Altra shoes - worst service ever

[Greenlight]

I know I'm prolly being Mr. Obvious here, but please please please buy your Altras from REI. That way, if something goes wrong, you're working with REI's absolutely phenominal customer service agents, and you'll get money back at the end of the year for your purchases.

[egilbe]

VF Corporation. The list of brands goes on and on. The North Face,
etc.
https://www.vfc.com/brands/all-brands
Wayne

These are all brands I stopped buying because the quality got shoddy, cheaper. Crap. I liked Altras too.

[Trail Lady]

I bought Three pairs in a row. Olympus, Timps and Lone peaks directly from Altra and every single one of them had glue on the soles and sides fall apart with in 100 miles.

[Greenlight]

I bought a pair at Dick's last year, and have just over 100 miles on them, including a 60 mile section in northern Shenandoah, the first two days of which was rainy and mucky. They aren't falling apart yet. In fact, once they dried out and I brushed them clean, they still look pretty new. I'm not beholden to one company or one style of hiking footwear. I also love Merrill products, and wore out a great pair of Nike trail runners, too. They're doing okay.

I bought Three pairs in a row. Olympus, Timps and Lone peaks directly from Altra and every single one of them had glue on the soles and sides fall apart with in 100 miles. I know a lot of youtube hiking vloggers are hyping the hell out of these poorly made shoes but they really need to start getting honest and stop sucking on the tit of sponsorship viability. "I am not sponsored" claims are never followed with the words..."I paid full price". Usually...I have a free prototype but I cant show you. So you are sponsored. Or you are doing their Quality and Control work for free. There is no way you got the protoype for free, tested it, had to send it back, with absolute no compensation. Perception is reality. If they are recommending products the rest of us know are junk...credibility to corporate giants win, not the hiking community. Rant over.

[Gambit McCrae]

I agree the service sucks.
I think their mentality is this:
"We know people love our shoes, we know our shoes work for people. We know our shoes are not going to last a long time so in return, deal with what ya get and if you feel they wore out prematurely, buy ya another pair and try again."

here is my solution to customer service issues. If they are not willing to manage my product issues via email or on the phone, then I box my stuff up and address it to them ATTN Customer Service Management. Including a polite, typed letter.

I have always gotten a positive resolution this way.

[stephanD]

Salomon. Best. Shoes.

[Gambit McCrae]

Salomon. Best. Shoes.

That is of opinion. I wore out 3 pair of Salomons and lived with absolute terrible foot pain and toe damage on every hike I went on. Then came along Altra to solve my problems. I don't care if their CS sucks or not, I will continue to buy their shoes

[stephanD]

I hiked close to 1000 miles with my first pair of Salomon until they gave up, not a single blister. I have Oboz now which i bought only because I had a coupon, and they are falling apart after 300 miles. Maybe you did not have the right size.

[CalebJ]

Or perhaps this is the wrong place for a discussion of a completely unrelated brand.

[Gambit McCrae]

or perhaps this is the wrong place for a discussion of a completely unrelated brand.

bingo...........

[rdljr]

Is this how we measure products now? they last for 100 miles ect? That is less than two weeks of easy at home use. I think less of my boots if they don't last 2000 easy miles. I say easy miles cause at work thinks mostly stay dry and much more clean than on the trail. But I still get my 10+ miles aday in and expect my feet to feel comfy.

[CalebJ]

Is this how we measure products now? they last for 100 miles ect? That is less than two weeks of easy at home use. I think less of my boots if they don't last 2000 easy miles. I say easy miles cause at work thinks mostly stay dry and much more clean than on the trail. But I still get my 10+ miles aday in and expect my feet to feel comfy.

No, 100 miles is certainly unacceptable. I think for most people 500+ is a more typical number.

[Greenlight]

The hundred miles I mentioned were on trail, rocky, rooty, muddy, sloppy, miles. So, I have a good start with them. I'm expecting them to last at least 500 miles under those conditions. If they don't, I won't cry. Everything coming from mass production these days is pretty much designed to fail after a certain point. So that we buy new ones. If someone makes a pair of light, durable, grippy, comfortable footwear that lasts 2,000 miles, I'd spend.

Is this how we measure products now? they last for 100 miles ect? That is less than two weeks of easy at home use. I think less of my boots if they don't last 2000 easy miles. I say easy miles cause at work thinks mostly stay dry and much more clean than on the trail. But I still get my 10+ miles aday in and expect my feet to feel comfy.

[Feral Bill]

Replacing some number of defective units is most likely cheaper than maintaining quality control. It happens on many products. I wear one or another pair of Altra's almost every day. They seem to last as long as anything as light as they are.

[TX Aggie]

Altra has been bought by VFcorp.

Not sure who actually runs it day to day, but it was sold to Icon fitness first before VF.

Not saying much either way really... but it ain't a mom and pop cottage company anymore.

You could pretty much insert any company into the line- I ordered XYZ from ABC to a remote location trusting on third party shipping and it didn't work out.

The follow up is ****te though. Everyone screws up- It's only when you fail to clean it up you get a black mark in my book.

Interesting, I thought they were still family owned. Thanks for the update.

