Carmina Shoes - Definitive Thread (reviews, advice, sizing, etc...) - official thread.

[sinnedk]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Carmina User Experience Review (shield your eyes if you love Carmina)
I placed an order with Carmina, which was shipped on October 17th. The boots arrived on October 21st. I immediately noticed a few flaws with the boots - the edge trimming was not done to high end shoe standards; the leather on the back of the tongues looked like it was cut with scissors, and was left with 3-4 corners that did not match the shape of the tongue; there was plastic wrapping still wedged into the welt of the boot, where it was difficult to fully remove. Basically, for $500 boots, I expected a near perfect or perfect finish. The fit was also imperfect, but I was willing to keep them had it not been for the visual and finishing issues.
I contacted Betty and told her about these issues. She asked me to send photos, which I did. She then asked me to resend photos because they were "too large to see detail"... OK. I resent the photos to Betty in a smaller format (one would think that larger photos would show the flaws more easily...). I waited for two days for a reply and received nothing, so I e-mailed Betty again.
Her reply was: "These are hand made an artisanal shoes. We not consider these are mistakes , if you want to send back when we receive them we will check if this is for refund."
I asked Betty what method she prefers I send them back, and her reply was: "If you do not like the shoes you should pay for the shipment. "
I did not ask who will be paying, but hoped that she would pick up my return shipping since the shoes were not "first quality" IMO. I told Betty that I did not mind paying for return shipping, but that after handling and owning many pairs of new high end shoes, I have not found flaws such as these. Further, I explained that I chose to try Carmina based on the many glowing review here and from a real life friends whose shoes I have seen and liked.
Betty replied that she is sorry about the inconveniences caused.
I sent the shoes back on November 6th via USPS Priority Int'l. I believe I paid $50 or so. It took exactly 1 MONTH to get to Betty. She received the shoes on December 6th.
She wrote me an e-mail stating the she doesn't consider any of the faults I mentioned to be faults. I guess the customer is not always right. She then went on to say - without my prompting or agreeing - that she will send the shoes back to the factory for "finish control" and will send me the same shoes - this is not at all what I wanted at this point, so I asked her to please just refund me. She also mentioned that I needed to balance the price of the Carminas with the other brands I mentioned (Vass, EG, etc.) when comparing quality. I thought this was an odd comment... if I am paying $500 for shoes, I don't want them to be "somewhat OK" in quality when comparing them to higher priced shoes. Just an odd comment to hear...
After my e-mail back to her explaining that I just wanted my money back at this point, she wrote this: "We will make a refund however you are not right at all , the boots completely reached the standard quality." I found this kind of funny, after she said all of the other things, and said she would send the boots back for quality control... why send them back for finishing if they reached the "standard of quality"?
My refund, for only the price of the shoes - not the shipping to me, or the shipping back, was issued yesterday. I don't know what took so long.
tl;dr - I won't be buying Carmina direct (or at all, I don't think). YMMV.

pure wow dude, wtf happened there, can you post the pics of the problem? i ordered the same boots and returned them due to quality being sub par.

sounds like vendors such as epaulet and skoaktiebolaget get 1st quality while direct orders from carmina 2nd

 

[mymil]

sounds like vendors such as epaulet and skoaktiebolaget get 1st quality while direct orders from carmina 2nd

The pair of double monks I got from Epaulet had a pit on the heel, for what it's worth.

 

[sinnedk]

@Leaves,

do you see QC issues from carmina? i have when i ordered direct. i recieved my first pair of shell boots with a gash on the heel, like someone slashed it with a knife.

 

[Papa Doble]



Carmina User Experience Review (shield your eyes if you love Carmina)

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

I placed an order with Carmina, which was shipped on October 17th. The boots arrived on October 21st. I immediately noticed a few flaws with the boots - the edge trimming was not done to high end shoe standards; the leather on the back of the tongues looked like it was cut with scissors, and was left with 3-4 corners that did not match the shape of the tongue; there was plastic wrapping still wedged into the welt of the boot, where it was difficult to fully remove. Basically, for $500 boots, I expected a near perfect or perfect finish. The fit was also imperfect, but I was willing to keep them had it not been for the visual and finishing issues.
I contacted Betty and told her about these issues. She asked me to send photos, which I did. She then asked me to resend photos because they were "too large to see detail"... OK. I resent the photos to Betty in a smaller format (one would think that larger photos would show the flaws more easily...). I waited for two days for a reply and received nothing, so I e-mailed Betty again.
Her reply was: "These are hand made an artisanal shoes. We not consider these are mistakes , if you want to send back when we receive them we will check if this is for refund."
I asked Betty what method she prefers I send them back, and her reply was: "If you do not like the shoes you should pay for the shipment. "
I did not ask who will be paying, but hoped that she would pick up my return shipping since the shoes were not "first quality" IMO. I told Betty that I did not mind paying for return shipping, but that after handling and owning many pairs of new high end shoes, I have not found flaws such as these. Further, I explained that I chose to try Carmina based on the many glowing review here and from a real life friends whose shoes I have seen and liked.
Betty replied that she is sorry about the inconveniences caused.
I sent the shoes back on November 6th via USPS Priority Int'l. I believe I paid $50 or so. It took exactly 1 MONTH to get to Betty. She received the shoes on December 6th.
She wrote me an e-mail stating the she doesn't consider any of the faults I mentioned to be faults. I guess the customer is not always right. She then went on to say - without my prompting or agreeing - that she will send the shoes back to the factory for "finish control" and will send me the same shoes - this is not at all what I wanted at this point, so I asked her to please just refund me. She also mentioned that I needed to balance the price of the Carminas with the other brands I mentioned (Vass, EG, etc.) when comparing quality. I thought this was an odd comment... if I am paying $500 for shoes, I don't want them to be "somewhat OK" in quality when comparing them to higher priced shoes. Just an odd comment to hear...
After my e-mail back to her explaining that I just wanted my money back at this point, she wrote this: "We will make a refund however you are not right at all , the boots completely reached the standard quality." I found this kind of funny, after she said all of the other things, and said she would send the boots back for quality control... why send them back for finishing if they reached the "standard of quality"?
My refund, for only the price of the shoes - not the shipping to me, or the shipping back, was issued yesterday. I don't know what took so long.
tl;dr - I won't be buying Carmina direct (or at all, I don't think). YMMV.

