Steel Toe Shoes,Cyber Marketing Network, Inc, Midwest boots Sent us defective boots, then accused us of cutting them and sending them back Eau Claire Wisconsin

You are 100% right, if someone tries to return something that they abused or damaged and claim that it was defective, they are in the wrong and if you dispute something on a credit card that you shouldn't, then it is fraud on your part and you should get in trouble.

How-ever when you are right and you know you are right, and when you are wronged and know you are wronged, you should stand up and fight.   People being afraid to stand up or just not taking the time to do it, let businesses like this one get away with these type of practices.   I am not the only one who has had this type of issue with this company.      

Apparently the manufacturer is honest.  And when we received the boots back from Steel Toe Shoes, I took a magnifying glass and found cracks all over them and took pictures and documented it.  There were numerous other cracks, even large ones across the steel toes, that you didn't notice at all, until looking through the magnifying glass.   I would hazard a guess that had he wore the boots longer, these other cracks would have also "opened" up.  

But, I didn't have to use those pictures because Weinbrenner Shoes, based in WI, is honest, apparently. They told my husband in no uncertain terms that they could take the boots and the lady who tests them would be able to tell what happened, how long they worn, etc..........  We wouldn't have sent them to them, had we not known that he didn't cause the problem.

Steel-Toe-shoes.com had the option when we returned the boots, to simply send them to the manufacturer, for them to determine the cause of the cracks or as Steel-toe-shoes called them "cuts". They did not.

As for shopping local, we do. We bought the last pair of these same brand of boots locally, however the local shoe shop didn't carry these anymore and when we thought they had ordered him a pair of these boots, they had ordered a different brand, double the cost, not what we wanted, so I went online to get these certain boots, made in the USA and even though online, sold by a company based in the USA.  I can shop local and get something made in China, that might help the local business but it didn't do a thing to put American's to work.  

So, even though both companies are in another state, we were buying made in america and sold in america.  I won't make the mistake again of ordering online without  checking out the company, lesson learned. Whether sold online or bought in person, a company should honor their return policy and if they value their customers at all, they should make an honest attempt to rectify problems, instead of assuming everyone is a liar.  I worked at a job where I had to deal with the public everyday and I never, ever, treated someone like that and if I had, the company I worked for would have fired me because returning happy customers were important.  

We shipped the boots to the manufacturer of the boots, based here in the USA. They said if the boots were defective, they'd replace them and they did.  Glad we didn't buy some boots made in China, as we would have been out of luck.

In my complaint with the BBB, I stated that we talked to the manufacturer and had sent the boots to the manufacturer to determine what caused the issue.  Steel Toe Shoes, responded to my complaint with the BBB, first saying that yes, they determined the boots had been cut, but adding if the manufacturer determined the boots were defective, then the manufacturer would credit their account, and they'd then return our money.  Well, the manufacturere didn't credit their account because they didn't return the boots, we did.  We were not seeking money back, we were seeking the same type of boot, just not a defective pair, so the manufacturer sent us a new pair.    

When we received the new pair, I emailed Steel-Toe-Shoes.com a copy of the invoice, showing that the manufacturer had replaced the boots.  Steel-Toe-Shoes.com did not respond to that nor did they ever respond to the complaint filed through the BBB again.  It has been closed today and according to the BBB will be filed as "Customer not satisfied with business response, BBB did not find business made good faith effort to resolve complaint". 

Yes, we did end up with a pair of boots that are fine but we only got them because we went to the manufacturer and they did the right thing.  So, to the person who responded on here and asked , if I expected the manufacturer to actually determine or say the boots were defective, yes, I still have faith that sometimes people do the right thing and the manufacturer did the right thing.      

When a company has a return policy stated on their website and sends you information on returns, they are obligated to honor that policy.  There are currently 19 other complaints that have been filed with the BBB and many of them are for the same type of reason, people returned the shoes they bought, accordingly to the return policy, only to get the same pair right back.  These people also had the same rude responses from Matt at that company, as we did.

Steel-Toe-Shoes.com does not honor their return policy and that is evidenced by the complaints filed with the BBB of Winconsin.  In at least 2 other complaints, they did the same thing they did to us.  They asked what the person did for a living, then used that against the person's by saying that something related to their job caused the problem.  Most people required to wear steel toe shoes, work in an enviroment that is in some shape or form, dangerous. which is why you have to wear them.  Not many people sitting at a desk, are required to wear steel toe shoes and not many people wear steel toe shoes, unless they are required to.  Most people who wear steel toe shoes, do not tear them up within a day or two.  My husbands last pair of these same brand of boots lasted two years.

So, they made money off of us, but as far as they were concerned we could have just kept the defective boots, end of story, because they decided my 49 year old husband goes around kicking sharp metal all day, even though at the time they decided to send the boots back to us, they had no idea what he did for a living.  But once I told them, oh well, he does hvac work, he probably kicked metal, not just with one boot either, with both boots, the first day he wore them.  I guess hvac to them means fabricating duct work or something, which the commericial hvac sevice company my husband works for, has nothing to do with.

We paid $135. for the boots, spent about $27 or $28 more dollars mailing them first to steel toe shoes, then to the manufacturer, and it took about a month to end up with the replacement pair (no thanks to or help from Steel-Toe-Shoes.com).  I don't know what Steel-Toe-Shoes.com makes off of each pair but they didn't deserve one red penny from the sale, but they got it anyway.  At least an apology could have been offered, but one sure wasn't forthcoming.    

 You speak of thier obligation yet you refuse to acknowledge YOUR obligation. You claim they are defective, but if you are attempting to return DAMAGED product then they have no obligation. YOU say that its a defect, THEY who handles and sells and deals with the returns of those same boots tells you that leather DOESNT split that way. THEY feel you have damaged the shoes and are just looking for a free pair.

Thats the problem with ordering online. YOU claim one thing, THEY claim another. Problem is that they already have your money and are under NO OBLIGATION to do anything for you if they feel you have INTENTIONALLY damaged the product. You can attempt to dispute it with your credit card company, but if in the investigation its found that there WAS intentional damage done AND you tried to swindle them into giving you a free pair, it will be held against you. They can and will cancel your accounts for credit fraud.

So I would make 100% sure its ACTUALLY defective, and not a ACCIDENTALLY damaged pair of boots. FYI...whenever leather is cut, it can clearly be shown HOW its cut. I.E. A split is NEVER as clean as a cut. IF there are "tool" marks in the cut, then it will show that a outside item was used in the damaging of your boots. A split tends to be a bit more "messy" as it doesnt look as "clean" as a cut piece of leather.

As for the BBB, youre putting TOO much faith into them. As you are on this site I would recommend you look up the BBB and educate yourself some on WHAT the BBB truly is. Also, youre sending the boots to the manufacturer for them to examine?? So youre really expecting them to admit that thier product is defective??

In the future, DO NOT SHOP ONLINE!!! Ask yourself are you really saving any money when you have to deal with returns like this? SHOP LOCALLY!!! Atleast that way when something happens you can take it back to the store.