Sports shoe merchants urged to review consumer service to avoid disputes

The Consumer Council has frequently received complaints about sports shoes and urges merchants to review their after-sale services to ensure consumer satisfaction.

The Council raised an example of a complainant who stated that their HK$750 new shoes already had been stained after just wearing them once, and upon reporting the issue, they only received a comment a month later that the color was due to natural wear and tear and no return or exchange were granted.

Upon the council's intervention, the brand told the council that they had followed a professional quality inspection service, which showed that their material and quality fit with the factory standards and stated that it was normal for sports shoes, which were consumable, to show natural wear and tear after wearing. And since no agreement could be reached, the complainant was urged to seek legal advice.

In another case, one of the complainants found that the waterproof shoes, which were bought for around HK$1,170, were found to have water seeping through after wearing them just five times and exchanging the shoes, which still had the same issue.

After multiple back and forths with the merchants, the complainants sought the Council to intervene and demanded a full refund, with them reaching a conclusion of an 80 percent refund after a discussion with the management that the customer accepted.

The consumer watchdogs remind the merchants that the industry needs to strictly control the design and quality of the products, along with raising the after-sale services across different channels, so that they can appropriately follow up with the consumers regarding the maintenance and refunding to avoid disputes.

The council added that the consumer should also be careful and read through the guidelines regarding refunding and exchanging, along with taking a close look at the sports shoes before the warranty expires to protect their own rights.