boots and northface fail!

By Daniel Severin Ranked #604 - Men's Hiking Boots August 12, 2010

Let me start out by saying that I used to be a walking northface billboard, nearly everything thing i owned had a northface logo on it! I originally bought these boots at my local REI. I got them because of their comfort and good balance between price and features, e.g. comfort, stability, waterproofing. The boots feel great and they never gave me a blister, my feet have never hurt after wearing them even with 60 lb back and 8 hour hiking. But, and this is a big but, I took my boots on a 45 mile hike through the Olympic Mountain chain and they broke on the first day, a short 8 mile jaunt. The black rubber part of the boot cracked and split forming a gash about 2 inches long. I hadn't ever really used the boots before this day and would estimate the total mileage on them to be less than 15 miles before they failed. Yes, I was upset. I had grown attached to these boots and they represent a significant investment for me as I am a student and live by meager means. I fedexed my boots to northface, at a cost of $45, and requested a rush decision. Good news is they agreed that the boots failed due to defects in the product. Bad news they didn't tell me my replacement boots were on back order for a month and a half. I finally called northface after several weeks without word on my order status and they told me that the quickest way to get reimbursed was to have them issue a gift card. Okay, then the gift card takes a week to get here. I used my card at northface.com to buy my boots but I now had to pay for another $45 shipping fee plus $25 in taxes! All in all i spent $304 on a pair of boots worth half as much. Northface could have told me there was a northface store less than ten miles from my house where i could pick up a new pair immediately and not have to spend more money on a pair of boots that shouldn't have failed in the first place. I contact northaface customer services to complain about all this and the lady made me feel as if i didn't have a reason to complain, like this was business as usual. All northface products are now considered unreliable and unworthy of purchase.

View Details: The North Face Jannu GTX Hiking Boot - Men's

Helpful Votes: 0 Yes