I’ve been meaning to write this post forever! This past summer I got an email from Danielle of Solestruck shoes, saying that they liked my blog and wanted to send me a “complementary” pair of shoes, no strings attached. This was new territory to me and I was wowed. So I chatted with her about their selection of vegetarian shoes (she was super helpful), quickly fell in love with many, and ended up picking this totally swoonworthy pair black and white polka dot Betsy Johnson shoes. (They have a flower-patterned rubber sole to make them non-slip – how awesome is that.)
But oh no! No sooner had my order gone in that a wrench was thrown into the works. Danielle was told by the higher-ups that they couldn’t do the shoe blog promo outside of the US because of shipping costs. She was so, SO apologetic, and I was a little bummed. But I thought hey, maybe there’s a way to make this work. So we figured out a plan where I bought another fabulous pair of shoes from their site, and paid shipping on both pairs. The international shipping cost $74 for two pair of shoes – yikes! (Hello, I think someone forgot cross-border shoe shopping when they negotiated NAFTA!)
Next wrench: the website says that all customs, taxes and duties are included in this cost, so you can bet I was not thrilled when I went to FedEx to pick up the shoes and had to pay them $30 in duty. I told Solestruck and they were very surprised – it was a FedEx error and it has never happened before. FedEx told them that they would refund the charges (although I never found it on my statement…but FedEx is not exactly known for not being a sucking black hole of red tape).
Anyhow, all is well that ends well. The shoes arrived, they were beautiful, they fit perfectly, and they were quite comfortable. The only thing I regret is that I can’t buy more of their fabulous shoes! With the international shipping cost and the FedEx screw up (hopefully an isolated incident), I can’t afford to shop there. (Plus, I swear I am not buying any more shoes – honest!) But if you live in the US, I would definitely recommend this place, for the following reasons:
2. HUGE selection of fabulous shoes in a well-organized website.
3. Lots of vegetarian shoe options – Danielle mentioned that shoe brands Rocket Dog, Reef, Baby Phat, Betsey Johnson, and BC Footwear tend to have more vegetarian options, and shoe materials are generally identified on the site.
4. Great customer service from super nice, friendly people.
Plus, when I was emailing with Danielle, she told me about how the company was trying to find ways to be more eco-friendly. Corporate responsibility, great shoes, nice folks – what more can a shoe lover ask for?:)
