Red Wing Store- Red Wing, MN — Local services in Red Wing

I bought boots from here about 4 or 5 years ago and I LOVED them and the amazing customer service I received. I walked in, explained what I needed in a boot, the lady asked me questions about my job to make sure she got me the best boot for what I needed, and in the end I felt confident I was spending money on the right choice. Well this last week I went back for a new pair and that wasn't at all what I experienced. First I wasn't acknowledged by an employee for at least 5 minutes or more of just browsing through boots, then I was basically told "here's how to read the signs for steel toe, etc. Go ahead and take a look around." I will admit once I found a pair I kind of liked the lady helped me find similar ones to it, but I was disappointed that she encouraged me to buy a $90 insert to make it more comfortable because without it they wouldn't last as long. Why not make the $240 boot already comfortable and lasting? Then the ones I bought i wore for a day and absolutely hated. When I went back to exchange them my fiance and I stood in front of the register where who I assume was the manager was talking with someone and she 100% ignored me. My fiancé even used the bathroom then asked me what was going on n I said she has yet to acknowledge im even here. With that my fiancé kind of walked over into the ladies view and she LITERALLY turned her back so she could ignore us. I was furious. At least say something and let us know it will be a few minutes or SOMETHING. Then the lady who picked out my first boots came to help me and was 10 times better this time around, but then had the manager ring me up and that was another fiasco. I asked if I could just exchange them versus returning them then buying the new pair and she goes "im not sure, but that would make the most sense." .....what? In the end it was sorted and I was sad to hear the Irish setters I bought didn't have the same 30 day customer satisfaction guarantee that the red wing boots did that I exchanged, but it kind of makes me happy that I can't go back if I needed to. The manager ignoring us made me frustrated enough to write this novel...

We came to the Red Wing flagship store from Minneapolis after a real good friend’s strong recommendation, hoping to find a good pair of work shoes for my husband, who is an aircraft maintenance engineer. At first, everything was pleasant, we saw a female staff member measuring a customer’s foot with the in-store device, so we took some time to visit the museum section. When she became available, we asked if she could measure my husband’s foot. She kindly asked us to wait a moment, then assigned a male staff member to help us. From the beginning of our interaction, his attitude felt cold and unwelcoming. When we explained that we wanted to measure my husband’s foot for purchasing shoes, his response was cold and simply to let my husband to take shoes off twice. The tone made us uncomfortable. After my husband removed his shoes, the male staff member told us the measuring device wasn’t working and directed us to just look at shoes. Knowing there were two devices in the store (and having just seen the female staff use the other one), I asked if we could use the other machine. He seemed surprised, then said his pad (as a controller) was the problem and he would go find another device. We followed his suggestion to browse the shoes, but by this point, our experience had already been ruined. We quickly left without buying anything. It felt as though this staff member did not want to serve us from the start. Even when I suggested using another device, his response was dismissive. Before making our request, we had no interaction with any staff, and nothing in our behavior could have been considered offensive. This left us wondering whether the poor attitude was related to how we looked or who we were, rather than our request itself. As the flagship store of the brand, I believe employees here should be more mindful of their service, because their actions directly shape the brand’s image in customers’ minds. This experience completely changed our impression...

This has been one of the most frustrating and unprofessional customer service experiences I’ve ever had. I reached out to Red Wing Shoes’ online customer service through their text system, hoping to get information on a specific pair of shoes—the last size and style they have in inventory. Instead of helping me directly, they pushed me off to a store in Louisiana (which I’m nowhere near) and told me I had to coordinate the purchase and shipping myself.

That makes absolutely no sense. A company of Red Wing’s reputation should be able to manage orders or at least facilitate the process, not leave customers to track down inventory on their own. But fine—I figured maybe emailing their customer service would get me some actual help.

I sent a detailed email explaining the situation, including a copy of my text conversation, hoping someone would step in and fix this. Their system opened a case number and said a rep would reach out. That was a week ago. No response. No follow-up. Nothing. I even tried replying to the automated email I received, only to have it bounce back as undeliverable.

At this point, I’m hoping someone—somewhere—can actually help me figure out what to do. I’ve been a loyal Red Wing customer for 20 years. I’ve taken their boots on many deployments and trusted them through some of the toughest conditions imaginable. I never thought I’d be in a position where I’d have to question whether I should start looking for alternatives.

I really hope this isn’t a sign that Red Wing is slipping, but if this is how they treat longtime customers, maybe it’s time to...