Broken, Blistered and Boycotting

Hey ladies. So Mon just invited me to this blog and be that my name is on the contributor list, I feel the need to write something straight away.

On Friday I felt the need to buy shoes. The recent fall weather [I live in Baltimore, MD] (with the exception of the past few days) and an email from DSW of a huge clearance event going on is the most likely culprit of this desire. As I walked up and down the long aisles of shoe possibilities, the only ones I felt I could spend money on were either a) not my size (a completely seperate topic of how being size 10 has limited possibilities) b) the shoes did not fit, or c) they were Steve Madden.
My trip was not unsuccessful however. I am currently wearing my new subtle black snakeskin ballet flats. And by wearing I mean they have pinched my pinky toes and heels and are therefore under my desk, not on my feet. But this is the breaking in process of pain I must go through, as I'm sure others do, in order to become completely satisfied with a comfy pair of shoes. It is ironic however that they are Dr. Scholl's with the words "feel crazy good" promoting how comfy they are. It should really say 'in two weeks will feel crazy good.'
But, back to the point of this blog. Why is it I have a problem with Steve Madden? It's not that I don't enjoy his designs. I do. But I refuse to buy a shoe for $50, a so called affordable price for shoes these days, that will not last. I have recently realized that every pair of Steve Madden shoes I have bought have either fallen apart just after I broke them in, or an integral part of the shoe structure has broken on only the third time wearing them, i.e. my high heeled black shoes with an ankle strap that broke July 31st around noon while I was walking to a conference meeting.
Now, you might think that my "breaking in" of one pair of shoes was cause for its ultimate destruction, but on the contrary, my black leather ballet flats simply needed to be stretched a bit across the top of my foot, and being leather, this is not unreasonable. I loved those shoes in fact, I even wore them when the sole detached in the front and they looked like ducks.
I am not pushing others to boycott Steve's shoes. I am simply stating the distress I have felt over this. There is a place on his Web site to tell Steve the good and the bad. And believe me, I will send an email of my all bad experiences, but I would just like to say how weird the language is.

"We want you to be happy and we want to know about it if you are happy or sad. you can rest assured that we will not stop until we can put a large smile on your face. If you are happy, I would love to know about it however if you are sad, I would also like to know about it. Our product experience specialists are absolutley passionate about your happiness, so please trust in communicating with them..."

Is this kindergarten/disney world/sunshine/rainbow/smiley language supposed to make disgruntled customers less annoyed with the product? I somehow don't believe that thier customer service representatives are passionate about my happiness, especially considering how most customer service represetatives are outsourced and think little of Americans- again a different post for a different day. And will these "specialists" really stop at nothing to put a smile on my face? Because what would put a smile on my face would be some free, no strings attached shoes. At least then I will get some more mileage out of my money. But this part of the Web site might have been created when Steve was in jail, I don't know. See, he had to resign as CEO of his company for securities fraud and money- laundering in the 90's. Although, he was able to make six figures working from prison as a creative consultant. But I'm not bashing him for bad choices, money can do odd things to people. Now he's out of prison and making more money and shoes than ever, hence the wide range of shoes I walked past at DSW on Friday.

So I apologize if anyone is a diehard Steve Madden fan, or if you found this post completely pointless and feel dumber for reading it, but I would not want anyone, on a limited budget as I am, to buy a pair of shoes for $50 or more, and have them fall apart.