I'm wondering if it is worth contacting a company to see if they will replace a broken shoe. What if the shoe is no longer produced? will they replace it with whatever equivlent they have lying around?
I've had a short string of bad luck with some shoes lately.
(1)I had a pair of Brooks x-c waffle type shoes have the uppers rip off at the balls of both feet. My feet are quite wide, so I don't fault them on that though, and wouldn't think of asking for a replacement for them.
(2) I had a pair of Asics DS racers (bought them on clearance as a previous years model), and after 1 tempo workout and 1 race the little outsole pieces started falling off around the ball of the foot.
(3) I had a pair of Adidas Adistar Comp or something of a similar name with a carbon fiber plate in them. I've really enjoyed these shoes, and have run probably over 100 miles of workouts and races in them. The shoes are in very good condition, and I'd race in them still, but the carbon fiber plate in the right shoe is broken near the front of the arch, and I'm affraid the shoe will flex in a bad spot now.
(4) I've run in, and very much liked the Nike Katana Trainer. I was recently running in my third pair of this shoe when I noticed that the air unit under the right heel was making a funny sound, and felt a little weird. The air unit has popped or something--in any case, the air unit no longer provides any resistance to colapse. This pair of shoes has about 150-200 miles on them. I've heard that Nike is pretty responsive about replacing shoes with air units that go bad, but what about after having been run in for this long? Also I'm not sure if the shoe is even made anymore.
Any thoughts about whether it's worth contacting someone at the companies about possible replacements? Who do you contact?
Thanks