In April I bought a pair of Damas leather open-toed shoes from the Camper store in Old Bond Street, London, which cost £130. I only wore them three times when the leather started to peel off from the front of both shoes.
I took them back expecting an automatic refund as the design was clearly at fault. The manager inspected the shoes and confirmed that they had hardly been worn. But he insisted it was not a problem with the shoe itself and it could be because of the way I walk? (I do Pilates and have perfect gait.)
I then took this up with Camper customer care – sending them photos of the shoes and a copy of the receipt. I received a bland response claiming that its “quality department” had studied the photos and “determined that the shoes did not have any manufacturing problems”.
Camper boasts about its two-year guarantee and I am furious as the shoes are unwearable. FS, Beckenham, Kent
Camper is a popular, upmarket, Spanish-owned shoe brand with a large international network of sales outlets, including in the UK. As you bought the shoes before 1 October your rights are under the old Sale of Goods Act rather than the new Consumer Rights Act which, nevertheless, both specify that goods must be “fit for purpose” – or you have the right to replacement/repair or full refund. This is in addition to Camper’s own two-year guarantee which, in your case, didn’t appear to be worth a great deal.
Having the seen the photos we were astonished that you were not automatically offered a replacement or a refund. But after we got in touch with Camper its customer service department contacted you to resolve it directly.
You turned down its offer of a voucher for a new pair and have instead accepted a full refund. A spokeswoman for Camper did not explain why you were treated so badly when you clearly had shoddy merchandise, but said in a statement: “Camper takes its customer satisfaction very seriously … with a two-year guarantee to cover any manufacturing/quality defects.
“Thus, as always, we are delighted to resolve this issue … on occasion there is a fine line between quality issues and those that can occur with use. In this case, customer satisfaction was of utmost importance.
“However, the product was not defective due to manufacturing. We are pleased that this case is closed, and hope the client is satisfied with our customer care.”
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