Remember Dune’s Olsen pumps? I certainly do: I obsessed about them, and their Louboutin-like loveliness for so long last year that they completely sold out in my size. D’oh!
My mistake was to wait and see if they went on sale. I should know by now that I’m not the only woman in the world who can’t resist a shoe sale, so when I realised I’d missed out, I wasn’t too surprised. “Never mind!” I said. “I will simply put my email address into this handy ‘notify me when more stock arrives’ box, and then I will buy my shoes!”
A couple of weeks later, the email duly arrived to let me know that ‘Olsen’ was back in stock in a UK4. By the time I read it, though, and clicked through to the Dune website… they were sold out. Yes, AGAIN. There’s a lesson in this somewhere, folks. I guess it would be irresponsible of me to say the lesson is, “Never wait for the sale. If you see shoes you like, buy them IMMEDIATELY, and to hell with the consequences!” Instead, then, let’s say the lesson is, “If you’re waiting for shoes to go on sale, never leave your computer. EVER. Hover over it constantly, endlessly hitting the refresh button to find out if the shoes are available yet, because the second you let your guard down and step away from the screen, the shoes will arrive and will instantly sell out.”
Anyway! All was not lost, for the day after my second failure to purchase these shoes, I was meeting Erin in Edinburgh for lunch. Dune have a store in Edinburgh, so I would go there, buy the shoes, and all would be right with the world. Except it wouldn’t, would it? Because when I got to the store? The shoes were SOLD OUT IN MY SIZE. Of COURSE they were.
This is where the wonderful customer service of the title comes in, though…
You see, the staff at Dune aren’t just shoe sellers: they’re SHOEPER shoe sellers. And the girl who was dealing with me decided to make it her mission to find me those shoes. She did this by phoning every single one of their stores: and she did it so cheerfully that I could tell I was dealing with a fellow shoe-lover here. (I really wish I’d got this girl’s name now, but she seemed to be a supervisor, and said she normally worked in their Glasgow branch).
Of course, my life being governed by the law of Sod, the only store that had the shoes in my size was the very last one she called, so I think I may well be the proud owner of the last pair of size 4s in the country. The store that came to my aid was the Belfast store, and I owe them a hue thank-you too, because someone there set the shoes aside for me, wrapped them, and took them to the post office (I paid for the postage, obviously). In conclusion: best customer service ever.
Anyway, the shoes arrived a few days later, and I love them. They fit perfectly, and are exactly what I expected, going by the image on the website. They’re definitely the most overtly sexy shoes I own, I think: that heel is super-high, and there’s no platform to off-set it, so these aren’t shoes you’d want to wear if you had a lot of walking to do. With shoes like these, though, I somehow don’t think “walking” is the point…
The people who work in Dune are generally lovely, I’ve found – I think it’s a requirement! They are beautiful shoes – lucky you! 😀
Those shoes are beautiful, and it’s so hard to find decent customer service this day so it’s nice to hear about good experiences!
More importantly, where did you get those gorgeous bow tights/stockings from???
Emma, the tights were actually donated by my mum, who found them tucked at the back of a drawer during a clear-out, still in their box! She doesn’t rememeber where she got them, and I don’t recognise the brand, but going by the look of the box, I’d guess they’re from the 80s, so vintage tights 🙂
Ah the hunt starts for a good vintage replication then, thanks for the info though!
I spotted these at Miss Selfridge today:
http://www.missselfridge.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?beginIndex=0&viewAllFlag=&catalogId=20555&storeId=12554&categoryId=78499&parent_category_rn=70074&productId=1509336&langId=-1
The bows go all the way up the back of the leg, rather than just the abkle, but they’re in a similar vein, and very cute 🙂
Glad you’re not going to try doing too much walking in them – I remember seeing them in the shop, thinking they were gorgeous but not daring to try to wear them…
the shoes are gorgeous as are the tights…and the story of getting them was very nice…but i must ask…what is the law of sod? is it a uk thing or a shoeper thing 🙂
Sod’s Law: basically if anything can go wrong, it will. Not a Shoeper thing, but may well be a UK thing. It’s also known as Murphy’s Law.
They look stunning. What a nice change to get good customer service!
.-= Tracey´s last blog ..Beginnings =-.
Those shoes are truly wonderful! I drooled over them myself, but getting them here in our bizzare part of the european continent is a near-impossibility. There is something about those high high heels that attracts a girl, no matter what. Yes, they are so high you can’t imagine walking around in those half of the day (though I found that 11-12 cm ones are rather fine for me, but that could also be because I am used to them), and they always look so delicate, and you aren’t really sure where you will wear them, but by god they are so gorgeous you would never forgive yourself if you didn’t end up owning a pair. So I applaud and salute you!
Haha, thanks! I just adore the shape of them, but I will need to practise walking in them a little more, I think – I’m used to heels, but these change your whole centre of gravity!