be shocking but there are good, friendly assistants who do care about the customer but they are rare unfortunately)

JulieF · 22/06/2005 22:21

Thats odd that they wouldn't sell you the cruising shoes Pruni and makes a mockery of what I was told.

Ds has been walking for about 2 months now but is still wearing the crawling shoes becasue he is only a size 2 and the cruisers/proper shoes only start in a size 3.

Chandra · 23/06/2005 09:02

On the other hand, a friend of mine who was pregnant saw the crawling shoes in a visit to the UK and fell in love with them, so... decided to buy a pair for the baby although the baby was not born yet. And it was a hassle! at the end she had to speak to the manager and sign a form freeing them of any responsability for having badly fitted shoes . Don't know why they bother, after all we got the wrong sizes all the time even bringing the child with us...

The last time the woman who fitted DS shoes was so convinced that she had got the right size that even when DS was saying "take off, take off" while touching the area of the arch (normally the area he has problem with), she insisted that she was so sure the size was right that even offered to have some other assistant to measure.... at the end a different model (same size) did the trick but if it had been my first time in clarks I guess I would have been talked into the idea that those shoes were "right" just because the attendant was so sure...

If DS had not such chubby feet I would definitively be buying the shoes somewhere else.

bigdonna · 23/06/2005 12:42

i go to the clarks in croydon or sutton but never on a saturday as too busy.My son has very wide feet so just paid £32.00 for them last week .Their sale starts soon will buy shoes for school in september!.

smellymelly · 23/06/2005 13:05

I have mixed feelings about Clarks, I like the fac they do width fittings, and when ds1 and dd1 were crawling and first walking they had their cruisers, which I love.

Ds1 had wide feet as a toddler, but is now an f fitting so I buy him other makes which I think are more funky, like kickers and doc martens etc.

Dd1 has very narrow feet so I look further afield, but I have got her some great clarks boots last winter for £5!! Can't complain.

I have contacted Clarks directly and have asked if I can buy a 'foot measurer' from them, but apparently being a mother is not enough training to measure my own kids feet!

We are moving to France in August, and I'm a little concerned to read on here that they do not use width measurements there, as ds2 has very wide chubby feet, and dd2 has very tiny feet. I love their cruisers in clarks at the moment and I will have to get some before we go, but not sure if dt's will be ready for shoes by then?

All my kids have worn leather slippers by Inch Blue, Daisy Roots etc, and they are great, but is this why my 2 older ones have flat feet, because their instep wasn't supported as they learnt to walk???

smellymelly · 23/06/2005 13:07

'like the fact' of course

Orinoco · 23/06/2005 21:37

Message withdrawn

eidsvold · 24/06/2005 08:33

I can't complain - we had fab service from the Clarks in Bluewater. dd was not walking or even cruising but needed sturdyish shoes for bursery. We bought one pair and despite them being expensive - we were lucky enough that they lasted over a year. Despite her wearing them everyday for that year......

We then bought her second pair from Bluewater again - she was still not walking - for 24 pounds and she got a good six months or more out of them. But then we had our aussie summer and the trainers were just too hot.... I have just bought her two mroe pairs of Clarks shoes here in Aus but from an independant store - no clarks close to us.... got brilliant boots for dd1 for winter and some great pink trainers. They were so supportive and have helped her now she has started walking. And the best part - as they are such good shoes - she only needed a light orthotic to assist with her feet rather than a very expensive heavy shoe insert. She has worn the boots every day for over a month and they are still going strong.

fairydust · 24/06/2005 08:40

Orinoco - have you tried the shoe shop that is in broadmarsh upper level - they start at a C width.

morningpaper · 24/06/2005 08:57

Oooh I started another Clark's bashing thread a while back. I think they are dreadful and all out for SALES SALES SALES. Their measurements are so haphazard and AMAZINGLY dd is ALWAYS a new size of width measurement. It's a ripoff. Personally I prefer Barratt's - their shoes are always so nicely padded and seem far more comfortable.

zippy539 · 24/06/2005 09:11

Ooh - this is good timing. Yesterday I took DD to John Lewis to have her feet checked and was completely and utterly patronised by a vile assistant who berated me (loudly) for a) not being able to remember exactly how long dd has had her current shoes for b) for not having aforementioned shoes fastened correctly (ie apparently the t-bar strap should be on the tightest possible fitting or else the world may end). She was so unrelentingly critical that if I was at all paranoid I would left that shop feeling like the worst mother ever - as it is I am getting stroppy in my old age and so contented myself with sticking my tongue out at her when she was bent over doing the measuring . Course - once she had got off her high horse and actually measured dd's feet the shoes were fine - but I was livid and felt like I had just been put through the wringer by the shoe police. Wont be going back. So it's not just Clarks...

Ahhh. Feel better now.

Orinoco · 24/06/2005 11:04

Message withdrawn

fairydust · 24/06/2005 13:39

we got some doodles for dd from Ilkeston co-op and the staff we're good.

We're abouts are you based?

Orinoco · 24/06/2005 20:37

Message withdrawn

fairydust · 24/06/2005 21:16

HEANOR [GRIN]

Orinoco · 24/06/2005 21:22

Message withdrawn

fairydust · 24/06/2005 21:32

YEP CAN SEE YA - [HEAD HANGING OUT BEDROOM WINDOW]LOL

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