Whatevs people. I feel OP pain. This happened to me last week with some shoes I bought at DSW. I wore them one day, washed off the bottoms and returned them. I figure I buy alot of shoes and this rarely happens.

I would never wear new shoes to commute without breaking them in for a few wears first. I usually wear them with socks to run to the grocery store a few times before I wear them to commute.

I bought a pair of Sketchers that I love but they have a heavy odor of mildew. I called customer service at DSW store and was told that their shoes are shipped from overseas and they probably got wet during shipping and caused the odor I am allergic to mold. All of the shoes and boxes in the store had this mildew odor. Very upset that DSW would sell shoes with this problem. How do I handle this? Eunice Will

Get a bigger bag so you can also fit shoes. I always wore sneakers when commuting and then changed into my dress shoes.

I bought a pair of Steve Madden heels from DSW and wore them to a party that night. They were horribly uncomfortable, so much so that I took them off and went barefoot most of the night. I took them back the next day expecting them to refuse to let me return them. I spoke to a manager and she gave me store credit for them. It's worth a try.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you get a pair of shoes to commute in instead of wearing your heels on the metro?

I make it a point to try new shoes inside on carpet for a few hours to test how comfortable they are. Are your shoes tight and uncomfortable, or are they hurting your arches or the balls of your feet? If they're just tight, try wearing them with thin socks around the house for a bit to stretch them out. But you can't return them at this point since they've been worn outside.

this reminds me of the 80's with all the ladies wearing sneakers with their power suits and brief cases.

Business ladies. Lady lawyers.

I just returned a pair of worn shoes no questions asked, the cashier did even look at the shoes lol just opened the box and that was it

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bought a pair of naturalizer heels at DSW on Saturday, specifically because -- in the store -- they were so incredibly comfortable. I don't own any comfortable heels and have a 5+ minute walk uphill from the metro (and downhill going home, which is also very painful in uncomfortable shoes) to work, so I jumped at these. I am wearing them today and HOLY CRAP they are SOOOOOOOO uncomfortable. Like, I was practically crying by the time I got to work. I am contemplating going home barefoot, they're so uncomfortable. I cannot keep these shoes but I am worried that DSW won't take them back b/c they'll obviously be worn. Any advice?

BTW, what is up with naturalizer being uncomfortable? Isn't this the company that had those commercials in the 80s that had two women's basketball teams playing in their heels?

I think DSW gets a lot of stuff made specifically for them. I have tried to price compare when I see shoes there, and they often never show up anywhere else besides DSW. So their Naturalizer brand might somehow be lower quality than the Naturalizer you buy at another store.

I believe this to be true about many of the brands at DSW. I would rather spend more for better quality and comfort.

No they won't accept them. I had the same experience with a pair of shoes I wore once.

That's why I view shoe shopping as a gamble. Because you don't know if they're comfortable unless you wear them, but you can't return them once you wear them either.
I wear mine on hardwoods at home to get a sense of how comfortable they are. But it's not the same as wearing them outside. Best compromise I could come up with.
I've thrown out or donated many uncomfortable shoes, sadly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you get a pair of shoes to commute in instead of wearing your heels on the metro?

I make it a point to try new shoes inside on carpet for a few hours to test how comfortable they are. Are your shoes tight and uncomfortable, or are they hurting your arches or the balls of your feet? If they're just tight, try wearing them with thin socks around the house for a bit to stretch them out. But you can't return them at this point since they've been worn outside.

Agree with this. It happened so often to me that I try something in store on their plush carpets and it feels like walking on air, to walk 2 min in the street for them to start hurting. I do what pp does now: I gave up on the idea of commuting in heels. Now my heels are neatly stacked in one of my work drawers and I walk in sneakers and change their. I also started when I buy new shoes to just wear them to spend time with them around the house. For e.g. When I am watching tv or reading in the evening. Staying in a shoe for 1 straight hour usually tells me more on whether I will wear them again or not more than a 2 min try in a shop. I ended up returning a few after I could not even sit in them for more than an hour.

This happens to me a lot!
Shoes are great in the store.
The I wear them inside the house- on carpet and on the floor. Seems fine. I shall keep them.
As soon as I walk out on the pavement, OUCH! Too bad the bottoms are already scratched up. Guess I can't return them anymore.

Anonymous wrote:I think it's wrong to take back shoes that have been worn just because they are uncomfortable. What if you wore them to a wedding "just once" and returned them? It stinks that you lost money, but that's the way it is.

+1. I can't believe that returning the shoes is the consensus. You bought shoes that you tested and you deemed them to meet your needs. But no shoe can promise a miracle (comfort on the first day, walking up a hill). The shoe was likely more comfortable, at least for the first 2 hours, than a pair from Aldo would have been. Also, what is uncomfortable for you may be comfortable for someone else. So it's not like a warranty feature on most products to the extent something fails to perform as advertised. This is different than, say, buying a cleaning product that promises to remove blue ink from white cashmere. That product either works or it doesn't. If you try it and it doesn't work, yeah, return the cleaning product. But you basically just decided you didn't like these shoes afterall.

Your stance is particularly galling because obviously these shoes will have to be thrown out if returned to the store - even though they were not faulty. So when people like you do this, it makes the prices higher for all the rest of us. Because they have to take returned/garbage merchandise into account when they set prices.

Argh. Seriously, this is so wrong and makes me very mad.

Maybe write to the manufacturer instead? I think the vendor is in a tough place, and people want to return prom shoes and the like all the time.

Did you succeed? I'm in the same situation.

I think it's wrong to take back shoes that have been worn just because they are uncomfortable. What if you wore them to a wedding "just once" and returned them? It stinks that you lost money, but that's the way it is.