No More Orders for Mr. Porter

Mr. Porter seemed like a dream that had finally come true. The men’s shopping equivalent to Net-A-Porter, was a stylish website selling an extensive line of terrific brands for guys. Well edited and smartly designed this site looked like the next contender for men’s purchases. Unfortunately, not every dream ends well.  SERIALLY writer, Mickey Sery, tried to order a pair of boots and here is his broken dream story….

January 9^th, I ordered pair of Harry’s of London Jasper boots from Mr. Porter. This was the first day of a sale and these were marked down to $238.50 from $795.

January 10^th, The boots arrived. I tried them on and they hurt. These were extremely tight all over. After looking at the boots that were marked a 45 by a Mr. Porter tag, close inspection revealed something rather interesting.  The boots were actually a 44 but someone had taken the time to write over the last 4 to make these look like a 45. The person even used a silver pen to match the manufacturers silver marking.

I called the Mr. Porter number and explained what happened. The customer service representative didn’t really understand what I meant no matter how I tried to explain someone writing the size on the boot.  They only understood they didn’t fit.  They looked for another pair but unfortunately were sold out and said I could return these for a refund.  The rep offered to put me on a reserved list for these boots, in case someone returned them. I have used the wait list option on Mr. Porter before and nothing has ever become available once it goes on sale. I asked to speak to a manager, was placed on hold and then told the manager couldn’t do anything since they were sold out. I didn’t understand what had happened. I just wanted the boots I ordered. Who would take the time to write over the size to make them look like a 45? What kind of operation was this?

Later that day, I sent out a tweet explaining my disappointment with Mr. Porter and a picture of the boots with the handwritten size on them.  I received a direct message from the Mr. Porter account asking for an order number. Responding to them took an extra day since the Mr. Porter twitter account holder didn’t realize you have to follow someone for them to respond to your direct messages.  I actually had to tweet that to them to get them to follow me so I could respond.

At this point you are probably wondering, why I was so bummed out over one pair of boots?  Look there aren’t that many options when it comes to guys shoes. If you see a nicely made shoe in a color, it’s usually a subtle shade that everyone else offers. These are a rich, almost burnt, burgundy color.  Try to find a pair of burgundy lace up boots that aren’t Dr. Martens and that would work with a suit as well as a pair of jeans.  Please let me know if you find these. Also, if you’ve ever owned a pair of Harry’s of London you know these shoes break in beautifully and will last you a long while.

January 11th, I was contacted by a Mr. Porter representative wanting to know what happened, since I tweeted about it.  I explained, they apologized and were going to investigate. They were going to contact the manufacturer to see if they could get another pair for me. They issued me a $25 dollar credit for my troubles. The least expensive thing on the Mr. Porter website at this time is a $25 tee-shirt from J.Crew. J.Crew has the same shirt on sale for $19.00. I was told to call my dedicated rep if I wanted to order anything else in the future and they would take extra care of my future orders to make sure it would be handled appropriately.

 January 13th, I placed a call to my dedicated rep about a sweater. I left a message. When I didn’t hear back for a while I went ahead and placed the order online using the credit. I got a call later that day apologizing for not getting back to me sooner. They had seen the order in the system and thanked me for placing it.

January 18^th, I received an email that my reserved boots were available. When I called I found out these were actually the boots I had returned. The system messaged me automatically. There were no other boots returned. The rep said if the boots were “returned by a miracle” (No lie. That’s what was said, I saved the message.) I would be contacted. As for the writing on the boots, they were in the process of “launching an investigation” and “looking at tapes” to find out what had happened. They had contacted the manufacturer to get another pair of boots but it didn’t look good.

January 31^st, I left a message for my rep asking for a follow-up since I hadn’t heard anything yet and still wanted these boots, which were now back on their website at full price in smaller sizes.

February 1^st, I received a message explaining their investigation turned up nothing and they couldn’t tell if this had happened at their warehouse or with the manufacturer. The rep said to please call with any other orders or questions.

I realize mistakes happen all the time. However, someone took the time to try to cover this up with a silver pen.  Mr. Porter has no explanation of who wrote on the boots or how it happened.  They weren’t able to get the boots in my size but the boots are back on their site at full price available in other sizes. This whole thing is extremely disappointing and shady to say the least. The time wasted on this ordeal was worth a $25 credit to them and I was the one who had to call to follow up.

I had high hopes for Mr. Porter. Were these hopes too high? Am I asking too much? I don’t think so. If you are thinking about ordering from Mr. Porter ask yourself this…how much is my time really worth? After 22 days with no boots and no answers I finally realized, my time is worth more than a $25 credit.  I’m not going to be placing any more orders with Mr. Porter.