Aaron’s Shoe Repair

I really hate giving bad reviews; but this one is warranted.
Upon moving into the area 10 years ago, I started getting my shoes repaired at Aaron’s. I’m a heavy walker, so I only ever needed him to replace the little black nub at the end of my 4″ heels.
Time and again, he’d tell me he’d have them fixed in a «couple» days. Never once were they repaired when I showed up 2 or 3 days later. In fact, they would be thrown in a pile, not even started.
Slow on the uptake, I finally realized that I needed to call him on day 2 or 3, to make sure I was not wasting a drive there. Every single time he’d say «Yeah, sure, there’s done!» or «They’ll be done when you get here». Only half the time, were they. A few times, I insisted on staying until they were fixed (or walked around the neighborhood, coming back in an hour). Not that I couldn’t drive back another day, but why should I have to?
I finally got mad and told him I was paying him less than what he was going to charge me, for wasting my time. He agreed that was fair. Not that it stopped him from telling me over the phone that my shoes were done, when they weren’t.
In time, I would just hand him what I thought was fair. If his price on the wall said $ 8 for repairing a pair of shoes, but I was only getting one heel fixed, I’d hand him $ 3 (giving myself a dollar discount). He never argued that.
Eventually, he ruined a pair of my heels, breaking the heel in half; making it irreparable. This was not the end of the world, but I did look elsewhere for another shoe repair shop. Unfortunately, the only one in route to work (inside Fred Meyers) was gone after their remodel. Because of this, I returned to Aaron’s.
Aaron seemed grateful to have me back, but the final straw was when he held a pair of expensive boots of mine — for 2 weeks. Literally, I called at day 3 and was told they’d be done by 5pm. When I got to the shop, he wasn’t there. The next day, he said they’d be done, so I dropped by at 5pm and he admitted he hadn’t started on them yet. After a week, he said they’d be «complicated» because a pin in the heel was broken. Week 2, I’d had it and came to pick them up, unfinished. He apologized, but said they were irreparable. I gave him a piece of my mind; for repeatedly telling me they were being worked on or finished, then left. In the end, I took them to another shop, which said the same, that they couldn’t be fixed. Aaron should have just told me that in the first place. But then, he probably never even looked at them until day 13 or 14.

First off this place is closed, the shoes are gone and so is Aaron with a «You stole my shoes!» written on a piece of cardboard in front from an angry customer.
Aaron «fixed» my boots by gluing a black shoe lace to the tops for me to tie them in order for them to stay up. That was months ago and I brought them back in telling him no way was that okay and he said he would attach elastic inside, so re-​do them or give me a refund. I paid him $ 36 for the 3 pairs and didn’t hear back from him. 2 weeks ago I went to the store and saw the sign and the empty store. I didn’t write the note, but I was tempted to co-​sign it in anger. I lost 3 pairs of shoes, $ 36 and since spent $ 80 in 2 new pairs since.

I had a very good experience here; g’sons sneaker had a Velcro strap almost completely pulled off (3 week old New Balance– another story) I took it to my neighborhood shoe shop in Westmoreland the guy said $ 10. He said he does nothing for under $ 10. I remembered Aarons, from an earlier repair, took the shoe in, he stitched it right there and said he may as well reinforce the second strap too– price-​$ 2.

So you have a pair of shoes you love and want to get them fixed up for more wear? Don’t bring them here! After a promise of next day repair, and MANY visits back to the store I have yet to find anyone there. Goodbye favorite Keen’s!

Aaron is a nice guy, friendly and has a cute cat named Tiger. That being said, he took almost three weeks to replace a zipper when he promised it would only take one week. I understand having a work overload or becoming overwhelmed suddenly with jobs, but being told one week and have it take way longer than that is not acceptable. I won’t be giving him my return business.
I visited about an hour and a half ago to check on the status of my item because the day before he said it would for sure be ready. He said that in an hour he will definitely have it done and call me. It’s been an hour and I am still waiting. :/​
edit: 10mins after I wrote this entry, my friend and I went back to go «check» on him. My friend is a big dude and was angry that my boot wasn’t done yet so he offered to help Aaron be motivated to finish it. We waited for about 5−10mins while he was out (it was 1:11 when we arrived, almost two hours from the time he said it would be done). When he came back, he said for sure he would finish it by 2:30. My friend is holding it to him and told him that if it’s not done by 2:30 we’re going to just take it back and go elsewhere. So we’ll see.

I did not have a good experience here.