Monday, February 21, 2011

Danskos ROCK!

I love Dansko shoes. Over the years I have owned three pairs and I would love to own more. They are costly but they are worth every penny. They hold up so well and for me, I need shoes that I can just slip on and off because there are days when there is no way I can make my back bend so I can tie a pair of shoes.

Last year I used a gift card that was sent to me for my birthday (Thank you, Stella!) to buy a pair of black Danskos. After a short while they developed a "squeak" when I walked. At first it was funny but then it passed funny and went right to annoying. Everyone at the school knew when I am coming because you can hear me before you could see me. An honest to a fault child even asked why my shoes made that awful noise. Hmmmmm. Well...after spending $124 plus tax on them, I was going to wear them no matter what. Plus they are my only pair of non-dress shoes that slipped on.

Fast forward to yesterday when Cande and I went to a mall together. I saw a display of Danskos in a window of The Walking Store. While Cande went to load up on Godiva chocolate for her PMS week (Hahahahaha. Sorry Cande. I had to.) I went into the shoe store to check out what their prices were on the shoes. Not that I even dreamed I would be able to get a new pair. Mostly just lusting after a new pair.

I asked the sales guy what they ran price wise and he started to tell me all about how great they are. He looked at my feet and said "OH! I see you are already a convert." I said I was and that I bought these shoes about a year ago and I loved them but listen... I walked for a few steps so he could hear the squeak.

He said "What size are those?" I took them off and said "36." He disappeared and I thought "Oh great. He is going to try to talk me into buying something." He came out and plopped down a new black pair in front of me and said "Try these on." I did. "Walk in them." He said. I did. "How do those feel?" "Good," I said. "they don't squeak."

"They are yours." He picked up my old shoes and put them on the counter.

WHAT?!? I said. Why?

He told me that Dansko had started to make their own bases and while in the learning process, they ended up having defective bases that would, shortly after being initially worn, would begin to squeak as the base rubbed against some other part. Dansko stands behind their product so they will replace any shoe that has a problem. Any problem. For the life of the shoe.

Holy hell! I got a brand new pair of shoes for FREE! I am hard on my shoes so you have no idea what a big deal this is to me. It's awesome and I felt like I had won the lottery or a free Branson vacation. I practically skipped out of the store and I bounced up next to Cande in the Godiva store and said "LOOK! New shoes!" and proceeded to tell her all about it.

New shoes. I got new shoes. For free.

Dansko? You have a customer for life. (Not that you didn't already but you sealed the deal yesterday.) And guy at The Walking Store? You made my month! Thank you!!

9 comments:

Mimi said...

OMG 124.00 for a pair of shoes....I have never paid that for a pair and i don't think I ever will....glad you got a new pair......

Kelly Lopez said...

Love Danskos! You can also try Klogs which are equally awesome. I have a few pair of each and they are worth every single penny and then some!

Kelly

Casey said...

Kelly, Thanks for the info. I bookmarked the page for Klogs because I can see a brown pair in my future.

Mimi, if you had the sort of back problems I have and live in constant pain which is made worse by walking and moving, you would probably consider it. I got my first pair after I broke my back and they made a HUGE difference in my "end of the day" pain level. Good shoes matter when you have serious medical issues.

Kristen said...

I was recently talked into my first pair of Danskos. They were (thankfully) on sale for $50. Glad you got to trade them in.

Tanya said...

Just want to second what you said Casey. Sadly Mimi, when you have a bad back (and really flat feet), you have no choice. My husband paid $160 for tennis shoes. I cringe when I think about it, but they seem to last a lot longer too. Where as I hate paying over $20 for mine, cause I'm cheap like that. I could NEVER imagine paying that and think "I'd never do that", but I've never walked in their shoes. Especially when it's some brand I had never heard of until he bought them.

Gandksmom said...

I love to hear stories like this. I will be checking out Dansko's myself, although I love Clark too.

Wendy

Kristen said...

correction- my shoes are Clark, not Dansko. Still mighty comfy :) My friend has a dansko obsession/addiction

Kristen said...

Oh, and do you shop online at 6pm.com or zappos.com?

Kelly Lopez said...

I shop at http://www.shoebuy.com/ quite a bit. Free shipping, free return shipping, no tax and they contribute 10% of your purchase to upromise (that's a whole other post if you don't upromise...you must!).