Quality Problems And Terrible Customer Service
I ordered Urban Shepherd Original shoes and they arrived stained. I’m not talking a slight discoloration in leather which would be 100% acceptable. I’m talking black stains on both boots. Long story short - Urban Shepherd thinks this is "natural variations" and such quality is expected.
Pictures with the shoes and all emails are visible in the Reddit post linked below.
I reached out to the seller with a polite e-mail asking what we can do about it.
They responded saying “the small marks visible are within the expected range of natural variations in high-quality leather”.
It’s not the first time I see sellers pretend they don’t know the customer rights in the EU. All goods sold in the EU come with a 2 year warranty. That includes if something happens to them during shipping(comes up later). So I sent another e-mail explaining that I have the right for a replacement, repair or a full refund(shipping costs covered by the seller in all cases) by law. I explained I’m happy with a replacement if we don’t have to argue about this. But will want a refund if we have to exchange more emails. Plus I’m happy to skip writing any reviews online saying anything like that even happened. This e-mail is a bit of an escalation but still polite and constructive.
They kept saying “Based on our assessment, the marks visible are not considered defects, but rather superficial and natural variations that may also result from minor rubbing during transit. These do not compromise the integrity, durability, or performance of the product.”
The stain on one of the shoes is 3cm long and over multiple pieces of leather. So it’s obviously not a natural discoloration of the material. It’s a mistake during manufacturing. Even if it was because of something that happened during shipping the seller is responsible about this by law.
Later they sent me one more e-mail saying II can send them back for evaluation and they’ll “determine the appropriate course of action based on our inspection”.
I’d be totally happy about this as long as they cover all shipping costs, as they should by law. But by the time they sent that e-mail I had already filled a dispute with PayPal(I used PayPal to pay for the order). From that moment on the rest of the conversation was over PayPal. The important part here is the offer to send them back meant me paying for the shipping costs. It’s easy to evaluate the damage from the photos and say whether it’s a defect or not.
On PayPal they explain that their policies don't cover such cases. Consumer rights as first regulated by law and only then by their policies.
I also filed a claim with European Consumer Centre. From what I understand in such situations they look at the case and decide who’s right. If the ECC in my country decides I’m right the ECC in Portugal reaches out to the seller and takes it from there.
I have bought a pair of boots from Urban Shepherd before. They were great. But this was a completely different situation. Black stains, glue coming out of some of the seams and a terrible customer support.
I would have been totally happy to send them back on their expense and simply get a replacement. That would have cost them 40 EUR. Instead I get to spend 15 minutes writing this reviews to warm people. I did my research before buying my first pair a few years ago. If I knew they had such quality control and customer service issues I would never have bought the first pair.
Maybe it’s not management, maybe they’re going broke and can’t afford to spend 40 EUR for shipping both ways. Or maybe I’m just an as***le for thinking black stains on both shoes are acceptable for premium quality shoes.
Let’s see what PayPal and European Consumer Centre say.
I’ve attached screenshots from e-mail and pictures of the shoes. Just to show that nothing in this review is over exaggerated.
I'll update this to show how this develops and ends.
I posted pictures of the shoes and screenshots of all e-mails on Reddit. Search for a post titled "Urban Shepherd Quality Problems" from May 9th 2025 in /r/Boots
I'm still giving them 2 stars because I loved the first boots I bought from them. I wish I could love these shoes too.