The Cobblers Bench

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My best advice to anyone looking to have boots repaired is to tell them to go to Tanner's Alley instead. Do not waste your time with the Cobbler's Bench.



I dropped off a pair of Frye boots to have a zipper installed on the back of each boot. I have a very high arch and was having difficulty in getting them on and off. I contacted the Cobbler's Bench and they said that it would not be a problem to put a zipper in these boots. I dropped them off in December 2012.



A few months passed and no one had contacted me with any type of update on them. I contacted the store numerous times and every time, I was told that there was a "zipper issue" or that the owner, Marlene, was running behind on another project. I contacted Marlene on 08/02/2013 and was told that they would definitely be finished by 08/09/2013. Marlene contacted me and left a voicemail stating that they were still not completed and that they would definitely be done on 08/12/2013. I called the store on that day and was told that they would definitely be finished by 08/13/2013. I contacted the store this morning (08/13/2013), and was told that the owner still hadn't finished the boots and that I needed to call back later (not that she would call me, but they wanted me to call HER back). I told the owner's assistant, "Miss Cathy," that I would just come over and pick them up because after EIGHT months of waiting, I just wanted someone to finish them.



I arrived at the store and when the assistant asked me my name, I told her and she muttered something into the phone and went into a back room. When she came back out, I was horrified to see what she had done to them. In a span of EIGHT months, the owner made a cut to just ONE of the boots (other boot fully intact). The cut that she put in the back of my $375 boots was not even in a straight line and was not even centered in the back of the boot.



The assistant then asked me to sign off on an invoice showing that I picked up the boots. I told her that I was not paying them a cent for ruining my boots and her response was "well, no one was asking you for any money!" I told her to tell the owner "thanks" for ruining my boots and that I would have to take them somewhere else to see if they are even fixable. Her response to this was "good luck, there's no one else in Morgantown that does shoe repair!" My response was "good luck in running this business because you certainly need it," and then I exited the store.



Much to my surprise, she actually ran through the store to come out and yell at me, telling me that I was being rude to her. I couldn't believe that I was getting yelled at for getting poor service and a ruined pair of boots. She then said she distinctly remembered when I dropped them off and that I said that I was in no hurry. I may not have been in a hurry to get them done, but I certainly didn't think that I would have to wait EIGHT months....and they STILL aren't done.



I drove to Tanner's Alley immediately to see if there was anything that they could do to save this pair of boots. As soon as I put them on the counter, the salesperson said "what did you do to these boots?!?!" She even said that whoever cut them didn't even use the correct tool to cut them. She then stated that her six year old nephew could have done a better job at cutting them. She said that she knew how expensive these Frye boots were and said that her blood was boiling for me. When I told her how long ago I had dropped them off at the Cobbler's Bench, she could not believe it.



The moral of the story is DON'T GO TO THIS STORE!