Cary K.

Joined 2 months ago

My experience with B. Nelson was horrible. In a nutshell, he took my money and my shoes and will not respond to emails or phone calls.

I sent two pairs of Arche shoes (actually one pair of shoes and a pair of boots) to be resoled 5 years ago to Nick Valenti at B. Nelson Shoes. I sent photos first and he said he could repair them with different soles. I said I was fine with whatever he thought as long as the soles were very flexible. I paid for the repairs up front. After a while I got them back and he had put heavy treaded soles on the boots which were not very flexible, and a lightweight but completely rigid sole on the shoes. Because the shoes were a slip on type, the rigid soles caused the shoes to flip off my heels making them impossible to walk in. The boots had been a nice semi casual boot, but now they looked like mountain climbing boots and they did not have the flex I has specifically asked for. I called, Nick said to sent them back and I promptly did. Then I heard nothing. I called, Nick said he would look into it and get back to me. I heard nothing. I sent emails, I called, he wasn't in, he didn't return my phone calls. i sent more emails. My life got busy, I called again, he said to refresh his memory, I sent the original photos of the boots, we wrote back and forth. Then nothing again. So he has my money and my shoes and boots and he does not respond to my emails. I wrote and told him that I would not ask again and that I would give him bad reviews, and no answer. So here it is, I wish I could give him no stars.

Doesn't Recommend

oscartg

Joined 3 years ago

"Flexible" pricing. My experience was similar to that of mnyc01. I requested Vibram soles and was given a price of $75. The web site for VIP shoe repair (their real name - they appear to have bought the B Nelson name) showed a price of $44.95. They claimed that that was for sole guards and these were premium soles. After picking up the shoes, I went to the B Nelson web site, which quoted $45 and showed a picture of the same soles they gave me (Vibram Gumlite). Never again. The resoling looks fine, but without all the other goodies advertised on both web sites.

Doesn't Recommend

mnyc01

Joined 3 years ago

Not as adverised on bnelsonshoes. Dropped off dress shoes at B.Nelson/VIP on E55th for the Complete Resole (Recrafting) accessory package. They quoted $140 instead of the advertised $120. I had printed out the web page prior to arriving so I questionned the quote. I was told that the package online did not include the "premium" soles. I paid the $140 and returned 3 business days later. They performed a satisfactoy job on the resole, but they did not repair the loose stitching, new laces were not installed, waterproofing was not applied and they were not fitted with cedar trees or a flannel bag. They were handed to me in a "I Love NY" plastic bag. I again questionned the emloyee and he indicated that they didn't have any shoelaces, trees or bags. I then inquired about the loose stitching and waterproofing and was told that was additional.

They simply replaced the soles and heels for $140. I certainly would not label the process "recrafting" as compared to Allen Edmond's recrafting process for $99.

Plenty of other shoe repair shops in the city that can resole with the same or better quality at a lower price.

Recommends

Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

Editorial Review. Specializing in factory-method resoling and other shoe repairs and maintainance--re-crafting casual and dress shoes, cowboy boots, women's shoes and more.