See, at the 2011 Boston Marathon expo, I went into the Brooks booth to take a look at the new Adrenaline. I was wearing the Saucony Omni Progrid 9's at the time and they had just changed designs and I hated the 10's. So I was in the market for a new shoe.
The nice booth representative convinced me I really needed the Trance 10's, not the Adrenaline. It was the same shoe only cushier and "like running on a cloud." I trusted the guy and went off to a running store that was NOT Marathon Sports because I had a groupon. The other store (from henceforth known as the evil running store) and the guy didn't try the shoe on me, give me any advice or help. He heard "groupon" and said, "Do you know what you want?" I said the Brooks guy suggested... and that was all he had to hear beyond, "What size?"
The evil running store guy took my credit card for the price difference and couldn't shoo me out the door quickly enough.
For the past year, I have intermittent struggles with achilles and ankle issues that I wrote off as previous injuries flaring up due to my stupidity. That is until the guys at November Project came along and convinced me to run to the T for a destination deck day. A 2.5 mile run, no big deal that is, until I was heading home and realized my achilles was barking badly from out of no where. Then came the turned ankle in Stamford and some symptoms of Plantar Fasciitis to convince me I needed to be taking it easy on myself for a bit until things felt good and strong again.
I suspected the Trance 10's had something to do with all this now and began looking through my running logs and realized that, yes indeed, the Trance 10's are logged on injury days. To test the theory one last time, I wore them to walk to school the other day. By the time I got home, the Plantar Fasciitis stuff, something I had never experienced before last month, was screaming in pain and I was convinced the Trance were at fault.
But what to do? I had this expensive pair of shoes that screwed me out of the better part of a year of running. So I contacted Brooks. Josh C, the customer rep on live chat, was professional and made a suggestion: perhaps you should be wearing the Adrenaline as it is the equivalent of the Omni. He suggested I get fitted at a local running store and we'd set up an RMA to exchange my Trance for new Adrenalines.
Now why I love Marathon Sports. I went into the store in Swellsley and the staff were everything I have come to love and respect about Marathon. I told them the story. They knew I wasn't buying but before I left, they made sure the Adrenaline fit properly, matched my stride and had the right support. He had me run outside to check them and in the end, we found the right match for my feet so that the guys at Brooks could send me my new shoes.
I had a $50 gift certificate from November Project giving us swag for working out in July. Instead of being all "get your shit and get out" like the evil running store guy, they were "Cool! We heard about these guys, is it worth running with them?" (Answer: Fuck yeah!) They told me to take my time, if I had questions no problems. It was lovely.
So yeah Evil Running Store down in Hingham, totally on my shit list. Marathon Sports, totally on my You Guys Totally ROCK list. If you're in the Boston area and don't go to Marathon Sports, you need to readjust your thinking and get your badass self in for some great customer service.
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