Approx two years ago I bought myself a pair of walking boots for Flickr group walks and other expedition. Despite intended light use, I still avoided the cheapest stuff, and went for some Merrells which were a pricely £85 after discount at Go-Outdoors, seemed to come well liked and well recommended by people.
Most of the time though I live in my trainers, so the boots only come out for the occasional hike, or when the weather is bad enough to mean I’m walking to work rather than taking the car (which isn’t that often). I’d noticed for a short while though that my feet were getting wet in these ‘waterproof’ boots, and finally noticed after the last walk that they’d actually split along the join between the upper & sole. As I get a good 12-18 months out of a typically £50 pair of trainers I wear all day every day, I wasn’t feeling too impressed with the quality of the Merrell. OK not quite as catastrophic failure as the Karrimor boots I know publicenergy bought & fell apart completely mid way through his second walk with them, but still, I did feel I should get a lot more wear out of them than I had.
So I stuck a tweet out there “My @merrelloutside boots have started coming apart/leaking. Can’t say I’m impressed for the amount cost vs how often actually worn them“. Used to bitching about @o2 and @bt_care and getting bugger all response, I thought that was the end of that, it’s off my chest, and time to hunt out some new boots, and make sure I don’t get any of those Karrimors…
Only it wasn’t, 10 minutes later I get a response “Hi @jonbradbury – please email us at [email protected] and we’ll help you get to the bottom of the issues with your boots!” …. well here goes nothing, fired off a short email, heard nothing, oh well, then a few days later one of the UK team were in touch, put them in a box, attach this prepaid label, fill in this form, blah etc, and we’ll take a look at them…
Heard nothing for a few weeks so thought I’d send them a chaser email…and then got this
“Thank you for the return of your Merrell shoes to us.
As a gesture of goodwill, we have sent you a free of charge one off replacement which will arrive with you within the next 10 days
We are sorry for any inconvenience caused and do hope that this will not deter you from purchasing our products in the future.
Kind Regards
Lynsey Rickard – Consumer and Internet Team Leader”
What?? So I’ve gone from being a bit disappointed, to might frigging impressed, here I am a month later with a brand new boxed pair of Merrell replacement boots. Happy customer, top marks to Merrell customer services. Thank you.
I love Merrell ! I bought a pair of their walking shoes years ago instead of trainers for just day to day wear and, even though I’m quite good at wearing out trainers, these things were built to last – they were also the most comfortable shoes I’d ever bought. They last me a very long time and eventually just get replaced with another set. I’ve never had to return anything or had any problems with them either.
It’s good to know they treat customers like this 🙂
My experience exactly. The shoes lasted barely more than a year.
I had a pair of Merrells and loved them and they lasted for years. Got two new Merrell pairs of boots and shoes last year and now both have leaked despite being Goretex trail running waterproof footwear….what is the difference between these and my old pair? Merrells used to be made in Canada and now all are made in China…I paid £110 each pair. Now I am on hols in Wales with rain tiddling down and only have flip flops, sandals or slippers to wear outdoors! Not sure if replacement Merrells willbe up to it if both of mine leak and are from different ranges of Goretex lined Merrells.
I also have the same issue, will try contacting Merrell UK and see what happens, good article.
Well, Merrell has offered a new set of boots, can’t say fairer than that!
That’s a great result. Well we can’t fault their aftercare though it’d be nicer if we didn’t have to lean on them first.
Bought a pair of merrell walking shoes to replace my trusty old north face, what a mistake. First pair came unstuck between uppers and sole.Contacted Merrell who replaced them but stated only one f.o.c replacement was allowed. The replacment pair have now fallen to pieces exactly the same ,back to North face.
I like the fit and comfort of Merrell boots and the grip is good but have had problems with the waterproofing on every pair despite treating them with Grainger’s footwear waterproofing spray.
The models involved are Moab Mid Gore-Tex, Crestbound GTX and now my Capra Mid Gore-Tex have started letting in water and I only got them at the beginning of September
It seems to be round the toebox that they start leaking. They have generally lasted only 3 months, of frequent wear to be fair, before failing.
I have bought mine through Sportsshoes.com and they have been very good on replacements but I don’t want to seem like a serial complainer so am agonising about sending back yet another pair
I am on my second set of Merrill Gortex trainers the first pair lasted about six months before leaking the second set about the same. I only wear them when walking my dog in the summertime. I am now going to return them after reading the comments on this blog thank you everyone for your comments