Poor management of customer query

On the 24 July I purchased Onitsuka (Tiger) sneakers. These are olive green and white purchased from Superbalist. After my second wear I noticed that the white part was dirty and decided to clean them.

The sneaker is made of two type of materials being canvas and suede, when washing the sneaker I noticed that the canvas part was turning white, what was even stranger was that this was not due to colour lose but poor quality or choice of material. I thought this would return to normal once it was dry however this was not the case.

I reached out to Superbalist and spoke to Aiden who escalated the matter: Please see below communication:

Aiden O'Connor (Superbalist) Oct 8, 2020, 15:48 GMT+2

Hi Zanele

I trust you are well.

I tried giving you a call as I was advised to log a return on your behalf for the sneakers.

Please can you provide me with your preferred refund method and collection address in order to log this return?

I await your feedback.

Kind regards,

Aiden O'Connor Online Fashion Assistant

Aiden O'Connor (Superbalist) Oct 5, 2020, 12:30 GMT+2

Hi Zanele

Thank you for you your response.

I will use these pictures you have sent, to escalate this issue to our retail team for a way forward with your issue.

I am so sorry for this disappointment, but I hope we can resolve this issue.

Kind regards,

Aiden O'Connor Online Fashion Assistant

zanelec Oct 5, 2020, 10:11 GMT+2

Hi Aiden Thank you for your email. Please see attached pictures, this was my first wash of the sneakers and this is not at all normal. Please understand that I have a number of sneakers and have never experienced such. This sneaker was costly and I expect better quality from the brand. Regards Zanele Attachment(s) IMG_0336.jpg IMG_0339.jpg IMG_0340.jpg

Aiden O'Connor (Superbalist) Oct 5, 2020, 9:54 GMT+2

Good day Zanele

This email is just to follow up on our phonecall conversation.

Please can you attach a picture to this thread, of the shoes you washed which have now changed colour as a result of it, and I will escalate this to our retail team to see if we can assist you.

I await your response. Kind regards,

Aiden O'Connor Online Fashion Assistant

After a few days I followed up and my mail was received by Skye who responded as follows:

Skye-Raven Simpson (Superbalist) Oct 15, 2020, 8:45 GMT+2

HI Zanele

Thank you for your response. Apologies for the delay in correspondence - I was not in yesterday.

Unfortunately, we will not be collecting these shoes. You washed them and so regrettably that does not align with our returns policy. Please see Section 4 of our returns policy:

4. Defective products We do our best to ensure that the products we deliver to you are of a high quality and without defects. What is a defect? A defect is a material imperfection in the manufacture of a product or any characteristic of a product, which makes the product less acceptable than one would reasonably be entitled to expect in the circumstances. Please refer to our FAQs for some examples. The following will NOT be regarded as defects and will not entitle you to a return under this section 4: faults resulting from normal wear and tear; damage arising from negligence, user abuse or incorrect usage of the product; damage arising from electrical surges or sea air corrosion; damage arising from a failure to adequately care for the product; damage arising from unauthorised alterations to the product; and

We understand that you have washed previous pairs of shoes, however, we cannot be certain that the washing of the shoes (due to the specific soap you used) was not what damaged the shoes and as such, we will not be processing a return.

Should you need any further assistance, please respond to this email and I will gladly assist. Have a wonderful day!

Kind regards,

Skye-Raven Simpson Online Fashion Assistant

I asked Skye a simple question: How I was suppose to wash the sneakers and did not receive an answer. As a consumer I do not think it makes sense to purchase sneakers that one cannot wash and if one does wash them, retailers blame the consumer. How does one purchase sneakers and cannot wash them becouse they become so called defective.

This is not due to my negligence nor poor care, it is due to poor choice of material from the manufacture, however Superbalist is more interested in doing customers in and pointing the figure back.

This is not the expected brand promise from Superbalist nor Tiger.