[Puddlefish]

You can only review a shoe based on how long you've owned it, and the miles, and conditions you've hiked in them. I loved my Merrill Moabs for 500 miles of dayhikes through NH, then loved them for 300 miles of the AT... then kind of hated them once it started raining and they were slow to dry, then a sole fell off, and I glued it on and it lasted another 100 miles til I could get to a shoe store. Turns out they were better for dayhikes, when they could dry at home every night, less enjoyable in constant wet conditions.

I then switched to breathable Altras, and loved how fast they dried, how light they were and put 200 AT miles, and another 400 NH miles on them, so far. My newest pair of Altras is more waterproof for cold weather, I've only put 100 miles on them but they're great so far through slush and snow. The mark of a good shoe review for me, is just being honest about how long, and where you've hiked with them. People can decide for themselves if that info is useful to them, or not.

[egilbe]

My Altra Lone peaks have about 150 miles of hard NH miles on them and probably another 100 in ME. Yes, they are starting to fall apart, but ME and NH are hard on footwear. Overall, happy with them

[Dogwood]

When you called Altra the third time did you ask why your shoes weren't in Darby...supposedly when they said they should have been there? That would have been my first question. Next, did you explain to Altra your situation? Very often when I do as a LD hiker and that timing of delivery is critical I receive added customer service and assurances. Altra's market does include reliably servicing trail running shoed LD backpackers. And, when I ordered the Altras in Leadore I would have asked for my Tracking # even if they didn't initially offer it OR MAYBE it was included in an eMail confirmation and the purchaser failed to access that info. That's just a wise thing to do on a longer hike in a remote area for such a harder to find size 14 critical piece of gear. It's also wise, at least from my perspective since I mail often on/to LD hikes, to ascertain contact info for the places I'm shipping to. I often check before physically arriving the mailed box has arrived at my shipping address. That's what modern 'connectivity' awareness can facilitate.


To be clear the shoes were being sent UPS(United Parcel Service) to where in Darby? In some remote towns or regions especially smaller towns mail deliveries take longer. As stated ACTUAL DELIVERY TIMES MAY VARY. Also, UPS uses SurePost with the USPS to deliver mail to it's final destination in some, but to my best knowledge not all, areas or towns. This theoretically could lead to handing off mailing delivery delays. Some private shipped to locations such as hostels, motels, campgrounds, etc particularly in remote locations may have mail sent to a larger holding facility or off site USPO or mailing location where the owner has to pick it up. This can cause delays. Prime examples, are VVR and MTR on the JMT/PCT OR Benchmark Ranch on the CDT in MT. ALWAYS asks questions about any particular instructions on delivery times and mailing provided by the company you're purchasing something from and the place of delivery PARTICULARLY when critical!


Lastly, there are at least two USPO's in Helena. I know; I sent a box there on a CDT thru, as well as to Leadore. Helena is a state capital. Most state capitals or larger towns nowadays have more than one USPO. Make doubly sure you are at the right USPO if you send items to a USPO! I've done that a couple of times, being at the wrong USPO to pick up a resupply box. OMG I just sent a resupply box with critical meds in it to Asheville on a MST hike. There are four USPO's there alone.

I feel your pain. That's a remotish CDT area and I too have a hard time finding appropriate size 14 hiking trail runners.


When I have issues, even though I can lash out, first thing I try to do is check myself to see if I could have done anything better. Almost always I find that I could have and quite likely avoided being mired in the issue.

[Dogwood]

Very interesting statements made of durability and miles of usage.

On one pr of Altra Olympus 2.5 with always a sub 20lb pack and moderate pace not using trekking poles:
a. as a best guesstimate 410 overall trail and paved road walking miles on a Oregon Coastal Tr Thru. This is not all wooded duff underfoot headlands and beach hiking. Sometimes it's on abrasive Acadia NP rocky like shoreline. There's salt that gets shoes wet too.
b. 104 overall trail only miles on a Lone Star Tr Thru(some out and backs added). This was a very non abrasive to footwear woodland thru hike never carrying more than 12 lbs.
c. 405 overall trail only miles on a Ozark Highlands Tr Thru with some Buffalo River Tr miles. As abrasive as much of the southern AT. A sub 14 lb kit with consumables. Never had to carry more than 1 L H20.

This does not include distances worn getting to these hikes from Atlanta or Kailua-Kona AP's or resupplying or worn casually at home.

I'm confident in stating emphatically this pr of Altra Olympus 2.5 has 1000 miles on them. Beaten up but still good enough for mowing the lawn once new inner soles were added. Cush is largely shot. Placed a few dabs of Seam Grip on them in key places.

Pros and cons about nearly everything and that includes Altra trail runners used for backpacking

Not an Altra fanboy across the board.

[Five Tango]

OP has a right to be upset.If a CS employee promises to do something,then they should do it.Period.Hindsight is 20/20 but if you had gotten the employee's name you could have at least ratted them out to management who really needs to know what their employees are doing.

Oddly enough,I ordered my first pair of Altras today from REI.I have been wearing the other well known brand but they are a bit tight in the toes and hold water forever when wetted out.