Fullerton Shoe Repair

Not a lot of shoe repair places around so I found this place. A little hole-​in-​wall store in a small strip mall. Just off a very smelly broken parking lot. Must have sewer problems. I brought my shoes in that had needed a sole replacement. He gave me a price that seemed like a very very high price for sole repair. I could go into a detail story about how I had to go back 5 times to this store because my shoes weren’t ready or the soles continue to come apart from the shoe and he had to repair again and again. This guy is a bad communicator, he says he called me when my shoes were ready, but he didn’t. The store smells because he smokes in his store. Hope he doesn’t burn it down and the other stores next too him. So much clutter and disarray in his store.
He gets a 1 star not 0, because he did eventually and reluctantly refund my money back to me.
I should have read the other Unilocal reviews before I wasted my time and patience on this guy.

WHY ARE ALL THESE REVIEWS FILTERED?! If I had known, I wouldn’t have gone and gotten RIPPED OFF. I am very frustrated with Unilocal.All these 1-​star reviews are legitimate.
I took in 3 pairs of shoes one Wednesday afternoon a while back — a pair of boots and two pairs of heels. He charged me $ 15 for the boots (He initially said it would be $ 40 or something for the entire bottom, and when I told him I would repair those later, he said he could do just the heel for $ 15), $ 28 for one pair of heels (soles and heel), and $ 10 for the other pair of heels (just the heels). I have never gotten my shoes repaired before, but a little voice in my mind said the prices were a tad unreasonable. The elder man said they would be done by Friday evening.
I came home and thought, ‘Well, maybe he loves working with shoes and fixing them.’ Benefit of the doubt, right? WRONG.
I called on Friday evening, and I gave them my ticket number and asked if my shoes were ready. He said that they would be ready first thing tomorrow morning. I went in on Saturday at 12 pm, and the younger man there didn’t even know which ones my shoes were! Why would he answer the phone and say it would be ready the next morning if he didn’t even know which shoes I was talking about?! He looked everywhere for them, and I ended up pointing out my bag that had probably been hanging there since Wednesday. He said he could get one of the heels done in 10 minutes, but the boots would take time to dry. He said to come back around 3 or 4 pm. I told him I would call before I got there, but I got home and checked Unilocal again, and saw that there were 12 other filtered reviews! I panicked and drove over there at exactly 3 pm.
The older man was there again and said to give them 10 more minutes. At this point, I just asked for my shoes back, but he said, «Only 10 minutes!»
WOW! I waited there and when I got my shoes, he showed me how «nicely» he repaired them and said that the younger man had been in a car accident. I don’t know if that’s true, but how about all the other 12 people who had a similar experience as me? I told him that he needs to take people’s phone numbers then and call them to say that he can’t get them on the time they promised. (Seems like he takes people’s phone numbers now. GOOD!)

Wow… So my mother and I have been going to this place for YEARS. We’ve lived in Fullerton since 2001. I decided to leave him a review, and WOW he’s gotten NONE good reviews…
Anyways, I come here for simple repairs, from shoes to purses, and one time our heater. His prices are OKAY, I think their kinda higher than usual, but we live right down the street, so its just so convenient. His store is a small workshop, so he’s got stuff EVERYWHERE. He has changed his policies over the years, you now have to pay upfront, and leave your phone number. He has a wall of shoes behind the counter, where apparently a lot of older seniors use to come in and ask for repairs, but NEVER come pick them up! So he’s stuck with no payment, and no phone number. LOL…
My most recent repair was my favourite pair of boots, I’ve gotten fatter, and my poor boots wouldn’t zip all the way up my calf! ]: So I got them stretched with him. 45 bucks.
And he was done on the same day!

Not a good experience at all! While the gentleman (owner) is a friendly fellow, the work was less than sub-​par, the prices too high, the shop was disorganized and dirty. I took in four pair of shoes for simple repairs and when I picked them up, two hadn’t been serviced as requested (and paid for) and the other repairs were awful. I left the first two since I was assured they would be properly fixed. Mistake. Picked them up today – same story as the other two. One pair I had to help him find. Don’t waste time or money… find someplace else to go for proper shoe repairs.

