Community Effort to Stealing Shoes

[Questions4u]

I work for a comfort foot shoe company, and one of our practices is if a customer calls in and has a shoe that has given them a problem we will replace it as a courtesy to them. I am proud and happy to work for a company with a policy that tries to do right by their product.

One problem is that this is abused. There is a community in New York that constantly tries to steal shoes from us. We know this because when they provide us with their addresses to ship too, they are all in the same area.

I am disgusted by this. This is a courtesy that we provide to help our customers in a time when this type of customer service is rare. This community calls time and time and time again making up shoe names, telling tall tales of how they just purchased a shoe and it fell apart although it is actually 10 years old, or calling 5 times for the same shoe. We are not a large company. Most zipcodes have one or two entries of people with shoe problems. Look up zip code like 11219 and there are hundreds.

This represents your community poorly. Please stop.

*I found this website because one of our “customers” (read thieves) mentioned it in a side conversation when calling in to steal shoes.

[popa_bar_abba]

I have no good response. If true, this is very sad.

[am yisrael chai]

I have heard this same complaint from a famous company which offers a longtime guarantee on its products…with certain zipcodes being the highest representatives of unethical returns.

I’ve heard that the Arizal says that those who steal will come back in a gilgul for payback

[popa_bar_abba]

I have heard this same complaint from a famous company which offers a longtime guarantee on its products

Well, if they offer a lifetime guarantee, they should not be complaining.

[real-brisker]

pba -I agree with you.

[WolfishMusings]

I have no idea whether the accusations of the OP are true or not, but I do believe that the title is misleading. Saying “Community Effort…” implies that the entire community is actively conspiring to commit fraud. I don’t believe that to be the case. I believe that even if the OP’s claims in his/her post are true, it is far more likely to be individuals gaming the system and NOT a true community effort.

The Wolf

[HIE]

wolf, ur a smart guy thanks for the clarification

[WolfishMusings]

Thank you for giving this topic a little clarity!

You’re welcome. But it should also be pointed out that even if the OP was unfair in his/her choice of words in the title, it does not excuse those who may be unethically gaming the system (assuming the OP’s accusations to be true).

The Wolf

[Questions4u]

We don’t have or advertise a lifetime guarantee. We have a policy to try to do right by our customers. We replaced problematic shoes most of the time to do that.

But I am not talking about these situations. I’m talking about lying and cheating. Saying you have a broken shoes when you don’t, or trying to get the same shoe replaced 10 times etc. When situations seem suspicious we will have customers send them back to us take a look at them but we’d rather just provide the better service of having them replaced. It’s easier for everyone.

I definitely know that this is not the community as a whole, but I do believe because of the amount of fraud it is a larger than normal group of bad apples at work here. I wanted to express my opinion to let you know that these actions make the community as a whole look unethical. I wouldn’t want that for my community. I would assume you would not want that for yours.

I also want to express this because I wanted to let people know that we are on to the scam. We aren’t a massive company that isn’t aware of what’s going on and you’re hurting a company that is trying to do the right thing when so many aren’t.

The type of shoes we sell are dress and comfort shoes. Our company has been in business since the 1800s.

[Questions4u]

I will be happy to respond to any questions if any one has any doubts about the truthfulness of this. I’m not sure why someone would make up something like this up, but feel free to ask me anything to prove my validity.

[aries2756]

If someone is coming here for assistance and and is asking for help to stop a fraudulent situation in our midst, why are we arguing with them? Why not help them to stop the situation? Why not ask the Rabbonim in these communities to speak about it and put an end to it? There is a legitimate reason to return the shoes and get a replacement to such a company willing to stand by their quality product, but there is also a reason NOT to take advantage and cheat the company with illegitimate excuses in order to NOT purchase new shoes. This is a chilul Hashem and we should not allow it to continue. There are many companies that have lifetime warranties and many people take advantage of this offer and many people understand if they got their sweatshirt caught on a nail they should NOT return the sweatshirt to the company for a replacement, that would not fall in the category of the company’s achrius and that would NOT be honest.

[aries2756]

6HZ1W3J, do you honestly believe that you are allowed to “buy” anything and use it with the intention of returning it after it has been used? That is gezeilah! NO you DON’T have a right to buy something with the intention of using it and returning it. YOU can only BUY something with the intention of keeping it. You can only return it if it is broken or if it doesn’t work in the intention it was supposed to. So for all those that “buy” a tv in the summer to watch a certain game, or buy a certain toy just to return at the end of the season because Walmart is a huge store and can resell it, that is NOT permitted by halacha, is considered “gezeilah” and is a chilul Hashem. It is NOT your business that they can sell it again, and it is NOT your business whether they can get full price or not, whether they make more sales if you do this or not, it is your business that you are “stealing” from them when you do this and committing aveiros. Your way of thinking is crooked and not Yashar.

[smartcookie]

To the OP- while stealing from a company in this manner is terribly wrong, your company is causing part of the problem by offering free shoes just like that. You MUST ask for the customer to mail back their old shoe to you. Otherwise, you’re begging for trouble. You’re basically doing it to yourselves.

[YW Moderator-80]

To the original poster

We appreciate your concern and do not doubt the veracity of your complaints. I have traced your ip address and confirm that it indeed comes from a shoe company.

There are individuals who consider themselves religious Jews who do engage in such unethical behavior. We are ashamed of them and note that though they seem to be religious Jews, in fact they are not. You must know that this type of behavior stands in direct opposition to our Holy Torah and to all that Moses, our teacher, has instructed us.

We are very sorry for the mistaken impression of Jewry as a whole that these despicable thieves have created in the minds of righteous Gentiles such as yourself, and if my apology can at all minimize this mistaken impression, then I apologize for these people who live among us.

[Author]

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