Facebook review: antonia saint ny dissatisfied customer page 9

Sounds like you were one of the people who found this company early on when they were just starting out. Lots has changed since then, and their shoes are by far the most comfortable heels I've ever owned or worn. Three girlfriends have pairs also, and we all swear by them.

Sorry you have had such a bad experience, but if you reported them to BBB, and "want them to go out of business" that shows that it's people like you who make it very hard for business owners to survive and make the products we actually want them to make, ie, products that make our lives better.

For anybody else who comes across this page: Antonia Saint New York, LLC is the absolute worst company I have ever had the displeasure of doing business with.

If you'd like to read 2, 000 complaints about them, grab some tea because it's all spilled here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/antoniasaintny/high-tech-heels-and-flats-that-feel-like-sneakers/comments

To summarize, their "High-Tech Heels & Flats that Feel Like Sneakers Inside" were a failure. They were so uncomfortable that everybody wanted a refund. They realized their mistakes (though didn't admit to it) and had to do a version 2.0 before the Victoria Heels 1.0 were even sent to everybody, and before the Jane Autumn Flat was sent to anybody. The problem was the shoes were not properly fitted to their customers' feet, despite a customization process, and they were also extremely uncomfortable even if they did properly fit.

So many people agreed that the company was overwhelmed with customers wanting a refund. Realizing they couldn't refund anybody, they just stopped. Stopped refunds, stopped answering customers, stopped being a decent company, you get the idea.

This is what they said in their Kickstarter FAQ regarding returns:

"If your measurements fall within our standard sizes in the three different widths we offer, and they are returned unworn, or only worn inside and on carpeting without any marks, we will easily be able to offer a full refund within 30 days of purchase.

If however, we hand-create a customized shoe for you, we have a 100% fit guarantee where we will take your shoes back and re-make them if the fit isn't quite as you'd like.

If for some reason, you decide the shoes simply aren't for you, we would be able to process a partial refund or exchange the heel for a flat. We are working on a way to have the partial un-refunded amount saved in your account as a credit towards a future order of another style."

In a comment they clarified that the "within 30 days of purchase" was within 30 days of delivery since one cannot return an item they never received. But they made several policy adjustments after the campaign was over, and once they realized they were screwed. Here's a sample:
- A few people received a full refund early on (lucky them!).
- Then ASNY extended the 30-day window for return because they couldn't keep up with all the emails initiating a return before the 30 days were up.
- They initially sent out pre-paid shipping labels, then they stopped doing that and said customers had to pay for return shipping.
- Then they began claiming that nobody in the Kickstarter was eligible for a refund since all Kickstarter shoes were customized. However, that clearly goes against their own words: "If your measurements fall within our standard sizes in the three different widths we offer...". Helpfully, their campaign lists standard sizes. Most customers' "measurements" fell within standard shoe sizes and widths, so even though customers provided measurements, they are supposed to qualify for the full refund. Only the people with two different sized feet, or shoe size smaller than US 4 or bigger than US 13, or whose widths were exceptionally narrow or wide, shouldn't qualify for the full refund since those shoes really would have been custom made, and therefore not re-sellable. But ASNY refuses to acknowledge this point; it's literally like talking to a wall when asking them about it.
- After a while they moved on to the "partial refund." What ASNY failed to state is that the partial refund was only 50%. That's higher than what a reasonable person would assume a partial refund would be. But ASNY doesn't care. They were so far in the hole because everyone wanted their money back and they failed to secure outside financing. So they had to keep their unsatisfied customers' money to stay in business, even though it meant changing their return policy or making it excessively cost-prohibitive for the customer.

Anyway, had their failure to provide decent shoes been their only fault, all would be forgiven. But their customer service is the worst in the business, repeatedly blaming customers for ASNY's own failures. They'll also go months without replying to customers, and then when one complains on the Kickstarter page, they casually reply with some basic line and end with a snarky "please follow up when you can!" AS IF the customers were the ones not following up enough, LOL! That irks me to no end. I mean it's actually laughable at this point, their audacity.

So where are they now? They did a 2.0 version of the heels, which customers STILL hate because they're uncomfortable and also don't fit. But since it's been years, customers are so tired of going back and forth with this company that many of the ones who couldn't get refunded by their credit card companies have just given up. I could go on and on, but this is long enough.

Basically, stay away from this company! They don't know what they're doing but they'll blame you for their own failures anyway.