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The Styleforum x Archibald Sneaker GMTO

stephenaf2003

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josepidal

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My crazy friend bought one of every Archibald shell cordovan goodyear welted mid plus the veg tan mid, and they look inredible. Has anyone seen the navy? The cordovan navy is a deeper, darker shade of blue than the blue sneakers you typically see (definitely not as bright as the Archibald blue suede haha).
 

ArchibaldNat

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My crazy friend bought one of every Archibald shell cordovan goodyear welted mid plus the veg tan mid, and they look inredible. Has anyone seen the navy? The cordovan navy is a deeper, darker shade of blue than the blue sneakers you typically see (definitely not as bright as the Archibald blue suede haha).
We love your crazy friend

And so happy to hear about the color depth! The nature of cordovan as a material is really unique
 
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MerryDespot

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I want to preface this post by saying that I completely appreciate the difficulties around what Archibald have been doing during the pandemic. I get that ... but I'm afraid that things have not been plain sailing and it's gotten to the point where I feel that I have to raise it here.

It's been hard watching people posting about their experience with the SF01 v2s that they received in the last month and a half from the March order - the reason for this is that mine never turned up.

I get that shipping companies make a mess of things - and I get that the supply chain has complicated matters with the changes to the manufacturer etc. I also get that Archibald took an approach to shipping that meant that EU customers don't have to pay tax on the shoes coming directly from Italy.

My issue is that until recently there was nothing on the account order page that would allow me to track the progress of my order. It simply showed the order having been placed. There's now a tracking link added - but the link doesn't work and leads nowhere.

Having followed all of the posts on here and having queried when i could expect to receive my shoes the message has been, consistently, to "be patient - they'll get there". Unfortunately this seems now not to be the case. Having queried this directly with Archibald through customer service the reply (which I only received when I had to chase up my original message!) was that the shipping company had delivered the box to the wrong address and they were unable to retrieve it.

When I asked what that meant in terms of my order the solutions were simply to put my order on a future run (remember - I ordered these shoes in March! At the same time as my ULs which arrived months ago!) or they could see whether the shipping company could retrieve the shoes. Now - I'm pretty sure those shoes were stolen in transit, not delivered to the wrong address. It's pretty hard to get it wrong to deliver to anywhere near where we live using the post code, so this feels like a BS excuse from TNT to cover the fact that the original package was stolen or destroyed. Hence they "we've been unable to make contact with the house" response given to Archibald. Patent nonsense there I think!

What frustrates me is that not having had any way to track the progress of the order, and having been consistently told on this forum to be patient and wait has kind of screwed me over - the original run was delayed multiple times, as we know. Who knows when I will actually get the shoes that I ordered in March? Maybe before next March - that would be nice I guess...

I'm sorry Archibald - but this isn't good enough. I'm not expecting to get a free pair of shoes or anything like that - but the offer of a refund in lieu of just kicking the can down the road to the next production run wasn't even offered. It was pretty much "we're really sorry, not our fault, things happen, we'll get them to you when we can". And ... yeah ... it's not like you can magic them out of thin air, but at this point after multiple delays to be told that you'll just have to go to the back of the queue is a pretty poor response from a customer service perspective.

Overall this is a shame - because you make a great product. The ULs are great, and the first v2s I ordered were also great (the anticatos). But the whole process of ordering these pairs of shoes has been (at a minimum) beset with delays and frustration - and with this missing pair the added annoyance of further delays and a 'take it or leave it' attitude. I am not a troll - or trying to run you guys down for spite ... but I can't pretend that this is okay or something a customer should have to tolerate.
 

MerryDespot

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And a final point re: the above ... if I had never thought to query this, would the issue ever have been identified? In other words ... if I'd kept quiet and followed the 'don't worry they'll turn up' message on this forum ... would I have missed even the boat on getting these at all?
 

archipel

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One pair of mine is also missing for over a month now. No solution has been brought forward as of now.
 

ArchibaldNat

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I want to preface this post by saying that I completely appreciate the difficulties around what Archibald have been doing during the pandemic. I get that ... but I'm afraid that things have not been plain sailing and it's gotten to the point where I feel that I have to raise it here.

It's been hard watching people posting about their experience with the SF01 v2s that they received in the last month and a half from the March order - the reason for this is that mine never turned up.

I get that shipping companies make a mess of things - and I get that the supply chain has complicated matters with the changes to the manufacturer etc. I also get that Archibald took an approach to shipping that meant that EU customers don't have to pay tax on the shoes coming directly from Italy.

My issue is that until recently there was nothing on the account order page that would allow me to track the progress of my order. It simply showed the order having been placed. There's now a tracking link added - but the link doesn't work and leads nowhere.

