Forums >Gears and Wears>Can a pair of shoes be a lemon/defective?
Bugs
This winter I bought a pair of Saucony shoes off the Internet. Same model as my last two shoe purchases just different color than the blue ones I had worn before.
There were stiff, and every run they feel like running with cement bricks, even after 300 miles. I hate them! I run in my old blues ones, while the cushion is all gone, the shoe bends.
Can a pair of shoes be a lemon? Maybe the online store sold be second fiddle shoes?
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This is such a great question because my wife and I were just talking about this. She thinks she purchased some lemons as well of the interent and we always wondered why the were cheaper on the net. I bought a pair of Nike Peagus +25 GTX (water proof) off the net and these things are the stiffest things I have ever worn. I wear Peagus all of the time. My problem is I don't know if they are stiff because they are water proof or if something is wrong with the shoes
Should you be worried to purchase off the net?
I took them back and exchanged them for a different pair, same model. Sure enough, when I tried the new pair, the RIGHT shoe wasn't right. It felt like something was wrong in the heel area. I went back to the store and got the RIGHT shoe from the original pair, and kept the LEFT of the new pair.
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Yes. This doesn't relate to just shoes. I have a friend that bought some high end golf clubs off the net at a price "too good to be true". He played with them for a few months and one of them broke. When he sent them back to the manufacturer, they claimed that the club was a knock off most likely from China. On the outside you couldn't tell, but they sent photos of the inside welds from their clubs and from knock offs, definitely a difference in quality.
I haven't heard of this in running shoes, but I have in several other items besides the clubs, but I guess its possible.
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As with most things on the net, you've got good guys and bad guys. The larger companies - Road Runner Sports, Overstock.com, Shoes.com, etc. have a lot to lose by selling crappy products. Some dude selling cheap shoes out of his basement on e-bay, not so much.
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You don't need to be worried but you do need to be careful. But that's the way it is with everything today. A simple rule to follow is that if it is too good to be true, it probably is. I've purchased products of the Internet, but I've done my research first.
Sara
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I do think shoes can be lemons/defective. I always wear the same shoes but the colors are always changing. For some reason the 2 times I had the lavender I had a pain on the outside of my foot for the first few weeks. I always buy local because my running store will take them back if problems continue.
I have had the same thing happen. Twice I've bought shoes that turned out to be too small, even though they were the same size/brand/model as I always wear. Both times, the shoes were a different color than I ususally buy. The most likely explanation is coincidence, but you'll never get me to believe that the blue Asics 21XXs don't run smaller than the white ones.