The Ideal Feet Store Orthotic/Arch Support Rip-Offs Plano Texas

This is a quote from the Ideal Feet Store's website:

"A "Custom Made" orthotic is the solution podiatrists prescribe for most kinds of foot problems. The problem with "Custom Made" orthotics is that they bare more art than science. They are a mold of an already damaged foot.

When the podiatrist positions the foot into "Subtalar-Neutral" to take a mold, the Subtalar joint still moves. When the plaster dries it is impossible to keep the exact image as it is pulled off of the foot. Therefore, fabrication of the custom made orthotic becomes a series of guesses, assumptions, and embellishments to create a product that may not fit into all their client's shoes."

I'd like to point out some of the more glaring inaccuracies of this statement which is an attempt to justify the use of their over-the-counter inserts in lieu of custom-made orthotics.

First, "Subtalar-Neutral" is a position of the subtalar joint which has been established to be the most stable position of this joint along with transmitting the force of the ground linearly from the heel, through the ankle joint, and up the leg. It is not an abstraction made up by someone to lend legitimacy to the purpose of orthotics. Also, this neutral position affects the overall alignment of the bones and joints in the rest of the foot - these joints within the rest of the foot become inherently more stable when the subtalar joint is in the proper position.

What does this mean for the rest of the foot? Well, the more stable the joint, the less stress is on the muscles, tendons, and ligaments to try to stabilize the foot in the absence of such alignment. This results in less fatigue, stress, and ultimately less chronic issues that people suffer from.

The subtalar joint, when placed in this neutral position, does not "move" while the cast is being made. Certainly a cast, or mold of the foot can be made with the foot in an improper position - this would result in a bad orthotic. But the whole concept of orthotics is that you take a mold of the foot held in the position it should be in. Thus, the orthotic will hold the foot in this position as well. This orthotic will conform to the foot and, though being a firm or rigid device, will not feel hard under the foot because of the exacting conformity that can only be achieved by taking a mold of the person's foot!

For this above quote to claim that it is impossible to take an exact mold while pulling the hardened plaster off of the foot is an outright lie, and should not go unchallenged. Once the plaster hardens, it will not deform unless you have a total klutz removing it.

Any over-the-counter device will not predictably hold the patient's foot in subtalar neutral, nor will it stabilize the foot in the necessary position unless there is blind luck involved. The bottom line is that the Ideal Feet Store has to have an infinitely enormous inventory of variously shaped over-the-counter arch supports, along with competent people analyzing the foot in question, to sell something that is consistent with their claims.

As a potential customer of Ideal Feet in Fort Worth, TX I went onto their website to shop the options. Several "red flags" I noticed:

1) The biggest is the "NO REFUND" policy. If their product is truely as great as they claim on the website, than they should stand behind it with a reasonable refund period.

2) No prices listed. Huge Red Flag. If they listed their prices they would probably not get as much traffic, in my opinion. I had to google "how much are ideal feet orthodics" to find out their prices. The search brought up ripoffreport at the top. So I had to go onto ripoof report to find out "Ideal Feet" is charging between $400 - $500 for insert orthodic devices. If they would have prices listed on their website than I would not have found their ripoof report. Then again I would have simply laughed at these prices.

3) When faced with an unsatisfied customer, a company rep told the customer that they wer in danger of liblelous infractions.

Moral of this story: "Buyer Be Ware" of Ideal Feet.

Last time I checked every consumer has the right to have their own opinion of a company whether "good", "bad" or "indifferent" 

These are my personal views as a consumer who needs an orthodic type product but is not willing to pay a ridiculous price for something on principle. It would be analgous to people hawking electric generators for up to 4 times retail value after a hurricane in South Florida, which used to be a very real problem until legislation was introduced to protect the consumer durring emergencies. Perhaps we need legislation for medically related purchases so that consumers are not taken advantage of durring very real medical emergencies such as foot problems.

I have received a satisfactory resolution regarding this complaint the last week of February into first week of March 2008 although it took several months. When I first posted this message the last week of December 2007, I was very frustrated with this company because they were ignoring my complaints especially when I paid so much money for their product that caused me so much physical pain. This product may work for a lot of people and they may be truly happy with the product but unfortunately it did not work for me.

This customer has an axe to grind and is trying to be hurtful by making untrue and malicious accusations that are unsupported!

We maintain excellent relationships with the Podiatry profession. However, a big part of some Podiatrist's business is selling orthotics. Some feel that we are a threat to their business, because of our fast results and lifetime guarantee.

Ideal Feet staff provides superior customer service. If the client follows the break-in instructions they will see a dramatic improvement. Statistically, we have a better success rate than any other option available for these types of issues. In the event, a customer has a problem adjusting to the supports, we offer Free refits...no questions asked. Our goal is to help the customer see results. We strive to maintain our excellent reputation in the community therefore we work hard to ensure our customers are happy with their purchases. We know it is impossible to please everybody and we are realistic about that. We have gone over and above to please this individual, to the extent of giving a refund and they are still unhappy! This is beyond our control and we know that our Ideal Feet family of customers understands this as evidenced by the supportive postings. Thank you!

I did follow the instructions on wearing the orthotics gradually. No, I did not go back to the store to try to exchange the orthotics because for 2 weeks after wearing the orthotics I could barely walk due to severe left foot pain and numbness. I didnt leave the house during that time. When I did see a Podiatrist he told me not to ever wear those arch supports/orthotics again. So I truly believe I was "ripped off" because I paid over $400.00 for 2 pairs of barely worn orthotics that I will never be able to wear again. To date I still have left foot problems and can only wear good tennis shoes or house shoes because they are the only comfortable shoes for me now. I've also had numerous doctor visits and medication expenses on top of this Ideal Feet rip-off.

The rep I spoke with at Ideal Feet clearly said " don't wear these all the time ". I got the impression it was a gradual process and anything faster could result in painful results. I believe the documentation provided reiterates this too. I think people see this quick "fix" and say wow, I'll just keep going all day in them.

I just bought a couple pairs for my retired mother as she's suffers from bad knees and fibromyalgia. When she tried on the inserts, she immediately noticed a difference in her knees. I was reluctant to pay the 50% off retail for "demo" inserts, but if it helped my mother walk I couldn't say no.

I personally feel like $500 for 2 pair plastic inserts is a bit high. Considering they are molded plastic, I don't imagine the production costs were much. Perhaps a price of $50 pair would be more realistic? Well, that's marketing and sales for you.

This person does not mention going back into the Ideal Feet Store for an adjustment. I also experienced the same problem with the inserts making my feet hurt. I followed the directions given to me by the store clerk, breaking the inserts in gradually. My feet got very sore and I could not be comfortable - so I went back in and the clerk gladly switched my inserts to ones with a lower arch. The results were great. Just changing the arch made all the difference.

Before I went to Ideal Feet, I dreaded walking for any distance anywhere because my feet hurt so bad. My knees were starting to hurt. I had calluses on the front of one foot where my weight was falling. Now I can walk all day and my feet very comfortable. My knees do not hurt as much and the calluses are going away. The 2nd set of inserts they gave me for shoes that have arches built in are not as comfortable but are okay. I even went in to get an adjustment on them, but they could not be adjusted. So the clerk made another suggestion which has really helped. I found the clerks very helpful.

I think the person who sent in this letter should have gone back in and tried a lower arch. You have 60 days to get satisfaction. No - you don't get your money back, but they will give you a store credit for shoes or whatever else they sell. Don't go in expecting miracles but be willing to work with them and you'll probably be satisfied.