Wow, thanks for sharing. Do you have the pictures you sent her? The "too large to see detail" comment makes no sense to me. The way this was dealt with is mind boggling, especially considering that you were willing to pay to ship them back. Nothing was gained from arguing with you. Say what you will about AE, but they would NEVER do this.

 

[Mr. Moo]

My one experience with AE customer support/service/refunds was profoundly positive/maybe the best I've experienced with shoe/clothing brands and kind of eye opening as far as customer service goes. Pretty much a 180 from my experience with Carmina.

 

[sinnedk]

the original boots i received with the slash

 

[sinnedk]



The pair of double monks I got from Epaulet had a pit on the heel, for what it's worth.

pit as in a a hole going into the heel?

 

[mymil]

pit as in a a hole going into the heel?

I mean a small crater in the heel counter, very shallow but noticeable (although on the "inside" of the shoe).

 

[sinnedk]



I mean a small crater in the heel counter, very shallow but noticeable (although on the "inside" of the shoe).

wtf..... idk carmina has a long way to get to eg/gg standards if they make rookie mistakes like this

 

[Pastor]

I've been very pleased with my Carmina shoes so far. I've ordered three pair from Epaulet and another MTO from Carmina directly. I have a 5th pair on order that will be here in Feb. The quality seems to be pretty high compared to Allen Edmonds and Aldens which are my reference points. Of course Carmina is at a higher price point than those as well but it seems that Carmina is wanting to be in competition with primarily Aldens. Having owned many Aldens I can say that Carmina is FAR superior. I've had to send numerous brand new Aldens back for quality control issues. In fact, since I bought my first pair of Carmina shoes earlier this year I have not even considered purchasing another pair of Aldens and it's doubtful that I ever will again. I've found Betty to be great to work with and she's been exceptional kind in answering questions from me. Just my thoughts...

 

[dddrees]

I'm sorry to hear that some have experienced these issues.

However I think it's been said many times before.

No matter how much we want for things to be perfect, this is not always the case.

So when it they do occur, the important thing is how these problems are addressed.

 

[mymil]

the original boots i received with the slash

Is this shell? I'm not saying it's okay that there's this defect, but if it's not too deep you could almost completely erase it with repeated application of a deer bone. Incidentally, the crater I described is just about an inch down from where that slash is.

 

[sinnedk]



Is this shell? I'm not saying it's okay that there's this defect, but if it's not too deep you could almost completely erase it with repeated application of a deer bone. Incidentally, the crater I described is just about an inch down from where that slash is.

yes its shell and i sent them back, had a new pair given to me, this was back in march

btw i really dont think its acceptable to have slash like that on brand new shoes

 

[sinnedk]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

I've been very pleased with my Carmina shoes so far. I've ordered three pair from Epaulet and another MTO from Carmina directly. I have a 5th pair on order that will be here in Feb. The quality seems to be pretty high compared to Allen Edmonds and Aldens which are my reference points. Of course Carmina is at a higher price point than those as well but it seems that Carmina is wanting to be in competition with primarily Aldens. Having owned many Aldens I can say that Carmina is FAR superior. I've had to send numerous brand new Aldens back for quality control issues. In fact, since I bought my first pair of Carmina shoes earlier this year I have not even considered purchasing another pair of Aldens and it's doubtful that I ever will again. I've found Betty to be great to work with and she's been exceptional kind in answering questions from me. Just my thoughts...

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

I'm sorry to hear that some have experienced these issues.

However I think it's been said many times before.

No matter how much we want for things to be perfect, this is not always the case.

So when it they do occur, the important thing is how these problems are addressed.

true but they handled moo's situation poorly so far, just refund and take a hit, at the very least moo would of considered buying again, now he is a lost customer

 

[hendrix]

I don't know why on earth Moo would mention EG or Vass to Betty when returning a pair of Carminas. Sounds like a strange conversation.