This place is AWFULL!!! NEVER GO HERE!!! I brought a pair of boots here to be resoled and cleaned up. The price, to be paid up front, was very high but I thought, that must mean quality work… Nope! I picked up my boots to find that they had been painted orange! over all of the upper there had been a «dye» applied (which was applied over the brass rivets too) which was supposed to emulate the original tan color of my boots. it was orange! this was what he meant by «reconditioning the leather»?! the seam that I had asked to be replaced had just been painted black and the sole was not replaced at all, just the bottom cut off and a new sole glued on. I demanded money back and the guy said he would take the orange paint off. I was so frustrated that I just agreed and left in a huff. I came back to pick them up a week later and they were still orange. nothing had been don to them. He was unwilling to give me any money back so I negotiated some repair work for my sewing machine in return. after careful consideration I decided that my sewing machine would probably be better off broken. This guy is a real crook. In effect he ruined my boots that I have worn and loved for the last 15 years. only after hours of work did I get them back to a wearable state. Unfortunately they are not as wearable as they once were.
Do yourself a favor, friend. Never ever go here.

I took three pairs of my wife’s shoes to be repaired. The gentlemen took the shoes, my wife explained to him what she wanted repaired, and he asked if we wanted them cleaned up as well. I told yes and he told me the price. I told him that was fine and he asked for full payment up front. I told him I would pay when I picked them up, he said no, he demands full payment up front. He pointed to a rack of shoes and claimed people don’t pick them up. I paid and my wife picked up her shoes the following week. The repair work was poorly done, and the shoes weren’t cleaned. She complained about the cleaning and he told her they were already done, he proceeded to wipe them off with a cloth and gave them to her. She left and the next day I took them back. He said he already cleaned them but said he would do them again. He handed them back to me, they looked the same but with the dust wiped off, I pointed to him they were still scratched and had small spotting on them, he said there is nothing he can do without dying them. I didn’t want something for nothing, but when he asked to clean them and the price he charged to do the work, I assumed that meant cleaning them to look like new, not just wipe them off. I would never go back to them again, forget the fact he is gruff and grumpy, forget the shop is messing, dirty and in poor repair, forget the fact his prices are high for the quality of work, my rating is based on the fact he doesn’t do what he promises

I brought in a pair of leather sandals to be fixed which I assumed would be a simple repair. I showed the guy the strap that needed to be reattached, but the creepy guy didn’t really pay attention to what I was saying. Instead, he proceeded to blabber about how he used to own a shop in Hollywood and how he has fixed the shoes of a bunch of «stars» who’s pictures he had hanging on his walls (which consisted of a bunch of faded black and white photos of 80’s big haired has-​been celebrities). Maybe he was more skilled in the 80’s, but I was thoroughly dissatisfied with his current work.
My mistake was when I came back to pick up my sandals, I rushed out of there to avoid his stories and didn’t discover till I got home that he had NOT attached the strap properly and it promptly detached. I didn’t bring the shoes back because I didn’t want to deal with this guy again. Poor service and inadequate shoe repair — big disappointment :(

Sign states «Vacuum & shoe repair». Never Ever Go Here! I would give it negative points/​stars if I could. Unless you want a product more damaged than when you brought it in… beware!
My story:
Brought in my vacuum in at the beginning of June for a simple repair, which he quoted me on the phone to be $ 8 and the part in stock. I brought it in the same day and told him it was important for me to get it back quickly. I picked it up later in the day… where he told me he fixed the belt but my filters were dirty and he «wouldn’t let my machine leave like that». Without consulting me, he cleaned my filters with a chemical product (which stinked, and the manual said not to clean with chemicals) then had the nerve to charge me $ 20! Not only that, but the «chemicals» needed to dry out for 3 – 4 days according to him, making my vacuum useless during the time I needed it. But that’s only the beginning…
I took my vacuum home to find out that my roller brush wasn’t turning in the carpet! I looked under my vacuum while the brush was attempting to turn, and it looked like the belt was too tight. I brought the vacuum back stating I think the belt was wring cause it looks tight, explaining the brush doesn’t turn. He told me he would fix it. I came back 2 days later and picked up my vacuum. He charged me an extra $ 4.50 for another belt! Again, I turned on my vacuum. This time not only was my roller not turning, but without even moving the vacuum, it started to smoke! (It’s never ever done that).
Upset, I called him that day and explained the situation. I told him he needed to get the correct part (since he apparently was just guessing if one of his generic parts in stock would work) and that I wasn’t going to pay anymore. I brought it in, waited a week to give him time to put it on, went to pick it up… and it wasn’t done. He had received the part but hadn’t touched the machine. I came back a week later to him telling me my roller is broken, and it would be $ 75 to repair! He had the nerve to say it was cause I did something to it. I hadn’t used the vacuum for over a month at this point. It wasn’t broken when he cleaned it… and according to another repair shop, too tight belts can damage the roller brush! I demanded my vacuum. which was in pieces. I left finding out that he didn’t give me all the pieces to my vacuum! Down $ 24.50 with an incomplete, broken $ 200 vacuum (when it was an $ 8 repair).