Having followed all of the posts on here and having queried when i could expect to receive my shoes the message has been, consistently, to "be patient - they'll get there". Unfortunately this seems now not to be the case. Having queried this directly with Archibald through customer service the reply (which I only received when I had to chase up my original message!) was that the shipping company had delivered the box to the wrong address and they were unable to retrieve it.

When I asked what that meant in terms of my order the solutions were simply to put my order on a future run (remember - I ordered these shoes in March! At the same time as my ULs which arrived months ago!) or they could see whether the shipping company could retrieve the shoes. Now - I'm pretty sure those shoes were stolen in transit, not delivered to the wrong address. It's pretty hard to get it wrong to deliver to anywhere near where we live using the post code, so this feels like a BS excuse from TNT to cover the fact that the original package was stolen or destroyed. Hence they "we've been unable to make contact with the house" response given to Archibald. Patent nonsense there I think!

What frustrates me is that not having had any way to track the progress of the order, and having been consistently told on this forum to be patient and wait has kind of screwed me over - the original run was delayed multiple times, as we know. Who knows when I will actually get the shoes that I ordered in March? Maybe before next March - that would be nice I guess...

I'm sorry Archibald - but this isn't good enough. I'm not expecting to get a free pair of shoes or anything like that - but the offer of a refund in lieu of just kicking the can down the road to the next production run wasn't even offered. It was pretty much "we're really sorry, not our fault, things happen, we'll get them to you when we can". And ... yeah ... it's not like you can magic them out of thin air, but at this point after multiple delays to be told that you'll just have to go to the back of the queue is a pretty poor response from a customer service perspective.

Overall this is a shame - because you make a great product. The ULs are great, and the first v2s I ordered were also great (the anticatos). But the whole process of ordering these pairs of shoes has been (at a minimum) beset with delays and frustration - and with this missing pair the added annoyance of further delays and a 'take it or leave it' attitude. I am not a troll - or trying to run you guys down for spite ... but I can't pretend that this is okay or something a customer should have to tolerate.

Hey @MerryDespot

The first thing I want to do is acknowledge your frustration. But I think its important to note several things:
  • The shoes were dispatched, a tracking number was provided in the order dispatch email and a problem occurred with TNT
Once an item is dispatched and you have the tracking number, it is out of our hands. We apologize for that as it causes issues on our end when situations like this occur, but its a universal truth. We’ve encountered situations where a package has been stolen, damaged, lost, and even received but reported as missing - and in all of these situations 1) it falls on the shipping agent 2) once we receive notice we do everything necessary to rectify the situation on our end when a customer is left wanting when the situation is verified by the shipping agent as a genuine mistake on their end.

To that point, if you are the customer who reported this on our CS line, we did move your order over into our October batch of production, which means it is already being produced and it will be sent to you by Christmas
  • We make small batch production based on exact orders, because our business model doesn’t allow for an excess amount of inventory. Consequently, we don’t have extra units of shoes that are ready to ship immediately in the same color and size you have ordered
  • This truly was our first “run” with a new supplier, and there were a lot of kinks to work out because we were 1) making with someone new 2) improving the old model of the shoe, so it was not a seamless or quick process
We do apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you, but we are a small, self-funded company that is trying to use a different (and very difficult) business model.

We agree you should be able to track things on an Archibald London dashboard, and we’ve been working to build our entire system to allow for customer service points such as this. The first buildout was spent creating an internal function to manage batches to ensure less mistakes are made for fulfillment and inventory purposes, both for customers and for our craftsmen.

And now will be improving and expanding that view to a customer facing dashboard with private, live updates for anyone with orders placed as well.

I would like to speak to you myself and will happily give you a call, or you are free to message me - please send me a DM on here if you are interested

@NatxArchibald
 

MerryDespot

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I’m sorry Nat - but I’ve got to take issue there with two points (and yes, I’m the same guy who raised an issue through your CS). It was pointed out on the CS message thread that I’d received a shipping notice email and tracking link - I never received this for the v2s … just for the ULs on the 10th August.

So this isn’t a case of me failing to keep an eye on the tracker to ensure it didn’t go awry on the way - if id received the email I would have done this (because you’re right - stuff happens in transit and I trust shipping companies about as far as I can throw them these days).

No email, no tracking link - no way to know - and it feels like a cop out or deflection to allude to that when I never received it.

Secondly, and the issue that I have a FAR bigger problem with … I can’t figure out whether your comment about people receiving things and claiming not to have done so is (at best) more deflection or (at worst) a backhanded passive aggressive accusation!

When these shoes arrive that will be my last interaction with your company.
 

ArchibaldNat

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I’m sorry Nat - but I’ve got to take issue there with two points (and yes, I’m the same guy who raised an issue through your CS). It was pointed out on the CS message thread that I’d received a shipping notice email and tracking link - I never received this for the v2s … just for the ULs on the 10th August.

