Kickstarter - Thursday Boot Co

Totally agree. It should be painless and they should either refund your money or just replace them with another pair.

They don't even have any warranty policy posted on their web site.

There ain't no such thing as a good cheap leather jacket or pair of boots/shoes.  That's my opinion only.  Those items are too difficult to pull off with less than excellent skills and materials.

I'd be pretty upset too that it fell apart that soon, but I don't remember a boots company allowing for a return after a month's worth of wears.  I guess Kickstarters and startups may be different, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

That's true.  Forgot about AE.  Don't own any boots from them, so didn't consider them when I stated that.  But AE is remarkable in that aspect.

My fiancé has taken shoes back for an exchange a couple times because they fell apart, never any questions asked. It's a warranty issue and it should be handled that way. I'm not asking for a refund, just an exchange. I mean, my god, they are only a month old.

Though I'm not necessarily annoyed that you posted this, the omission of what was sent back to them is glaring, because the second response looks to be an attempt to de-escalate (speaking from a customer support background). 

First, yes, you shouldn't have to take month-old boots in for repair, but this is a new company and them's the breaks -- this sort of thing happens with new products. I think they're asking you for other pictures of the boots to see the condition of the rest of the boot (which I'd like to see given your report that they look awful). You have to work with them, and seeing only half of the story, it's hard to pick sides. I wouldn't be happy if my boots were falling apart, but you have to cut some slack, and if you're not open to their attempts to work with you, it makes it very hard for them to help you.

It could be that the actual shop that manufactured the boots f'd up, it might be a flaw in the design. These things just got out into the wild, so they've had a very limited feedback loop to date. It's not your fault, but this is part of the risk of working with new companies. Just remember that these are people you're working with, and that you need to give them the benefit of the doubt. To refuse to talk to them on the phone, or if you haven't sent them any more pictures, it would be very hard for them to work with you.

I'm not trying to pick a fight, and maybe the boots are garbage, but nothing you've posted here has put me firmly on your side (and the pictures you have provided certainly don't help theirs, with that review out there where the guy pulled on the sole with pliers or pried with a screwdriver or whatever and split it apart).

The tongue looks like it's pulling the wax off of the laces, and with some cleaning (saddle soap? guys?) will likely clear back up. They do look pretty heavily worn for a pair of month-old boots, so I certainly understand your frustration. My main point of contention is that it seems like you're being combative with them as opposed to working with them to find a solution. You've decided what you want to happen, and haven't made any concessions for them (from the looks of the correspondence posted here). I think I'd be disappointed, so I think you're justified in that, but it sounds like they're trying to work with you to find a compromise, rather than doing exactly what you want. I believe there are a couple other guys here who have these, I'd be curious to get some more perspective from people that own them but I think if you go to reddit you'll find there are plenty of people ready to whip you up into a fervor, but I'm hoping you won't find that here.

I honestly think your best option is to see if you can't compromise with them. The way these are made you should be able to take to a cobbler and have them re-soled, better than ever. I might suggest to them, if I were you, that you intend to take them to a cobbler and have them resoled (as opposed to the existing rubber glued back in place), and you want to ensure they're willig to pay for that. Or go to a cobbler, get a price, and tell them what you expect to be reimbursed. Then maybe you can get a real Dainite sole put on there as opposed to the one that's on it. If they refuse, then at least you tried to work with their compromise. 

All that said, if you get the assessment from a cobbler, tell them that satisfaction for you is <dollar amount that it's going to take to resole>, and if they refuse, then you insist on refund/replacement, I'm in total agreement with you. Sucks to put all this into a month old pair of boots, but if you end up with a better sole for no additional cost, I think you win here.

I did just email back and say that to have them resoled would be a good option. He didn't say resole in his email, so I didn't think that was an option. I guess I figured that would be just as expensive as replacing them. I'll have to see what they say. I asked him how much they would reimburse and how much I should expect to pay and what soles should be used.

Looks like you drag your feet when you walk..

Thanks for the suggestion. That's the route I'm going to take.

Glad I could help. Re: Vibram, I find it's not a good "cold-weather-wet-grip" rubber, but there are quite a few different vibram composites. If you can get away with Dainite, then you'll be able to maintain the look of the boots but with the real thing, but I would guess that's one of the more expensive options. I've never had a real Dainite sole, though, so I can't really provide an assessment.