My first New Balance purchase turned into a really disappointing experience
I’m posting this because I genuinely expected much better from New Balance.
This was actually my first New Balance purchase, and I was really excited about it. I bought a pair of New Balance 1080 Infinion shoes from a New Balance store in Glasgow, UK. The original price was around £170, and I purchased them for £119 during a promotion.
I bought them mainly because I needed a comfortable pair of shoes for work. My work involves being on my feet and walking for long periods, so I specifically chose New Balance expecting good comfort and support.
Unfortunately, after wearing them only a few times, I started experiencing pain around my heel area. I initially thought maybe I just needed to get used to the shoes, so I tried wearing them again. But the discomfort continued.
So I went back to the Glasgow store and explained the problem to the store manager. I wasn’t demanding anything unreasonable — I simply wanted them to properly listen to the issue and see whether there was a possible solution, such as an exchange or another option.
Instead, I felt like I was completely dismissed. The manager basically told me that he couldn’t do anything and gave me the customer care number, asking me to contact them.
I then contacted New Balance customer care and explained the entire situation. Unfortunately, their response was essentially that I had to go back to the store.
I explained that:
- I had already visited the store.
- I had already spoken to the manager.
- The store had refused to help me and directed me to customer care.
- I was no longer in Glasgow because I had been there for work and had subsequently returned to India.
Despite explaining all of this, I was still told to deal with the store.
I even contacted them again after returning to India, hoping there might be some way they could help given the circumstances. But I received essentially the same response.
What disappoints me the most isn’t even just the shoes. It’s the way the whole situation was handled.
This was my first New Balance purchase, and I was genuinely excited about trying the brand. I chose New Balance because of its reputation for comfortable footwear. Instead, I ended up with a pair of shoes I couldn’t comfortably use and a customer service experience where I felt like nobody was actually interested in understanding the problem.
I understand that stores have return/exchange policies, and I’m not expecting special treatment. But when a customer reports a genuine comfort/product issue after only a few uses, I believe there should at least be some effort to properly assess the situation rather than simply passing the customer from the store to customer care and back again.
I’m posting this here because I would genuinely like to know:
Has anyone else had a similar experience with New Balance, particularly with their UK stores or customer service?
And if anyone from New Balance happens to see this, I would really appreciate it if someone could actually look into my case rather than sending me back to the same store that already refused to help.
I still have the purchase receipt and the shoes, and I can provide the relevant details if required.
Honestly, I really wanted my first New Balance purchase to be a good experience. It’s disappointing that it turned out this way