So this isn’t a case of me failing to keep an eye on the tracker to ensure it didn’t go awry on the way - if id received the email I would have done this (because you’re right - stuff happens in transit and I trust shipping companies about as far as I can throw them these days).

No email, no tracking link - no way to know - and it feels like a cop out or deflection to allude to that when I never received it.

Secondly, and the issue that I have a FAR bigger problem with … I can’t figure out whether your comment about people receiving things and claiming not to have done so is (at best) more deflection or (at worst) a backhanded passive aggressive accusation!

When these shoes arrive that will be my last interaction with your company.




@MerryDespot I'm very sorry to hear that.

Please note the only things I am addressing with you specifically are in regard to your order and the (re)order that we’re working on.

Everything else is meant to be used and shared as public information as this is a forum, and other individuals may have encountered similar issues. I am trying to be as transparent as possible as everything above is 100% true and not a copout.

Nothing explained RE general information, which most of it is and should read as such, should be interpreted as backhanded. It’s a simple fact that we generally need to wait to hear from the shipping agent before we act

I’ll also follow up on the CS thread you’ve mentioned, and, like I said, I'd be happy to speak with you further
 

ArchibaldNat

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One pair of mine is also missing for over a month now. No solution has been brought forward as of now.
[/QUOTE
One pair of mine is also missing for over a month now. No solution has been brought forward as of now.

@archipel I'll send you a DM so we can have a call or start a chat - our CS chain is up to date, so I'll be able to take it from there
 

Rewiag

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Two quick point on the above (altho im a 3rd party with no bacon in the matter):

If the shipping company wants to lose, steal, destroy, deliver to wrong address a package sent to you, they will find a way to do so, no matter if you have a tracking number or not. Tracking will only work if they actually scan the package at each step, and is only post-facto, meaning that by the time you get a tracking update your package might very well be somewhere else. Add the stupidly long time it takes shipping companies to receive and act on problems, having a tracking number would have been a placebo feeling of safety at most.

Secondly on being added to the next batch of production:
Altho I understand that a full refund would be a bigger lost on an already lost package, I believe AOL should have given that option as well to the customer. Reason being is that he might have lost interest in whatever item he ordered by now (bought something else, wanted to have something for the summer and its already December, or just moved to Alaska where there is no use of low-ankle sneakers at all).
This being said, you as a customer needs to understand that these are made-to-order items. AOL does not keep inventory of every shoe color / size combination, and since the product is just not ready yet they cant just send you a new package right now. If you still want the shoes you need to wait.

Third:
AOL, please for the love of god, use trusted shipping companies. I know those do cost a fortune, but its still better than having to deal with lost / damaged packages. I would pay you extra just to choose what company you use to deliver my order if that is what it takes to receive them in safely. Fedex / UPS are the ones I never had any problems with, DHL comes second.
 

Althis

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Received my veg tan white SF-01 V2 today from the March order with no issues from DHL (I live in Los Angeles). My grey anticato are still being broken in but these feel much better right out of the box. They were delayed for an extra month due to the first pair being accidentally excluded from the original packing list from the factory so I had to wait for the next shipment to arrive. Alex's communication was great though whenever I asked for updates

20211119_161449.jpg
20211119_161523.jpg


edit: I realized I laced them backwards, fixed them after taking the photos
 
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Staxxx1

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Would love a pair of sand sneakers in 42 in case anyone is not seeing much use with them :)
 

ArchibaldRoh

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Hi everyone,

I have been quiet for a little while and will get back to addressing some of the communication above (though I believe I have been in touch with some people directly). It has been quite the year and as it comes to a close I am happy to say we are just beginning to deploy and announce the final elements of the new and improved Archibald. It is important to be clear about improvements (products, production management, quality control, customer experience, delivery management) and changes on a community level if we are serious about growing out what we began here almost 24 months ago.

For all of you that participated in the first batch of the SF01, you will be receiving an email in the next few days with a promise made to you a little while ago revealed and fulfilled.

Please do look out for it and in case you are unsubscribed, please ensure to update this setting as I don't think you would want to miss this.

Best,

Rohan
 

XxLogo

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Hi everyone,

I have been quiet for a little while and will get back to addressing some of the communication above (though I believe I have been in touch with some people directly). It has been quite the year and as it comes to a close I am happy to say we are just beginning to deploy and announce the final elements of the new and improved Archibald. It is important to be clear about improvements (products, production management, quality control, customer experience, delivery management) and changes on a community level if we are serious about growing out what we began here almost 24 months ago.

For all of you that participated in the first batch of the SF01, you will be receiving an email in the next few days with a promise made to you a little while ago revealed and fulfilled.

Please do look out for it and in case you are unsubscribed, please ensure to update this setting as I don't think you would want to miss this.

Best,

Rohan
I purchased after the first batch arrived, but still believe it was first batch of kangaroo. Would this be included? Also, I assume subscribe to emails on website?
 

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