Here’s How it Went Down.

I ordered 8 pair of the Anjelica shoe from Steve Madden. After successfully placing my order, I got an email a few days later saying that four of the pairs of shoes were not available and that the remaining 4 would be sent in separate shipments.

Let’s back up here for a minute.

First of all, why would they sell me shoes that they don’t have available?

Second of all, why are they sending 4 pair of shoes in separate shipments?

When the four pair of shoes all arrived (at different times mind you), instead of being in brown shipping boxes, the shoeboxes were shipped in plastic bags.

Yes that’s right, the same bags you would send clothing in. Now, how Steve Madden determined that these flimsy plastic bags would be sturdy enough to ship cardboard shoeboxes is beyond me.

Upon taking the shoeboxes out of the bags, you could really see how beat up the boxes were. They were falling apart to the point where I had to put two of them back together.

Here’s the kicker: one of the shoeboxes doesn’t even have a top.

When I buy a pair of shoes, I expect the box to have a top unless its off the clearance rack at DSW. And at that point, I’ve consented to buy the shoes without a box top.

So of the four pair of shoes I had in my posession, there were two size 10s and two size 7.5s. Between the time I ordered the shoes and the time they arrived, we discovered that neither of my girls who I ordered the 10 for would be able to fit them. I had ordered one of the 7.5s as an extra size because a few people were in between sizes.

So of four pair of shoes, we ended up being able to keep just 1.

I clicked to chat with a Steve Madden representative online to explain find out what I had to do return the remaining three pair. We’ll just call her Jane. She sent me a return authorization email, but said that I’d have to pay a $6.95 restocking fee per item.

Whoa whoa whoa. Why should I be penalized when Steve Madden misrepresented their available inventory online?

I explained my position to Jane but she just apologized and told me that’s the policy. I understand policies are put in place to serve a purpose, but I also understand that Steve Madden has a responsibility to show accurate inventory counts.

Jane also said that online inventory is only updated once per day.

Excuse me? Once per day?

How do you run an e-commerce site that I’m sure gets plenty of traffic every day on such antiquated practices?!

I thanked Jane for her time, but decided that I need to call and speak with a manager or supervisor to this thing straightened out.

So I called Steve Madden’s 800 number. Wouldn’t you know it – they have one of those stupid stupid stupid voice recognition phone systems. The little automated lady started talking to me and before she could get her first full sentence out, she interrupted herself with, “I’m sorry. I didn’t get that…”

I tried pressing 0 for an operator, but all I got was, “I’m sorry that’s not a valid option”

I hung up. I figured it was the best thing to do if I wanted to keep my sanity for the rest of the night.

And let me just say – this entire experience is even worse because I know it’s possible to offer a great experience as a shoe company. Companies like Zappos and Piperlime do it every day.

So here I am. I am still the not-so-proud owner of 3 pair of Steve Madden Anjelica shoes.

What do you all suggest I do to get my little situation resolved?

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