Putting the boot in
Two weeks before Christmas I took a train to Birmingham to meet a new client. After our meeting I wandered to the Bull Ring and went into the Dr. Martens shop there to buy a new pair of boots.
I haven’t worn DM boots for years, but in the Autumn I bought a pair of 1461 PW shoes and after a week or so of sore breaking in, they’re now the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever owned. The store wasn’t busy and after trying on several different styles I settled for a pair of 1460 ‘For Life’ boots. (I’m size eight, thanks for asking.) I proudly walked out of the shop and went home.
(For Life boots cost a little more than their standard equivalents — mine were £165.00 — but they’re made stronger and are guaranteed for, well, life.)
I wanted to wear my new boots the next day, but when I opened the box I’d brought home, inside was a left boot in my size eight, and a right boot in size ten. Bugger! Mistakes happen, I wasn’t too upset, but I thought that getting it corrected would be an inconvenience. Somehow I’d have to drive to a shop—our nearest one’s in Liverpool—and ask them to exchange at least one boot for the right size. That would mean petrol and car parking and time and well, Liverpool, two weeks before Christmas.
A week later and I went to London visiting clients including an agency in the West End. I knew vaguely where their offices were, but what I didn’t know was that there was a Dr. Martens shop two streets away in Carnaby Street. Damn. If I had known that I’d have taken my unwanted, ill-fitting boots there. I went in anyway and just to make sure I had what I wanted I laid out another £165.00. While I was there I explained to the manager about by mis-matched, now spare pair, and this is when things got worth mentioning.
Instead of expecting me to suffer the inconvenience of returning the boots to a store, he arranged to have them collected at my convenience. All I needed to do was to call him with a convenient day when I got home.
Three days later a courier arrived to collect the boots and a day after that someone from the Birmingham shop called to let me know they’d arrived and that £165.00 had been refunded. A week later a copy of the refund receipt and a hand-written note arrived in the post.
(And yes, the holly was hand-drawn.)
Frankly, I’m bowled over by that level of commitment to customer service from Dr. Martens. It was far more than I expected and makes me want to shop there again. Oh wait. These boots are for life.