Welcome

Let me introduce myself.  I'm a 21 year old college student, with the minor inconvenience of size 17 (US) feet.  I'm used to not having much selection when it comes to getting new shoes, made even worse by the fact that I've got to replace the normal insoles with custom orthopedic ones.  Anyway, I've found that usually, a decent pair of cross-trainer sneakers will do the trick for a couple of years.  I've been used to taking what's on hand for years now.  I've been through Reebok and New Balance, and around 8 months ago, purchased a nice pair of Nike Uptempo sneakers.  I must confess I really liked them - very comfortable shoes.  To my minor dissapointment, though, the front of the soles on both shoes came loose after I wore them around (just on the street - not even playing sports!) for about a month.  Nothing a bit of superglue couldn't fix.  I thought that was the end of my troubles.  Boy was I wrong...

A beautiful day for a hike.  My destination: the Dead Sea area for a one day hike with some rapelling!  Halfway up the well-beaten path, the right shoe's sole suddenly rips open leaving a 2-inch gap.  I figure, "Oh crap", but the shoe is still wearable, so I figure all I've got to do is walk more carefully and get to a shoemaker the next day. 
Simple, right?

So I'm just a bit up set when I realize that the hole is getting bigger, FAST.  To the point where it is difficult to walk.  I'm now about 800 feet up, 50 or so from the top, and I figure, easiest way down would be to rapell.  After all, it's a long drop but rapelling's like jumping, whereas the long walk down would probably leave me with no left shoe.  Except that now I find myself creeping slowly along the path with my primary concern as how to place my left foot as so not to sprain my ankle at best, or fall off the side of the cliff at worst.  Not a lot of fun, especially when I kept twisting my ankle each time I had to step down.

The absolute end of my patience came when my right shoe's sole abrubtly detached from the back of the shoe.  We're talking one step it's fine, the next step it's almost completely detached!  Making a beautiful match to the left shoe which now sported a rip which started near the toes on one side, snaked all the way around the heel and uup the other side to near the arch of my foot.

The hero of the day turned out to be a spare pair of sandals that a friend happened to have.  They were way too small, but they were certainly better than the "quality" pair of shoes that I had.  Anyway, a few days later, my feet don't hurt quite as much, and I'm not limping too badly; so I suppose I'll live.

The moral of the story?  I suppose we have yet to see.  I've contacted Nike about this, and we'll see what steps they take from here.  In any case, I plan on keeping you all up to date as to what they do, so stay tuned!

So, Nike answered me back.  And they sorta shrug it off and tell me "Go speak with our Israeli distributors, here's their number, good-bye."  Talk about lack of common courtesy.  Anyway, I was really annoyed by the response.  Here's a copy of their email to me:

Response (Suzanne) - 02/04/2003 12:47 PM

Issac, To most effectively handle your questions regarding Nike products and services, please contact our exclusive distributor in your area. At this time, our international distributors do not have an e-mail point of contact. They can be reached at: Nike Israel 9 Senkar Street Gav Yam Building 3 Herzeliya Pithuac Israel 972-9-9578777

Sincerely,

Suzanne

Nike

Anyway, I'm writing back to them basically telling them that it's Nike's responsibility, and not their distributors', to ensure the quality of their products.  I'm sure that their distributor will probably promise me a replacement pair of sneakers, if I'm lucky, that is - but tell me, if you just got over a week of limping because your shoes fell apart on you and you're still thankful not to have fallen off the top of a cliff as a result, and you were promised a new pair of shoes, would you really want them?  I mean, who's to say what's going to happen next time if they don't improve their QA.  Let's see what happens...

Well, they've written me back again - I was starting to get worried that I was going to have to call them to get something done.  Here's their latest:

Issac,

We always welcome feedback from consumers and appreciate that you took the time to contact us.  It is through input from consumers like yourself that we are able to improve our products. 

If you feel your boots may have a manufacturing problem, you will need to return them to the place of purchase or your local Nike distributor.

Your feedback has been passed on to the proper departments.  We appreciate your support of Nike and hope that you continue to think of Nike as a name that represents quality.

Sincerely,

Suzanne
Nike

Much better than the last, although they haven't actually ADMITTED to there being a problem, which still sorta annoys me.  Also, I was hoping that they've looked at the site, only I just found out that the site's been down for the past week or so :-(  But, as you can see, it's back and updated, so we'll keep waiting for them to pay a visit.

I suppose the next step is to talk to the ditributor here - I don't plan on giving them the shoes back (else, I can't prove that the shoes were really in such sorry condition should the need arise at a later point in time.  Also, the above message sorta promised that my message was passed on to others at Nike.  I'll give them a few days to get back to me before I bug them again...