Footpro 14 Glenferrie Rd Malvern will not allow full refunds on footwear purchased - despite this being part of your consumer rights as set out by the ACCC
I was initially allowed a refund by the shop assistant in store on the day i went to return the ill fiiting footwear- after a malfunction with the banking device - [Recacted name] was called to assist, he then refused the refund,offering only an in store credit.
The shoes were returned in perfect condition only 4 days after purchase.
Footpro [Redacted name] continues to hold the returned footwear despite no refund.
It was indicated i must pursue the matter via the ACCC.
Footpro have since clarified their position and have provided me with full refund.
The owner was very good about it and was pleasant to deal with

Approximate cost: $189

Got orthotics for $200 and paid additional $50 to trial shoes on their treadmill - but they then refused to let me try a pair of shoes uness I comited to buy it straight away - they still charged me $50 !

I have been a skiier for over 15 years and using footbed inserts in my ski boots for about 12 years. I had a great pair of cork footbeds and thought that I'd get a replacement as they were about six years old at the time. I noticed through a ski magazine a business called Footpro and how they use the latest techniques including video analysis and computers to determine the correct fit for ski boots. This sounded impressive. I contacted the store to find out details such as experience and whether they use a qualified podiatrist. The reply was that the fitters in past years had been masterfit qualified and a part time podiatrist was at the premises.

I thought ok, let's go give these guys a try. When I got there the owner of the business seemed quite enthusiastic until I started to express some doubt. It became more of frustration from the owner, as I asked more questions and began expressing some doubts about their abilities. Instead of trying to make me more comfortable or being honest and saying that their skills probably weren't able to help a customer like me with problem feet he said that I should take the risk and be more open to trying them out. I ended up thinking well, ok I will give the store a chance (at my expense) to see how things go. This was June 2010. After going through the process of moulding the footbed to my foot and putting it in the boot and testing I found the fitting very tight and advised that there was lots of excessive pressure in parts of the foot that needed adjustment. They tested this on their computer and agreed and made some adjustments. I ended up going back quite a few times during the 2010 year and each time was a bit of a struggle to get them to make the adjustments I needed and was also taken aback after being charged $220 to make a pair of footbeds they wanted to charge more for adjustments (If they had advised me that this was to be the case at the start then at least I knew that it would be more). Originally I sent them an email enquiring about the cost of doing a footbed and they advised it was a flat fee of $220 but failed to mention that there would be other costs for any adjustments.

During the course of numerous visits the owner then suggested cutting off part of the cuff of the boot and also just below where the top of the boot connects to the base and there would be a fee of over $100 to do this. I thought that this was extreme and declined. I ended up skiing with the footbeds as they were shaped that season however it was a bad idea. They had not modified the footbeds sufficiently to fit my boot and my foot and what I thought was a small amount of pain at the end of the season ended up being very severe and required treatment which took over 12 months to recover. Being "expert" fitters this should have never happened and in the three additional visits after the initial fitting that season it should have been right. My previous footbeds never caused such pain or damage to my foot.

In August 2011 I returned to the store as my foot was finally ok to start skiing again. I went there after speaking to three other stores about adjusting my boots. All the stores advised that the only way was to grind down the base of the footbed to give my foot more room and not risk the chance of injury again. They suggested that rather than pay them I should go back to Footpro and ask them to grind down the footbeds as it was really their responsibility. When I returned the owner was quite unhappy to do this saying that he was not going to make his work into a dog of a footbed and proceeded to blame my boots and liners saying that they were too old. (The other stores I went to said that my boots were fine and it would last at least another two years and the liners were worn but it was still ok because they had been worn down to the foot's shape and at worst I could just buy new liners or seek custom liners to go into the boot). The owner advised that the boot and liners were very worn and it was time to get some new boots. The point at this stage is that if they thought my boots were too old then they should NEVER have offered to fit footbeds to them in the first place as I am relying on their expert opinion to fix a problem!

I let him know I visited Footpro as they claimed to be experts in hard to fit feet and if he really could not do it he should have refused to sell me (or anyone else) footbeds in the first place.

(I later thought he should have offered me custom liners if he couldn't do the footbeds properly) After 15 minutes of discussion he finally agreed to grind down some of the sole of the footbed to give my foot some room to try and stop future foot pain. When he returned to refit the footbeds it was still tight and I asked that it be ground down some more. He refused to do this at first and after another 10 minute discussion he finally said that he would grind down some more but that I should get the boot heated and expanded ("punched out" is the technical term). My concern here is that I have already heavily modified boots and did not want to weaken the structure any further. He assured me that this would not cause the boot to crack or damage, but stopped short of saying that if the boot cracked he would give me new boots which would have shown the confidence in what he was going to do. (I said what happens if I ski that weekend and on Monday I come back saying that my boot was cracked??). He advised that for ONE boot there would be a $40 charge to blow it out to give my foot some more room. As I had no time left to visit some one else I relented and agreed to let him punch out the boot. When I tried the boot on I found that it was better and he suggested that I should have the other boot blown out to ensure comfort but it would be a further $40 fee (so $80 just to blow out both boots - which I later found is excessive as most would charge between $25 to $45 for both boots). I declined and left the store. Over the weekend I ended up skiing in them and found them a little better, however there is still some pain. I am very unhappy with the business because every time I visited them they were not comfortable in making the adjustments required and suggested modifications which are not necessary and requiring a lot more fees. If they really backed up what they did then they should have done the modifications on the basis that if I was happy with the work then I would come back and pay for those modifications, or if the footbeds were not right that the modifications should be free of charge or the full fees charged upfront. At the end of the day it is not the money/cost, it is paying for good service and the right fit. My boots cost $600 and I have spent more than $500 now on modifications and footbeds. I do not mind paying if the service and products are right, however in this case damage to my foot and health was caused and lots of visits half way across town from where I live and lots of time was lost. I am still open to the owner of the shop doing something to help fix my boots, however I do not believe that I should be paying any more to them after the cost in time and money and damage to my foot from their "expert" fitting. 

It is interesting to note that he offered me a guarantee of a full refund if I purchased a new set of boots from him and it did not work out. I think that the offer should have applied to the footbeds as it is obvious that it was not working given the amount of pain suffered.

After speaking with another bootfitter on the weekend who makes custom boots and insoles for $1,500 from the USA and worked with a team who had training from the first people there to make custom footbeds in the USA, he said the whole process of fitting troublesome feet is actually quite simple and if the boots I was using was as bad as Footpro suggested they should have refused to provide the footbeds in the first place and simply suggest that I purchase new boots. My ski boots have had about 220 days of skiing and he said after looking at them it could still take another 50+ days easily if a new liner was purchased but it wasn't that necessary as the majority of support comes from the boot shell and the footbed. He also inspected the footbeds and found that there was a very thick area just under the large toe that could be shaved/grinded down to give my foot a little bit more space which would probably alleviate most of the pain experienced over the weekend.

It really disappoints me to give such a low rating however my experience has not been a happy one and it has been a lot of lost time, pain and money! :(

If they do decide to contact me or do something, I will post an update, but I don't expect that this will happen!

Under WOWMO fair play policy they have requested that I do not mention here the alternative stores I have visted to resolve the problem, however I have visited other stores which have since resolved the matter and my experiences will be posted under my id.

Approximate cost: $260