Valentine's Day Mishaps, or Why I Hate barefeetshoes.com

All in all, we had a very nice Valentine's Day. We spent the day just hanging out together. We had a nice lunch and ended up having a nice dinner. I say 'ended up' because we originally had reservations at a restaurant where we had a gift certificate, but that didn't quite happen. It wasn't the only thing that didn't quite happen.

The Restaurant
Our reservations were for a restaurant Downtown. We'd never been there so we thought it was a little weird when we walked up and thought it looked a bit empty. Upon reaching the front door, we realized all the lights were off and there was a sign that basically said 'Restaurant closed, sorry.' No explanation then, and they have not answered the calls we've attempted to make since.

We ended up going to a place just down the street and were lucky that they even had anything available. The meal turned out to be good (we got the Valentine's Day special where you share everything). The poached pear dessert could have been better, but the starter salad was fantastic. I also had a glass of champagne, something I probably wouldn't have ordered at the other place. All in all, it wasn't a complete loss, although we'll still be trying to get something in return for the gift certificate we purchased if they've gone out of business.

The Boots
This is the real problem, in my fashion opinion. I am so annoyed by what happened with this company and with the way they responded to my hubby calling to complain. I don't really know what else I can do about it besides warn others.

I ordered a pair of hard-to-find Steve Madden Latchh boots in camel from barefeetshoes.com on Feburary 8 (it was my V day gift from my husband). By February 12, my order still said "In Process" so I emailed them asking for an expected ship date. They responded on Feburary 13:

"Yes, we recieved your order 2/8/08 starts processing next business day. PLEASE ALLOW 3-11 Business Days to receive your Order."

They went on to talk about shipping times and some orders taking longer than others. I took that to mean that my order had been started on February 9 and that it's just slow to get the boots from the warehouse to the shipping company and then to me.

Today, February 15, you can imagine how I felt to open up this email:

"We regret to inform you that your order number ****** has been canceled. The items your ordered were out of stock. The funds on hold in your account for this transaction have been released. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for shopping at barefeetshoes.com.
Customer Service Team
866-235-0091"

I'm sorry, what? A week later? When you had a chance 2 days ago to tell me this but instead led me to believe everything was still moving along? I don't think I'm being unreasonable here.

Hubby called to complain, and they basically said that the website isn't capable of showing if shoes are out of stock. It takes them 3-5 days to process orders and they tried looking at other stores for them (even though he hadn't given them our order number or info?). They said there was nothing they could do.

Anyway, I certainly won't be shopping with them anymore and would recommend that you don't either. I ordered from them in spite of seeing an unresolved issue with the BBB because I wanted those boots so bad. Next time maybe I'll decide against it. Ugh.

Update: I thought I should add that we got home last night in time to watch a great episode of Lost, so that was good at least!