Nearly $600 went into this support system, and I have to say it turned out to be a total waste of money and time. What I received was three pairs of flimsy plastic inserts, plus a couple of foam shoe pads and some Velcro.
The staff assured me the products were guaranteed to ease my plantar fasciitis.
I had to go back to the store to swap in different supports. Each visit, the employee on duty spun a story that the pair I had been handed was oversized, overly wide, too rigid, and similar, and that whoever served me earlier ought to have known better. One employee said I should wear them for a certain amount of time. A different one told me that was incorrect and gave me a different amount of time. A third said to wear them only every second day. None of them seemed to know the subject, and they kept contradicting one another. The supports did nothing for my plantar fasciitis. Worse, they brought on considerable pain in my feet and legs, and I ended up needing chiropractic adjustments while I wore them.
Here comes the disgusting part. Every insert they gave me showed dirt marks, leftover adhesive from the Velcro backing, scratches, and color scuffs, because other customers had already worn them in their own shoes. Not one pair was clean. I have photos as proof. The company claims it cleans the inserts between customers, but that is plainly either a flat lie or wishful thinking. If you have ever seen them, you would agree they cost roughly $2 apiece to manufacture. Handing the same ones to new customers shows how cheaply this business operates and how little it cares about basic quality.
After spending months with sales staff who could neither hand me the correct inserts nor explain how to wear them, I quit trying and requested to return the entire system. The clerk answered coldly that returns are not accepted, turned away, and walked off. I went after her to the counter and told her that returns were indeed offered, since this had been stated clearly when they promised the system would work. She then had to phone a manager at a different location to confirm. I was made to speak with that manager by phone. She said none of the cushions could be taken back for hygiene reasons, despite the fact that the packaging had never been opened. I was also told that returned inserts carry a standard restocking fee of 30%. She compared this to the policies at Best Buy and Circuit City, apparently not grasping that shoppers can research electronics ahead of time and that those items are standardized by model, which is hardly true of shoe inserts. So the math is 30% of $600, or $180, for carrying six dirty plastic pieces to a back room so they can be handed to the next unfortunate buyer.
Getting that fee reduced to 15% took several weeks, three managers, many phone calls nobody returned, and a special exception from the franchise owner. That was better than nothing, I suppose. No customer service encounter of mine has ever been more maddening. And even after the reduction, the refund could only be issued as store credit. So I was left with $500 of very ugly, overpriced shoes, which was exactly what I needed.
The thing that bothers me the most is that this company uses a trusted sports figure as a spokesman and openly targets senior citizens in its marketing. Whenever I visited the store, senior citizens were there waiting to try the product, and many of them lived on fixed incomes. If you are reading this, please know that I am writing about what happened to me so you can protect yourself and the people you love from this awful company. You cannot find out whether the system works for you until you have tried it, yet you must pay before you can try it, and after you pay, it is yours to keep. One store manager told me the inserts work well for only about one customer in three. That is a costly gamble, and the odds are against the buyer.
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