Customer service is so important that when it’s bad — it can be make or break an entire brand.

If you ordered a pair of shoes online and they didn’t fit, would you assume you could return them for a refund? If you couldn’t, would you be upset?

Read how one Redditor’s poor experience with a shoe brand made their friend do something drastic.

Shoe company loses much more than my business

Several years ago, I bought a pair of shoes from a retailer that was primarily online.

Once I received my shoes, I wore them around my house to try them out.

They weren’t comfortable, so I returned them.

But, this wasn’t going to be the seamless return this customer had hoped for.

Apparently, that “use” created a micro-bend in the leather, which made their appearance slightly less than brand new.

They told me they were refusing to refund my money for the shoes.

However, this customer didn’t give up.

I went back and forth with them for a few days, and they kept refusing to refund my money, but did offer to mail me back the shoes I could not wear because they were poor quality and hurt my feet.

Eventually, I contacted PayPal, provided my tracking number for the return, and my money was returned.

Here’s the fun part.

Funny enough, the OP had a friend who knew the brand well.

While going through this drama I discussed the situation with one of my good friends.

About a month after this incident she texts me a picture of a shoe box and asks, “Is this the brand that wouldn’t refund your return?”

Now, this is where things get crazy…

I answer in the affirmative, to which she replies, “You tell them your friend works at the second biggest REI in the country, where footwear is the top-selling department, and I’m telling every customer I see not to buy their shoes.”

I didn’t end up telling them anything, but their brand is no longer carried at our local REI.

Should’ve just given me my refund. I wonder how much this wound up costing them.

Does Reddit think this revenge is fair? Let’s see what everyone’s saying in the comments to get a better idea.

Redditors were begging to know the deets.

Others were familiar with REI’s customer loyalty.

One person shared a bit of retail wisdom.

And finally, one Redditor had a shoe-related joke.

This business’ lack of commitment to customer service hurt them big time.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.