New Balance Athletics
reviews and complaints

I have worn New Balance running shoes exclusively for more than 20 years. I bought my most recent pair - model 990, costing nearly $200 - about six months ago. In the past two months, a brownish insert on the sole of each shoe began to emit a foul odor, a combination of creosote and cat urine. I washed the shoes several times by hand, assuming that the smell came from something I'd run through. This didn't work. The odor has grown increasing pungent and nasty, so much so that I can no longer wear them to any social gathering. I found a similar complaint on another web site, but when I called my local dealer, I was told that they had never heard of this issue, nor did the company's web site offer any comment at all. New Balance used to be a good, reliable company. Now, they literally stink and don't seem to care. I'm done, but I strongly advise others to rethink their options as well.

I have had my new balance shoes 587 running shoes for almost two years. I can not wear them because they they have a strange odor. I have to keep them in the garage because if I leave them in the closet the whole closet stinks. The smell is like old medicine. Is there any way of getting the odor to go away. I took them out the other day to take a walk and after sitting unused for six months the odor is as strong as ever.

I purchased a pair of new balance walking shoes number 926. They were purchased at a outlet store in Camarillo, ca. About three weeks ago I paid close to $100.00 I walk an average of 7 to 10 miles a day for health reasons. So the shoes cant be returned. The problem is when i put the right shoe on my foot it rubs the top of my foot causing pain and blisters Making my walk very painful.. The tongue is stitched improperly causing friction on my foot there is nothing that i can do to stop the rubbing . Believe me I have tried band aids, wrapping my foot special stockings. I have asked everyone I know but nothing seems to work. I really don't have money to go buy new shoes so soon. O this started the first time I wore the shoes but figured they would wear o k so i just ignored the problem and suffered Any suggestions

I'm writing this e-mail to express my total disappointment with the new MR1224NR shoe that I bought from the NB store in Kansas City. I've been a devoted fan and customer of NB shoes since more than 10 years ago. I always looked for and bought the shoes that were made in the USA as the ones that are made in China are crap! However, after running in those (MR1224) shoes for just 10-15 minutes, the outer part of the insoles start rubbing against my heels (in both feet) really bad and the shoes would force my feet to move in a completely awkward way! To an extent that I had to stop my exercise! I tried replacing the insoles of the shoes with my old insoles from my old NB pair (992) and I even went back to the NB shop and talked to the manager on-duty. He gave me some advices and tried to solve this problem by tighten the shoe laces, something which did help in the beginning but that solution was temporary as the problem persisted. I paid top dollar to have a top notch product but I feel that I did a wrong decision and I'm really frustrated by the performance of those shoes.

I've never complained before but feel you need to know my latest pair of New Balance joggers have worn holes on the inside of the heel of both shoes. These shoes are my 3rd pair of New Balance and felt lovely and comfortable. My husband and I are going to the UK in 6wks and I was hoping to have had my new joggers well worn in for all the walking we shall do. I'm really dissappointed as I went back to the store where I bought them and they didn't want to know about it as I don't still have the receipt. As this was my 3rd pair I was sure there would be no problems and didn't keep the receipt. Could this have just been a bad batch of shoes or should I try a different type? Thanks for reading this, sorry to be complaining but they are only three months old and they cost me $130.
Jen Parry

We went to the New Balance store to get laces for the 810s we bought as well as the 753s we bought. We made a special trip to the store just for that purpose. When at the store we first asked the sales person for laces. We explained that the shoes were less than two months old and that we want to keep them in service since they are in serviceable condition and lack only a lace. The sales person told us that there is nothing New Balance can do about the broken lace because it is a continuous loop and there is no way to fix it. We asked to speak to the manager under the assumption that the shoes were far from trash and could be used until they are outgrown or damaged.

The manager was then busy with what seemed like a personal conversation, but she did join our conversation. The manager repeated that there was nothing New Balance could do about the broken shoe lace. She asked for the receipt. We said we could get it but did not have it with us. We explained that we had paid $49.00 for the shoes and did not want to have to throw them away just because there were no replacement laces. The manager replied saucily that that we had paid $54.95 for them but that there was nothing she could do about it. We asked what New Balance's policy in this situation was and she said "30 days and the shoes must be restockable." We asked why she asked for the receipt when she could plainly see the shoes were not restockable. (We were not asking for a new pair of shoes.) We told her we had been coming into the store for months looking for new shoe laces. We asked when does the store get shoe laces. She said at the beginning of the school year. We asked her what we are supposed to do to get the shoes back into service. She then faced off with my wife and began tapping her head saying, ""You're stuck on the word "shoe lace". All you can think about is "shoe lace". We don't carry shoe laces."" At this point the conversation terminated, on our part through sheer frustration, on the manager's part with the decisive and humiliating defeat of a mother and her seven year old son with a gallery of friends and cohorts present to witness her crushing retort to our every shoe lace question.

The conversation just described was conducted with the entire store concentrating on the conversation, including the people with whom the manager was previously conversing.

Exiting the store my son asked, "But mom, what about my new shoes. Aren't we going to get me some shoes?" You see, my son knows that a trip to New Balance for a pair of laces really means a trip to New Balance to get a new pair of shoes because there really are no laces. His mother told him we would go to a different store to get him more shoes, a store where they back up their product. We then went to another store and bought him two more pairs of shoes.

Let me sum up the situation for you. New Balance is perpetrating a scheme whereby they market shoes to the public with proprietary laces and lacing systems. When those laces fail, as they often do, and the customer visits the store to get new laces New Balance does not provide the proprietary laces or reasonable facsimiles to their customers. Furthermore, when the customer makes reasonable inquiry the manager is apparently trained to crush the interest that customer has in obtaining a shoe lace and instead sell the customer unneeded replacement shoes for "54.95", when ever possible. Do you think that my wife or I will ever go to a New Balance store again?

I believe this set of facts if very unfair to the consumer: the way the store handled this, the New Balance lace policy, the cutting and public humiliation heaped on my wife, the way the entire New Balance purchasing public is being forced into new-buys instead of new laces. I don't look at this as an isolated incident. I see this as the ploy of a multi-national corporation to generate additional sales for new shoes while leaving the consumer with more shoes than they really need, all because New Balance likes to play hide-the-laces. Check it out and let me know if you had similar things happen with New Balance.