New AEs Damaged?

[toothandnail]

Hi. Newbie here trying to pick up some nicer shoes.
I'm on my second pair of AEs after the first ones I received had a number of black spots on them and were too small.
The surface on the ones I have received now look great to me, but there are some questions I have about the welt stitching.

I understand with the 360 welt you can get inconsistencies like this which is tolerable.



But the left side of the heel seems to have welt stitching that almost goes off the welt and sole.

It's a bit hard to see in these picture unless you look full sized, but it also looks like there are a few exposed cuts in the leather on the upper.

I'm guessing this will cause problems when it comes time to re-sole?

Even just typing this out I'm pretty sure I'm sending these back, which is disappointing. Is AE quality control this bad normally?

 

[eagleman]

If you bought them as firsts, I'd send them back.

 

[toothandnail]

These are firsts. Thanks for the input, initially I was a bit hesistant having tried two pairs already; however, I went to a store that had seconds / clearance of different styles just to inspect the difference and they all had nearly perfect stitching in comparison. These are definitely going back.

 

[AlexE]

E quality control can be shaky at times, but they make it up with excellent customer service.

 

[ThomGault]



AE quality control can be shaky at times, but they make it up with excellent customer service.

Your idea of customer service e must differ from mine. To me, "excellent customer service" entails not sending defective shoes which your customer is forced to return while waiting for a refund or replacement.

 

[AlexE]



Your idea of customer service e must differ from mine. To me, "excellent customer service" entails not sending defective shoes which your customer is forced to return while waiting for a refund or replacement.

I was referring to how they react to their ****-ups. I agree that they lack in manufacturing and quality control, but if you complain they work hard to make you happy again. I learned to appreciate it when I recently dealt with a certain Spanish manufacturer of fame, which also lacks consistency in quality, but makes things worse by trying to solve complaints by ignoring them or talking them away.

 

[SonnyUte]

Even if you don't complain, they try to make you happy. Case in point: I was just in an AE store recently. The salesperson wouldn't sell me the first or second pairs of 5th Avenues in walnut she pulled off the shelves, though they looked fine to me. The finish had "too many streaks." She was more picky than I am