Urbanart Footwear Flaw with bad Customer feedback

Urbanart Shoes/Footwear might be trending brand with big artist names written over it's Facebook pages, but I assure you (the consumer) that getting in contact with anyone at Urbanart is a nightmare to start off with. With a shoe brand this popular, one would think that Service and the consumer would be a priority in terms of running a business, because ultimately, the consumer means their revenue.

So, here is my 'short' story and I will be mentioning one person who actually holds a certain position at Urbanart. Robby Stoller - Product Development.

My very simple and initial issue was with the flaw on the Lace Loops on my Ranga1 style boots which I purchased at a Footgear store in Century City, Cape Town. I noticed after wearing these boots for the first time, that the laces will be wearing through very quick due to the edges of the loops being sharp and could actually cut my fingers if I'm not careful. Now, my issue is not the laces, but rather the lack of sincerity, lack of urgency attending to my complaint (it took Urbanart roughly 2 weeks to respond, and with a two-liner response email) and the lack of following up with me as a consumer who purchased a product of Urbanart.

I high lighted the flaw on their product and received a simple shrug of the shoulders from Robby Stoller, and it simply seemed like 'sorry to hear about your ****, buddy, but don't worry, I will tell my guys to do a better job next time'.. and here is Robby's response :-

Hi Brendan,

Our development team has looked into your issue and this is the first complaint of this nature. We apologise that your laces have worn.

Regards, The Urbanart Facebook team

My response:- Thank you for your reply. Should my complaint have been the second or third for your development team to actually acknowledge that there is a problem with the lace hoops? My concern is not the worn lace, but the sharp edges on the hoops where laces run through. This is very sharp. And as a result, one would continue to replace laces on a more frequent basis.

And the responses from Urbanart were more than 7 days apart..

Now I can copy and paste my long email response here too, but I want readers to take out the most important parts here..

Urbanart ONLY has an email address where issues can be logged to, and then there is the Facebook page with lots of vibey things happening and one could contact Urbanart via Messenger, but trust them to respond within at least 3 weeks if you have a genuine complaint about their product.

All I wanted was a sincere apology and a solution to the sharp edged Lace Loops on my boots.

Maybe my issue wasn't large enough, and maybe the Urbanart development team cares less about a purchasing customer, but there should have at least be a sense of urgency to resolve an issue that I raised or pointed out. And I am sure that if my surname was Janse Van Vuuren, Botha or De Klerk, I might have gotten a different response.

If this was my Development team, I would say let's asses the customer shoes and take it from there. That would be a start..

So, here are some people that actually read my email when it was forwarded, so in case you have purchased boots like mine and want to address the matter directly, here they are..

*** *** *** *** ***

And lastly...this is just reading material.. my response to Robby Stoller's 3 liner email.

Hi Robby

Thank you for your response.

I am somewhat confused with your apology though, and maybe you don't understand my concern so well. Here's how I see this - You're apologizing for a concern that I have with your product that was designed and manufactured by your company - so, in simple terms, this is your product, that I (the customer) purchased and soon realized that there's a problem with certain parts of the design of your shoes but you're saying that I purchased these shoes and so be it?

You apologize to me as if to say that you're so sorry to hear about my sad story, but you will mention it to your design team (and then you brush the matter off).

So let me start from the beginning..

I have emailed your company almost two weeks ago with no response to my email (which is absolutely ridiculous) because firstly, a retailer of this size with customer service this slow, need to have a very close look at who is looking after your Service centre. Secondly, after no response, I left a message via Messenger on your Facebook page. And until yesterday, had I not followed up on my Facebook Messenger messages, nobody would have even responded to anything.

And this, Robby, indicates the lack of urgency in your company. Which is another big concern. All that is displayed on Urbanart Facebook page are good vibes but no actual Complaints section.

So, since I feel really offended by your apology, and I genuinely sense no real compassion for my concern about (let's call it) a flaw in one of your popular shoe designs, I feel that someone with authority should handle this matter.

I have pointed out a genuine issue and I'm sure if I post a few things here and there on social media platforms, more customers will pay closer attention to what I have brought to light and this, could potentially mean that revenue, some individuals in your design teams and sales will be impacted.

I do believe however, that this small issue can be dealt with in a much better manner.

I will definitely be replacing shoe laces on a more frequent basis than normal, and this is my problem, as your apology rings? I will have to fork out money continually because of your designers' oversight? Are you saying this is the customer's problem now?

Please do not insult my intelligence like you have, again Robby.

I would really like to hear how we will be resolving a now bigger, matter.

Regards Brendan