Our Striderite Saga

Kamryn has these shoes:



Note the attractive flower buckle. It is in reality not a buckle but simply there as an ornament. The strap is fastened using velcro. The flower simply slips over the strap and the velcro in theory holds it in place.

This would work wonderfully if I was parenting an angelic and sedate little princess. What I have instead is a cross between Denise the Menace and the Tasmanian Devil (wouldn't change her ... most days lol). The velcro strap keeps the shoes on but often does not stay in place well enough to keep the flower on and said flower has dropped off a couple of times. I'm generally around to find it quickly.

Last Saturday we were at a party (adult party; where we foolishly brought the kids with permission of the host and EVERY intention of leaving before 9 which we did). Kamryn had a ball. There was a little girl there just a bit older than her and the two got on like gang busters and spent the two hours or so we were there playing hide and seek and tag and all sorts of other preschool games. The party was at a large house and Kamryn fell on some ice in the dark when we were leaving (these facts will readily become relevant). When we got home she was short exactly one flower. Sigh.

I figured it was toast. The computer was on (when is it not) so I e-mailed Striderite for help. I explained the situation and asked about purchasing (ha! As if I was really going to do that? Couldn't be presumptuous though) a pair of the flowers. While we waited, I called our host and mentioned the lost flower and we drove by her home and scouted outside JUST in case the flower had fallen off during Kamryn's tumble. No joy.

Promptly on Monday morning Striderite answered my e-mail, volunteering (as I had expected and would have been put out had they not) to send me a complimentary set. I was pleased with the customer service and told them as much. :) Then I told them I lived in Canada. Tears all around (not really). Bottom line was though they couldn't ship to Canada. Not a huge problem I thought I know enough people with addresses in the U.S. to impose upon but they offered and easier solution - a Canadian customer service toll free number. So I called. They were equally as helpful (if a little more confused - it was an ODD conversation to say the least; I think I knew the product better than they did) and offered to send me a pair of the flowers which they implied were just sitting in a bin right next to their phone waiting for just such a call as mine. I gave them my name and address and took the helpful customer service representative's name. Okay that was Tuesday. Wednesday we went out shopping for new shoes for Sam. While we were at the store which happened to be the same store in which I purchased Kamryn's shoes I asked non-chalantly about replacement flowers. They had some, did I want them. Ummmm.... sure. So we got flowers. I happily put them on her shoes when I got home. So now I have new flowers, flowers in the mail and one spare old flower. Hey April showers ... Today the host of last week's party calls. Guess what? She found the flower. So now we have SIX little metal flowers. Nuts.

As an interesting aside, I must take a picture of the shoes we bought for Sam in comparison to the shoes he had been wearing uncomplainingly. Lordy!





In our defence, these weren't shoes he wore often as they were his "Sunday-go-to-meeting" shoes and he doesn't go anywhere most Sundays AND the new ones are intentionally a little to big to give him room to grow. Still, I felt a little bad. He didn't complain even once - honest!