Adventures in Ordering Reproduction Mid-19th Century Shoes

So, back in July (end of the month), I ordered from a Civil War supply company that I've ordered from plenty of times and had good service from in the past.

I had finally decided to order a good pair of reproduction Civil War (women's) boots, and went with the Brown boots to do something different (and since their online catalog said they offered both brown and black). Well, I placed my order online, after verifying that the sizes ran true and not small/large, and everything seemed jake.

However, a day or so later, I got a call from the company saying that they didn't stock the brown boots cause no one ever ordered them...so they had to be special ordered! Ugh! I had purposely placed my order at the end of July so that there would be time to get the shipment before my (then) next Civil War Event...Huntington Beach. (I wanted time to break in the shoes before the event, after all). So since there was nothing I could do about it, I had to write off getting new shoes in time for my event (oh well!), and just move on. (Which I did).

My event comes and goes, and then September rolls around and I realize that I haven't heard from the company regarding a status update on my order. That's odd, I think. So I send them an email through their website requesting a status update on my order. Never got a response. Zip.

Fortunately - I have not been charged at this point. So its not like I've paid yet for an item that I haven't gotten. But it IS a bit annoying by now that I've not heard back from them.

So I wait a bit longer and October rolls around. At this point I finally call them asking if they lost my order . They said no, but they expect to get the boots in from the manufacturer in their next shipment...which they estimate will be the following week. They will send me an email with the tracking number once the order ships, etc. I say ok, and let it go with that.

Only thing - still nothing by the end of October! So I call again. This time, the gal who answers the phone and checks on my order says the shipment from the manufacturer (with my boots) is arrving on the 3rd or 4th of November. So I should be receiving a notice of my impending shipment sometime the 2nd week of November.

Ugh!

And guess what? I *finally* got my notice that my order placed 4 months ago has FINALLY shipped! What drama! At least I'm getting my order...at last. Too bad it is going to arrive AFTER my big Civil War event that is this weekend. The estimated delivery day is the Monday following my event. Oh well. I could have used the new boots. (Although wearing unbroken in boots to an event might not have been that pleasant either). I guess that just means I now have plenty of time to break in the new boots for next year's events (and our first Civil War event probably won't be till February).
=)