I had a traumatic experience at the store which I'm still recovering from. I have fibromyalgia and it's very important that my foot is in the right size of shoe. On my first trip there, one of the staff said that they had the exact same new balance running shoe that I'd been wearing for the past few years. I told them that the shoe was size 10. When I tried on the shoe they brought out, I told them my toes felt very cramped and they said again that was the exact same shoe I had on my foot and that it will take a while for the fabric to open up because the shoe was new. A note that this store does not refund anything - it is exchange or store credit only. I've been going to the store since the 1990's so trusted what they were saying. After I paid, they said," you want to wear those out of the store, don't you?" Of course, if I did that without the shoebox I would never be able to have an exchange. Of course I said no. The shoes ended up hurting my toes so when they took them back, the same staff person admitted that my big toe was too close to the front and that they change the models up every year. So the staff person hadn't been honest in my first buy. Since I was stuck with them, I decided not to make a fuss about this. What ensued were several more exchanges over the course of two months. They were fitting me in shoes size 10 1/2, and always, I would express that my left foot would be banging around and in pain in the shoe. With each exchange, it was a 45 minute bus ride there and back, and another week of my foot getting hurt in the wrong shoes. My anxiety also started spiking as I was afraid it was my fibromyalgia preventing me from finding a shoe that would ever work. I decided to go to Foot Solutions who then sent me to another shoe store and the clerk there in one minute deduced that I'm actually size 11 1/2 in the left foot and size 11 in the right and no wonder none of those other shoes were working. I also learned that as we age, our foot size can increase and also the way shoes are sized changes. When I told my actual size to the original store, there was no response and not even a polite apology for the mistake. I had to find out on my own which shoe to ask them to order in for me. I was okay with them making a mistake but then some of the staff started speaking to me in a frustrated and abrupt tone. They seemed frustrated to even give me a receipt and my store credit was miscalculated $20 less and I had to point out their mistake. Unfortunately, a lot of companies don't make 11 1/2 and the one company that did that work for me was also experiencing defects in one particular model, which the store knew about. When the shoe they ordered in for me had another defect, a staff member spoke to me in a very frustrated tone and asked what they could do for me since everything seems to hurt my foot. I had to remind them that all of my exchanges had been due to being in the wrong size and manufacturing defects. I felt humiliated and unsupported and after that, scared to call the store or even go pick up the next shoe I asked them to order, which thankfully is working. This experience has spiked my overall anxiety and has negatively impacted my mental and physical health. I will not be returning to the store, especially since every other running shoe store in town offers full refunds and, as I am now finding out, have much better customer service. I will say that there are some people at the store who are kind and they do have a wide selection, but if you choose to go here, make sure you know exactly what size you are and exactly what shoe you want. read more
