Thursday, May 17, 2012

Skechers Lawsuit: Not Walking Tall.


I saw the advertising. I believed the claims...perhaps you did too. Many times when I make a purchase, I ponder the question “should I or shouldn’t I” in regards to how much value will I get. 


Sometimes, I even ask my friends about it. So, in this case, I posted on Facebook and asked my closest friends. And let it be known that I never saw any advertising of this product with a Kardashian in it; that campaign must have started later.


The replies were all favorable, with a few friends already sporting the product. Except one, who stated her doctor recommended them and she thought they were not helping her situation.


Uh…just one negative. Okay. That did it. And off to DSW I went, cheerfully plunking down my $100 for my Skechers; eyes glazed over the prospect of slender thighs emerging like magic.


Learning to wear the sneakers was another story. They felt wobbly. My local trail, consisting of a hard packed sandy substance, added to the feeling of potentially toppling over. At the end of a 45 minute to one hour walk the bottom of my left foot always ached and I felt really tired. I did enjoy the notion of walking tall; I think they add about 2 inches to your height. 


I found myself gravitating back towards my “normal” sneakers. And my gray with pink trimmed Skechers wound up at the bottom of my closet. I became more annoyed about my sneakers when I saw them at Costco not too long ago for $50. Sigh.


Until today when I saw a friend’s post on Facebook. A partial refund? Cool. Filled out the form and because of heavy traffic on the site was bounced out several times. Sure hope the photo I attached as proof stuck to my claim because when they emailed my completed form to me my pic appears not to be a part of it.


So we shall see.


If you are one of the millions that expected miracles from this product much like I did (tone up, lose weight and all that other unbelievable stuff), stake your claim for a few bucks by clicking here


Looks like I’m getting $40 for my Shape-ups; another model is at $42 and the rest are a bit less.


There’s a lesson in marketing to be learned here and it’s a classic one; if something appears to be too good to be true, it probably is. And now Skechers has to pay the price.


But wait a minute! I’ll still be out $60. So I guess Skechers wins after all. Double Sigh.


Jose Feliciano sang about tall sneakers in 1968: 




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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm skeptical of ANY advertising claims right out of the gate, and usually wait until I see/hear user reviews - after a period of time. Too bad it took so long for this issue to come to light, and yep, you still get the raw end of the deal even with a refund. Kind of leaves a sour taste in your mouth, no? Tim

Gerry Wendel said...

Yes, kinda rubbery...thanks for the comment Tim.

Anonymous said...

Never did believe all the miracle claims but, hey my Sketchers are way squishier than my Adidas so I can walk longer before my 50-something knees start to hurt. So I do think the shock-absorbsion of the shoes are worth a bit more, so that I can exercise longer.