Tricky Salomon boots return

6 months ago I purchased a pair of waterproof Salomon boots for R4000. They were indeed waterproof, but only for six months.

On 16 April I returned the boots to the Cape Union Mart store as instructed by customer care, and was told they would have to be checked and it would take six weeks to get an answer. Six weeks! We're talking hiking boots, not a jet engine.

The following day I was asked to collect the boots and clean them. Fair enough, they had a bit of dried mud on them, but couldn't this have been requested at the initial dropoff? I live 40km from the shop, for heaven's sake. The boots were duly cleaned and returned to the store on my next trip to town, 23 April.

On 16 May I was advised that the boots had been tested by dipping them into water and indeed it could be seen that water was coming through the seams. However, even though this had been videoed and the video sent to the manufacturer, the boots themselves would now have to be sent to the manufacturer. Moreover, I needed to collect the boots again and clean them again "for hygiene purposes" (what sort of water was used to test the boots, sewage effluent?).

I very much have the feeling that Cape Union Mart is trying to waste time and wear me out with ridiculous requests and delays. When the same leaking problem occurred with some Merrell boots purchased from Outdoor Warehouse, the issue was resolved in a week and I was refunded.

I repeat, these are top of the range boots that cost over R4000 and I would have expected a) better quality and b) less jumping through hoops to have faulty boots attended to.